Chariots of Fire

Now that the Reo has gone to the caster, modifications have begun on a Sterling by changing the length of the hood from the West Coast version to one that is shorter and with louvers rather than with the chrome trim. The radiator was also modified. Looking to turn this one into a nice compact heavy duty dump.

The Reo is now in the hands of AITM. Molds will be started on Monday.

Thank you, Hermann. It will be a while before I get the results back. I have another project to start and that is to convert a West Coast long hood Sterling into the short hood version with louvers in the hood sides rather than the chromed trim. Sort of like this one.

Good question, Bill. I don't have one but it's certainly a possibility.

I think the chassis from the AMT Ford Snowplow kit would work. You would have to change the rear axles from tandem to single, though. The chassis I show above is one from the AMT American La France kits. I think that would work also but it might need some adjustment up front because that particular frame was for a cab forward apparatus but the rear axle is a single. Knowing all of that maybe the right thing would be to combine the relevent components from each kit. Your choice, really.

I sent it out to AITM this morning. Looking forward to the first pop!

The initial work on a Reo is finished and is all boxed up ready to go to AITM for casting. As soon as a resin pop is available I will post the results. Headlight inserts will not be part of the package but everything else will including the floorboards and dash which are inside the cab in this photo along with templates for the glass. Also decals for Gold Comet and Reo will be included.

That's the stuff! Great to work with. I see an IH R-190 is part of this rig also! I did one just a short time ago. Here is my latest project using Renshape. The fenders, hood and grill are all made with Renshape.

Here's an update on where the work has gone so far. I mocked up a frame and set some tires in place just to get the feel for what it might look like. The cab and fenders are done. I finished the basics of the floorboard today and the dashboard a couple of days ago. Still to go are some running boards. Clear stock has been cut and fitted for the glass. The seat is a resin casting from another project but I think it fits the bill. These are the parts that I am looking to get cast. The bumper is included. I just forgot to put it in the photo. Runing boards will be included as well. Tires and wheels will not. I tried to make the parts to go together as easy as possible. The dash fits snugly just below the windshield line. The floorboards have a positive location point with the vertical firewall and the back of the cab. The bottom of the floorboards fit flush with the bottom of the cab. The fenders have a flange around them that fits against the inside of the hood. The projections on the front of the fenders fit into the notch of the grill. The fender flanges also fit between the sides of the body and the sides of the floorboard so everything can be glued together pretty solid. Very little adjustment will be needed to make sure the fenders are square and level.

I bought the lathe because I knew there were certain things I wanted to do with it. To me a mill is secondary although I use my small drill press and a cross slide for that purpose on a limited basis. Just a question of what sort of things need to be made for what we do as modelers.

I'm glad to see so many doing things with a lathe. What a great tool it is. That and learning a bit about soldering small parts has made a big difference in how I approach my scratch building. Another material I found was Renshape. It is good not only for making patterns to cast from but it is great stuff to carve. With no grain it is strong in every direction. And when it is milled there is no fuzz around the edges of the cut. I was very fortunate a couple of years ago to be able to purchase a 2" x 4' x 24" block of the 450 grade for very little $$. Oh. And it takes primer and paint with no problems.

Worked up a dashboard, found a seat and steering wheel that will be the right kind. Last is to do the floor pan, running boards and some inner door panels. Templates made for windshield, vent windows in doors and rear window. As soon as the floor pan, running boards and door panels are done I'm shipping it all out for casting. We'll see what happens.

It's been a chore to get all of the little things taken care of that would really show up in a finished model. The belt line under the door windows and along the hood has been especially troublesome because I had built the hood and cab separately and then mated them together. Re-sculpturing has been the only way to take care of it. Anyway I think we are getting there. The hood lines are now reasonably uniform and straight. Today I got the door handles made up and installed. Ordinarily I would not put them on a cab before it is finished but in this case I'm pretty sure they can be cast as is. It was done for the IH Loadstar. The fenders most likely will be cast separate from the hood and cab but will be cast with temporary spacers so that they can be evenly mated to the hood and cab as a unit. Then the spacers can be cut away. There is no reason once the casting is done that the hood and doors could not be cut open and made separate either. That will allow for a lot of engine display as the whole hood and grill raise up as one piece. Kind of neat thinking about the possibilities. I still have to add the door hinges, give it another coat of primer and see where the remaining flaws might be.

Man! Why do they do that?? Is it because they want to save on re-tooling or is it that they just are not that observant as to how things should look? Just sayin'!

I tend to stay away from Rustoleum primers and paints because they take so long to set up and are very soft. Krylon makes a good gray primer filler and it works well under Duplicolor with no crazing. Found the primer at Walmart.

From the vendor I mentioned you can order individual bits or make up a pack of 10 with your favorites. I usually get 5 of each. They come in a nice plastic box with the bit sizes on the label.

I've done the foil under paint a number of times. It works. Cut the foil as close to the raised image as best you can with a new sharp Xacto blade. Make sure it is burnished down real good. It's true that the paint will hide the edges as it tends to collect some at the script. Take your time removing the paint. Remember you are basically just removing the surface and not right down to every little crevice. A couple of tries and the results will quickly show up nicely.

Try warming the pieces just a bit and wrapping it around a piece of tubing first, forming it with your fingers. It will take the stress out of it so when you go to bend it around what you need it works easier. The tubing best to use is either brass or aluminum. As to the warming part, you can put it in some warm water first.

Ok, now coat the inside bottom of the bed with asphalt residue and do the same to the bottom of the tailgate area. ? That's nice work! Thanks for sharing!

If you want some really sharp but equally brittle small drill bits for pinning try Drill Bits Unlimited. He has all sorts of sizes right down to hair size. I say brittle because they will break if you put any out of line stress on them but they are the greatest small bits ever. It just takes getting used to. #72 and #74 are good sizes for common pins and small brass wire.

You are onto something, Jim. A suggestion for the flare at the outside of the rim. Take the white plastic out if you can and then glue it to a flat plastic sheet. When it is dry cut out the middle and then leave just a thin lip around the outside. It can be rounded to shape. And I've had a Sherline lathe for ages. I'm no expert but it really works well for what I do. I've made tires, hubs, sirens, headlights and a few other things that I could then cast and make duplicates of. It's a great tool.

Wow! That one has seen some work!

What drove me to scratch build? I found out real quick that it became boring building the same ALF over and over with slight changes here and there. Fire apparatus over the years have been built by so many different outfits the decision was pretty easy. Scratch build or continue building the same old same old. It has allowed me to do some subjects that I otherwise would not have attempted. Along the way it has been an enjoyable experience trying different materials and methods. Soldering has been the greatest improvement in my building BUT I am no metal worker. Thank goodness for Evergreen stock, brass shapes and different sizes. Peteski said it best above when he mentioned just building with styrene was way too limited. I have to admit, though that without ACC I would be lost. That has been the best thing since sliced bread! Just to be clear, though, I didn't start out scratch building and I suspect most of us who do it started that way as well. I remember trying to scratch build a truck years ago but got way ahead of myself in the skill level. To make a long story short I destroyed a Smith Miller GMC dump truck in the process. It is a learning experience for sure and trying new approaches is just part of that experience.

Thank you Dr. K. Glad you are enjoying the builds. I find it a lot of fun to do.

Hi, Jeff. No I won't be casting the cabs but that doesn't mean that won't happen. Talking with someone else about doing that. But before I send it out I need to do some more work. Bumper, running boards, interior tub, seat, dashboard need to be made as well and that will take a little time. But stay tuned. I think it will happen.