Teardown and Re-assembly of Corgi Fire Truck

Above is the Corgi Major Chubb Pathfinder Airport Crash Truck (phew, what a mouthful!). It’s a big die-cast vehicle and was mine since a boy. I looked after it, but it has since been played with by others, when it has not been stored away but sadly it was lumped in a box with other stuff (this is what happens when you go and live on the other side of the World!). So once I had unearthed it from my boxes when I moved house, I decided to see whether it still worked. I will describe what happened…

Above are the two halves of the truck, with “innards” removed. Below are all components when removed. The cockpit “windows” are at the top of the photo and the lumpy yellow pieces are really only to protect the electronics from any liquid when the pump is used. There is a tailgate for the pump with shutter.

Below are images of the electronics for the siren. The yellow part is the cover for the battery compartment. The transparent plastic is to protect the speaker.

I could get the siren to work with a bit of work but it did not sound quite right. Perhaps one or more components needed to be repaired, for example, the electrolytic capacitor which may have aged badly (they dry out), but there was not time for that. The wires needed to be repaired. This is a common problem on toys – the battery wires are often not reinforced or protected and with use, they just break off from the solder.

The tube in the upper body of the truck is for the foam spray. There is an external pump that you can put liquid in, e.g. washing up liquid, to spray out of the top! I had lots of fun with this when I was a boy. I was tempted to get it going again, and spray my dog with it. Like many dogs, she hates getting wet! But I don’t have the pump! If I get the chance, I will post a video of how she reacts to my radio-controlled tank! It’s hilarious, but would be more funny if I could get the pellets to shoot from the gun. The dog would go ballistic!

All of the wheels were turning, and it was running along nicely. It is just a pity that the paintwork was so scratched. Most of my other toys were not like this!

It was fun to take this vehicle apart and put it back together. It is a proper metal construction and is so rugged and so solid. It’s great to be able to take it apart – other die-cast have rivets which make it more difficult unless you have the right tools.

I buy and sell die-cast vehicles. This fire truck has already been sold.

When this website is running fully, I will sell more on here.

Get in touch to tell me what you are looking for – I will always keep an eye out for my customers, to try to get what they request.