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The poor man's Q siren using the parts from the AMT Americal La France kits. It's not exact but shape is close enough, detailing is left up to builder. greg

Coming this autumn, AMT 1162, the 1070 Chevy Impala Fire Chief reissue:

Mike Quarterman just told me that resin casters Paul Fisher of Fisher Models and Joe Vondracek of Quikskins have lost everything in the California fires except for their lives.

Volvo C202 from 1979 in nice condition, by the red color and the black and white rims it used to belong to the fire department.

In the early 1970s the Hurst company, better known for its racing products introduced a hydraulic rescue tool which became known as the "jaws of life". That product has become well known today. Less well known was their effort to market a rescue vehicle based on the AMC Gremlin. The Hurst Rescue Systems 1, combined an AMC Gremlin with a Hurst Rescue tool (power head and spreaders), medical and firefighting equipment including a 25 gallon tank of water and foam concentrate. In 1973 an HRS1 sold for $11,000, a new Gremlin sold for about $1900 so most of this cost was the equipment. Why they chose a Gremlin? We may never know, but as it makes for an interesting model I'm glad they did. Less than a dozen are known to have been sold, and only one is known to exist today. The remaining example is a 1973 model still owned by a fire department in Georgia which bought it new. There is not a lot known about these vehicles, most of the info being based on an article on the sole survivor. There are a few ads showing the car and the basic equipment. I'm starting with an AMT (MPC?) 1975 Gremlin kit. The real HRS1s were offered from 1972-1974, so I'll be taking a few liberties. I have not been able to find any good quality photos showing the interior layout, so I'll be relying on my best guess. I've got the body taped off and painted.

Trying to get something done while I have some vacation, so I'm starting a relatively simple project. Using Revell's 1950 Ford F-1 to build a brush truck (and no it's not green). I'll be modifying it into a heavy 3/4 ton F-3 with a long bed, and adding a Marmon-Harrington 4x4 conversion. Using this version of the kit, and one of the current issues to donate parts as needed. First step was cutting the bed floor free. Revell cast this as part of the fenders / running board. After taking the photo I cut away the second kits floor for use as a donor. Using parts from both kits I extended the bed from the F-1's 6 1/2 foot to an F-3's 8 foot (8" at the front, 10" at the rear). The wheel base will have to be extended 8" as well, from 114" to 122". The putty shows where the cuts were made. Technically this is incorrect, as Ford also widened their longbed by a few inches. If one wanted to make a 100% accurate 8 foot express bed, the bed needs to be widened 6", the sides raised 1", the fenders narrowed, wheel wells added inside the bed, the floor rebuilt (Ford used the same number of boards, just a little wider) and of course a new tailgate made. As the idea is to finish something for a change I'm just going to call this a custom longbed...