Fire investigation unit

[Aaronw]

1 hour ago, Firebuilder said:

 

Aaron , Nice  looking decals, my computer skills are limited, wouldn’t even know where to start to make the stripes and emblems like you have done .  Can the letters be made with a shadow  effect  with micro soft word?  

 

There is a feature within Word called Word Art that allows quite a few options, and a drop shadow is one of them. You can also use a font with a shadow which would be an easier but more limited option.

I long ago switched to a more advanced drawing program (Corel Draw), so I'm a bit rusty with Word's options related to this stuff, but any word or drawing program, even the free ones can do a lot. With a little practice, printing basic decals is not much more complex than printing a document. GIMP is a free drawing program similar to Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw that some use, but there is a learning curve to it. 

 

This is another example of decals I did with either Word or Microsoft Paint, this one with shadowed lettering. Again done 2005-07-ish so I'm fuzzy on the details. 

 

Edited February 15, 2024 by Aaronw

[cifenet]

The scratch building looks like it definitely requires tremendous amount of dedication and work.  And the progress is looking remarkable!  

keep it up!

[Firebuilder]

On 2/15/2024 at 8:43 PM, cifenet said:

The scratch building looks like it definitely requires tremendous amount of dedication and work.  And the progress is looking remarkable!  

keep it up!

Thank you, it sure does take a lot of time, there is  a lot of  redoing  things that seem right at first, then once in place………….. you see the fit is just not right.  the work part is relaxing and keeps me busy.

Dom

[Chariots of Fire]

I'm fortunate enough to have an ALPS printer for decal work.  Not only does it print gold and silver but it prints white also.  The front of the Pierce has some gold lettering with a drop shadow that was done simply by copying the gold part and changing the color in the graphics program.  The printer knows which colors to select based on what is on the screen.  The fluer de lis and "Pierce" on the grill were also done on the printer.

[Firebuilder]

On 2/20/2024 at 2:55 PM, Chariots of Fire said:

I'm fortunate enough to have an ALPS printer for decal work.  Not only does it print gold and silver but it prints white also.  The front of the Pierce has some gold lettering with a drop shadow that was done simply by copying the gold part and changing the color in the graphics program.  The printer knows which colors to select based on what is on the screen.  The fluer de lis and "Pierce" on the grill were also done on the printer.

Your decals look great.  It is good you have the alps printer and the  skills to  use it !  I don’t think I can pull off letting like that with my ink jet printer.

[Firebuilder]

After a lot of taping , the stripes were hand painted. There was minor bleed through. The 1/64 wide tape was a  real pain to keep straight.

[Chariots of Fire]

That is a hard thing to do, especially if there are continuous pieces that are separated by the wheel wells and cab.  Had the same thing with the decals I did for the Pierce cab.  Ended up taking the stripes off the rear doors to re-apply the decals.  Just a little difference is noticeable for sure.

[Firebuilder]

I would have preferred a decal, it would have been  much easier. And you are right the wheel wells made it more difficult to  line things up.  For the cab I didn’t glue on the fender extensions making it easier to run the tape across the opening.  The box on the other hand I had  glued the Fender extensions on  prior to paint which made it much harder to line  it all up. I should have put more thought into that !  I wish I could have done it with decals, it would have saved a lot of time, and like you said, you  could take them off and re apply. With the paint it would be a project in itself to remove them. Some of the bleed through did come off with polishing compound. It is amazing that to my eye things look   pretty good, but then once a photo is taken and posted here, the flaws  really show  up so much more! Too bad I don’t have the eyesight I had 50 years ago.

Edited March 4, 2024 by Firebuilder

[Chariots of Fire]

Photos are a blessing and a curse sometimes!  The flaws show up so much!  It's all about the learning curve, though.  Little things like you mention won't be a problem next time around!?

[Scott Eriksen]

Looks good Dom!! 

[1st 700 Quad]

How did you get those fender flares to bend that sharply without kinking? Heat?

[hct728(Bob)]

Nice to see progress, this is very ambitious work, truly challenging but it's coming along nicely!

I have a similar issue with 1-2mm stripes over a compound curved contour and you made me wonder if it might be easier to cut a wide band of tape rather than try to bend a thin strip over an edge. The cut edge  would stick better too and reduce bleed, gonna try it

 

[Firebuilder]

12 hours ago, 1st 700 Quad said:

How did you get those fender flares to bend that sharply without kinking? Heat?

I used the amt ALF fenders. I cut them in half , lengthwise right at the spot where the chrome inserts go, then used the outer edge of the fender. It was almost a perfect fit. Just needed to do a little sanding on the body wheel opening to match the fender flare. 

[Firebuilder]

9 hours ago, hct728(Bob) said:

Nice to see progress, this is very ambitious work, truly challenging but it's coming along nicely!

I have a similar issue with 1-2mm stripes over a compound curved contour and you made me wonder if it might be easier to cut a wide band of tape rather than try to bend a thin strip over an edge. The cut edge  would stick better too and reduce bleed, gonna try it

 

Thank you,  I have tried multiple  ways of taping and agree the thinner tape has many bleed through issues. Have not been able to make any further progress, bench time has been limited. Hope to get back to it this week.

