Chariots of Fire

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.?

I'm still not seeing the responses to my posts even though it gives me a notice at the top of the page that there is one. Sometimes the response is just a heart image. Other times; nothing. Is there something I need to fix? It doesn't happen to all responses, just some. At other times they show up days later. Could use your help.

Got a bit of paint on the cab but there are a few small places that need some touchup. I used Duplicolor #398 red and Duplicolor Standard Black over Duplicolor gray primer. I painted the black directly over the red without any problems. The corner at the color line needs a small amount of straightening but that may be taken care of with a separation stripe. Not sure without looking if the actual truck has one. The back of the cab will get a full piece of aluminum embossed foil as a covering.

You did a great job on that truck! Super all the way around!?

The Providence, Rhode Island truck is made from the same Monogram kit used in this post. I extended the cab and added the extra doors. The body was modified to look like the Providence rig.

The suggestions above are all great. Done my own versions of them from time to time. One thing I try to remember, though, is that if the detail cannot be seen on the finished model, most of the time it is not worth the effort to try and construct. That is unless it is simply for one's personal satisfaction of knowing it is there. In the latter case that is what really counts!?