My next project...Chuck Miller's Fire Truck by MPC.
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Ok, so here are all of the parts out of the box:
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Also in the kit are:
a catalog (do you know how long it's been since I opened a model kit and found a catalog in it?)
A card that has a pic of the original car on one side and a short story on the back about how it came to be made into a model kit.
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A miniature version of the box to display next to the car.
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A registration card for their newsletter.
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So, I decided to snap the wheels together just so I could say I've started the project. Right away I ran into something unusual for me. Here are the wheels:
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The slicks on the back have two piece hubs, as usual. However the back piece has plastic in the way. You have to cut the center of the back piece out for the front piece to fit. This is probably no big deal for a bunch of you, but I was out of the game for a good long while, and I don't recall a setup like this even when I was building a lot. Of course back then I mostly built airplanes and spaceships.
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Looks like I'll need to sand the interior of that ring before I make it permanent. I wish the wheels on all of my kits looked this good. The detail is really good, and the white lettering is fantastic.
I picked this kit up in part because it was sale priced. It's very difficult to get one of the other kits when they cost twice or more than this one did. Especially since I'm wanting to buy level 3 kits for the extra details. Those get pricey fast. This one won me over also because it is supposed to feature turning front wheels. That will be fun to work with. I drove home yesterday thinking about all the different ways I could finish this project. Now I'm thinking of doing the red, but trying again to use that metallic red that gave me so much trouble on the nomad. I may be inclined to replace the pencil thin trim decals with a white flame pattern , but I don't know for sure yet. Worse comes to worse, I take the paint off and do it in regular red like I did with the nomad, but if I don't try, I'll never figure out how to make it work. After all, I always try to learn something new with each project.
I do plan on wiring the engine. The last wiring job was so much fun, (after the first wire was done, anyway) that I want to do it again. I've looked up pics of the original dragster, and have a pretty good idea of how to run the wires so they don't stand up in the air like they did on my last project.
Something else that surprises me is the size of the kit. It is a 1/25 model, but it looks to be about half the size of my other 1/24 kits. Here's the frame of this kit compared to my cobra (my smallest kit yet) and nomad (my largest) models:
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That's where I stand at the moment.
Also in the kit are:
a catalog (do you know how long it's been since I opened a model kit and found a catalog in it?)
A card that has a pic of the original car on one side and a short story on the back about how it came to be made into a model kit.
A miniature version of the box to display next to the car.
A registration card for their newsletter.
So, I decided to snap the wheels together just so I could say I've started the project. Right away I ran into something unusual for me. Here are the wheels:
The slicks on the back have two piece hubs, as usual. However the back piece has plastic in the way. You have to cut the center of the back piece out for the front piece to fit. This is probably no big deal for a bunch of you, but I was out of the game for a good long while, and I don't recall a setup like this even when I was building a lot. Of course back then I mostly built airplanes and spaceships.
Looks like I'll need to sand the interior of that ring before I make it permanent. I wish the wheels on all of my kits looked this good. The detail is really good, and the white lettering is fantastic.
I picked this kit up in part because it was sale priced. It's very difficult to get one of the other kits when they cost twice or more than this one did. Especially since I'm wanting to buy level 3 kits for the extra details. Those get pricey fast. This one won me over also because it is supposed to feature turning front wheels. That will be fun to work with. I drove home yesterday thinking about all the different ways I could finish this project. Now I'm thinking of doing the red, but trying again to use that metallic red that gave me so much trouble on the nomad. I may be inclined to replace the pencil thin trim decals with a white flame pattern , but I don't know for sure yet. Worse comes to worse, I take the paint off and do it in regular red like I did with the nomad, but if I don't try, I'll never figure out how to make it work. After all, I always try to learn something new with each project.
I do plan on wiring the engine. The last wiring job was so much fun, (after the first wire was done, anyway) that I want to do it again. I've looked up pics of the original dragster, and have a pretty good idea of how to run the wires so they don't stand up in the air like they did on my last project.
Something else that surprises me is the size of the kit. It is a 1/25 model, but it looks to be about half the size of my other 1/24 kits. Here's the frame of this kit compared to my cobra (my smallest kit yet) and nomad (my largest) models:
That's where I stand at the moment.
This project definitely fits the bill. I didn't want something simple. I didn't want the exhaust (for example) molded onto the bottom of the body pan. I wanted something that takes time and care to get right, and the little fiddly bits in this kit definitely require a careful touch.
The downside is, I got the headlight assembly done, but despite all of my care managed to get glue residue all over the lenses anyway. Rats!
If I can just keep the pieces from falling off the table into no-man's land (seriously, you do not want to try to have to find a tiny little bit under my worktable...it isn't fun), this will be an interesting build.
The downside is, I got the headlight assembly done, but despite all of my care managed to get glue residue all over the lenses anyway. Rats!
If I can just keep the pieces from falling off the table into no-man's land (seriously, you do not want to try to have to find a tiny little bit under my worktable...it isn't fun), this will be an interesting build.
