Chariots of Fire

That boom is just crying for some brass work!!?

Continuing on...The top bars have been put together all as one piece so that they could be painted away from the rest of the rig. Trying to do it while attached and with a brush would be a disaster. The work was done by first fabricating the parts on the top of the body sides. As one piece they run forward over the cab and stop just in front of the windshield. Then the two main bars from the corners of the lower brush bar were added and soldered where the first bars stop. This gave me a solid beginning to work everything else around. Solid brass rods were used for all except for the short sections on top of the body which were done with tubing so that a piece of plastic rod could be inserted inside. The rods were ground down at each end to form a pin that would go into pre-drilled holes. They helped keep everything in place as the soldering progressed. After soldering was complete the joints were cleaned up with small files. Here is the complete upper bar work standing alone for painting. After it dried it was re-set using the pins as guides. Note the plastic rods and pins that go in the drilled holes that are visible on the lower bars. With the bar work completed it is now permanently fixed to the model.

GE used to say progress was their most important product. So we got progress. But I'm not GE.? Lots of detail stuff going on since the last post. The body and cab are now secured to the frame and the front bar work has been completed. It stiffened up a lot with the addition of the braces. Next will be to start the upper brush bars that will be made of brass rod soldered and pinned together. Here is the progress so far.

When you do make sure the paving crew members stay 72 mm away from each other. (that's a scale 6' in case anybody needs to know)?

Well, I guess you did all of the right things. Reference materials, photos, measurements go a long way to getting things right. Hope you have enough sub-assemblies that you can paint separately. Something I have done a couple of times now when it comes to painting is to brush paint areas that are hard to get at with a rattle can or air brush without putting too much paint there. Use a bottle color that is close to what the outside color will be. I think a flat is better than a gloss. When you do the rest of the outside the overspray will cover the edges of the brush painted areas so you won't even notice the difference.

Yer joshin' right? You don't know much about this machine????????????????????????????Looks to me that you know a lot about it! Fantastic work my friend!!?

Got it a long time ago from a UK supplier. Unfortunately he went out of business and they are no longer available. I wish they were as they are real handy for hood and even doors that have the continuous hinge. The small door hinges are readily available from places like Micro-Mark.

The body got a coat of paint today but it needs one more. It is a shade darker than the cab and that is just a case of not as much paint on the body as on the cab. A light sanding and then a final coat should do it.

Too coarse unless it is N or Z scale. Asphalt aggregate is 3/4" or smaller in actual scale.

Makes you wonder if he's going to find some scale asphalt mix to put inside the hopper, eh???

The hose is sewing elastic that I stained. The reel is from one of the AMT American LaFrance kits. I thinned down the reel sides considerably before assembly. It still needs supports, the supply line and the small electric motor for rewinding the hose.

??!!!!?️A high 5 for sure!

Work continues with some painting completed. Doing pieces separately on this model seems to be working best as I don't have too much paint in some places and not enough in others. Also got started on the Wisconsin V-4 powered Hale pump for the rear. Lots more to go.

Well Done! That's about as nice as it gets! Blade weathering is especially perfect!

This whole mess can cause one to get a bit edgy. I don't know what the future will bring but I know One who does. Nothing to fear, really.

You keep going and the Decker Construction Company is going to need a bigger shop!?

That looks like pretty greasy mud!!?

No I didn't but it was not difficult. The hood is made of 4 pieces of brass. In the photo above you will note a solder line at the break in contour. For the bottom section, I placed a piece of the brass in a small brake to put a sharp bend in it. I then cut the brass close to the sharp bend side. I did this for each side of the hood. Then I laid this curved piece down with the sharp bend edge just touching another flat piece of brass that I annealed to soften it. The two pieces were then soldered together. In the photo above you can see where the curved bottom section overlaps the other piece. Then I used a piece of brass tubing as a form and bent the top piece of each side of the hood to finish the curve at the sides. I did this repeatedly until I had each side close to the bends I needed. Then and only then did I cut the two hood sides to fit the opening. Once this was done I soldered each half of the center hinge in place. The brass pin that holds the hinge together was replaced with a piece of stainless steel rod of the same size. The steel is stiffer and allowed the two hood sides to be taken apart repeatedly until the fit was as close as I could get it. Filing the edges took some time. I drilled small holes in the cowl and radiator shell for two small slivers of brass sheet that had holes drilled in them to accept the steel rod. After the hood was put in place and the slivers dropped in each hole I put a small amount of superglue in the hole to secure them. Final fitting took place after this was done because now I had a secure way to align the hood each time. The louvers on the hood sides are pieces of quarter round plastic rod. Latches are pieces of brass rod with an inside catch.

Here are a couple of update photos. Got started on the supports for the front brush bars and finished up the front mounted winch.

Now that is scratch building at its finest! Great work and congratulations on a well presented work horse.

Painting it the right colors will be a challenge. Red here, silver there, everywhere a bit of it. Glad it's still in pieces!

Work began on the brush bars use on this rig. They are made of 3/16" wide channel backed up by small gussets and pieces of sheet stock at the joints. It's pretty flimsy at this point but once all of the bracing gets put in place it will be much stiffer. The smaller bars that go over the top of the cab will be made of brass rod soldered together. They in turn will be joined at the top brush bar. Below the top brush bar will be the extended front bumper. There will be braces between them as well. A front mounted winch will go in between the frame rails so the front bumper treadplate will have to be cut away for it to fit in. I also made up the tread plate pieces that go under the cab and between the front fenders and the body. They form a step for getting in and out of the truck.

Got some additional work done on the body. Lots of fiddly fitting and sanding for parts to fit right. The running boards are basically done as far as the cab. Two small cabinets were closed in on each side. The small rectangles are for Don Mills Models square latches. Windshield wipers on the cab are made from common pins soldered together and bent to shape. Small hex nuts raise the wiper arms above where they enter the cowl. The back side of each door handle was cut out. They were painted with Molotow chrome. The rear of the body has been worked on as well with two compartments built up as a separate piece. It will be kept separate for painting as it is much easier to reach recesses while the pieces are apart. The side compartment on this side is slightly smaller than on the drivers side. An opening is left for the exhaust pipe.

Must have been fun doing the de-icing during a snow storm!!? Good scratch building!

Very nicely done! Great work