Bobby: If you do I've found these to be the closest thing to the mythical quick cheap and dirty project I've ever found. Not much money invested and they build in a flash. My Staurt is close to being done and the Chi-Ha would be except for masking all the camo. 

'Opened the box' for my project #2 for the GB.

Spent most of my childhood and early teens in Chicago, so as a modeler I have a 'thing' about doing related builds, especially police/fire and public service vehicles native to the area. Top spot on the 'fire' pyramid is the ARFF (Aircraft Rescue Fire Fightng) series of vehicles built only 200 miles to the north by Oshkosh--the same company responsible for the M985 HEMTT series of 8-wheeled military trucks in use since the '80s by US armed forces the world over. The ARFF is designed specifically for airport use, combining side-by-side high-volume tankage for various fire suppressants such as water, foam and chemicals, with novel hardware like the 'snozzle': a boom-mounted reinforced nozzle capable of piercing through the exterior of an aircraft, to extinguish internal cabin or cargo-area fires.

The ARFF's are big, complicated and impressive...read 'cool'...and I've waited in vain all these years in the hopes that some manufacturer would deliver us a decent scale model of the same. Closest thus far are some pricey 1/50 die-casts...and an elaborate paper model of one of the earlier versions built for European use. [I've got an Academy 1/72 M985 in the stash--waiting for the ever-popular 'some day' conversion--but haven't yet gotten around to it.]

Oddly, it was Disney and Russian model company Zvezda that jointly stepped into the breach...sort of. Disney's 'Planes' movies (which I confess I haven't seen) had an animated character based on the tell-tale shape of the ARFF...and Zvezda apparently secured the license to release a version of 'Ryker' in simple-build 1/100 kit form.

It ain't the Holy Grail...but shoot, it's better than nothing.

Here's one of the shiny Striker 3000 ARFF's of the Chicago FD, in use at O'Hare Airport, which I will be attempting to (roughly) facimilize (facimilate???):

And this is what I have to work with....

My Cyrillic's a little rusty, but the instructions look pretty straightforward:

No decals...just paper stickers, though they're nicely-printed.

A few more parts than my 'Egg' F-18, with very basic but nicely-rendered detail:

And last (and probably least), some of the 'extras' I printed up just this morning, to help dress Mr. 'Ryker' up in the proper 'home team' colors:

At this point I'm not planning on much more than a 'straight' build with the addition of my 'local' markings...though I'll probably end up adding some detail to replace things like the sticker-represented lights, and to dress up hardware and such; we'll see.

Greg: Cool! That is odd that no one has modeled such a cool giant fire truck. Looking forward to seeing how you build this up. Are you going to use the eyeballs?

Gamera

Are you going to use the eyeballs? Wink

Not 100% sure...but in keeping with the 'not serious' spirit of the GB, he may need a little 'personality.'

Lol, looking forward to this whether you use the eyeballs or not! 

Well, my resolve to build my kit mainly OOB lasted all of--I kid you not--about ten seconds. (That's a new record, even for me.) Randomly clipping the first parts from the first sprue for an experimental test-fit...the roof-mounted pivoting arm where the fire-nozzle is mounted...I looked at the square channel on the inside of the molded parts, and thought to myself: "Hmmm...that looks exactly the same dimensions as that piece of Evergreen square tubing I've got floating around in my 'bits' box."

Said parts, as molded:

And after snipping off the nozzle mount, and adding the Evergreen tubing to let the arm 'extend' a bit more convincingly:

For all its simplicity, this is a brilliantly-designed kit. Molding seams are as close to non-existent as I imagine it's possible to get with 2-piece molds. The 'snap fit' design includes an interior framework with mounting-pegs for the major panels to attach to; most of the pegs are slightly angled, and the matching edges of panels precisely beveled, so when the pieces slide together everything locks into a perfect fit that any 'normal-build' kit could envy. I was worried at the start about the texture of the plastic...soft, and very vinyl-like...but it glues perfectly with both Tamiya thin cement and the 'flow'-type solvent cements, and takes filling and sanding like a champ.

Here's the framework structure with basic body panels being added, and the angled pegs; I've added a bit of putty to slightly alter some door and window lines to better-mimic the CFD machines:

The different-color panels in the shot above have already been filled and sanded smooth; but as a sample, here's how well the panels fit, before any sanding:

This is really a neat kit!

Hey Gam,

I'd like to do another one. Mopar Madness gave me a Hase T-4 Blue Impulse so could you please add it to the roster? I'll get on it as soon as I settle in, propably in a couple of weeks.

Greg: Oh wow, that looks great!!! I've been impressed by the fit on the Meng Toons kits too. And it makes it less of a pain to add mods when you're having to correct lots of other stuff. Nice work! 

Steve: Sure, putting her down now.

Got some paint on my SR-71,  now I need to hi-light the panel lines.

John

John: Looks neat!!!  

Just a head's up here I'm on vacation/holiday and I'm supposed to have Wi-Fi here at the motel but it's been up and down so far. So if I'm not around much in the next two weeks I'm here but just can't log on.