Hey, tolenmar.....I've never built this kit,, But I have built the Red Baron and the PaddyWagon kit's before....The Paddywagon is a C cab design, similar to the one that your doing now.....But instead of a Fire truck, It's a Police version....These are fun kit's to build and they do have some small intricate piece's, Which can be a challenge sometime's....But the end result's, Look Great......I'll be checking in on it's progress......
MOE
MOE
Actual front disc brakes with calipers!
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Front grill assembly, showing off the hidesouly hazed headlight lenses.
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I still don't know what happened here. My hands were clean when I did this, I put the glue only where I needed it, slide the lenses into place...and still managed to get glue all over them.
The blower for the top of the engine, needs some touching up.
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Front grill assembly, showing off the hidesouly hazed headlight lenses.
I still don't know what happened here. My hands were clean when I did this, I put the glue only where I needed it, slide the lenses into place...and still managed to get glue all over them.
The blower for the top of the engine, needs some touching up.
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What glue did you use for the headlight lenses? Regular model cement will haze the lenses just from the gases trapped behind them before it sets up. I always use a water-soluble clear paint to secure clear parts, although I've also heard some guys use regular white glue.
Testors black bottle.
For the record, I always have tourble with headlights and glass. It's just that these headlights were so much worse than usual for me. It came with a second set of lenses, so I could pop these loose and try again. Except that one of them fell off the table and is now camoflaged onto my basement floor...
For the record, I always have tourble with headlights and glass. It's just that these headlights were so much worse than usual for me. It came with a second set of lenses, so I could pop these loose and try again. Except that one of them fell off the table and is now camoflaged onto my basement floor...
Well, moving on. I see I have a bit of work ahead of me:
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Every one of those mold registration marks is going to have to be filled and smoothed out before I can prime this. There are four on each of the three panels, and they (well most of them) had a lot of extra flashing on them.
Also, Take a look at the decals:
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Pinstriping to go around each of the panels on the outside. They are narrower than my pencil tip. And they are in pieces. I'm thinking...No way. I think I'll have better luck masking my own stripes.
Every one of those mold registration marks is going to have to be filled and smoothed out before I can prime this. There are four on each of the three panels, and they (well most of them) had a lot of extra flashing on them.
Also, Take a look at the decals:
Pinstriping to go around each of the panels on the outside. They are narrower than my pencil tip. And they are in pieces. I'm thinking...No way. I think I'll have better luck masking my own stripes.
Nope, I haven't abandoned this project. I just haven't been able to work on it much the past week or so. Old friends came visiting, which required me to convert my workshop from a workshop to a gaming room and then back again, and then my son had company over, and one of them has asthma, so I wasn't going to take any chances of any fumes getting upstairs while they've been here.
On the flip side of the coin, filling those registration marks is going slowly. I've almost got them done, but they aren't quite right. A little filling, a little sanding, wash, rinse, repeat.
How did I get to be such a perfectionist? Perfectionists irritate me so much!
On the flip side of the coin, filling those registration marks is going slowly. I've almost got them done, but they aren't quite right. A little filling, a little sanding, wash, rinse, repeat.
How did I get to be such a perfectionist? Perfectionists irritate me so much!
An update! With pics! Actual work has been accomplished!
The mold marks are gone, or at least to a point I can live with. Color layers are being applied now.
Don't tell anyone, but I may have (for the first time) gotten the metallic red to work. The one I tried to use on the Nomad that is intended for use on chromed surfaces... Take a look at the exterior panels of the wagon:
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The instruction sheet says I'm supposed to paint the roof the same "Candy red" as the rest of the body. I thought that the original car had a black roof. Turns out I was wrong. Looks like I need to repaint it. that's okay, because I was going to need to sand it anyway.
Some shots of miscellaneous pieces in various stages of paint:
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And here are the blower pieces.
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I had to strip the chrome off of these pieces (which also required me to break them back apart) because the way they were attached to the sprue left a lot of white plastic visible. The blower hood was connected end to end and the opposite ends were attached to the sprue. Of course, repainting the blower meant that all of those chrome pieces attached to a silver piece would have looked odd. So everything chrome mounted to the engine has been redone in silver.
And finally, here is the floor pan, painted to spec. At least as far as the specs go. Sometimes the instruction sheet neglects to specify the proper color scheme. Heck, it sometimes forgets to identify the part...
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The mold marks are gone, or at least to a point I can live with. Color layers are being applied now.
Don't tell anyone, but I may have (for the first time) gotten the metallic red to work. The one I tried to use on the Nomad that is intended for use on chromed surfaces... Take a look at the exterior panels of the wagon:
The instruction sheet says I'm supposed to paint the roof the same "Candy red" as the rest of the body. I thought that the original car had a black roof. Turns out I was wrong. Looks like I need to repaint it. that's okay, because I was going to need to sand it anyway.
Some shots of miscellaneous pieces in various stages of paint:
And here are the blower pieces.
