Global Scale Modeller

here is my entry for this LTBG


not going to show separate sprue shot as too many loose parts

a few photos I found online of the ALF Century Series Ladder Chief

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Very nice. Look forward to seeing this come together

Nice going to watch this one

Nice to see the emergency services being represented.

This could be interesting

That looks like a serious challenge, look forward to see how you tackle it

So cool! As someone who used to be a volunteer fire fighter I've always wanted to do something fire related. Only problem is most of it is crazy expensive.

A little of the 140yr history of American LaFrance

American LaFrance, the nations premiere manufacturer of fire fighting rigs can trace its roots back to 1832 when John F. Rogers began manufacturing hand-pumped fire engines known as Roger's patent on the banks of King's canal in Waterford NY. Over the next two years, the company had changed hands twice and changed its name to L Button & Son. In 1862 The Button Fire Engine Company began building steam-powered fire engines, selling their first to Battle Creek Michigan. In 1891, the company now called the Button Fire Engine works, joined forces with some of the other leading manufacturers of the day to form the American Fire Engine Company.

LaFrance had been formed in 1873 by Truckson LaFrance, an ironworker from Pennsylvania who invented the rotary steam engine. Like Button Fire Engine Works, LaFrance Manufacturing Company had contributed greatly to the fledgling industry. In 1882 LaFrance produced the first commercially successful extension ladder. The 85ft aerial was raised by a single horizontal worm gear turned by a long handle, manually by four to six men. As the gear turned, a large nut moved forward and raised the ladder. Because it was mounted on a turn table, the ladder could be swung in any position, the design was truly brilliant for at the time aerial ladders extended no more than 60ft (18m). In 1884, LaFrance developed a piston steam engine to replace the outmoded rotary engine, and in 1894 the company built the Macomber Chemicalizer, the first pumper to combine water w/salt and other fire fighting chemicals. For many years, chemicals pumpers helped extinguish 85% of all fire in their early stages.

In the late 1890's, a group of New York investors decided to create a monopoly of fire engine manufacturers and made plans to purchase all the known manufacturers from New York to St. Paul Minnesota. In its quest to control the market, the International Fire Engine Company over extended itself and reorganized in 1903 as the American LaFrance Fire Engine Company after the twomajor engine companies: American and LaFrance.

About 1910 fire departments around the United States intrigued by the automobile, began to demand self-propelled fire engines. American LaFrance was the first company to produce a gas powered engine, a combination (chemical and Hose) car built for Lenox Massachusetts. American LaFrance made its last steamer in 1914, and by this time it had successfully made the transition to motorized apparatus. From 1910 to 1926, the company produced more than 4000 pumpers, as well as aerials, ladders, water tower and various other apparatus. Then, and for decades to come, American LaFrance was the number one producer of fire apparatus. From the days of hand pumpers up to the present day, American LaFrance has been an innovator in the fire fighting industry. In 1929, the company introduced its Master Series of fire apparatus, featuring such first as four wheel brakes and left hand steering. The first all-steel aerial ladder w/ full hydraulic power appeared in 1935. Another American LaFrance innovation was a 12-cylinder V block, 240hp engine w/a pumping capacity of 1500gpm (5678 l/m), For three decades, the V-12 powered the company's flagship fire engines.

In 1939, American LaFrance introduced a new design that would eventually become industry standard- the cab-forward. After WWII, the cab-forward was the only style offered by the company. In 1941, American LaFrance delivered the first 125ft (38m) aerial to Boston Massachusetts. A year later the truck was crushed when a wall fell on it, but the ladder itself withstood the impact and stood fully extended during the accident.

In 1973, American LaFrance marked the 100th anniversary with introduction of its Century Series. Jump forward to 2005 American LaFrance was bought and sold twice between 2005 and 2008. Sadly in Jan 2014 American LaFrance unexpectedly closed it's doors siting financial reasons w/ no hope of being reopened.

now the fun begins

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putting together the Engine




one of my assistants









That's it for now.

Excellent choice of subject, should be an epic build

I'm loving that kit, for me it brings to mind my first job (Not a Firefighter, lol) I had to recreate it in 3D for a computer game I worked on, for the old Xbox. Wish I had that kit at the time for ref. Only had a handful of Photos to work from. That's sort of why I started to buy kits again, then got back into building them! Great kit. I think I've still got the 3D model somewhere?!

a bit more work on the engine

Impressive kit and a great start

Now thats a old classic beast of a Fire Truck. Good luck with the build.

I Finished final painting and engine build this morning.





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And this last pic is for Robert W, this is my mom and I in 2002 when I was w/ Ferry Pass Volunteer Fire Dept. Pensacola FL

Great start!

Looking good dude.

And thanks for sharing you history with this subject.

Something I plan to do in the future. Build subjects from my life.

Awesome.

on to the tires, rims and frame



front rims


using pin vise to drill pilot holes to carve out front rims


tires and rims/ completed tires and rims


On to the frame




ready to paint the frame

Frame painted flat black from a rattle can




tires and rims painted and assembled
front rims, forgot to take pic of rear rims before I started painting them. Painted Fire Red from a rattle can





rear tires (almost glued outer rear rims together, fixed it before the super glue set)




on to the front end

More great progress buddy.

