Search the Community

I fire-crewed for the USFS in N. Cal. to put myself through college in the '60s (five summers): now I'd like to build a class 3 forest fire tanker. These were slip-on units mounted on regular flatbed trucks which were self-contained with tank, pump, hoses, tool boxes and crew seats (out in the open!) and painted the old gray over green colors. I'll need some decals for the doors; the Forest Service 'shield' and the 'for official use only' block, mostly. Does any one know of a supplier for such stickers? Also, the two trucks I was most involved with were a 1956 Chevy (265, but it tried harder!) and a 1964 Dodge (more torque, but not always reliable), and I wonder if anyone makes these as kits? Of course, '55 would work for the Chevy, and Dodge made similar cab designs for a number of years. It would be too much to hope that anyone had a slip-on class 3 unit to sell, but I think I can fab that; side tool boxes, B&S lunger motor and Gray Marine pump, etc. would be nice to locate. Also, I was foreman on a class 4 tanker, a LWB Dodge Power Wagon 4x4, which might be more available? Last season I worked was '68, then the draft got me! I'm 73, and trying to build all my collection; would like to add these. Any help would be appreciated!! I have some neat early '60s stuff to trade.

It's been awhile since I done a work in progress post. I'm hopeful I will be able to maintain my momentum on this one. I've had this one planned for a couple of years, and finally picked up the Italeri U.S. Wrecker kit last year so I could get started. My plans for the kit are to end up with something quite like this. The Italeri kit is a no brainer, it is the only LTL kit I know of. I'm planning on a piece of ABS pipe for the tank, heated and flattened into an elliptical shape (first time I've tried this so wish me luck) and various bits of styrene for the other tanker body components. I'll be stealing a Caterpillar 3406 from the Revell Peterbilt snap kit for power, then there is the daycab conversion which I have already done. Here is where I currently sit. The kit comes with a fancy chrome grill shell, while the real truck has a smoothly integrated body color grill surround. Was easy enough to blend the grill into the hood, then mask off the bits that will stay chrome. Hopefully will have more progress to report soon.

When I made up the BLM decals for the jeep, I had a lot of space left over on the sheet, so whipped up this set for a USFS LEO and a couple of future National Park Service projects. I needed something to put the decals on so I picked up a Jada diecast 2010 Chevy Tahoe (grabbed a Motor Max Dodge Diplomat for future use too). I took it apart and did some minor detailing under the hood, in the cabin and added a rear cage (it was only provided with one between the front and back seats). Now I just need to find a dog for the back. Just insert doggy