Chariots of Fire

What they all said! Nice clean work!

What they said! Very nicely done!

Here are just a few of the things I have been able to accomplish. Right now I'm waiting for some mold release to come in so I can prepare the new molds for the door and fender piece that you see set up on clay. In the back are the completed door and fender piece for the other side. The cab will be a challenge because the door and windshield openings are so big. We'll see how that goes!

I use the 2 part molding rubber from Micro-Mark. They have two kinds; one that sets up in about 4 hours and another (which I am currently using) that sets up in about 30 minutes. They both appear to pick up the details quite well. Biggest thing with both is to be sure to apply plenty of mold release if you are doing a two parter. Mixing ratios are 1:1 for both.

Thanks to the internet I have photos of the USFS emblem used on the doors. So I scanned them in to my graphics program and drew up a set of decals based on the photos. They are just about ready to go for when the truck gets painted.

I kept the wheel openings the same. The tires are somewhat larger diameter than the ones on the diecast original but they seem to fit inside ok. I used an Ertl frame but found that the Jada diecast is a wee bit narrow so I had to take in the front axle on both sides. Today I stripped the paint from the cab, doors and fender pieces. I'm in the process of making resin castings of each of these pieces so I can extend the cab to a 4 dr. The resin castings will also be much lighter than the metal masters which will make mounting them a little better. Will post some pics as soon as I am sure the mold will separate ok. The mold release solution lately has not worked well (it may be old) so I placed an order for some new release agent today.

If you can get your hands on some of the old Aurora California Fire Truck wheels they are pretty good. The snap kit tires I think would fit them.

The Coleman has been put aside until the spirit moves me to really get involved in it. In the meantime I have wanted to do a USFS rig for a while now and it has been started with this preliminary work. The DT466 is being built up from photos but with some help from the parts bin. The chassis came from an Ertl International kit but it has been modified. The rear springs came from a diecast and it is now a single axle truck rather than a tandem axle rig. The two hole Budd wheels I got a long time ago. Tires have been cast from a set of 3D resin cast tires I picked up from Gary Wallace. His stuff is top rate. In the foreground is a Boley truck in 1/72 scale (so the package says) but it is more like 1:87. The rig I'm building, though will be a crew cab and will have a pump panel and hose reels up top.

I'll bet one like that would be something to try and keep on the road with such a short wheelbase! Nice job!

Hi, Robert. That's coming along nicely. I notice the drip rails at the top of the door line look a bit thin. When I built my '38 COE I sanded them right off and after all of the cab work was done I glued on a strip of 020x030 stock in the same place and then scribed out the top to form a new gutter. It comes out very clean that way.

Interesting! Wonder what you would call it? Any chance you will remove the KW grill and reconfigure for an ALF Pioneer?

Sorry to be so late on the reply. The cab is a resin casting from Modelhaus. Don Holthaus is the caster and I believe he is in Indiana.

Dave: My two cents. Remove the front radiator guard and the railing on top of the bumper. Use the treadplate on top of the bumper for your Fed. Q2B! The rig is classy in its own way and doesn't need a lot of stuff out front. For those vertical corner markers you were thinking about; use some thin chrome wire and just dip the top end in some clear red or clear green. Keep dipping until the paint builds up into a small rounded blob. Drill a hole in the corners of the bumper and insert the wire. You are right! Lots of changes since the first go 'round.

Did you prime the plastic before applying the Krylon? I can see some swirls that sometimes occur when hot paint is applied directly to the plastic.

Not this time, Neil. I'm a bit tapped out for travelling. Need to recharge the batteries as well as get some outside work done before it gets too cold.

I agree with the guys who are suggesting you leave it alone and move on to another project. Use this one as a learning experience. Later on you will be glad you left it alone so you can compare results and see the progress you have made. We all wish we could do a project over but as has already been said, sometimes taking them apart does more harm than good. Just MHO!

Very nice combination of the blue and steel. Great paint job as well!

If this is your first attempt at painting a truck I think I would try a one color paint job first. You don't say whether you have an air brush or if you will use a spray can. In either case doing a paint job like you show is something you might try after you have had some experience with painting. Give us an idea of what you have done so far. Perhaps we can offer some advise that would better fit your situation.

David that is some great work! To those of you who might not build a lot of fire apparatus, what you are seeing is the work of someone who has an eye for the details that set off his model from run of the mill stuff. At the same time he has updated a rig that is now several years old. Trumpeter did a pretty decent job on the kit so that it can be built box stock with good results. But David has made the leap to the next level with his work. I love it!

Dunno what happened. Hope it stays there this time!

Recently I made a trip to New Hampshire to get some photos and measurements of this 1929 Coleman. Although it has not been confirmed, word has it that it saw service in Gorham, Maine as a snow plow rig. It's quite a piece of equipment and was one of the early rigs to have 4 wheel drive as did Oshkosh. So over the next few months I'll be posting some in progress stuff for your critique and comment on the build over in the Work in Progress section.

I agree with JT and the other posters regarding what you do for your son. Find a plastic toy that looks a little like yours and he will be happy. As far as the diecast is concerned, i'd strip it with a good stong paint stripper. When diecasts are painted they tend to lay on the paint pretty heavy. Overspraying will only hide that much more of the detail. Strip after you remove all of the plastic parts if there are any. Stripper will just melt them away if you don't. Prime with a good etching primer and then repaint.

Fill the hose bed. Try using sewing elastic for hose. Shoe laces are way to rough and out of scale. The sewing elastic comes in 2 flat sizes, 1/4" and 1/8". It also comes in 1/16" diameter round. Use it the way it is with aluminum tubing cut for couplings. Check out the tutorial I did on the Scale Firehouse site. Look for the Tutorials section. It will give you some pointers on how to fill the bed without using a lot of elastic. A great tribute.

This build from a New Hampshire modeler took best truck model in the Classic Plastic model show last week. AITM cab and tires and wheels I believe. He had to cut down the sanding rig to fit in the dump body. The truck was weathered to look like it had just finished plowing after a winter storm.

Nice job! A great job on the paint scheme. I agree with a comment about the outer ring on the front wheels being missing. They need to be added.