Back to stay

Yes, I think I'll keep doing this modeling thing. A few more recent pieces here. Starting with an old favorite, the '37 Chevy truck from Sylvan Scale. Pretty much box stock (no alterations done to the model.) except for using the Jordan 5 hole steel wheels. The covered livestock hauler in behind is a resin kit from the German outfit Kniga. I did lower the suspension a bit and used a two hole steel wheel on the trailer. I also covered the tarp that was already molded in the resin casting, with tissue. Just helped to make the seams at the glue joint less perceptible.

















Sometimes you run across a model that is just too much like a toy. Such is the case with the Imex International KB8 from 1947-49. It is a diecast piece with a very thick paint job and plastic headlights that are mounted on the bumper. To creat this piece, I shortened the wheelbase and corrected the windshield area. I then used some appropriate headlamps and mounted them up on the fender where they belong. The wrecker unit is scratch built and sits on diamond plate. The wheels are from Athearn. After stripping all the paint off, I cleaned the casting and dipped it in Blacken-It. A chemical product that darkens most metals. This eliminates any coats of paint at all and provides a good tooth for anything that does get painted without priming.
















I do feel fortunate to have friends like Ralph Ratcliffe. Ralph is the renowned modeler responsible for countless numbers of masters for models brought to us by the likes of Sheepscot Scale and Don Mills Models as well as carrying his own line of great models now. I was the recipient of the Mack F700 cabover from Ralph because it had some defects and he could not sell it to Don Mills who markets the kit. With just the cab in hand I found a Promotex chassis suitable and put Ralph's wheels on it with his cab. The trailer is the Lonestar kit of the Trailmobile 40 ft. flatbed. A great kit for scale and prototypical accuracy but a bit of a bugger to assemble with all the fiddly little parts. Not impossible by any means but if you're just starting out in modeling, you might want to put this one on the shelf until you sharpen your skills a bit. The load is an old plastic kit from Preiser of a generic forage wagon chained down to the trailer .
















The last thing I want to show for this posting is the trailer I originally intended for the Mack F700. It is a 28' wedge from Rail Power offered in a plastic kit. Of course I can always change my mind again.




Well thanks again for looking and happy modeling.

Back at it

I was told that getting back into the things I love to do is a great therapy so I forced myself to sit down at the bench and broke out some old kits. It feels very good to create again after so long.

My first venture into the long trip back to anything resembling normalcy was the old Model AA Ford from Jordan Miniatures. I have an issue with the roof not being prototypical on this model but otherwise it's a fine kit. I combined it this time with parts from a Tichy wooden ore car kit to make a coal delivery truck. The bed (supposedly) has a screw auger dispensing system and I scratch built a geared gate for it. The 'coal' is fine granite dust sprayed black. Did some heavy weathering here on the truck.

















I moved on to another old favorite in the Roco Zis-5 again and combined it with the tank from the Model AA kit. Added a bunch of scratch built details to come up with this Airport Fuel delivery truck. The (as yet unfinished) plane in the background is a 1938 Corben Super Ace which comes in a plastic kit from Williams Bros. Not a very detailed kit but it is one of the few aircraft models that scales to an exact 1/87.





















This truck sat unfinished for the longest time. I knew where I wanted to go with it but didn't know how to get there exactly. The model is a cast metal kit from the now defunct Ivers Engineering of the 1953 REO Gold Comet. I built log bunks, head ache rack and the stinger trailer to come up with this.






















I've always had a love affair with the pre and post war Chevy truck. My neighbor has two of them parked behind his house. It was great when Clare Gilbert at Sylvan Scale came up with this cab. Funny thing is, now Classic Metal Works and adp of Germany also have a model of this truck but neither is as prototypically accurate or close to scale as Clare's offering. Not only that but Clare has given us the model in a cabover configuration too. Which is what I used here for this pumper unit. I tried to stay true to the Art Deco form here with a scratch built bed. Many of the details are scratch built with some help from Ralph Ratcliffe models fender mounted siren.



We I've got lots more to show but that's it for now. I'd like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to all those that have wished us well and given their prayers and condolences following the tragedy that befell our family. It's all of those kind words from you folks that have helped immensely to overcome what I thought was the end to the happiness and enjoyment life can offer. The realization that so many good hearts exist out there has given me the desire to participate in life again. Many thanks to each and every one.

Christiana

Christiana Fesmire
12/17/88 - 7/1/11

The beautiful young lady above is the youngest of our four children. On July first of this year Christiana Fesmire disappeared with no explanation. We spent the next few months in deep despair and in constant prayer. We received a call from the Lewiston, Maine police detective Roland Godbout in October, wanting to meet with us. It was then that we were informed that a man had been arrested and charged with her brutal murder. We know not why exactly, only that he was her neighbor and that they had not gotten along very well. Her remains have yet to be found.


It is obvious from her photo, that she was of rare and stunning beauty. What cannot be seen is the vibrant personality and happy outlook on life that she possessed. Her constant smile and love for snowboarding, bicycling and her family have been taken from her now and these are sorely missed by everyone who knew her. I wish to thank everyone for the outpouring of sympathy that the family has received.

