Greetings fellow styrene wranglers!!!

Spurred on by Joe's fantastic 8x8 Heavy Fire Tanker - I thought I'd post some pictures of my recent conversion of Italeri's HEMMT Truck Kit to the current in-service Tactical Fire Fighting Truck:

Kit chassis and suspension built OOB some minor mods of main rails done to add support framing:



Started at the rear and assembled the main water tanks and L & R side stowages, as is the case with many modern vehicles the designers aren't the modellers best friend and never make anything symetrical so both sides are completely different:



This had a roof fitted - this was kept removable to allow painting later (MUCH later if I have anything to do with it!!)



I then made up the main rear locker:



This included the small hose reel and tool-fitted doors:





and assembled:



I then made up the external ladder sections using brass checker plate, brass rod for handrails and styrene floor plates:



I then fitted these to the rear compartment along with the rear locker:



More tomorrow...all comments and ?s welcome

Dicky

looking good so far!

where did you get the brass chequer plate from?

Hi Matt - thanks v.much - like most scratchbuilding supplies I buy whatever from wherever or stock up on supplies from the shows or whatever - but this particular style is available from here:

www.historexagents.com/shop/hxproductdetail.php?ProductCode=ABPP01

Anyone familiar with the HEMMT and/or kit will appreciate there is very little of the power unit on display in the final build but I added a little generic engine detailling anyhoo:



The roof received the first part of it's detailling and I added the large hose stowage at the rear including pewter foil mesh webbing:





The hose reels were added using more foil and the styrene hose nozzles and their stowage were attached:



Made a start on the wealth of gear carried by the machine starting with the support legs for the free standing extendable ladder - this included the brackets and the wooden wedges used to hold them in place:



Then I made up the double section ladder:



ACW

Dicky

Made up the crew compartment panels:



Dry-fitted to the chassis with the roof loose:



Then made up the pump compartment - an interesting box with lots of annoying cut outs and recesses:



.... and the water tank, crew cab and pump compartment in place:



Roof mounted pump controls and cab mounted nozzle remote position, detailed with joy-stick:



and fitted:



Another stowage locker:



and detailling started on the cab with the door liners:



Began by opening up the passenger glove box and adding the first of the extra gear in the HEMMT cab:



Some time later............



More later

Hi Richard

All I can say is stunning !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Amazed at how you get such clear detailing in 1/35 !!!!!!!!!

Nige

Outstanding Piece of Work
Congrats
Cheers
Seb

was hoping you would post the build. awesome scratch

Thanks Nige - very nice of you to say so!

Cheers Seb - like all these things there are some aspects I would change or improve if I tackled it again - luckily the HEMMT is the base for some stunning conversions so this may not be my only journey into the land of Oshkosh!!!

Ta very much Joe - not really in the same league as your builds but it keeps me off the streets eh?

OK fellas, some more......

Added the resin wheels and luckily, considering the slightly warped kit main rails, all eight touched down first time.......although considering the weight of styrene that ended up on this thing that was NEVER gonna be a problem!!!



Fitted the engine and it's housing:



Detailed the fuel tank and various hose connections with home made copper wire 'chain':



Started adding details to the various panels (it makes sense to check the larger body components for size and fit first before wasting time with the decoration!):



Made up an etch ratchet strap and along with a new bracket mounted the spare wheel:



Then it was back to the cab and more detail - this time the cab roof underside - including the roof mounted nozzle operating lever and sun visors:



and all dry-fitted:



That's all for now folks....as ever all commnets and ?s welcome

ATVB

Dicky F

Hey Dicky, looks great! Is it done yet

Wow, wow and friggin wow !!!!!!!!!!

I don't know how you guys get the detail so good in that scale.

Fantastic

Nige

Dicky, very cool project. I just saw it and I'm glad I did. Now, how about a update...will there be one anytime soon?

Mike

Hello all, firstly apologies as I have been busy elsewhere! You'll probably be pleased to know most of that time was spent at my bench in t'hole. The HEMMT Tactical Fire Truck is well and truly finished and has done me proud in the intervening months at the shows/comps including a bronze at Euro:









This was followed by a French Depanneur Leclerc AEV:













This was followed by the experimental XM808 Twister from the 1960/70s:

















My latest build follows..........

My latest build is one i've been aiming for, for some time. It is a T62 1972 with scratchbuilt interior displayed as a cutaway in museum setting. The donor kit is Trumpeter's with some turret resin from RB's update set and believe it or not acouple of bits from Skif's T55 mainly cos I felt sorry for it!!!! The interior was based on the T55 but spaced accordingly as I'm lead to believe they're pretty much the same with many compatible components:



























I'm building exclusively on [email protected]now and these and many other builds can be seen there - hope you enjoy these builds and happy scratching fellow wielders of the white stuff!!!

Richard

Your stuff ROCKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nige

Graet work. Do you plan on painting the firetruck and other AFVs?

Hi Nigel - thanks a lot fella - yer very kind but I've been following yer builds too and I get a lot of inspiration from your stuff, especially your innovative use of materials - anybody that says they can learn nothing from someone else's builds hasn't followed closely enough IMHO eh?

Hi Gino, no that was never the intention - these first few were purely to test my building abilities and push myself. Now I have a bit more confidence I'm planning to do some more painted builds in the future and have many more projects planned including an Assault Breeching Vehicle dio and a 1/16 Leo 2A6 Can scratch.

Thanks for the thumbs up it means a lot

Oh wow, those look totally awesome. Looking at your complete models makes me want to leave this computer and start building right away. You have done great and I can't wait to see what else will come from your bench

Mike

Definitely a Scratch master. I love everyone of these builds. I am truly inspired by your work.

this is beautiful! here we have an expert from scratch
bravo
sampiero

your builds are amaxing,great work.

Hi Richard, I saw your T-62 about one month ago on modellers social club site.
It looks IMPRESSIVE as well as all you jobs!

Many thanks for sharing them!

Thank you all for the kind comments - it means a great deal coming from such talented guys