(Please note: you may click on the pictures for a larger image.)
And another one for the J and T Specialists Seattle vehicles fleet.
This is number 40 in the ‘Orange Fleet’ series of vehicles. I’ve had the American LaFrance snorkel tower kit for a while now. But I wanted to actually built it not as a fire truck. What to use it for? A light bulb went off this weekend after the April 9th Seattle IPMS meeting. The project job sites need a high platform to cast high intensity lights for the workers below. (of course at night- what are you thinking?…LOL!!)
And so this was born. It took me a while to go through my truck stash to settle on using the Ford cab for the front end.
So far- the conversion has been straight forward. Stretching the frame was easy. I did my usual use of Evergreen Styrene shapes to do the stretch and create the tie down (glue?) places the cab would sit at.
This will be the ‘highest’ model I have ever built when the snorkel boom is in its fully extended up position. About 3 feet. Wow!!! So a bit of work ahead to make it so the hydraulics keep the boom in the upright position – or using some other voodoo magic. Lastly- this is sort of screaming for me to MAYBE actually use batter operated lights……..we’ll see!
Here are pics of a few days work so far…..Enjoy!
A few more updates:
Some weekend updates- Orange Marmalade has been started: (04-17-2016)
Some more progress pics ending on 04-26-2016:
And some more updates for the first week in July 2016:
Finally – am on the downhill run to complete this.
Stopped July 2016 – resumed Feb 2017:
Completed – Feb 7th, 2017. Just a few touch-ups. ended up with 10 working joints/pivots. Easy to turn lights on / off. Enjoy:
This is going to look fantastic!!!! Can’t wait to see it finished. Working lights would be incredible!
Now we are talking !……………….Like the mods ………………….I thought you were going ot leave off the basket and create LED SPOTLIGHTS along the entire length of the boom ?
Going to need a serious generator for this lot. See e-mail
Are we going to see you get to number 50 in 2016 with a major show and celebration. Ticker tape parade through downtown Seattle.
Nothing like the smell of fresh ”Marmelade” to help relax after a hard day at the office…….
Color on always makes the model come to life
John something to go with your Orange marmelade
Attached image:
Jeepers, John – cool project!
Only three complaints:
– One is that your left hand is ALWAYS in the shots, HAMMING it up! What’s the deal with the right one?!?!
– When do we get to see VIDEO of the HYDRAULICS?!?!
– I had to change rules for the blog so posts over a YEAR OLD can have comments!
C’mon, man – pick up the pace! (this coming from the guy who builds an average of 0.003242545 models per decade!)
Amazing build, as usual! Can’t wait to see the hydraulics, the basket with the lights is awesome, and the Legion of Boom boom is just amazing! Good work!