Those wheels look great

Worked on the front end a little at a time over the last 3 days.

Had to do some minor surgery on this piece as 1 of the plastic studs had broken off, replaced w/ brass rod


every thing painted

Leaf Springs and Steering box added

Steering linkage added

shocks added both sides

tie rod in place

front rotor w/ air brakes



front tires on



Rear Axle starts tomarrow when I get home from work.

Looking great!

parts for the rear axle

rear tires, hubs and chrome caps



air brakes for rear axle

rear leaf spring in place

rear axle

ready for paint

more tomarrow

Well crap, while moving pics from 1 file to another on photobucket w/ the ISM page still open, photobucket was nice enough to delete a few pics off this thread, guess what I won't be doing again...... it was a Long 3 nights @ work.

ready for rear end assembly

So in my carelessness, I layed the bag w/ the cab on the floor( I sit on the floor @ the coffee table) while working on the model and got up to see what the dogs were barking at, Heard something crunch under my foot, you guessed it, it was the cab.



so while waiting for paint to dry I repaired the cab, will work on sanding it before I paint it


now back to the rear axle

good recovery mate

Rear axle coming together

rear axle and shocks in place


rear rotors on

air brakes in place


rear wheels in place (yes, they do spin)




done for the day.

looking nice so far

Looking great so far, love what you did with the engine.

todays progress

parts painted

found another casualty of my lead foot

a little super glue, 24 hrs later and a sanding stick

dry fit of engine on the frame


rear drive shaft in place

engine w/ hydraulic pump

engine in place

main drive shaft in place


on to the radiator


radiator in place


exhaust/ muffler in place



that's all for today

Get work dude.

You are really flying along with this one.

Glad you managed to fix the cab up.

Your doing a nice job il look forward to seen it coming together

OOOH LOOK!!! A Fire Truck!!!!! Great work and awesome progress!!

Finished the frame and added fuel, hydraulic and air tanks


painted and ready for install

supports for the air tanks




installing air tanks



air cleaner in place


fuel tank in place


hydraulic tank on



body supports and radiator hoses on



Now on to the cab Monday after some much needed sleep

Looking good buddy,

She is a fair size.

Will look great on display.

just a short update, taped up where the chrome parts will go. drilled out the holes for the air horns and front wheel fenders

got the cab sanded where the glue seams were from the repair job and added a couple pieces of plasti-struct to the inside of the cab to strengthen the seams for sanding

will have to stop @ my LHS tomarrow an get a new tube of Squadron white putty to fix the small gaps along the bottom edge of the windshield. I'm off to bed, have to work 5 more nights this wk

Nice m8

great work mate

Fenders on the cab and prepped for painting


chrome for the cab

going to skip the next couple segments for the cab as chrome parts would be in the way of what I want detail on the cab, will come back to it, now on to the body.

parts for the interior of the cab


parts painted, diamond plate on the floor board painted

front seat, gear shifter, gas, brake and clutch pedals in

drivers seat in place

dashboard in place, micro klear was used to make lenses for the dials on the dash board.

steering wheel in

and 6 pike poles done

that's it till after the wkend, have a D-Day re-enactment to attend this wkend...

Your steaming along nicelly, the cab floor looks cool

Nice build. Its coming along sweet.

Great work

ground ladder sections

painted ground ladder sections

rear decking and sides for engine compartment

painted w/ diamond plate for the turn table


drivers side ladder storage

ok, after a few days off from the ladder truck and a consult w/ the guy from my LHS, will have respray the ladders, rear decking and sides for the engine compartment. I used buffable aluminum spray paint for those parts and the result was residue rubbing off on my fingers. yes I considered sealing them, but was told the sealer darkens the painted surfaces. So on to the turn table parts..

turn table base

lift cylinder w/ ladder base


back of the rear deck

will be getting more fire red/ aluminum spray tomarrow or Friday morning..

ok, got the parts repainted w/ Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal Silver and started work on the stabilizing jacks



parts for the lift cylinders/ foot plates for stabilizing jacks and Engine covers

bottom of the side compartments

back piece of truck w/ tail board

Got the stabilizing jacks done a few days ago, been busy training for a new position @ work
stabilizers w/ lift arms

foot plates added

lift cylinders added

hopefully will be able to get back putting the ladder truck together this week

ok, training for my new job at work is almost over, YEAH, have had only 5 nights off since the beginning of May, will getting back to a normal schedual soon, an back to working on the model.

OK so after almost a year of not doing anything w/ this model, I had mostly paint issues w/ this one and a severe case of lost modeling MOJO, I was on the ISM FB page the other day and someone asked about using oven cleaner to strip paint off plastic, I went by my LHS and asked to owner if he had heard of or tried using oven cleaner to strip paint. He said he had used it in the past, but it could soften the plastic, he recomened a product called Scalecoat II Wash Away. I put the turn table top in the solution for 10 minutes, then took an used tooth brush to it under warm water, paint came right off, an no damage to the plastic. going to do the other parts today and should be back to getting this model going again this weekend. will post some before and after pics of the painted/ stripped parts.

Get that mojo working for you and get back at her!
It is a great looking build so far, shame to not finish off
Good luck