What Do I Do With The Fire Engine (or Truck)
Kit After I’ve Built One?
AMT 1/24 Kenworth Fire Truck
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Introduction
I have heard this question many times over the years of building truck
models. I have been known to reply, “What do I do with a P-51 after
I’ve built one?” Seriously though, the best part of truck
and Fire apparatus building is the sheer variety of possible variations
that can be built with only limited kit-bashing and scratch-building skills.
Almost every single US prototype truck kit that has been produced by the
kit builders over the years can be found under a fire apparatus body.
From the mid 1940s till the late 1970s, Seattle had their fire apparatus
built on Kenworth chassis. A large number of Fire Departments in Pennsylvania
used Autocar chassis. If it’s a truck, it probably has been used
somewhere as a piece of fire apparatus. So where does that leave us? The
simplest commercial chassis conversion using the AMT American LaFrance
kit is to mount the firebody on an AMT Ford C series Stake bed kit chassis.
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This is a very simple kit-bash requiring only minor modification to
the frame ends of the C chassis. The Ford C series chassis in the Stake
bed kit has a 160” wheelbase, which was the standard used by almost
all Fire Apparatus Manufacturers for their standard Commercial chassised
pumpers. Don’t want a “Belly Button” pumper? With a
little slicing and dicing, a Ford LN series from AMT also builds into
a nice, though less common commercial chassis unit.
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The unit I am showcasing here is a model I built about 30 years ago
to try out some kit-bashing and modifying techniques. This Kenworth/American
LaFrance features hinged cab doors with a semi-scratch interior plus some
body modifications. This build started life as an AMT Kenworth W-925 highway
tractor and an AMT American LaFrance Custom Pumper kits. The frame and
engine were assembled per kit instructions with the rear suspension omitted.
The frame ends were squared up by removing the end caps that help guide
the trailer to the fifth wheel. The basic firebody from the pumper kit
was built according to the instructions and dry fitted to the KW frame.
This allowed me to determine where the rear axle from the pumper kit should
be located. This dry run also allowed me to measure the space available
for the crew cab. The crew cab was built up using sheet styrene and was
constructed to house the electronics for the emergency lights. I then
raised the sides of the hose bed using styrene strip, and added details
including a suspended floor in one bay and extra dividers.
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The cab doors were removed and a new floor and firewall were cut and
fitted. The cab doors were then hinged to the cab after painting. Vinyl
upholstery cloth was used to make the cab interior walls and door liners.
Originally this model was to have working emergency lights, so wiring
was placed in the cab and body with the electronic control fitted under
the jump seat in the crew area. The lights themselves were miniature LEDs
in assorted colors. Markings for the Department and company markings are
a combination of hand painted decals and vinyl lettering.
As I said at the beginning, this model was built to test various techniques
that I had never attempted. Well, since building this model I have not
hinged anymore doors. I have however done about 40 kit-bashed 1/25 scale
pieces of fire apparatus. Add to that 20 semi-scratch builds and 25 variations
on the basic ALF pumper kit, I have about 100 different pieces of fire
apparatus built with more on the way.
If there is adequate interest, I will do a step-by-step article through
the next bashing project. Let our Auto editor know. Drop him a line on
this topic at:automotive@internetmodeler.com
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