# My next project...Chuck Miller's Fire Truck by MPC.



## tolenmar

This one could be fun!









I'm cracking this one open as soon as I get done here to see what I've got and to think about how I want to finish it. On sale at Hobby Lobby for $12.


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## tolenmar

Ok, so here are all of the parts out of the box:









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.


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## scottnkat

This should be a fun kit. I've seen this on the shelves and I love show cars. I'll be watching this one!


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## tolenmar

I need to make sure my gap filler is still good. It's been ages since I needed it. With the body in three pieces, I think I'm going to need it.


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## djnick66

You have a good start so far. I have seen a lot of rims with separate (usually inner) rings that have a big sprue in the middle. Oddly I had gone to HL this week to get one of these since I saw it on sale a week or so back, but they were sold out.


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## tolenmar

I wish I could find the REd Baron reasonably cheap. These two would look good sitting next to each other.


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## tolenmar

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.


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## s.moe

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


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## tolenmar

Intricate and challenging is definintely what I've been looking for. I just wish I could find a good Cougar or Corvette with the level of detail I'm after. But that's for later. This'll (happily) keep me busy for a while.


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## tolenmar

Actual front disc brakes with calipers!









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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## CorvairJim

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.


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## tolenmar

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...


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## djnick66

I use watch crystal glue from Hobby Lobby on lenses and clear parts (as on my AMT T bucket here on HT). Its quite sticky unlike white glue, but will not craze or fog the clear parts or chrome parts.


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## tolenmar

Well, moving on. I see I have a bit of work ahead of me:








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.


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## tolenmar

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!


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## tolenmar

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:








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...


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## scottnkat

It's coming along very nicely - looking forward to more progress...


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## tolenmar

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.


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## djnick66

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.)


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## tolenmar

djnick66 said:


> 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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## djnick66

See I struggle if I encounter a problem like that because my knowledge of actual car engines is zilch. If parts don't fit, or don't match the instructions, I am toast.


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## tolenmar

Work part time, so you can't afford a mechanic, and then buy a twenty year old car. You'll learn pretty quick. I certainly did.

And putting the starter there may be a mistake, they don't always mount there, and I won't know for sure until it's time to mount everything else. That location is pretty typical, though.


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## tolenmar

Right now, I'm stuck. I'm at one of those points where you can't move forward with anything because everything is drying.

I have the cab exterior assembled. Only after that point did I realize that part of the roof overhangs the rest, and needed to be painted to match the rest of the body. As a result, it is covered in masking tape to be sure I don't overspray into the interior.

It's time to work on the chassis. Except all of it is drying, too.

Ok, so I'll run the spark plug wires. Can't even do that. Not until I get the headers installed, which in this kit install after the engine is attached to the frame. It'll be fine work with tweezers when I do get to that point, though.

I'm not complaining. I have to work today, so I don't exactly have a lot of time to tinker on this kit. I just love these stall moments when you are building. Anyone else?


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## Rondo

I can't list the number of projects I've lost interest in because of slow drying paint. The answer seems to be lacquers which dry REAL FAST. It's hard to find Tamiya in my area. Testors One Coat is a great line, limited in selection but some very nice colors. The LHS has a rack of Pactra lacquer which I haven't tried yet.

I don't recall Testors enamel taking so long to dry when I was a kid. Pretty sure that I wasn't more patient then. It seems like a reasonable guess that the formulation has changed due to legal constraints.

The Fire Truck is looking very good. The old MPC kits had some warts but you are working them out nicely. Look at those instructions though. Are you sure the starter doesn't mount to the right side valve cover? :roll::wave:


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## tolenmar

The warts in this kit are working out so muhch more easily than the warts on the last kit I built. It should be decal time now!


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## tolenmar

Looks like I was worried about the pinstripes needlessly. It took time, but weren't that difficult. Once they dry, and I've clearcoated over them, I'll get pics.


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## djnick66

The Pactra lacquers are for lexan RC Car bodies and do NOT work well on plastic kits. Unlike the Tamiya and Testors synthetic, plastic safe, lacquers, the Pactra stuff is much hotter and can craze the plastic. They also dry in a rough, pebbly finish, as they are meant to etch into the inside of a clear body, where the clear plastic itself provides the top gloss layer.


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## tolenmar

So here we are with the pinstriping. This is prior to the clearcoating to seal them in. I gotta say, I was expecting this part to be the most difficult. Each of these pinstripe decals was more narrow than the lead in mechanical pencil, and in pieces. You work your way around the model one section at a time.


















