Chariots of Fire

Where'd that come from, Cheshire, MA? If it did it's a long way from home!

That is some nice work! Looking forward to seeing more!

I think they look nice white. Any graphics going on them?

Today I finished up the engine by adding an air cleaner, the radiator hose and filler cap, some widgets on the firewall to connect some loose wiring to and plumbed the carb. There are also two small lights on the firewall to aid in seeing things after dark. These trucks usually ran a bit hot so the operator could open the hood, crack a valve and take water from the pump and direct a portion of it to the radiator to help with additional cooling.

How big do you need? KS makes brass hex head nuts and bolts down to #90 size. There is an outfit that makes fake ones that look nice but don't work.

For a while now I've been wondering how to adequately secure the hood with latches that look like the real ones. Working in 1/25 scale has its limitations but after a fashion I found that it is possible to do a latch that looks realistic enough. I used some bright pins that I could solder together to form a "T" for the latch and with some brass 1/16" square tubing and 1/16 angle I was able to form the mounting points for the latch and the receiver that is on the hood corners. I soldered a piece of very small brass tubing to the bottom of the "T" and drilled holes in the square tubing after I had removed one face to form a "C". Then I drilled holes in the sides of the "C" and in the back face to solder a pin. A small brass rod was inserted into the holes in the "C" and the brass tubing to hold it all together. The rod was crimped on both ends to hold it from falling out. Now the hood can be opened and it firmly secured with the latches.

Will the grill from the White Road Boss fit?

The work continues. With the details now being added it is looking more like a piece of fire apparatus. The steps on top of the rear fenders are pieces of aluminum folded in a small bending brake and covered with aluminum foil embossed over a piece of Don Mills Hobbies treadplate. The embossing is done with a soft pencil eraser. The opening above the rear step is for the booster hose reel. It will be mounted to the frame when the body is permanently fixed. Still much to do so it will have to wait until other things are done. And they require removing the body from the frame for now.

If there is enough shine on the paint so that the decals do not ghost, I'd leave it alone. Looks good the way it is.

The color is great! Use some BMF on the grill! Headlight surrounds too!

The details are beginning to add up. The cab interior is done with the steering wheel, brake lever, shift lever, pump lever, gas, brake and clutch pedals in place. The dash is also finished. I found a photoetch gage cluster that was a perfect match to the real thing. Windshield is in place and the interior door handle and window crank are done.

That last one looks a lot like the vehicles used in the TV show Desert Rats a few years ago. I know that made one in 1/35 scale.

OH, That is good stuff! I love it when someone goes the extra mile. What great work!

I think that is because Chevy and GMC built the military trucks for the army. IH also supplied some. They changed the hood, grill and fenders obviously but you could start with the Chevy cab with no problems. The side view that you show is great to get the slope of the hood. You'ld have to find some louvers of the right size for the sides of the hood. Could be a great project!

Detail the crane! The crane! What a beautiful load for the low boy trailer! Have at it JT!!

More progress, still. Now that the paint is about finished some of the bright work could be added. After much frustration with the bright BMF I went back to a piece of the older BMF that I had still around. It attaches well and most important, it stretches just a little. Enough to go around some corners and not tear. With a little TLC and a polishing cloth it looks just as good as the new stuff. Now to see if I can find some of the better BMF for future projects! The doors open and will close with the latch. The outside door handle retracts the latch so that the doors will open. The interior door panels will be painted black and then the inside door handle and window crank will be added.

After working on several detail parts, I did some priming and lots of sanding of the completed cab and body. This is one time that it's all incorporated into one. The hard part was knowing that inside that rear bench seat area I needed to still paint it red. Rather than try and spray a lot of paint around inside I opted to paint with some Model Master Insignia red that is a close match. It is a flat color and goes on good with a brush. That way any overspray from the outside will blend with the part inside that is already painted. I may add a bit of clear gloss inside just to take the curse off it but all in all it looks ok. The photo shows the work to date and is a lot like the real rig might look having just come out of the paint booth.

That's quite a workshop it's sitting in! That in itself is great! Pat: If you want to know where you can get some stainless wire for the hinges (for next time) let me know. We have a guy not far from us that has all sorts of great scratch building materials.

I can see you not only know what things look like but you can do it in scale! Impressive! Great work!

Been plenty of those around our area over the years. They just seem to be the right combination of truck and mixer; well balanced and a real hard worker. Nice job! That's a keeper!

That is some truck yard you've got! Quite a fleet of all kinds! I'm lucky if I get one or two done a year!

The fiddly stuff is sometimes real tedious like the headlight pods and bezels. I made the pods from Renshape and epoxied them to the fenders rather than with superglue. That way I could adjust the location while the epoxy was setting. With the superglue it would have been one shot and that's it. Too critical to take that chance. And one of the bezels is now done using the brass tubing in the photo. After the bezel was shaped and cleaned it was plated. There is still a hint of the brass showing through so I think it will need another soak.

Looking good towman! Great job on the hose load!

Very nicely done! Love the tires! That's what a working truck should look like. Mirror brackets are always one of the things that can be improved with very little effort. Putting them more in scale does so much for the overall look of the rig.

If you want to replicate the rivets check out Micro-Mark. They make a sheet of decal rivets for HO and O scale trains. I've used them to represent riveted cabs and bodies. They slide on just like regular decals. I put them on after priming so that they don't get completely lost in the color coat.