Chariots of Fire

Hi, Dom. The buck needs to be as smooth as possible. I had difficulties getting the windshield pleces to stay clear until I glued on a piece of brass sheet and then polished it. That seemed to do the trick for the clear stock. The plastic to use is called PETG and is 0.020" thick.

Glad you are here to show us your work. Have you checked out the NRG Nautical Research Guild forum? They have all kinds of information on model ship building.

The front of the Ferarra is coming right along. A word of caution, however. Be sure and sand down the face of the cab and fill in all of the little crevasses in the corners before you install the light bezels. The same with the grill. I'm assuming you will do the latter after the painting is done. Be sure to clean up the primer, patch any areas that are not smooth and if there is any glue spillover, get rid of it now. The finish will be so much better if you do. (talking from experience!?) Be sure and refine the grill as well. Sand smooth, prime, sand again, fill in little areas, sand and prime again to see how it looks. The light bezels are just right! Lookin' good!

This project has been slow in making progress. I have not been satisfied with the cab build. Too many little things that have cropped up to continue with it so I began again. This time where I moved too quickly, I'm taking more time and being a little more careful in the way things are going together. Sloppy is the only way to describe what I did the first time. Sometimes that is the way things go and we need a little comeuppance to get our mind moving in the right direction. The first cab was a learning experience; the second a better result. It might look ok from a distance but the first cab (left) is not right. The door line, which I thought could be offset resulted in the accent strip looking like it jogs up and down. It really doesn't but with the doors protruding that is the look you get. Not good! The cab on the right is the second version and I think will be much better and closer to what it should look like. The brass covered renshape pieces are the bucks I made to vacu-form the windshield sections. The pieces to the right are the interior panels for the center part of the cab where the fixed side windows are. I also fixed the area around the doors where there will be entry steps. In the first instance I should have paid closer attention to those details and did not. That meant making some adjustments that were not good. In the second cab the interior fits much closer to the cab sides and it will be easier to get the steps to where they need to be. The square raised portion inside will become the AC unit. The bumper is made of Evergreen sheet stock and a section of treadplate. Next up is to cut the rear doors free and get the hinges made.

The secret with making a buck for vacu-forming is that it has to be super smooth for it not to pick up the image of the buck. The only thing that worked for me was to glue down a piece of thin brass sheet over the buck and then polish it out really smooth. That kept the clear plastic smooth and clear after forming. After the grill mold has cured well take some photos of it so we can see how it came out. Charlie

I know of no one who is making modern fire engine cabs. Not a lot of call for them. I've built two custom cabs from scratch, both Pierces but other builders cabs are quite similar. Not sure if manufacturers are still putting out line drawings on their calendars or not. They used to do one for every photo that put on the calendar face. Great information there. The cost of 3D printed cabs would be a lot and I'm not convinced the quality is there yet. Surfaces of most 3D printing still is rough and it takes a lot to smooth them out. The amount of effort to do that on top of the initial cost makes me lean to the scratch built option. Keep doing what you are doing. I think you will be surprised at the final results. The one thing you have not commented on yet is how you are going to do the windshield pieces. Any thoughts?

Look in your stash for old truck dashboards that might have some butterfly switches. I also use common pins for push/pull switches. I drill holes for them wherever they are to go, paint the panel and then insert the pins. The monogram 1/32 scale CF Mack dashboard has a line of switches. They are small but if put in the right place would be ok. The speedometer and tach dials along with oil, temp, fuel, water, etc I do with decals and then surround them with photoetch bezels. Use clear lacquer to secure the bezels. The clear will look like a glass face. A lot of it is getting it to look right and not necessarily with every switch and dial there is. Once you enclose the interior bucket there are only so many things you can see, unless you intend to open the doors. That's another story.

Are you using photos of the Ferrara interior? Any resemblance to the Trumpeter ALF interior!

