Leyland DAF/LDV 400

[birch1]

Just seen this thread, but wanted to say that these are lovely bits of work, would be great to see them all lined up together once complete

[Ragtag]

Thanks Ryan - I'll share this one for now. Other than the 4 in my last pic which are missing here, the green machine is also hiding in the background.

[Ragtag]

Calling most of these done now, so some pics as requested.

 

First up, the mail vans:

 

 

 

 

Then the postbuses and crew van:

 

The competition:

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by Ragtag

[Ragtag]

The yard workhorses:

 

And lastly three generations of Transits alongside a DAF for the Reivers fleet:

 

 

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

What was the prototype of the green painted Royal Mail "Concept Vehicle" - was that an electric version?

[Ragtag]

3 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

What was the prototype of the green painted Royal Mail "Concept Vehicle" - was that an electric version?

 

I actually couldn't find any info on the van at all other than Roxley Models used to make a version in O. 

 

I suspect that it didn't go as far as being electric though. For example, GREEN 4 was a DAF 95 with various modifications to make it more environmentally friendly (streamlining, a trailer frame built from softwood instead of hardwood and so on). 

[Johann Marsbar]

3 hours ago, Ragtag said:

 

I actually couldn't find any info on the van at all other than Roxley Models used to make a version in O. 

 

I suspect that it didn't go as far as being electric though. For example, GREEN 4 was a DAF 95 with various modifications to make it more environmentally friendly (streamlining, a trailer frame built from softwood instead of hardwood and so on). 

 

Thanks - I was curious as to whether it was an electric version as there were a limited number of electric Sherpa vans produced in the mid 1980's and we had one of them at work......

 

 

It had a range of 40-50 miles, depending on how carefully you drove the thing an had a top speed of about 60 mph, as I found out when driving it over the Orwell Bridge!

Very good for leaving people standing at traffic lights as well, particularly when they thought they were overtaking a diesel van......

 

Sadly it didn't last very long in service due to corrosion on the underfloor mounted battery trays and  a major controller failure which wasn't easy/cheap to repair.  It still survives as an exhibit though at our local Transport Museum.

 

 

[m0rris]

I spy with my little eye a couple of CMAC vans in there, how did you get on with them?

[Ragtag]

21 hours ago, m0rris said:

I spy with my little eye a couple of CMAC vans in there, how did you get on with them?

 

A nice casting overall, was nice not to have to fiddle with cutting axles to length etc. for the wheels. I would have preferred the panel lines etc to be a little deeper but that's only because red and yellow take so many coats for coverage. My one criticism is that both of mine had a fairly pronounced ridge along the centre of the roof from a printing error which I wasn't able to fully remove without sacrificing the roof detail.

 

A bargain at the price, really.

Edited October 2, 2022 by Ragtag

[Merfyn Jones]

Very pleased with my Leyland DAF 400 van from the Hong Kong fire van.  Converted to a standard low roof van.

Thanks Ragtag for the help and inspiration which I got round to in the end.

[quicksilvercoaches]

Here are my LDVs from the CMAC 3D prints. Minibus is a straight build, fire appliance is the BR crew van with added bits (so the opposite of what Merfyn did above).

 

 

 

Great to finally have a model of this ubiquitous van as they were everywhere not so long ago but have virtually disappeared now, even if my memories of them are not very fond - mostly knackered council minibuses driven by inexperienced teachers on school trips.

Edited September 14, 2023 by quicksilvercoaches

[PhilJ W]

One bus company, I can't recall which one had a number of both Transit and Sherpa 'breadvan' minibuses. When they were due to be withdrawn the Transits went first but their engines were transferred to the Sherpas. Apparently the Transits suffered from cracked frames whereas the Sherpa engines suffered from dropped valves.

[Southernman46]

The first railway vehicle I ever drove as a very green just out of his time apprentice and remember having to fill up will fuel too - opening the fuel cap and thinking "I wonder what DERV means" ? with a slight panic before thinking to look at the receipts in the drivers logbook and working it out it was diesel ...................

[37114]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

One bus company, I can't recall which one had a number of both Transit and Sherpa 'breadvan' minibuses. When they were due to be withdrawn the Transits went first but their engines were transferred to the Sherpas. Apparently the Transits suffered from cracked frames whereas the Sherpa engines suffered from dropped valves.

Badgerline had both Sherpas and Transits but pretty sure the Sherpas went first and the engine was from a Land Rover (presumably the 2.5 NA Diesel) whereas Fords had their own Diesel engine so may have been a different company? I know in later life LDV fitted the same engine as the Transit after Leyland was sold to DAF.