Chariots of Fire

Photos and measurements are the only way to go. Once the cab is measured I can do up some working drawings to go by and begin the construction. The grill is perfectly round in front so it will be shaped, cut out and have some photoetch mesh installed. Chrome trim gets added just prior to final paint and then rubbed out to reveal the BMF underneath.

There is really nothing that comes close to the look of a Maxim cab. So it will be scratch built. I did it once for the Maxim aerial but used a Kenworth windshield and interior. But even that won't quite cut it this time. Square plastic porch railing material will be used for the fenders. Brass for the hood, doors and hopefully the cab top. We'll start as usual with the frame, springs and axles.

It's been a while since I posted anything that is new. The last build finished in June was intense and I've needed a break from building. But now that fall has really set in and the winter snows will begin (but not yet) the building juices are beginning to flow a bit. For a long while now I have wanted to augment my '55 Maxim aerial with a pumper of the same style. The Onset Fire District in my home town had one that was unique in that it had a partial canopy cab. It is still around, privately owned and the cab has been cut down but the rest is intact. So here is what the real truck looks like and over the next few weeks I'll be collecting measurements for the build. I have several detail photos to go along with the delivery photos so there is plenty to work with. We'll keep posting once the build commences. A few years back I experimented with making a brass door in 1/25 scale with a working outside handle. It will be used as a template and somewhat improved upon so that both outside and inside door handles will work. Expect more brass work on this one. So keep tuned! As Ahhhhhnold once said; "I'll be baaaaack!"

Looks like it will be right on track, Terry. One thing, though. I'd ditch the antennas. In real life they would be about an inch thick. Cut them off, drill out the top of the mirror bracket and install some spring wire or stretched sprue.

It very well could have been Brian. I never did pay much attention to other than the lines of the cab being a close representation that I could work with! Thanks for the info!

For some reason this got posted twice. Not sure why. Anyway, here is another shot of the W500 cab that was done from the W300. In this one, the fender flairs were made wider, the rear window was made full width and the grill was changed. I also made the inner fender wells separate as Tom said the first castings with the inner wells intact made it difficult to cast. You can also see the windshield much better and it stayed the same as on the original master. I didn't mention it in the earlier post but there is also a drip edge that is above the windshield and that wraps all the way around to be hind the doors. It was made with 030" x 020" strip stock glued in place and then scribed next to the cab.

Not sure if this is the right part of the forum for this but I have been asked about the Dodge W300 and W500. I am not doing them but you will find a reference to someone who is further down the list under resin. I am posting some in progress pix of the W300 that I first made from a Ford cab back in 2004. I will explain the conversion process and how to produce a windshield for it. So here goes. This is the beginning of the W300 build using what I think was a'71 Ford p/u cab. It was not new when I got it but it had the basic lines of the Dodge along the sides of the front end and doors. In this photo you can see several changes that were made. The changes were made according to drawings that I found in a Dodge Body Builder's Guide so I think they are reasonably accurate. First the hood and cab were cut longitudinally in half and a 1/4" wide strip of evergreen was glued in. The two halves were then glued back together. You can see that in the photos. Next was to re configure the front fenders. In this photo you can see a diagonal line just back of the fender well. That is where the Ford fenders were cut away and new plastic sheet stock was glued in. Fender flaires were made by first cutting out the opening and glueing in sections of plastic strip stock. The stock was then built up to get the final opening by sanding and using some Squadron putty as a filler at the top of the flair where it meets the fender. The outer lip of the fender opening was made by glueing another piece of strip stock over the first one and then grinding away and sanding the inner wheel opening line to the shape found in the Builder's Guide. The hood of the Ford was changed also by slicing it in two places parallel to the outer edges and forcing the inner portion down. The inner portion was then glued back to the outer sections to form the depression found in the Dodge hood. It was also sanded flatter in front. It really should have been sanded more than I did after studying the final result and comparing it to photos of the real trucks. Alas, it is what it is today! The windshield and door lines were changed also. The Dodge windshield is quite short vertically and it begins with a raised lip at the base that turns the corners and becomes a portion of the side vent windows. You can see that in the photo above with the strip of plastic that curved around at the cowl and continued into the first part of the doors. The photo also shows some pieces of strip stock at the top of the windshield. This was the initial stage of extending the cab roof forward a bit and also dropping the top of the windshield. The Ford windshield is way too high. I have seen other Dodge castings that omit this and it really shows up as not consistent with a Dodge look. On to the doors. The Ford doors were the wrong shape as well but the basic contouring was ok. I filled in the concave portion of the door with plastic as you can see in this and the next photo.You can also see that the original door outline has been filled in and a piece of plastic has been added to the top of the window opening. Dodge doors had a slight taper downward at the top rear. Once that was sanded smooth, the outside of the door was re-scribed. In the photo above the amount of work necessary for the back of the cab is visible. First it was completely cut away from the Ford and reshaped by pieces of plastic sheet and strip stock. Much sanding and filling was necessary to achieve the final result. The pencil lines are indications of where some scribing will be done with a Dremel cutter for the final look. In the next photo you can see the hood and the beginning of the windshield work. The latter is not complete yet but the transformation from Ford to Dodge is apparent. Below is the first pop of the W300 after all of the work was done on the cab. This is a Tom Coolidge product based on the master built up from the Ford. In this photo you will note a strip around the upper portion of the windshield that lines up with the line of the windows in the doors. Now the windshield shape is about as it should be; much less height than the Ford windshield. The pickup body is also a resin pop that Tom did. In order to made a windshield of clear material I first made a template of paper the just fits behind the trim around the windshield opening. After the template was completed it was traced flat onto a piece of clear acetate. At this point it has no final shape but that it easily taken care of with a little hot water and some patience. Running the acetate under hot water will soften it just enough so it can be bent by hand. This was done to both ends to follow the general curvature of the windshield. After a lot of trimming and final bending, the acetate fit into its opening behind the trim pieces without any glue. Because of the way that Tom cast the cab there was a small groove at both top and bottom of the windshield that the acetate seemed to just pop into. It could be pushed into the corners with very little effort. One note about the acetate. Some material tend to craze when they are bent. I wear oxford shirts as a rule, the kind with the button down collars. (Guess that dates me). But when you get them from the store they have clear acetate to hold the collars in shape that you have to pull out and discard. I don't do that. I use it for windshields. It seems to bend easily without crazing. If any of you happen to have purchased one of Tom Coolidge's resin castings of the W300 but don't have the windshield template you can contact me. I still have it and would be glad to mail you out one so you can make up a windshield for your Dodge. Here's a look at the finished cab with the windshield in place. In this photo you can see the many changes that were done to the Ford to made the W300. Incidentally the headlight surrounds are the same as those in the L700 kit.

