Chariots of Fire

Not sayin' 😎

So far I have built two of these World War II fire pumpers that were done by several fire apparatus manufacturers on Chevy 1.5 ton chassis. The first went to a Vet in Hawaii while the second one went to a friend of his in Belgium who also happens to have a full size one that is restored. This time around the build is for my shelf to compliment some of the other WW II rigs that are there. Here's the start of the build. I got one more Revell '41 Chevy kit (the cab and engine are identical to what was used to produce the Class 325) and began casting more of the parts that I had done for the other two projects. The reconfigured hood fits the kit cowl and has separate side pieces. Tires and wheels are resin castings as well. The frame has been altered from the pickup frame in the kit utilizing the front end and straightening the rear portion. I also reinforced it to make it slightly deeper using Evergreen strip stock. Springs are made of brass strip stock soldered together at the ends. Separate hangers were made for each spring. Clips for the springs are made of flattened solder wire. Now I am working on the axles to get the proper tread width for the front and back. Then the wheels can be secured to each axle. In the photos are also the grill guard, made of strip brass and brass wire soldered together. The parts next to the grill are the components of the steering knuckles for the front axle. They are made of brass channel and tube stock, again soldered together. Both are now made up and will show in a couple of future photos. The aluminum turning is the master for the Barton American pump that will be mounted on the front of the truck. The mold is ready for a pour so that the pump can be built up.

Good rig for a lumber yard. I have a couple of those L-700's. Make sure the cab sits straight on the chassis. It was one of the little quirks in the mounting process.

I typically download to a file on the computer. Then while in MCF hit the "choose files" button down below and then select the photo to insert. Comes up every time.

Where are you taking the photo from, a camera, documents file??

With a Maxim built aerial ladder!

OH, Yeah! Boston had a bunch of them. Glad to see that the back of the cab is not indented like what was done for the tractors.

Much obliged!

Scott: Where did the B61 cab come from??

Try two part epoxy. That works on windshields as well and does not fog. Takes a while to set though.

My casting is for really simple parts so vacuum or pressure casting has no place in my process. The 300 series casting resin works just fine and allows enough time to get it into position before it sets. The only issue is to be sure that bubbles are removed from small areas at the beginning of the pour. Since I'm not doing large quantities of anything, the simpler the better!!😉

Thanks, Warren. Into rehab now and getting some range of motion back. Amazing how stiff you can get over a short period of time!

Hi, Brian. I used dark yellow acrylic by Tamiya to stain the elastic for the hose. It's almost a brown color but it's just right for the old cotton jacket working and supply lines of the day. It has to be done before putting the elastic into the hose bed because it tends to swell with the water and acrylic. Once it dries it's ok to work with.

Now that my arm has begun to heal to the point where I can pick things up and move them around some I was able to get the hose load finished, spot lights filled in with clear resin and do up the decals. It is now ready to join the other blue rig, the 1957 Reo Gold Comet. This one is Eagle Hose No. 3

Nicely done! The 1:1 version was captured in miniature form for sure!👍

Try securing the gage decals with a drop of Testors clear gloss. They will stay in place just fine

With all of that, I will stick to simple two part molds and keep life simple!!!😎

Pressure casting should be reserved for making the mold so that the RTV is forced into every crevice and the bubbles are forced out. Vacuum casting in essence collapses the mold pieces in on themselves assuring a clean casting. Tom Coolidge who did my '66 DODGE W300 used a pressure pot. The results were amazing.

I tried this method once with mixed results. The biggest problem is suspending the master perfectly level so that the parting line is not running across the tire tread. Doing an initial pour and then a second pour to essentially rest the tire on eliminates this problem because the RTV seeks its own level and remains a flat surface. It is an extra step but the results I think are better.

Thanks, guys. I hope so too!

Hi, All. It will be a while before I can resume this build. Broke right arm last Thursday. In sling for 6-8 wks.🤩

BIG FIRE! BIG WATER!

The detailing of pieces to be mounted on the body are getting close to being done. Today I worked on the hose loads. Engines of the day of this rig normally carried two or three different sizes of hose. Working lines of 1-1/2" and 2-1/2" and supply lines of 3". The bed is divided into sections for each size. On the left will be the 1-1/2" working line with additional hose of the same size below it. There is a board separating the two layers that was made up once the first layer was in place. The hose used then was rubber lined with a double cotton jacket on the outside. Today most hose is synthetic. The photo shows the material to be used for the hose along with a piece of plastic that will be painted gray. The hose is sewing elastic and comes in two basic sizes; 1/8" and 1/4". It's about as close as you can get in material that not only looks like hose but is of a reasonable size. It comes in packages of about 3 yards so there is quite a bit to work with. It's white and has to be stained. I found that a good color is Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow. Wetting the brush and dipping it into the paint is sufficient to coat the elastic. I generally use a piece of aluminum foil taped to the work area so that things don't get messy. Once that is done several pieces are snipped into short lengths and glued in half like the ones in the photo. More on this a bit later. Got to go and take the dogs out!😆

Such beautiful work! It's going to be too bad to get it all dirty and salty its first day out!😆

Just regular old foil, Warren. The thicker kind would be much harder to emboss. And to answer the question about folding it sharply at corners that is further up on the post, it can be done but the difficult part would be to make sure the fold goes exactly with the pattern otherwise it will not look good. On the other hand it does go over rounded corners quite well. Here's the results of doing that on the M-20 prime mover I did a while back. There is no distortion of the pattern either. Note also that foil was used on the face of the running board. The top is regular plastic treadplate. In the photo above it was used to cover the fuel tank. Again, a rounded edge. The foil was laid on first at the outside edge and rolled over the top. In this way I did not have to worry about cutting the edge and getting glue everywhere. Once the glue begins to set at the outside more glue can be added as you move toward the back. Lot less messy that way. It does necessitate being careful not to fold the foil or crush the imprint during this process. After the glue dries it is perfectly hard and not susceptible to damage.