hooknladderno1

My favorite Heavy Rescue of all time! When I joined the fire service in 1981, we ran this Mack CF/Swab 1975 Heavy Duty Rescue: Project is started, but need to work out some of the technical details... David

Carter, If you look back a page, check out the "WIP;; 1999 Chevy Silverado Crew Cab" build. Victor gives dimensions on what he did to make his conversion. Check it out! David

Steve, I have a 1:1 2003 F-250 with a 7.3 Power Stroke Diesel engine. If you need any reference photos, let me know. David

I would be just fine with that! David

Hi Guys, I am looking for photos of the fire rescue teams' pickup based trucks that roll on crashes at the NASCAR races. Can be from the 80's, as I am looking to build one that served at Daytona International Speedway. My IPMS chapter is doing a "NASCAR at Daytona" themed club build. I have searched the Internet, and posted this question elsewhere. Most of the responses featured a late model red Pierce pumper. I am hoping to find some information and reference photos of a truck kit that is/was readily available. Am I dreaming, or did such vehicles ever exist??? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Also open to something a little different, such as the jet dryers used after rain to dry the track, or any other "different" subject matter... Thanks! David

Tom, Super job! I can see that as a fire department brush truck. The Cinnaminson Fire Dept. actually either still runs a short bed version of this or did up until very recently... A fellow firefighter friend used to have one of these in a metallic brown. David

Blair, Nice AC Bulldog! I especially like the weathering, and the vignette. I am a sucker for exposed brick walls. Nicely done! David

Another interesting twist in this story is that I eventually did make a few changes to the "dry side" tanker body. I DID actually cut it in half down the middle. I also placed it behind a scratchbuilt Pierce Lance cab that I had built. It is a little oversized as is the tanker body, that has also been modified. As for the above tanker body, I believe I have found a solution: The cab is from "Models by Dave". It's raised roof makes the transition to the high hosebed of the tanker not look so out of proportion... David

I took a new frame and wheels, along with a New Bright 1/32 elliptical tank. Over time, the project evolved to this: [url=http://s176.photobucket.com/user/hooknladderno1/media/Mack%20R%20Tanker/TankerBody02.jpg.html][ /URL] Originally, the rear of the body was flat. I thought it needed a small extension, so I added an angular piece to the outside panel on each side. Still, the pump panel engineering was a challenge... Again, the project was put aside. Then, we moved and the rig was put in storage. Until now While on vacation, This project was brought home. Work began on roughing out the pump panel. Here is where it sits tonight. As I have a busy week coming up, I don't expect any progress until next weekend. Thanks for looking! David

Hey Guys, This is a project that has taken a few turns along it's journey. This was the inspiration for this build. Since at the time I began this rig, no Freightliner FL Series cab was available( I have since bought the Plaskit version, but that is for another project). It started out with a Mack R style cab, but it looked a little dated. I checked my "stash", and found a Plaskit Mack RD resin hood. It was posed with an R cab for a mockup The cab was stripped, hood glued, and painted: The dry side tanker body was scratchbuilt. After the pump panel was roughed out, these photos were taken: After investing so much time in the tanker body, I realized, that it was too narrow. I couldn't bring myself to cut it up, so I set the project aside for a while. A fellow modeler built a great International elliptical tanker model that I really admired. He shared his construction techniques and the following advice: "Sometimes a project comes out looking totally different from how we imagined it". How true! This is when I made some major changes...

Hi Guys, Well, today is the last day of my vacation... Besides spending time with my family, setting up an area in the apartment for my dedicated decal computer, I have also had time to work on a few projects! This is one that was stalled. Embarrasingly, I was so afraid of screwing up gluing in the windows on the cab that I just kept putting it off. Finally, armed with a container of Gator's Glue and some courage, I tackled the challenge without too much difficulty! The fear of messing something up has slowed my building over the years. I am finally trying to move past this obstacle by reminding myself to "not sweat the small stuff". It is a hobby after all. Anyway, here are some photos: I also tackled some of the engine components which are now being filled and sanded: The cab interior detailing will be finished, then the cab will be "buttoned up" and the "glass" masked in preparation for primer and paint. Rain today and a busy work schedule through late next week will put those plans on hold for a bit... The goal will be a white over bright yellow color scheme as shown with the rest of the fleet at the beginning of this thread. Thanks for looking! David

Hi Guys, Another update! After carefully masking off the "natural wood" areas, I painted the exterior with two coats of Tamiya rattle can gloss black. Between coats, each surface was treated to a warm relaxing visit to the dehydrator, followed by a light wet sanding. I am not happy with the resulting finish, as shown by the pictures below: I may sand down the areas that are black, especially along the raised horizontal molding below the window opening of the ambulance body... I plan to refinish it with some Model Master or Duplicolor gloss black after doing some compatibility testing... Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. David

I Love Hummers! I have converted this kit the Revell/Monogram Jurassic Park Hummer into several fire service vehicles. Some are completed, some remain unfinished at this time...

