1978 Dodge Ambulance.

[firemodelman]

Here is a combination of an old toy and the AMT Little red express truck. I removed the ambulance box from an old toy that my kids had, removed all the 'toy' like features, and added my own. It has a scratch built frame and scratch built emergency lights all around.

[harron68]

You really have to do a tutorial on scratchbuilding "the accessories" on all your emergency vehicles. The lights are so real and the interiors on the ambulances seem so well equiped folks (me especially) all wonder how you do it! When things look perfect it's too easy to jump to the conclusion that it's easy. In fact it takes much trial and error practice and eventually the perfection shown here.

[firemodelman]

May 16, 2013 19:56:21 GMT -5 harron68 said:

You really have to do a tutorial on scratchbuilding "the accessories" on all your emergency vehicles. The lights are so real and the interiors on the ambulances seem so well equiped folks (me especially) all wonder how you do it! When things look perfect it's too easy to jump to the conclusion that it's easy. In fact it takes much trial and error practice and eventually the perfection shown here.

Thanks harron, your words are very kind. When I started building models, I was like everyone else, I built every hot rod, every 32 Ford, The typical stuff MOST model builders build. I was always in awe as a child of the fancy fire trucks my home town had. They seemed fancy to me, but they were everyday run of the mill trucks. My father is a retired police officer, and almost every day after school, I'd walk over to the police station, just to be nosey, and the fire house was in the same building, so I always found myself sitting in the trucks, looking all around, just really spell bound. It wasn't until the age of 40 that I decided I was going to build models of what I wanted, not what the kit makers wanted me to. So I started to look at things in a different light. Take for example the Beacon ray light on this ambulance. Yea it's cool looking, but the only thing ever in kit form had a clear RED dome. I wanted a clear dome. So I had to make my own. So off I set in hopes to someday make this happen. Every where I go, I'm always on the lookout for modeling 'stuff', so I was in an AUTO ZONE one day and seen a pack of light bulbs for the dash boards of cars. I looked at the stuff on the shelf, there was red bulbs, blue bulbs, yellow and CLEAR. How was I going to make this work. It was the right size, but how do you get the bulb apart and get it to the size I needed. I bought the package, got it home and started working on it. Sawing wasn't going to work, you can't cut it with a knife, so low and behold, I looked down at the floor next to my modeling desk, there it was, a sharping stone. I was going to GRIND the bulb down. Working VERY SLOWLY, I realized it was working, so I dabbed a drop of WD-40 on it and went to town. Once I had the bulb ground down far enough to expose the 'guts' of it, I started measuring with a pair of calipers, on how tall it should be. Using a plastic dome from an old Johan kit, I had my size. Now came the important part, the inside. I knew I wanted two red and two clear lights in it. So I go digging in my parts box, I find 4 matching headlights from some kit. I carefully measured the inside diameter of the bulb, and came up with my guidelines. I cut some small piece's of evergreen rod, glued it all together and it fit. Now all that was left was some paint detail , silver on the edge's and back of the 4 lense's, then paint 2 clear red. The base is made from a WIRE NUT. I found a size that was just a tad larger than the bottom of the glass, sawed it down in height to the size I wanted, a little sanding, some BMF, and it was done. It was one of the BEST days I'd ever had as a modeler. I MADE A PART. And it was something no one else had done. I was very proud to say the least. My modeling skills are NOT great, by any means, I'm just a determined modeler and wont give up just because It looks impossible. There is ALWAYS A WAY. Model building is supposed to be FUN, so I make it that way for me. Yes, I SCREW THINGS UP, but I don't show those pics ;D, but I never give up, those are the pics you see on the forums. If you or anyone EVER want 's to know how I did / do something, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK. I like nothing better than to share what I've been able to grab from this hobby.

[heepey]

Like all your builds this one is a real knock out.