Sorry...

Gamera

Just a head's up here I'm on vacation/holiday and I'm supposed to have Wi-Fi here at the motel but it's been up and down so far. So if I'm not around much in the next two weeks I'm here but just can't log on.

Sorry...

 

 

Sorry?  

I'll remember this whilst WORKING tomorrow. 

I kid, I kid. 

Enjoy!

T e d

Gamera

Just a head's up here I'm on vacation/holiday and I'm supposed to have Wi-Fi here at the motel but it's been up and down so far. So if I'm not around much in the next two weeks I'm here but just can't log on.

Sorry...

Enjoy your vay-kay, to be sure!

(As my mother would have cautioned...we'll try not to burn the place down in your absence....)

Lol! Thanks guys!!!

I said I wanted to get away from it all. No internet is a little beyond what I wanted though...

After a bit more work getting ready to add 'bits' to the nose of my mini-Oshkosh, I finally decided to do away with the Disney cartoon face on it. Can I get a disapproving scowl from Mr. Ryker:

That 'face' isn't just on the kit stickers...it's actually molded into the panels. The surly lower lip seen in the shot above is molded into lower front panel, and the eyes are also (deeply) molded into the windshield:

Fortunately, the neat raised outline also molded there makes a nice frame for a replacement pane. In my last Evergreen 'Odds & Ends' set I happened to get a neat piece of blue-tinted clear acetate--something that I didn't have any idea how I'd ever use--but which pretty well matches the glazing on the real Strikers, as can be seen in the CFD photo above. A simple bit of shaping, and the surly Mr.Ryker has a visor:

I'll just paint the rear surface an opaque color to keep the blue tint (and to hide Mr. Ryker's rather belligerent expression), and it'll be good to go.

[In a slightly-creepy postscript to the above...]

In adding an extension-piece to the 'nose' area (which will support another fire-suppression nozzle, as on the prototype), I covered the bottom front panel with a thin sheet of scrap plastic sheet...in this case, a used plastic gift-card (a great source of cheap styrene) which had an orange coating on it. Once sanded, puttied to hide a slight 'dip,' and sanded again...by sheer coincidence...it revealed what looked very much like the obviously ticked-off Mr. Ryker, seeming to give a last, vengeful 'I'm gonna get you, sucka' leer...an effect made even more pronounced by the 'nose' I'd given him:

On a slightly more lucid note, I also cut back the fender wells on the 'chassis' piece, which the kit had incorrectly [for the real thing, I suppose not for the cartoon character] extending outward, instead of flush with the body panels:

I got this in the mail today:

And when opened:

Apparently instead of sending me an egg plane, they sent a plain egg.

If it wasn't hard boiled, your mail service is great.....still in one piece.  Just add wings and a tail.  For the tail would suggest squirrel...

Sailing Dutchman,

Ba-Zinga!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JCdCLgZrBI

You sir, get the Gold Star for puns this week!  Go on, take it.  You earned it.  

Greg: Great job there on the face, looking forward to seeing how he looks when everything is together.

Dutchman: LOL!!!

Charging ahead with a short Striker update.

With sanding and general cleanup done, I primed the body shell with white primer, and it was ready to paint.

What I've taken to calling 'Oshkosh Yellow'--no idea what the real name is--is an increasingly-common color on fire apparatus worldwide, since tests have determined it's significantly more visible that the traditional red in dim- or low-light conditions. Photos of the Chicago FD's Striker 3000s show a surprisingly wide range of apparent hues...presumably due to different lighting conditions and color registration of the media used...but for the most part the color shows up as a pale, almost pastel yellow, with just a slight tinge of green. I lightened Tamiya acrylic yellow with gloss white to get a tint I was happy with...then added just a few drops of zinc chromate green, to get what seemed the perfect hue. [My in-progress photos don't really register any of the green cast, but it's there.]

Once the overall body was cured, I spent an eye-watering afternoon cutting tiny widths of white decal strip, to achieve the CFD's 'trademark' bordered side-stripes. It didn't come out half bad:

Next step will be to paint some window frames and add the characteristic triangular 'windows' from decal stock...and then it should be looking a little more like a proper--if somewhat abbreviated- Striker.

[Added 5/12]

Here it is with the fake windows on:

Lots of little lights to paint, then it should be ready for final assembly.

Greg: That looks cool!! Looking forward to more!

Here is my build:

Construction was quick and easy and required only minimal sanding and filling:

The decals were also nice and went on smoothly:

I apologise for the multiple posts and lack of verbosity, but I am posting the from my phone on an airplane.

Dutchman: No need to apologize!!! She looks really good!!! Do you want me to post the finished photos or wait till you get a better background>?

It will be three months until I am able to get new pictures, so you can choose one of the ones there for the from page.

Sailing_Dutchman

The decals were also nice and went on smoothly:

That is one egg-cellent Corsair!

Calling my little Striker finished.

Nice work there.