Tyrone, Nice conversion to a 4 door crew cab! I also like the running boards and "filling of the gap" at the front. I am more of a "stock" kinda guy, but the Peterbilt wheels are growing on me... Look forward to future updates! David

Looks great Jonathan! You may want to only use the rear window tops, to reduce the amount of cutting, puttying, and sanding that you'll have to do for the side doors. Just a thought.... David

Great news! (at least for me ). The ALPS printer survived the move! I was able to create the decals described above. This was the rough draft to see if I could create something that would be small enough to fit the space, but still be readable. The second version of these contains a single layer of gold, which will be overlayed by a red outline. Thanks to the guidance of some great modelers from another forum (thanks Rich and Bob), I did indeed decide to create a tailgate to replace the full rear doors. The yellow color that you see on the interior is the first step in replicating a woodgrain pattern for the interior. Obviously, the project is currently held together by Tamiya masking tape. Lots more to do! Thanks for looking! David

Nice project! I have an ambulance project that I am working on like this. One suggestion for future conversions where you need to make straight cuts is to use the old Dymo label tape,(the thick adhesive backed plastic kind) available at Walmart. I apply two layers to reduce the chance of the razor saw "jumping" the cut. Another thought to reduce the problems where the roof tapers is to seperate the roof sections from the sides. Once each is completed, join the roof to the sides. It works really well! I will be following this build for sure! David

Dan, Nice work on the dually! Trevor, The F-250 came out really nice! I have been working on the two F-250/350 brush trucks ('88 and '92) that my fire dept. ran in the early '90's. The 4x4 ride height has also been my biggest challenge! I did the same cab surgery to convert the club cab to a regular cab. Kits are currently in storage, or I would post the projects. Any suggestions for performing the 4x4 conversion? Thanks. David

Tony, Nice ambulance! When looking up Ford ambulances from that era, most of the photos are of that style. I have made some progress on my project. The frame and engine have been built up. I usually don't build engines on my models, but thought I would give it a try on this one. While researching what color paint the engine would have had, I came across this really neat article.http://www.mtfca.com/encyclo/P-R.htm#paint1 . In addition to the color reference information, there is a great article by Trent Bogess in the text which explains how Fords of this era were painted and with what. Now, as few photos can be found of what the rear of these ambulances looked like, I am taking some "artistic license" with this build. I was able to find these pictures of a "closed" style ambulance on the Internet. As you can see, the interior is VERY basic. I did attempt to replicate the vertical "ribs" on the interior, as well as working on replicating the wood grain that is prevalent on these era rigs. I have added additional trim to the rear doors, which has had Apoxisculpt applied to the joints. Hopefully this weekend I will have a chance to sand and fine tune those joints. I am also researching what type of hinges would have been found on rear doors of these vehicles, as I might attempt to open the rear doors. I will probably include a doctor's bag in the interior, as the local doctor may have accompanied sick patients on the 20 mile ride from town to the hospital... I plan to go with a black paint scheme with gold leaf lettering. The lettering will feature a thin red outline. I have been working on it in CorelDRAW and hope to get my ALPS printer going as well. More to come David

Pat, Thanks for your reply and explanation! SOLD! I will be ordering some tonight when I get home. Airbrushes and compressor are in storage too, so I will try the Papillio fixative. Just ordered the new CorelDraw x6 Home/Student software. Look forward to getting BUSY!!!

No, Mike. The ALPS requires laser paper. I have always used Tango Papa decal paper with good results on the ALPS. Just can't get to it right now, as well as don't have the room to set it up,

I recently did the old "spoon test" over white, gray, red oxide and black primers to see which one would give me the shade closest to what I was trying to match on some 1:1 replicas. I always knew that the primer color would make a difference , just not how much! Boy, was I surprised! Do yourself a favor, get a pack of plastic spoons at the dollar store, Walmart, etc, and give it a try! You will be amazed... The color that I sprayed was Krylon Cherry Red, to match some fire apparatus that my hometown once ran. Before having "custom paint" mixed up, I thought I'd give it a whirl.. Turned out the gray primer worked best.

Didn't Herb Deeks offer something like that? You can contact him at his Ebay Store at: "Herb Deeks Retro". Hope this helps.

Hi Guys, The title says it all... I have an ALPS, and dedicated "antique" computer to produce/print decals, but both are in storage. Current living quarters lacks the space to set them up anyway... Was wondering about doing inkjet stripes such as these: I have heard good things about Papillio decal fixative, was wondering about their decal paper? Thanks in advance!

Hi Guys, I am in the process of building many of my hometown's fire apparatus. http://www.rivertonfirecompany.org/gallery/apparatus/index.html Lots of really cool photos on there... Two of the pieces are the style depicted in the AMT American La France. Both are open cabs, which I am preparing now. The ladder that we had was a "midship mount", as opposed to the "rear mount" depicted in the kit. Thus, I need to know the wheelbase of the built up Ladder Chief model. Anyone with access to one that they could measure, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.