Please forgive me for placing this tragedy before you in this otherwise positive look into an activity I have loved and enjoyed presenting to you. But I need to put my hobby in the back seat of my life for a while. I'm sure I will return to it someday so until then be patient. In the meantime, please say a prayer for our little one that her soul is at peace. We miss her immensely.

11/17/12
Update:  This is to inform all those who have so considerately offered their condolences at our loss, that on Friday, November 16, 2012, Buddy Robinson was found guilty in the murder of our youngest child, Christiana. It does not do anything to comfort us in our loss but does provide us one more element of closure to this tragedy. Many thanks for the diligence of local and state law enforcement agencies and the Maine Attorney General's Office in the successful prosecution. Our only hope for Mr. Robinson is that he will share in our sorrow at his actions of July 1, 2011 and that it will permeate his daily thoughts as it does ours. He has not yet been sentenced and Christiana's remains are still not found.

12/6/12

Update: Body found. It seems that upon his conviction, Mr. Robinson wished to do something to get a reduced sentence. His legal council advised him to give up the whereabouts of Christiana's remains. After agreeing to a sentence of 40 years with the State's Attorney General's  Office, he gave police the exact location. She was found only a few hundred feet from the intersection of Wagg and Ferry Rds. in Lisbon, Maine in a heavily wooded area. State Police forensics will be making an official identification and trying to determine a cause of death. We are grateful at this discovery and hope to have Christiana in her final resting place in a family plot at Maple Grove Cemetery near Round Pond, Maine. May she now rest in peace.

10/18/13

   Update: It's been over two years now since learning of the tragic fate of our little girl. The judicial system here in Maine is quite slow but finally today, sentencing was pronounced for our daughter's murderer, Buddy Robinson. Even today, Mr. Robinson offered no apologies for his actions and supplied the court with a ten minute rant on what a great guy he was. The judge, Justice Kennedy was not impressed with his speech and was actually annoyed at his inability to offer a reason or apology for what he did. It was for this reason that she decided to up the sentence that the District Attorney and defense attorney agreed upon of 40 years to 55 years. We are grateful for her ability to see clearly that just because Buddy Robinson seems to be a well mannered, polite young man, doesn't mean that there aren't well mannered, polite murderers walking the face of the earth. Our experience now with the courts, law enforcement and the media is now over and we look forward to revisiting Christiana in a positive, loving manner.   May she live on in our memories and be happy wherever she may be.

Filling in the blanks

As I mentioned a few posts back, I've been on the disabled list for a while with my knee problems. And managed to do quite a few models sitting here with nothing better to do. I'm not a big TV watcher so in keeping my fingers and mind busy have these additions to my former posting on what I've been doing.


A project that sat half finished for some time is the Mack LJSW from Sheepscot Scale. Had no idea where to go with this until I decided to buy the stinger trailer for logging from Dennis Aust. Well they have been sold out for some time and I wasn't too familiar with back dating the trailer to the era of the truck so I decided to make this an eastern rig anyway. We see mostly straight trucks here in New England for logging and this model seems to fit the bill.


The truck was placed on an Athearn B model Mack chassis in order to get the correct Mack suspension. The frame was lengthened slightly and the bunks were scratch built from styrene. The cab steps are photo etched diamond plate on wire supports. The headlights were made from shaped styrene rod and have bent styrene strip mounting brackets. The exhaust is aluminum tubing used by R/C airplane modelers for fuel lines.




The next truck worth mentioning is the 1941,46,47 Chevy that I've made into a rural fire department pumper unit. The bed is entirely scratch built from styrene sheet. The process I use for scratch building most of my bodies starts with finding out the size of the prototype. I then calculate the size in scale and do a drawing on my computer using a vector based drafting program. I print two copies of this on Manila card stock. One I cut out and glue up as a mock up to see how the bed will fit my chassis. The second I cut out and use for templates for the styrene, brass, wood or whatever material I am building with. I then can replicate the body as many times as I want.


The Chevy cab and chassis are from Sylvan Scale. To it I have added a rotating beacon made from two different size styrene rod and a fender mounted siren from Ralph Ratcliffe models. Also from Ralph is the nifty Indian pack on the driver side running board. The wheels are from Jordan that can be purchased separately from them. The running boards on the pumper body are photo etched diamond plate and the hose reel is scratch built as well.



Staying with 1946 a moment brings us to the year the Colecto-Pak refuse body by Heil was first introduced. This was the first actual compaction refuse body ever produced. After seeing an advertisement from Heil of that year featuring the 46 Chevy cab over, I knew where I was going with this one. The cab and chassis are again from Sylvan with the Jordan wheels. The packer unit was taken from measured drawings I found and completely scratch built from sheet styrene using the method I describe above. Below is the drawn profile of the packer unit.




Another model I want to show this post is also a 1946 Chevy cab over, it also from Sylvan and having the Jordan wheels. This time in a wrecker. The bed was scratch built as was the tow unit winch and boom.





