I am going to build an Italeri fire Jeep Robin Gronovius aka Sabot sent me the parts to convert the Italeri 1/24 jeep into this version Many thanks sir

Now for the questions

What is a good shade of red for it?
Should I paint the chassis black?
What would be the best white paint to paint the fire hoses?

It calls for some silver paint for nozzles etc What is the best silver paint that won't leave brush marks?

I may end up scratchbuilding the ladders The instructions call for them to be painted a wood color However the kit ladders have no wood grain effect

If I scratchbuild the ladders,should the rungs be wood or metal? This will be an early 1950's era fire truck

Any and all help greatly appreciated

First of all there will be some variations depending on if you are going for a European look or a US look, the kit represents a European vehicle (the hose couplings are the biggest indicator of this), however that is a minor detail.

Red is largely personal taste, it seems like European nations tend towards an orange/red while the US is typically more of a red red, but this is certainly not universal. There are plenty of examples in the US of fire apparatus that is not even red at all, black, orange, green, white even purple.





I would probably paint the chassis black or grey, but I don't know that is correct for a Jeep, most likely this would be a converted military Jeep so painting the chassis the same as a military jeep would be fairly accurate.




Hose is not usually white (for long anyway), in the 50's hose was made of cotton so any variation from off white, light grey, or tan to desert sand would be appropriate. The hose on the reel would typically be hard rubber, brick red or black would be a good choice.



Cant give you brands but for the fittings probably aluminum, Stortz fitting as included in the kit were not really used in the US until the late 70's or later so all I've seen is aluminum alloy, in the US brass was used for hose fittings, nozzles etc. I don't know what was used in Europe. The nozzles and such could be brass or chrome plated, you would probably be safe using chrome on all the fittings.





Again going off US equipment so there might be some variation for European equippment.

Ladders are typically made of wood or aluminum (metal ladders have been available since the 30's but not widely used until the 50-60's). Wood ladders are made from close grained wood heavily varnished, generally Douglas fir for the beams (the sides) and Hickory for the rungs. Metal rungs are very uncommon on wood ladders but do exist. I don't think a lack of woodgrain would really be a problem for a kit in that scale, the wood grain is not that prominant on the real ladders.

It is also fairly common for the last 1-2 feet of the ladder to be painted white or black on the beams, it is pretty common to see ladders painted black at the bottom and white at the top.





If you think of anything else feel free to ask, that is a pretty nice kit you are building. Vehicles like the Jeep are often sort of home built by the firefighters so you should feel free to freelance a bit.

Here is a site full of Jeep fire engines

http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/Fire/FireIndex.html

Aaron

Thanks for the reply and the link A lot of great pics over there I really want to do this kit right If I can make it to the next IPMS Nats in 2006 I will enter it

Aaron

Thanks for the reply and the link A lot of great pics over there I really want to do this kit right If I can make it to the next IPMS Nats in 2006 I will enter it

Dutch fire brigade jeep

some things are immediately evident: the color for the hoses ( tan ), the alluminum couplings and a pretty red color ( the more orangy red is suitable from the 80's and up ).

hth,

Richard

Richard

Thanks for the link

I've seen some model fire trucks with the hoses replicated with shoe strings. They looked pretty good too.

Hi Chad,

How exactly do you want to configure this critter? Do you have a picture or drawing to share with us? I was thinking about your endevor and this came to mind. Jeeps have been used for many different purposes including; Aircraft fire suppression, structure firefighting, brush fireifghting and rescue.

Do you want to configure it as a homemade or factory built apparatus? One thing to consider is many vehicles stay for decades with a department. The apparatus may be old but equipment changes and it's not uncommon to find an old apparatus with modern equipment on it ( metal verses wood ladders, synthetic hose verses canvas hose).

I enjoy a original (right down to the last nut and bolt) fire apparatus as much as anyone, but apparatus that have been around for awhile with all the modifications and changes made to them since they were new often have a unique character as well.

I'm not trying to overwhelm you, I'm just trying to convey you have more freedom to model and still be accurate than you might think.


Sincerely,

Brian

I think wood grain may show up in 1/24, as it looks okay on 1/35 pioneer tools. Just load up a brush with two shades of brown oil paint, (like that old dude on the half hour flower painting shows) and run it along the length of the ladder in a very slight wavey pattern. You can go back and touch it up a little for better effect. The interior metal panels on my 1:1 '49 Dogde were redone in a similar fashion.