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:
