Chariots of Fire

Nice job, Warren! No dust to water down now tho'! Just snow.

No me! Complete waste of time!

High, Kurt. The cab came from the Revell 1941 Chevy pickup kit. It is identical to the cab that Chevy used to make up the 4x4 rigs used by the US Army in WWII. The Dodge cab has similar lines but the kit cab is spot on.

What are you using for the hex nuts on the ends of the hoses? Fusion beads?

Can I make a suggestion? I like what is coming together but I think the front of the hood needs to be rounded out more. I found this photo on line that shows how the 1:1 rig looks. If you thinned out the inside of the hood at the front it might mean pouring some casting resin in the nose when you round it out. Just sayin'.

There is another option for the wheels as well. Yat Ming (Signature) made a 1/24 scale 1923 Maxim pumper with spoke wheels. They are not wood, however. By that time even the heavy spoke wheels were made of steel. You may be able to pick one of the Maxim's on e-bay for a reasonable price.

I have heard from friend Jim Davis many times, as recent as yesterday. He has the model and is attempting to replace the right hand spotlight on the cab. Not an easy task for someone not familiar with modeling. A bit hard to make a day trip to help him out! I'll see if his daughter can take a photo of him with the model when he gets the light put back. When he called yesterday he said that they (Oahu) recently recorded winds at 180 mph on top of the volcanos and that about 10 miles away they were recording waves hitting the beach that were 60 feet high! Good surfing weather, I guess!

I think only the real early AC's in the teens had the wood spoke wheels. The wheels in the kit are definitely steel, both front and rear. Below is a 1917 American LaFrance rig I built years ago using the Stutz Bearcat kit as a basis. It has these wheels (wood?) in the kit. The rear ones have a bit more beef to them than the front ones do. Jeff Harper recently did a 1907 Mack that has the wheels you are looking for as well. Here is a photo of his work. He will have it with him at NNL East in April.

Thanks, Hermann. When it is finished it will be going to its owner in Belgium! The body got painted last nite. I also worked on making a long handle pointed shovel out of brass. After a couple of tries it came out pretty nice. Will take some pics shortly.

That's pretty nice work! Details are great! Keep going!!!

If you do the red color scheme for the IH and trailer, I might be able to come up with some LA County decals for the doors. I have the info. Give me a shout, Scott.

That is correct.

I glued a small strip of plastic to the hood side of the original master for the cab. The strip essentially "raised" the photoetch above the sides of the hood just a little. Then I glued the photoetch directly to the plastic strip permanently. Here is a photo that shows it a little better. This is on the 1966 W300 casting with the raised letters on the strip. I covered it with BMF before painting. Then rubbed off the red paint leaving the raised lettering.

Aaron: Isn't the middle truck in your first photo a '59? Just checking out some images suggest it is. The resin casting you have is the same as what I had and it says it is a '58. A tip on adding the raised "POWER WAGON" lettering on the sides of the fenders. Glue on a small piece of strip plastic the length and height of the photoetch letters that you have. Don't worry about trying to follow the letters but only keep the strip stock real close. After painting use some two part epoxy to secure the photo etch letters in position.

That should be a nice build. I used one of those kits a while back also with this result. Not the 500 and a 1959 version of the smaller rig.