Finding the matching font for the lettering involved searching through about 1200 different styles. The “9-1-1” triangles on the rear quarter panels are also custom made. The decals were printed on an ALPS printer, as was the small company logo on the rear side windows. Antennas for the rear trunk deck were made with plastic discs punched from .030 styrene sheet and guitar string. Custom license plates were also created to match the prototype. The light bar was generously donated by Greg Smith. It is from a Welly die-cast Tahoe. The only thing missing is an inspection sticker for the front windshield. Hope to get that taken care of soon

David ( hooknladderno1 )

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Got a note from Jamie with SSB Resins the other day with some great news,one is he back working full time out side of the hobby and he is still going to work on the resin stiff as well then he followed that up with a preview of his next release! He says he is at about 80% completion on the ladder truck that has been highly asked for. Looking at the photos it looks like it is going to be a great kit to add to the other Seagraves he has, not to mention real impressive sitting on a table at a show! Continue on for the sneak peek at the kit in progress….

Drooling yet?  Start saving those pennies!

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You’ve may have seen the Pierce Arrow 7 ton dump that I did in brass, if not the in progress photos are posted on the discussion forum in this section. Below are some of the pieces of brass work that I’m currently doing for the O-5 Crash rig. This tutorial will show some of the technique used to create the parts to build the custom models such as the ones shown in the photo to the left.

The reasons I have for using brass are three-fold.
1. Brass is stronger than plastic and can be used in areas that need strength for small parts,
2. Brass sheets can be thinner than plastic where you can achieve a more scale thickness such as with fenders or hoods.
3. Brass has crisp lines that don’t get hidden by glue.

Soldering brass requires certain materials and tools.  Here are some of the tools that I use.

I use all three sources of heat; the torch, rechargeable iron and a 15 watt plug in iron for soldering. The solder is silver solder and the flux is a paste; both of which I got at radio shack. The solder is a very fine wire and has a medium melting temperature.

Soldering requires the brass surfaces to be CLEAN! That means filing or sanding or grinding to get a bright shiny surface. The solder does not stick well to dirty surfaces and you can get very frustrated when that happens. A lot like putting too much super glue on a joint and wondering why it isn’t bonding. You can also use steel wool to clean up the pieces.

The late Augie Hiscano taught me a few simple tricks about soldering that are quite worth mentioning.
1. Use a torch and
2. Use small pieces of solder wire at the joint and allow the heat to make the solder flow.

I used to add solder to the iron tip and expect it to go nicely into a joint or between two surfaces and always ended up with a blob of solder that I had to grind away. That is absolutely unnecessary.
We can demonstrate the torch technique a bit later but for now lets just say that a small about of solder laid on where you want it to go will flow evenly and so that there is little to no cleanup required if you use a torch in the proper way.

A BIT ABOUT SAFETY! WE ARE AFTER ALL FIRE APPARATUS MODELERS, RIGHT?
1. Torches and irons get hot and so does the brass! Use a bit of common sense when you handle them!
2. Torches and irons can burn things like clothes, wood, table tops and anything else they come in contact with. Work in a good open area and keep hot torches and irons away from flammables!

Torches vs Irons
I believe there is a very big benefit to being able to use a torch over an iron and that is stability of the parts. That having been said, there are cases where irons will work just as well and sometimes better.

The one thing about working with solder and brass is that once heated and bonded by solder, the brass parts cannot be adjusted unless they are reheated. Unlike using plastic and glue there is no setting time where you get to play around with alignment. That’s where the torch comes in. You can apply the heat without disturbing the parts to be soldered.

Now on to  where we will deal with how to solder different shapes such as sheet stock, round and flat stock, mating pieces for maximum joint strength.

Soldering and welding not dis-similar. By that I mean that the terminology that describes welded joints in metal can apply to soldering. Butt welds and filet welds come to mind. A butt weld is simply joining to pieces of metal together as they lay side by side. A filet weld is one that would be used to join to pieces of metal that are at right angles to each other. This latter methodology is what is used primarily with soldering.
Good soldering requires a flat and heat resistant working surface. While today’s environmental standards would not tolerate a piece of sheet asbestos it is a good platform for soldering. An excellent substitute is a piece of ceramic tile. Just check out the tile first to be sure it has a good flat surface. Some have a textured surface that would be good for nothing. The tile should be about 12″ square but whatever suits your particular preference is what you should use.
The next part will have some actual soldering in it and the preparation of a few pieces of brass. You will also see how the solder flows into a joint just by the heat of the process and that very little cleanup is needed.

My O-5 crash rig needs towing shackles mounted to the front of the frame. Brass is just the thing in this instance. In the first pic you can see one shackle that I have made already and in the holder to the right a piece of brass tubing and a piece of brass rod bent to the shape of the loop. These pieces will be soldered together to form a second shackle.

We had an option here. I could cut the loops ahead of time or do as I have done; soldering first then cutting the tubing afterward. This does two things. It makes handling things much easier and guarantees that the tubing, once cut will be in proper alignment. In the next photo I’m adding some flux to the joint areas.

