Fire Apparatus Model Forums

The Scale Firehouse appears to have bitten the dust. The format was changed at the end of 2019 and there have been no new posts since November. So here's hoping some of the modelers who used SFH can find a new home here.
This is the latest in new builds. Mashpee on Cape Cod had this rig back in the late '60's and into the '90's. It is now a relic of the past but I thought it would be worth saving by modeling it. In the photo above the tires have been cast from a 3D printed master from which a mold was made. The frame is from a Ford truck kit and the rear axle is from an Ertl kit. The engine is from a 1941 Chevy pickup kit. IH had its own line of engines including what they called Red Diamond series. The Chevy engine was modified by cutting the transmission loose and attaching it to the other end of the block since the manifold and spark plugs are completely opposite on the IH engine to the Chevy. Fan belt pulleys are from a turned aluminum rod. A look at the front hub parts that have been made from brass tubing and square stock. The wheels are held in place with the small screw which fits into the brass tubing. The shoulder of the screw is just large enough to prevent the wheel from sliding over it. The cab is an Illini Replicas IH R190 resin casting. The hood was cut away revealing the thickness of the casting. It's not very good for attempting an opening hood so a replacement was made using sheet brass and a small piano hinge. I used the firewall from the Chevy kit and the fit was almost perfect except for small adjustments to the sides and upper corners. The resin firewall was just a plain piece that had no detail. The tricky part was getting the accent line of the cab to follow through on the hood. That was the first step in the process. After that it was a matter of squaring up the resin casting at the grill and at the firewall. Then the brass hood was cut to shape after annealing to soften it some. Bending the brass is easier that way. Small bits of excess material were ground or filed away to get a reasonable fit. The inner fenders are pieces of soft aluminum sheet. They were shaped to fit and then holes were drilled into the edges and into the resin fenders. Common pins were inserted to hold the inner fenders in place. Then two part epoxy was used to secure the fit in-between the aluminum and resin. ACC does not like aluminum at all and would not have worked. And that is where we are at this point. The small louvers till have to be added to the sides of the hood along with small pieces of brass stock to hold the hood in place at final assembly. Lots of material sources have been used in this build and there will be more as the construction progresses.

Looking great so far. I'm sure the finish product will be nice.

I hope you right, I'd love to see this forum gain some new members from The Scale Fire House.

Thanks for sharing

Thanks for posting here Charlie. Like any internet based forum, its slow. Sad to see Scale Firehouse go. I had not been over there in some time, since they changed to the black background. I couldn't read it most of the time, so moved on. It would be good to see some of the non Facebook users come aboard. One tires rather quickly of the "dash for bash" crowd on Facebook. Cant wait to see some updates.

Thanks, Rich. I'll be posting photos as I go forward.

Couple more pix of the truck in progress. Wheels are now painted with Krylon IH red. I miss the Duplicolor paints and their primer but I found that the Krylon is close and the the primer is sandable gray. I also did away with the cast in place headlight areas. I drilled them out and substituted a set of chrome headlight bezels from the Ford snowplow kit. The muffler and exhaust pipe were brush painted with Model Master aluminum and then was given a wash of Model Master acrylic rust. The hood now has two points of attachment; one in the cowl and the other in the radiator surround. Small pieces of brass stock were cut to fit in a drilled out hole and with a hole the same size as the hinge pin. Both are secured with ACC. The hood is still removable and will be so until final assembly.

Outstanding as always Charlie!

Thanks Mike. Might be ready for Fire Fest if I work fast!

I also followed the scale firehouse forum, but didn‘t join it. So beside the sad thing, that another forum vanished, i‘m very pleased that you are showing your work here now
I was and still am a very big Fan of your projects! Your attention to detail and the execution is outstanding
Can‘t wait to see this one finished, allthough the building progress itself is very entertaining as well

Yes, sad to see it go. Not sure why it happened. But I'll keep on posting the progress. Driver's side door has been cut free. Working on other side now.

Chariots of Fire wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 12:59 am

Thanks Mike. Might be ready for Fire Fest if I work fast!

That would be great! You have until July 18th