Not sure if this is the right part of the forum for this but I have been asked about the Dodge W300 and W500. I am not doing them but you will find a reference to someone who is further down the list under resin. I am posting some in progress pix of the W300 that I first made from a Ford cab back in 2004. I will explain the conversion process and how to produce a windshield for it. So here goes. This is the beginning of the W300 build using what I think was a'71 Ford p/u cab. It was not new when I got it but it had the basic lines of the Dodge along the sides of the front end and doors. In this photo you can see several changes that were made. The changes were made according to drawings that I found in a Dodge Body Builder's Guide so I think they are reasonably accurate. First the hood and cab were cut longitudinally in half and a 1/4" wide strip of evergreen was glued in. The two halves were then glued back together. You can see that in the photos. Next was to re configure the front fenders. In this photo you can see a diagonal line just back of the fender well. That is where the Ford fenders were cut away and new plastic sheet stock was glued in. Fender flaires were made by first cutting out the opening and glueing in sections of plastic strip stock. The stock was then built up to get the final opening by sanding and using some Squadron putty as a filler at the top of the flair where it meets the fender. The outer lip of the fender opening was made by glueing another piece of strip stock over the first one and then grinding away and sanding the inner wheel opening line to the shape found in the Builder's Guide. The hood of the Ford was changed also by slicing it in two places parallel to the outer edges and forcing the inner portion down. The inner portion was then glued back to the outer sections to form the depression found in the Dodge hood. It was also sanded flatter in front. It really should have been sanded more than I did after studying the final result and comparing it to photos of the real trucks. Alas, it is what it is today! The windshield and door lines were changed also. The Dodge windshield is quite short vertically and it begins with a raised lip at the base that turns the corners and becomes a portion of the side vent windows. You can see that in the photo above with the strip of plastic that curved around at the cowl and continued into the first part of the doors. The photo also shows some pieces of strip stock at the top of the windshield. This was the initial stage of extending the cab roof forward a bit and also dropping the top of the windshield. The Ford windshield is way too high. I have seen other Dodge castings that omit this and it really shows up as not consistent with a Dodge look. On to the doors. The Ford doors were the wrong shape as well but the basic contouring was ok. I filled in the concave portion of the door with plastic as you can see in this and the next photo.You can also see that the original door outline has been filled in and a piece of plastic has been added to the top of the window opening. Dodge doors had a slight taper downward at the top rear. Once that was sanded smooth, the outside of the door was re-scribed. In the photo above the amount of work necessary for the back of the cab is visible. First it was completely cut away from the Ford and reshaped by pieces of plastic sheet and strip stock. Much sanding and filling was necessary to achieve the final result. The pencil lines are indications of where some scribing will be done with a Dremel cutter for the final look. In the next photo you can see the hood and the beginning of the windshield work. The latter is not complete yet but the transformation from Ford to Dodge is apparent. Below is the first pop of the W300 after all of the work was done on the cab. This is a Tom Coolidge product based on the master built up from the Ford. In this photo you will note a strip around the upper portion of the windshield that lines up with the line of the windows in the doors. Now the windshield shape is about as it should be; much less height than the Ford windshield. The pickup body is also a resin pop that Tom did. In order to made a windshield of clear material I first made a template of paper the just fits behind the trim around the windshield opening. After the template was completed it was traced flat onto a piece of clear acetate. At this point it has no final shape but that it easily taken care of with a little hot water and some patience. Running the acetate under hot water will soften it just enough so it can be bent by hand. This was done to both ends to follow the general curvature of the windshield. After a lot of trimming and final bending, the acetate fit into its opening behind the trim pieces without any glue. Because of the way that Tom cast the cab there was a small groove at both top and bottom of the windshield that the acetate seemed to just pop into. It could be pushed into the corners with very little effort. One note about the acetate. Some material tend to craze when they are bent. I wear oxford shirts as a rule, the kind with the button down collars. (Guess that dates me). But when you get them from the store they have clear acetate to hold the collars in shape that you have to pull out and discard. I don't do that. I use it for windshields. It seems to bend easily without crazing. If any of you happen to have purchased one of Tom Coolidge's resin castings of the W300 but don't have the windshield template you can contact me. I still have it and would be glad to mail you out one so you can make up a windshield for your Dodge. Here's a look at the finished cab with the windshield in place. In this photo you can see the many changes that were done to the Ford to made the W300. Incidentally the headlight surrounds are the same as those in the L700 kit.