Flux helps the solder to flow into the joint area much easier and helps it to bond to the brass.

In this next photo I’ve added two small bits of solder wire to the joint area. You don’t need much as you can see.

Now the fun part. Adding some heat! The laws of thermodynamics come into play here. Heat gets transmitted from areas that are hot to areas that are cold. So heating the tubing will cause it to heat faster than the brass rod and we want to draw the solder wire into the hotter tubing.

I’m not touching the flame to the brass; just close enough so that the heat gets transferred and as soon as the solder melts, the flame is removed quickly. Here’s the completed solder joint just as it flowed. I’ve not cleaned up anything at this point. The solder has formed its own filet around the brass rod and tubing joint.

Now to cut the tubing leaving two short rings on each end of the brass rod. I use my Dremel with a cutoff wheel for this process. You have to be careful not to build up heat as you cut because too much would melt the solder again and ruin the work. That is one benefit of holding the work in your fingers if you can. If your fingers get hot there is too much heat in the cutting process. When cutting is done some hand cleanup with a file does the trick.
Here are the two shackles mounted on the bottom of the frame of the O-5.

Stay tuned for more!

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By Aaron Woods

Parts 2 & 3 discussed the basics of USFS markings. Here I will provide more detail needed to model vehicles from the early “dark green” period.    

1920-1940

It is not clear exactly when the USFS adopted the dark green paint and agency shield on their vehicles. It appears to have started in the late teens, and was definately in use by the mid 1920s. The markings consisted of a large 12-14″ agency shield and a 3 or 4 digit vehicle inventory ID number on the door. Both were gold, and were frequently stencilled or hand painted leading to some variation in size and style.

In addition to the door markings, fire vehicles frequently had a license plate like plaque applied to the front identifying it as a firefighting vehicle. A second plaque was occasionally added to the back.

Emergency warning devices during this period were very simple. Generally just one or two red cowl or roof mounted lights and a mechanical siren. Not all fire vehicles were equipped with warning devices. This was particularly true in remote areas where the fire plate and a horn was considered adequate. 

Since all Forest Service employees were expected to join in firefighting efforts, it is not uncommon to see non-firefighting vehicles equipped with warning lights and a siren. This was particularly common with vehicles attached to large work crews prior to WW2. 

1941-1956

In 1940-41 the door markings changed with the adoption of a flag themed shield, and white lettering. The use of the Fire plate continued, but seems to have been discontinued in the late 1940s. The only change to emergency warning devices was the occasional use of  rear facing red warning lights in the 1950s.  Additional spot / flood lights also start to appear in the late 1940s, to assist night operations.

Paint for 1920-1956

Paint for the dark green period seems to be well covered by Krylon Hunter Green or Rustolium Dark Hunter Green.

Rustolium Painter’s Touch series also has a Hunter Green but it is a slightly lighter shade of green. Although it is not my first choice, it does provide a viable option.

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 By Aaron Woods

In the mid 1960s there was another change in markings. The red, white & blue shield was replaced with a small (6”) brown & white USFS shield. A solid brown box with white trim replaced the earlier white outline. The use of radio ID numbers started to appear on fire vehicles in the early 1970s.

 (International Loadstar, Model 51, Sierra National Forest)

In the mid 1970s there was a minor change when the grey top was eliminated resulting in an overall light green vehicle. The first marked law enforcement vehicles also appeared aroundthis time.

 In the early 1980s the markings were changed again when the shield moved from the top of the door to the center. The box surrounding the lettering was dropped and the lettering placed above and below the shield. There are some minor variations in the shield during this time, but the most common was a small brown shield with white border.

(1987 International S1600, Model 42, Sierra National Forest)

In the 1990s the USFS in Region 5 (California) started to add reflective lettering and later reflective striping to fire vehicles. Over the next decade other regions began to adopt these markings, but in 2009 it is still not a nationwide practice.

(1996 Ford F-800, Model 62A, Los Padres National Forest)

In 2000 there was a change in both paint and markings. To save the expense of painting vehicles green it was decided to buy white vehicles. To increase recognition a larger (12”) shield was adopted. The colors of the shield were also reversed making it more noticeable on the white vehicle; it was now white with a brown border and brown lettering. Fire and law enforcement vehicles used dark green reflective striping to provide additional identification.

(2005 Jeep Liberty, San Bernardino National Forest)

This decision was not a popular one, particularly among firefighters as the green vehicles were seen by many as a part of the agencies identity. Since the cost was not as much of a factor on large vehicles, in 2001 the green scheme was allowed to continue, but only on medium and heavy duty trucks.  

In 2002 an exception was made for emergency vehicles allowing each region the option of green or white regardless of the size of the vehicle. The markings for both colors are the same with the exception of reflective striping which is green on white vehicles and white on green vehicles. Law Enforcement decided to continue the use of the white scheme nationwide.

(2001 International 4900, Model 62C, Sierra National Forest)

(2006 International 7400, Model 75, Fremont National Forest)

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