[GLMFAA1]

2 hours ago, Firebuilder said:

I used the amt ALF fenders. I cut them in half , lengthwise right at the spot where the chrome inserts go, then used the outer edge of the fender. It was almost a perfect fit. Just needed to do a little sanding on the body wheel opening to match the fender flare. 

The cut fenders are useful when wheel track is wider than body and give the AMT/ALF body a different look.

greg

[Firebuilder]

I have not had much time at the bench, so progress has slowed to a crawl. Here is the latest photos. Have a bunch of warning lights to make for the box, and need to put on the decals. Made some progress with  vacu forming  the windshield. Not as clean as I’d like it to be, but  it has been and still is a learning experience. The light tower I ordered was 3D printed, not operable and took a lot of sanding to make it smooth. Still  can see some of the print lines.

[Firebuilder]

[Chariots of Fire]

Whose Seagrave casting is that in the background?  I built two from the original Eisbrenner castings and still have one of the real early ones that had no window trim.  Looks like brown bakelite.

[Gary Chastain]

Really nice detail and progress, lookin good

[Firebuilder]

2 hours ago, Chariots of Fire said:

Whose Seagrave casting is that in the background?  I built two from the original Eisbrenner castings and still have one of the real early ones that had no window trim.  Looks like brown bakelite.

That is an uptown automotive casting.  I made the interior  for it  some time ago. I have been stuck on the grill, so it just sits on the bench. I have tried various pieces of plastic stock, but it just does not look right . The  grill bars  I make are either to flat or to round,  And I am not sure what’s behind them. Maybe just the radiator or  mesh?

[Firebuilder]

2 hours ago, Gary Chastain said:

Really nice detail and progress, lookin good

Thank you Gary !

[GLMFAA1]

2 hours ago, Firebuilder said:

That is an uptown automotive casting.  I made the interior  for it  some time ago. I have been stuck on the grill, so it just sits on the bench. I have tried various pieces of plastic stock, but it just does not look right . The  grill bars  I make are either to flat or to round,  And I am not sure what’s behind them. Maybe just the radiator or  mesh?

The grille bars could be done with the evergreen 1/4 round stock and what is behind the bars are slats angled flat sheet back to radiator.

paper clip tow hooks,

f you can find a Detroit casters version the grille is included

greg

I

[Danno]

5 hours ago, Chariots of Fire said:

Whose Seagrave casting is that in the background?  I built two from the original Eisbrenner castings and still have one of the real early ones that had no window trim.  Looks like brown bakelite.

Hey, Charlie!  I also have one of the original Eisbrenner fiberglass "bucks" - as I recall the story, he fabbed up 8 or 10 of the windowless, featureless fiberglass bodies then built one -- the one that was featured in Scale Auto Enthusiast (Issue 21, Sept/Oct 1982).

I also scored two of the Uptown Auto resin castings - one is a work in progress. 

I love the Seagrave Anniversary Series trucks - especially the Sedan Pumpers - which the Eisbrenner fiberglass units and the subsequent Uptown resin castings represent. 

If you have pics of the two you've built, I for one would love to see them!

 

[Chariots of Fire]

16 hours ago, Danno said:

Hey, Charlie!  I also have one of the original Eisbrenner fiberglass "bucks" - as I recall the story, he fabbed up 8 or 10 of the windowless, featureless fiberglass bodies then built one -- the one that was featured in Scale Auto Enthusiast (Issue 21, Sept/Oct 1982).

I also scored two of the Uptown Auto resin castings - one is a work in progress. 

I love the Seagrave Anniversary Series trucks - especially the Sedan Pumpers - which the Eisbrenner fiberglass units and the subsequent Uptown resin castings represent. 

If you have pics of the two you've built, I for one would love to see them!

 

Here you are, Danno.  I built two of the River Edge pieces.  One is in their Company 2 station.  The first one I still have and was shown in Scale Auto Magazine years ago.  A River Edge SAE reader saw it and inquired as to who built it.   SAE contacted me via snail mail and the rest is history.  When I delivered the built to River Edge I got a personal ride around the village in the real Seagrave.  A real treat!

The second one is a typical Detroit sedan style rig,  I took a lot of information from Matt Lee's book on Seagrave.

This is the River Edge piece I still have.  It was built from photos I took at Croton-On-Hudson fire muster years ago.

The rig that is in River Edge is in the foreground.  The Company Chief insisted it needed a flag and although it is difficult to see It is there near the right end of the windshield.

The Detroit Seagrave.  Doors and hood open.

An original Eisbrenner casting.

[Chariots of Fire]

Got one more, Danno.  This one is 1/32 scale and was done for a guy who loves the Nashville, TN FD.  They had a tillered aerial drawn by an Anniversary Series Seagrave.  He had a Franklin Mint Seagrave tiller that was drawn by a cab forward J series.  I scratch built the '62 using the tires and wheels from an Aurora kit.  The rest is plastic stock.  The top was formed from the Aurora ALF top and cut open for the green vision panels.  I  had the nose and front bumper chrome plated by Chrome Tech back in the day.

The same guy wanted me to build a Nashville Seagrave that had a Pitman Snorkel on it but I never was able to get enough good information to do it.