I had to strip the chrome off of these pieces (which also required me to break them back apart) because the way they were attached to the sprue left a lot of white plastic visible. The blower hood was connected end to end and the opposite ends were attached to the sprue. Of course, repainting the blower meant that all of those chrome pieces attached to a silver piece would have looked odd. So everything chrome mounted to the engine has been redone in silver.
And finally, here is the floor pan, painted to spec. At least as far as the specs go. Sometimes the instruction sheet neglects to specify the proper color scheme. Heck, it sometimes forgets to identify the part...
After the glue dries, I'll post up some new pictures.
However, this project just turned irritating. Not because the pieces don't fit, or are too fiddly small or anything like that, but because it's got the wrong engine in it. I'm working on the engine, adding in all the little bitty bits (starter, oil tube, etc.), and I'm looking at the instructions to see where each one is intended to go. The drawing of the engine on the instruction sheet is drawn from the driver's side, the starter goes on the passenger side. Pretty normal. But all we get is a drawing of the starter and an arrow that disappears behind the engine. The arrow looks like it mounts high and on the front of the engine.
I don't know much about engines, but that just seems wrong to me. So I mounted it as a best guess low and on the back. there was a hole that didn't look like it was going to be used otherwise. At least now the starter can engage the flywheel.
So how did I come to the conclusion that the engine is wrong? I decided to hit the internet to see if anyone else had that problem building the kit. All of the pics I could find, I couldn't see the starter. I even ran across a forum post similar to this one. the builder (apparently) knows more than I do, and says it's a small block Chevy engine with Ford valve covers. It's supposed to be Ford through and through. I have to take his word for it. But one thing I noticed in the pics is that the distributor is on the driver's side of the engine.
Not on the kit. The distributor can only mount on the passenger's side. To make matters worse, the pictures of the car on the box have the distributor in the correct place!
Otherwise, progress is good. The white and gold interior is actually rather hideous, but I figure it'll all come together once the model is finished. I may skip the pinstriping, since I am now no longer actually building the fire truck, but one that resembles it. If I had done my research before beginning, I might have made an attempt to correct the problems, but I've gotten too much assembled to bother with it. I'll finish it according to the instructions and then look for another kit after. It'll still look pretty good.
However, this project just turned irritating. Not because the pieces don't fit, or are too fiddly small or anything like that, but because it's got the wrong engine in it. I'm working on the engine, adding in all the little bitty bits (starter, oil tube, etc.), and I'm looking at the instructions to see where each one is intended to go. The drawing of the engine on the instruction sheet is drawn from the driver's side, the starter goes on the passenger side. Pretty normal. But all we get is a drawing of the starter and an arrow that disappears behind the engine. The arrow looks like it mounts high and on the front of the engine.
I don't know much about engines, but that just seems wrong to me. So I mounted it as a best guess low and on the back. there was a hole that didn't look like it was going to be used otherwise. At least now the starter can engage the flywheel.
So how did I come to the conclusion that the engine is wrong? I decided to hit the internet to see if anyone else had that problem building the kit. All of the pics I could find, I couldn't see the starter. I even ran across a forum post similar to this one. the builder (apparently) knows more than I do, and says it's a small block Chevy engine with Ford valve covers. It's supposed to be Ford through and through. I have to take his word for it. But one thing I noticed in the pics is that the distributor is on the driver's side of the engine.
Not on the kit. The distributor can only mount on the passenger's side. To make matters worse, the pictures of the car on the box have the distributor in the correct place!
Otherwise, progress is good. The white and gold interior is actually rather hideous, but I figure it'll all come together once the model is finished. I may skip the pinstriping, since I am now no longer actually building the fire truck, but one that resembles it. If I had done my research before beginning, I might have made an attempt to correct the problems, but I've gotten too much assembled to bother with it. I'll finish it according to the instructions and then look for another kit after. It'll still look pretty good.
I never built this kit in the past but there is a chance that at some point MPC or AMT hacked up the molds and the engine you get now is something "they made work" to flesh out the kit for a reissue. Especially under Ertl you got a lot of mix n match stuff in MPC and AMT kits (like tires that don't fit the rims, or rims that were not in the kit originally, etc.)
I did not know that. It explains the..."unique" fit of the top of the engine. It extended a short way beyond the top of the two main halves in both directions, and had to take some serious filing to fit between the valve covers.
Anyway, here's the instruction sheet that completely fails to indicate the proper placement of the starter:
The interior is starting to come together. I still have the roof to finish. I just masked off the gold and sprayed a layer of gold over that to ensure as little bleed through as possible. For these parts, I think the masking worked really well. I'm always plagued by excessive bleed.
As they say, practice makes perfect.
And now the engine:
It's almost time to assemble the body shell. In fact, it may be time for me to move on to the suspension, since I'm done with the engine. At least I'm done until time to attach the exhaust, which is done after mounting to the frame.
Oh, and when this kit says to assemple in the steps indicated, they mean it! Normally, I'll build the engine block, then do the valve covers, blowers, etc. But (and this may be partially due to the re-issue issue discussed above), it was very hard to get the smaller pieces in under that blower. For the rest of the build, I need to make sure I'm not getting ahead of myself.
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