Fire Apparatus Model Forums

Hi everybody,
as promised the building progress to my ESU unit
First the "basematerial" from New Ray

I started by cutting the extended cab to the single cab version...
and shortening the chassis as well.

then I built the cardboard mock up of the rear compartment section
since the dimensions seemed ok to me, the 1mm styrene version followed. Meanwhile I also changed out the tires

Then I created the front bumper out of 1mm white and 0,5 mm black styrene and white 1 mm u-shape rods.
Like on the original Truck I also had to remove the former front bumper.

Meanwhile the compartment doors were also done, out of 0,5mm styrene.
.

At this point I started to dislike the idea of leaving the mirrors as they are on the truck (like on my first LA County FD conversion ).
Since it was very difficult to cut the mirrors away without damaging the cab, I figured to cut horizontal into the mirrors and leave the remaining pieces as supports for the selfmade mirrors
Since it was a "twin project" and the parts are the same, I only made progress picturs of the FDNY version, which are attached
It was not a very big thing to do, but it enhanced the look a lot

The next thing was to add some diamondplate to the rear section and I further painted the rims gray and the front wheel arches, door handles and mirrors black.
then i built the running boards out of 1mm styrene and the rear compartment top handles out of white paper clips

uups forgot the picture of the running board on the truck
the progress continued by building the rear leaders out of 10mm styrene square tubes.

This time I also wanted to upgrade the interior, so i created door panels which do not exist on the New Ray model
....not thinking of the vehicle chassis, the first, very detailed door panel had to be shortened and flattened
So this is the outcome, i guess it´s still ok though
I further started the smaller details like the rear traffic advisor

...the next small details like the rear scene lights out of clear plastic pins and some fly net and rectangular leftovers as handles...
...the rear jet strobe mini lightbar out of a shortened FRR jet stream lightbar with 0,5mm styrene as interior added and chrome lenses painted with the "liquid chrome pen" from molotow
and the rear compartment door locks with small half round pieces as handles, also painted with the molotow pen.

a little more time consuming were the main scene lights on the top of the comparment section. I therefore used 3mm square polysterol rod in which i drilled a concave hole in. I further used u-shape rods as mounting brackets and a thin wire for the power cables. Finally I simply used 0,3 mm clear acrylic sheet as lense covers.
and I further made the rear wheel arches out of a 3mm half round rod glued on a 0,3 mm styrene strip to bend into the wheel arch shape.
followed by the front extendable scene lights. I later replaced the lights with the thinner ones you see in the foreground.

the next step were the front flashers on the bumper. These are, like all the flashers on the vehicle, made out of self-adhesive gemstone stickers which I painted in the desired coulour.