This is planned to be a follow along of my first attempt at scratchbuilding a model. The plan is to build a replica of an old pumper that we have at my fire department and I hope I can show that scratch building can be accomplished with out any special skills. Now I just hope I don't make myself look like a fool! Let the journey begin!

Pics of the full size I am recreating.

The sacrificial kit for this build will be an old Monogram 1940 Ford custom pick up. It is the closest resemblance to a 1946 Ford truck. I got lucky and found the kit on Ebay since there are none readily available in the stores. Here is a pic of the box. Click on all pics for a larger version.

Just for kicks, here is what the truck is pretty much supposed to look like. Going to hurt a bit cutting this nice looking truck up almost feels like abuse.

7/06/04

After gluing the frame to the body assembly, it was time for the saw. No turning back now.

Next up was to start reassembling the chassis with a bit of an extension. I used .060" x .250" styrene strips to give it an additional 1 1/2 inch of body length which gave it about approximate 36" in 1:1 scale. I put in a 3/4" overlay behind the frame to give it some extra support. There was also some additional strip added underneath to give some added bracing.

The kit hood came with some vents molded onto it. Since the real has none of these they had to go. A bit of rubbing with some sandpaper and they were gone. Here is a pic of one side removed.

A pic of the underside. Not planning on having the underside displayed so the drive shaft and exhaust will not be modified to continue through the extension. Maybe future builds I will go into that type of detail.

7/07/04

Now to start on the fire truck components. The water tank is built using the .060" x .250" strips as a frame, done basically like a box. It was then covered with .015" sheet styrene. After it was all in place I then puttied the edges and sanded them prior to primering. Found out later on the it was a bit to tall, but I'll work it out.

For another first, I tried out some Bare Metal Foil. Great stuff. Looks very awesome and after a bit of use ,gets pretty easy to work with. I out the bumper on some tweezers to show the similarities to the metals.

7/07/04

Now for some color. I am trying out the Krylon Fusion paint in the spray cans on this build,have not used them before and so far my impression is very good. It sprays very smooth and evenly, has a great gloss shine to it even with no polishing. The only problem I had was somehow some paint was caught in the lip around the very top of the can where the nozzle sits. Made a bit of a mess when I shook the can and had not noticed it there. No big deal though.

7/14/04

Now to play with the Bare Metal Foil some more. The real one has a gold trim in some places , but I am using my artistic license and going with chrome on all the trim. Yet another area that BMF makes a huge improvement for a small bit of work that it it takes.

7/18/04

The cab with the doors on and at the stopping point for now. The doors are made to open and the side windows also operate, but since this is going to hopefully be in a display case I opted to glue them shut to avoid any nasty gaps that may occur. Also finished up the trim. The grill is only basically dry fitted in his pic so it looks crooked.

And now begins the real part of this build. The scratchbuilt rear body. For the sides I used .030" sheet styrene and cut to the approximate shape of the real one. Had to accommodate for the tank being to high though. There is a small square piece holding the two sides together behind the cab that sit on top of the bed.

This is where it started to get a bit challenging. I added the plate across the top of the sides using .030 x .060" styrene strips,wooden board supports using 1/8" x 1/8" brass angles, the round grab handle is a q-tip shaft ,pump access doors using .015" styrene. Also added were the angled pieces on the back of the body. Next in line is figuring up how to do a booster reel and hard suction hose racks. This has sure been a learning process all the way so far.

7/21/04

Next up is the hose reel. I cut out circles of styrene sheet and then used a rectangle piece of the sheet wrapped around an exacto handle to get the cylinder shape. It's not extremely pretty , but since it will be up under the rear of the truck, it should be good enough.

I then moved to the ladder racks. These were a bit more of a pain due to the shape and holes in the middle of them. I drew them out and cut them with scissors and worked at the holes till they were close enough that they were not yet cutting through the sides. I used .030" sheet styrene for these. Once again not to pretty , but the ladders will be pretty much covering them up.

On to the other side of the truck now. This is the first of two hard suction racks. I used a piece of the 1/8" brass angle, and strips of .030 x .080" & .060" x .25". The shelves are .015" styrene sheet. There is going to be one below this one, it will have to be made a bit further off the side because of the angled rear piece.

8/1/04

Been a while since an update and I have gotten a few things done.

First off. Figured out something to use for the rear fenders so they would have not only the curve but the rounded edges. Used the bottom of a type of juice bottle that my kids drink. Just happened to have the perfect curve and everything I needed.

Next was mounting the hose reel. The hose is made from some type of rubber seal that looked to about the right diameter. Just have to figure out a nozzle now. Also had to rework the rear body panels to get them to work with the hose reel. That was probably the most challenging part thus far getting all that to be right.

Now a shot of the final coat of paint applied, and the stance of the truck fixed. It did have a bit of a hot rod look to it that I just could not let stay. Top pic shows the stance it did have and the bottom one shows how it is now.

Next to do, the diamond plate running boards.

8/13/04

Have not updated this page in a little while so here goes.

Finally got the diamond plate running boards cut out and foiled. Did not like the thin look so I added some trim to the sides of them. Here's what they look like.

Also figured out means to put together some hard suction hose. Used some aluminum tubing and sheet styrene for the couplings. The handles are the spokes I cut off the wheel spinners that came in the kit. Got lucky and they were the exact size, shape and all I needed.

Next up I attached the front bumper which had been foiled. Also did a wash on the grill to darken the recessed areas useing Tamiya Smoke paint. Kind of fitting for the build really and worked rather well.

The hose bed and side rails were the next step. I used 1/8" balsa strips and Minwax dark walnut wood stain to give them some color applied with a q-tip with most of the stain soaked off of it. Turned out better than I thought it would. Not sure if the real truck had the wood bed on it but I think it looks rather fitting so my version does.

Prestain:

After stain and attached to body with white glue.

I think the next step is going to getting the body all assembled as one piece with running boards and all attached, but since I am making this up as I go along there is no telling where it is headed.

Check back for more progress to be posted soon!

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