Dom: I checked out the Trumpeter ALF grill. It looks like the ALF headlight cluster would work for you. Difference is that the grill is not right. I'd cut the headlight cluster free and look for a new grill that would resemble the Ferrara. They would have to match the PVC radius so some adjustment might have to be made.

Here's the Pierce cab with the PVC corners

Any particular cab that you are making? Replicas and Miniatures makes a lot of photoetch truck grill stock that you might use. I think it would be difficult to modify the Eagle grill and headlight assembly because of the curvature. The AMT LaFrance kit has separate headlight surrounds you might use. They are not square but still might work. Charlie

Dom: that is going to be a nice unit. Can I make a suggestion to you? I notice you are going to have to fill and sand the cab corners quite a bit. If you can get a piece of PVC pipe (3/4" diameter) you can slice it length wise into quarters and it will make a nice round corner that will be the same on both sides and you won't have to fill and sand to get smooth. Will be watching your progress! Looks like a lot of fun! If you check out the Pierce Tower in the WIP section you will see what I mean about using the pipe.

Teach them now how to use that stuff! Then there won't be anything for them to complain about!?

Looks to me like you have it almost there. Great job filling in the hole.

Put those is the parts box! Never enough headlights!

Wish I could say the same, Steve! I think working on the military builds spoiled me. Getting back into shiny paint and chrome trim has been a bear!!! Too little time has been spent in prep for painting and it shows, maybe not so much in the photos but I notice it!?

Hey, Peter! Well I think I solved it. I glued a piece of thin plastic sheet stock onto the surface of the buck. Then I followed up with some very fine sanding and ended with Novus polishing. I think the secret is a very smooth surface in order to get a clear copy. There is also a small window of when the PETG is just right for forming. Too little softening and it does not form all the way. Too much and there is a chance it will bubble. Also if the buck is not absolutely clean of dust or dirt, the copy will pick up every piece. The windshield pieces have now been set and will post some photos soon. They are not perfect but are much better than the previous ones. Working on other parts of the cab that I want to get done first.

What they said! Rreally nice!!??

Thanks, Greg (Noblng)! In the process of casting the lenses for the headlights and warning lights. When they are finished and set the lights can be mounted.

It's loooong for sure! Solved the windshield problem and got the chrome grill surround and headlight bezels done. Casting the lenses now so that I can get them mounted. I spent some time today correcting problems including the removal of the grill to reposition it more centered. Took off the striping also. There is an additional detail that needs to be added to the right side. One step forward, two back for a while now but things are looking better. Guess the elves finally got enough sleep to get them thinking straight again!?

Thanks for the tip, Greg. Will check it out. I'll take the buck. Clerks will probably wonder what I'm doing!?

Got the elves back to work with a little coaxing but I'm still not happy with some of their stuff. The windshield pieces still bug me as to why I can't seem to get a clear vacu form of it. It has to be the buck not being perfectly smooth as it always tends to be a bit cloudy. The pieces are in place but are removable so I may try again. Interior continues to come along. The doors are nearly done and only need the latches and the new glass sections. Then I can snip off the excess pins in the hinges. Each inside door panel is aluminum. It will get a latch and grab handle before being completed. The right side has a ventilation panel that was made with a piece of sheet aluminum and a decal to represent the openings. The real one is a series of arrow cutouts and the letters XT. This cab is the "Arrow" that Pierce put out a short while ago. It's no longer being made as they have moved on to other designations. One more project to complete the steps on each side. But the interior needs to be set in place first. Also the wheel well surrounds need to be chromed up. The back cab diamond plate panel is now dressed in embossed aluminum foil that was set with 2 part epoxy.

In that case I think it would be easy enough to cut a piece of plastic that would fit the opening and glue it in. You can build up the A post and trim with some strip stock and then with some putty clean up the seams. It seems a shame to ruin another model kit just for such a small area.

You didn't say if you have the missing piece or not. If you do I'd suggest gluing it back in and then just cleaning up the edges. '

Let me consult mit der elves. Perhaps dey vil share der secret.?