Return to the BUILD

“You’ll start your first pack by assembling one of the rear wheels and the hose. The hose is rolled up for storage, but you may choose to leave it unwound if you have plans to create a live-rescue diorama! “

Contents

Parts

Materials: Here I will describe the materials the supplied parts in each stage are made out of. All of the screws are metal, so I will not mention them. For instance, in this stage the Ladder Name Plate is metal, the Rear Tires are rubber, the Hose Pack is braided nylon, and the rest is plastic.

Tools

While not included in this stage, I highly recommend grabbing Stage 08 from this pack because it includes a decent screwdriver and screw guide.

Assembly Guide (Digital Version – Click to Download)

Foldout Guide

A four-page guide to the model and its features:

On the reverse of this guide is a very nice poster:

Build

Rear Left Wheel, Hose, & Name Plate

Step 1

Push the Inner Wheel into one of the Rear Tires so the rim of the tire fits snugly around the groove on the wheel, as shown.

If you find the Rear Tires to be stiff, try soaking them in hot water for a few minutes first. Be careful not to burn yourself!

With the tires warmed up, they slipped right onto the wheel. There is no lettering on the Rear Tire sidewalls, so they can be installed onto the wheels either way. Pictured here is the ‘outside’ of the Inner Wheel which will face the Outer Wheel:

This is the ‘inside’ of the Inner Wheel which will face the center of the fire truck:

In the same way, push the Outer Wheel into the other Rear Tire, as shown.

The fire trucks I am familiar with have more chrome bits on the wheels. Therefore, I used my Liquid Chrome pen to touch up the lug nuts and the outer edge of the Outer Wheel rim. It is not easy to see with the bright studio lighting, but it is there:

Apply a few drops of super glue to this smooth, flat surface of the Inner Wheel.

Since we will be gluing many, many parts of this model together, I am going to use these little ‘glue bottle’ icons to show where I put it:

Then, fit the four pins of the Outer Wheel into the matching holes of that same flat surface of the Inner Wheel:

Firmly press the two wheel parts together and allow the glue to set:

Step 2

Cut off any frayed ends of the Hose Pack.

Since this Hose Pack is made from braided nylon, the ends have a tendency to fray. To help keep the ends neat and to prevent any further fraying, I like to tape, cut, and cauterize them. To do this, I first slid one end of the Hose Pack over the shaft of a metal screwdriver so it would keep its shape:

Next, I wrapped electrical tape around the end of the hose so just a small amount of ‘un-frayed’ braided nylon was exposed:

Then, I removed the hose from the screwdriver and cut the frayed part of the hose off with my hobby knife, leaving some un-frayed hose showing:

I slid the end of the hose back onto the shaft of the screwdriver and quickly touched the flame of a butane lighter to the taped end. The heat from the lighter will melt the strands of nylon together, but will not damage the electrical tape (or the metal screwdriver shaft). You may have to do this a few times to get the nylon to melt together fully. Be careful with any flame and heat so you do not hurt yourself.

Finally, I let the nylon cool, removed the electrical tape, and slid the hose end off of the screwdriver. This results in a nice, neat hose end free of fraying:

Apply a little super glue around this narrow rim of the Hose Nozzle:

Slide one end of the Hose Pack over this rim of the Hose Nozzle and allow the glue to set, as shown:

Apply a little super glue inside the narrower end of the Hose Connector:

Slide the free end of the Hose Pack into this narrower part of the Hose Connector and allow the glue to set, as shown.

We will need to fold the end of the Hose Pack to make it easier to insert into the Hose Connector:

At this point, you can either leave the Hose Pack unrolled for display purposes…

… OR you can roll up the Hose Pack up for storing it on the truck. If you chose to roll it up, wrap the Hose Pack around the Hose Connector leaving a short length free at the Hose Nozzle. Then, apply a drop of super glue to the hose to keep it rolled up:

Thoughts

We did not use the Ladder Name Plate in this stage, so keep it (and the rest of these parts) stored safely until we need them later on. As for first impressions, I am quite happy with the quality of the materials and the ease of assembly so far. I can’t wait to get some big pieces built!

Next Up

 Stage 02 – Front Right Outer/Inner Door Panels, Outer Door Handle, Window Winder/Gear, Inner Cab Panel, Rear Panel/Tow Hooks