The fire company decals, however (and the ones on the back of the cab) went hazy really fast after they dried. But I checked on them after the clearcoat (I haven't been out to my workshop yet today), and the clearcoat seems to have helped in that regard.

I'll porbably finish the model in the next day or two. The undercarriage is going together now, and the only thing holding me up on that is the fact that when I went to assemble a couple of pieces, I found I had somehow managed to miss painting one side of them.


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## tolenmar

Well, photobucket is being stupid at the moment. I have the undercarriage and suspension about 2/3's finished. It's looking good, though the frame has a bit of a twist in it I was unable to take out. I'm hoping that when I attach it to the body, I can get it cleared up.

I have pics, but they won't upload at the moment. Hopefully, I can get them up soon.


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## tolenmar

Ok, looks like Photobucket is back online...Here are the pics I took this morning.


































Shiny!!!

Ok, the frame is upside down. Once I'm done with the suspension, I'll flip it over, mount the engine, and all the other upper pieces.


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## tolenmar

Ok, some pics again. This is what I'm calling "pre-finished." There are one or two things that have worked loose I didn't notice until I was reviewing the photos that I'll have to finish. I'm also waiting on the paint to dry on the license plates so I can put the decals on them. They'll mount up soon.

Despite the warts, I think it is still a very sharp-looking model. There are a few issues: 

The headers don't fit. The part where they attach to the engine block is too short. They are supposed to extend out and over the frame and then down and back, but they are just too short to make the trip. I did the best I could. 

The drive shaft is too short. The only thing for that is to never turn it upside and let anyone see it.

The frame is twisted, and nothing I did would fix it. When it is finalized for display, it will be attached to the floor, forcing it straight, but it won't be straight of it's own accord.

The pieces (for most part) that are chromed are poorly thought out. You cut them off the sprue and you get a lot of bare plastic. Pieces you expect to be chromed (like the headers or the firewall, which is chrome on the 1:1) are not.

The front wheel hubs, when asembled, combined with the shape of the ball joints on the front of the frame do not allow the wheels to attach to the frame. This is a bummer because I had to file all of it flat to glue them up. The model was supposed to have turning front wheels.

Basically, if I were to build the kit again, there are several things I'd do at each step to make things look better and fit better, but you can't exactly test fit something you build at the first step to something you build near the end until it's too late.

So anyway, on with the pics:








It is, despite the flaws, very sharp looking!









I nearly fabricated a hose for the fire extinguisher. Of course, it isn't too late. And can you believe the red cross on the first aid kit was supposed to be a decal? Two seconds with red paint is all you need.









My son can't seem to get over the monocle style windscreen. I love how from this angle, it creates a magnifying effect on the seat.









Here is the passenger's side wheel, off the ground.










And finally, it claims to be a 1:25 scale kit (the box actually says its a 1:25 scale customizing kit), so here are a couple of size comparisons with the last two models I built:

















From this point, I will finish the license plates and hange them below the rear bumper. Then I'll fix any minor issues (like that separating firewall). I am in the process of painting a board to display it on. I plan to create a black and white checkered floor. The model will be secured to that, the mini-box that came in the kit will take up one corner of the floor, as will the postcard that came in the box. I'd also love to be able to create some red velvet ropes to go around the piece.

Of course, there will be pics of the final display.


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## tolenmar

As finished as I think it;s going to get. I may put in the plug wires, don't know about the hoses yet. I still want to put velvet ropes around the whole thing, but here are a couple shots of it on the showroom floor:
















Warts and all, this may well be my favorite build ever. It sure looks nice sitting there like that. Even got the frame straightened.


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## scottnkat

Looks great, man - and I like the checkerboard showroom floor


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## pejota

Great Job!!!

The pinstripe decals turned out awesome!


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## tolenmar

Thank you! I was really worried about doing the pinstripes. I don't mind fiddly bits, but when the fiddly bits are decals and prone to wrinklin, tearing and folding on you...


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## djnick66

I think it came out pretty nice. Those kits are not the easiest thing to build either. End result is really good.


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## Rondo

Yeah, that looks really good. I passed on the kit imagining all sorts of problems. And it doesn't look like an easy build but a much better design than than I thought. The chassis looks especially nice. :thumbsup:


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## tolenmar

Just remember that if you do pick it up to build, something really needs to be done about the length of those header pipes. Use some spare sprue or something to add about a quarter inch to each of those pipes so it'll come out like it needs to. 

In the pics above, I did not do this. Each one is held onto the model by the glue attaching it to the frame, not the engine. They just sort of lean up against the engine block.

Everything else was easy to overcome.


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