USFS Brush Truck

[Chariots of Fire]

The Coleman has been put aside until the spirit moves me to really get involved in it. In the meantime I have wanted to do a USFS rig for a while now and it has been started with this preliminary work. The DT466 is being built up from photos but with some help from the parts bin. The chassis came from an Ertl International kit but it has been modified. The rear springs came from a diecast and it is now a single axle truck rather than a tandem axle rig. The two hole Budd wheels I got a long time ago. Tires have been cast from a set of 3D resin cast tires I picked up from Gary Wallace. His stuff is top rate. In the foreground is a Boley truck in 1/72 scale (so the package says) but it is more like 1:87. The rig I'm building, though will be a crew cab and will have a pump panel and hose reels up top.

[Chuck Most]

Nice! I have both of those- the Boley fire truck and the Jada Durastar. Mine will be staying just the way they came from the factory, but I'll be peeking in on your project for sure.

[kilrathy10]

Great idea for a rig....It looks great, so far.....I used to love to go to the hobby shop and look at all the cool HO scale stuff, but the hobby shop is now an endangered species.....Two of them went by the wayside in the past year, alone.....Great job on this truck....I'll be following this one, for sure....

[Casey]

I never tire of seeing excellent work like yours, Charles. Looks good so far.

[mackinac359]

I never tire of seeing excellent work like yours, Charles. Looks good so far.

Yes! exactly what Casey said !!

Tim

[Atmobil]

Cool project, do you have decals for it? If so, where did you get them?

[hooknladderno1]

Charlie,

Another masterpiece in the making! Did you modify the wheel openings to accommodate the larger wheels/tires? The reason that I ask, is I plan on doing something similar to this rig - already sporting Bear FD colors.

These Jada Durastars are a good base point for any number of conversions! Recently though, their prices have skyrocketed! Good news though - Dave "Models by Dave" Carey is working on resin versions of extended and crew cab Durastars! Don't know his timetable( new Dad, holidays, full time job) but like all of Dave's products, they'll be worth the wait! Here is a conversion of mine " in progress" from the same cab mated to an SSB Resins ambulance box:

I will be following your build as I do appreciate your process and explanations!

David

Edited December 26, 2014 by hooknladderno1

[Mopar - D]

Nice converstions on these Internationals.

[Chariots of Fire]

I kept the wheel openings the same. The tires are somewhat larger diameter than the ones on the diecast original but they seem to fit inside ok. I used an Ertl frame but found that the Jada diecast is a wee bit narrow so I had to take in the front axle on both sides.

Today I stripped the paint from the cab, doors and fender pieces. I'm in the process of making resin castings of each of these pieces so I can extend the cab to a 4 dr. The resin castings will also be much lighter than the metal masters which will make mounting them a little better.

Will post some pics as soon as I am sure the mold will separate ok. The mold release solution lately has not worked well (it may be old) so I placed an order for some new release agent today.

[Chariots of Fire]

Cool project, do you have decals for it? If so, where did you get them?

Thanks to the internet I have photos of the USFS emblem used on the doors. So I scanned them in to my graphics program and drew up a set of decals based on the photos. They are just about ready to go for when the truck gets painted.

[gotnitro?]

great looking project, looking forward to updates

if I may ask..what molding rubber did you use ? Ive been using Alumlite..but always trying something new

[Danno]

Great project; watching closely for more Chariots of Fire Magic.

[Chariots of Fire]

great looking project, looking forward to updates

if I may ask..what molding rubber did you use ? Ive been using Alumlite..but always trying something new

I use the 2 part molding rubber from Micro-Mark. They have two kinds; one that sets up in about 4 hours and another (which I am currently using) that sets up in about 30 minutes. They both appear to pick up the details quite well. Biggest thing with both is to be sure to apply plenty of mold release if you are doing a two parter. Mixing ratios are 1:1 for both.

[cargostar]

Love it!!!

[Chariots of Fire]

Here are just a few of the things I have been able to accomplish. Right now I'm waiting for some mold release to come in so I can prepare the new molds for the door and fender piece that you see set up on clay. In the back are the completed door and fender piece for the other side. The cab will be a challenge because the door and windshield openings are so big. We'll see how that goes!

[gotnitro?]

Thanks for the info!

Looks like a fantastic project