One last quickie here since I showed it in the Jordan posting earlier but it's the first one I did after surgery and one of my personal favorites. In July of 1917 the U.S. government contracted Ford to produce a field ambulance for the war. By September, there were 2400 already built with a wooden body on the Ford touring car chassis. So this 1/87 scale model utilizes the Jordan Model T touring car chassis and front clip. The rest of the ambulance is scratch built from styrene sheet. The cab canopy and rear flap are tissue paper.











It is time again to sign off and see what's on Oprah. Yeah right.

How'd you do dat?

There are always questions about a build when others view it. "How did you do that?" echos throughout the forums and lists when someone shows a successful piece of modeling and often the creator is generous enough to share his/her process. Without this sharing of knowledge, I certainly would not be at the point I am with my modeling for there are many in all scales that have contributed to my experience. I have mentioned names like Ken Hamilton, Joe Enriquez and Chuck Doan before here to give credit for a certain technique or material but there are dozens of great modelers out there that can offer good solid modeling basics if you just know where to go and who to listen to. Yes, unfortunately there is not so good, if not simply incorrect information too. So what to look for to find correct information with regard to scale and prototypical accuracy becomes the question.
First of all study photos. I understand that photography plays a big part in this modeling endeavor and many of us aren't as good photographers as we are modelers. But one can't really tell how good a model is by seeing small (500 pixels or less) photos of finished models. If you don't believe that look at what kind of detail is shown on these 4 and 5 hundred pixel photos. Then click on them to see what you're missing. The best modelers I know take detailed shots of individual assemblies in large format. You can really see the details close up and isn't that what modeling is all about? Being able to see in miniature what we see in real life. If you can see fine details well constructed to scale in a photo then you have a better idea of what kind of modeler is doing the build and is he/she worth listening to.



I let my photos speak for themselves and you be the judge of how good I am (or not). I try to convey in a photo the best description of the model seen as if you were holding it. Yes, I try to make an esthetically appealing photo but making sure the model and it's details are the photo's foremost feature. I won't try to tell you how to take photos because I do not profess to be all that good at it. And because that's not the point of this writing (read: rant). I just want to say that being able to actually see all of a model and every small detail in it is the best way to judge whether a modeler has anything valuable to contribute. The proof is in the puddin'!

The truck crane featured is not a particularly spectacular model in my opinion. I took a rather complicated subject to build that I really liked and sacrificed some precision on the build in order to complete it. But it conveys the feel of the original prototype and has been done in a plausible manner. Key word here being plausible. Is the model something that actually existed and if so are the proportions to scale and accurately placed? Are the details era specific and appropriate to the size, use and type of vehicle you are building? These are questions you have to answer yourself as the builder and good research will help in a successful project. Just saying that it looks right to you isn't going to get a superior model unless you're very lucky. Measure, do the math and know that you're right. The prototype of this truck shows no winch or motor to power it in the bed of the truck. I make the "plausible" assumption then that the winch is under the bed with PTO from the driveshaft.


The bed was the easiest part of this particular project of course being a simple sheet of styrene cut to fit. I used the styrene deck from the Roco model for this and glued .125" U channel around the perimeter with wheel well cut outs in the appropriate spot. The Boom frame is .10" U channel that has had the center cut out. .015" styrene strips were used for the X bracing inside the cut out and a slightly wider strip was used for the diagonal bracing front and back. Blocks were glued inside the top of the frame to accept the pulley in back and support rods from the bumper. These rods are very stiff steel used by R/C/ model airplane builders for control rods to flaps etc. The bumper is the same .125" U channel, drilled out on the top to accept styrene eye bolts from Tichy. The same eye bolts are used on the top of the boom frame.

The boom is again the .125" U channel spaced apart with lattice work on the bottom of the boom from the same strip styrene as used for the frame diagonals. the end has a sheave made from styrene rod and pinned in place with rivets from Tichy. I used the rivets for ornamentation as well down the length of the boom in a plausible pattern. At the base of the boom, a 3/32" styrene tube was cut to length and a block glued to it to attach the boom foot, fastened with a styrene rod with rounded ends. To round the ends of a styrene rod, hold it close to (not in) a flame until you see it round over. It makes a perfect convex. To the bottom of this, I fixed a block of styrene with gears from Vector Cut. These are highly detailed laser cut reinforced card stock. All sits on a raised platform of grooved styrene to simulate a wood deck.

Finally, the not so great pulley is a brass strip bent in the shape of a U, drilled out and a piece of styrene rod was pinned inside with Tichy rivets. The cabling is cotton (not recommended) that has been run through moustache wax to relieve it of it's fuzzies.


For the finishes I use, please take some time to go through the archives here. I have posted on several topics the methods I use to acquire the desired finished look on individual models. Suffice it to say that this model didn't get a lot of weathering treatments since I really didn't want a beater look to it but rather just a working truck. I hope this has been informative as well as entertaining. I enjoy bringing it and my models to the world. The world you say? I have just shipped models to Switzerland, Santiago, Chile and Paris, France just this week. It gives me great pleasure to know that over the years in every continent but Antarctica, someone may be viewing a bit of my work. And what better way to promote the hobby than presenting the real article not just a photo on the computer. So thank you for visiting and please check back often. Oh, don't forget, clicking on these images that accompany the text brings up larger photos.