How about making a ramp for the back that the car would ride up on; something like the Ford LN race hauler? You could still leave some of the side compartments for tools etc. Can't see how you would get the car off the bed the way it is without some really long portable ramps.

If you are using the rear mount ladder just cut off the turntable part, make a ramp and keep the side compartments for tools and spare parts. You can fill in the jack locations as well with some sheet plastic or keep a pair of them to support the car when it's being loaded.

I'm with Zil! I love the color! Nice clean work. Got room for an extinguisher on the rear step?

Thanks, Harry. Much appreciated.

yup!

Just finished this relatively easy build using two different sources for some items. Monogram supplied the basic kit which thankfully had the right cab sheet metal for a solid cab that I could cut away and apply to the roadster cab. Tires and wheels came from the parts box as the kit only had hot rod tires and wheels. Paint is Krylon Hunter Green and Duplicolor Engine Black. Krylon satin black was used for the frame and top. First photo is the real truck. Photos of the Model taken in the same location as the real one.

One at a time. More than enough to keep me busy!

This was in my e-mail this morning. Looks very suspicious to me. Came from harrypri@outlook.com Hello,I am very sorry I could not inform everyone about my trip to (Manila,Philippines) for a program because it was impromptu, the program was successful but my journey has turned sour I was mugged at gun point and all my valuables were stolen cash, credit cards and phone, where I went for sightseeing before leaving to the airport since my return flight is in few hours. Luckily I had my passport in my hotel room to get me home.It's was a bad experience I need your help financially to get back home, I need to settle some outstanding hotel bills and also take a cab to the airport, I have contacted my bank but the best they can do is to mail a new card which will take 3 days to get here, Please let me know if you can help me out? I promise to make the immediate refund when i get home.All hopes on you.Harry

A little tip on how you formed the fenders, please!!

Check out Shapeways. I had a tire made for a 11:00 x 20 application. They have them on their website. it has a mud/snow tread.

I was at my office beginning to settle in for the day's work when my oldest son called and said we should look at TV. My wife who was also office manager went home and got our small portable TV and we were aghast at what we saw. We got the TV at the office in time to see the second plane actually hit the second tower. And who could possibly forget Todd Beamer and the people aboard the plane that went down in Pennsylvania. "Greater love hath no man than he lay down his life for his friends". Jesus said that.

Do you remember where you were on September 11, 2001? I do. I can't believe it has been 15 years and it seems like it was yesterday!

Tomorrow is September 11. A second Day of Infamy. Pray that it will be a day of respectful remembrance and that the memory of those that were lost in 2001 will not be disrespected for their sacrifice.

Tom is no longer doing any casting work due to some lingering health problems. He lives in Colorado.

In my opinion it is. Duplicolor dries fast and hard. Rustoleum in my experience can remain soft for quite a while.

Try Beadalon nylon coated stainless steel beading wire. It looks like real winch cable and is 0.015" diameter. Only drawback is that it is very springy and if you don't keep a tight rein on it when you wind it, it loosens up and you have to rewind it. Use some superglue sparingly to hold it in place. Here's an example of how it looks.

Not in my book. Nothing makes an otherwise good looking model look bad as with a poor clear coat. And nothing beats a good in between coat sanding and final polishing out. When done right clear coats aren't necessary except for may some of the exotic paints that are used on real cars.