PlaymoFriends
Creative => Customs Gallery => Ships & Vehicles => Topic started by: playmofire on February 17, 2008, 10:25:17
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The 3781 is one of my favourite PM fire engines (the other is the 3880), partly because of its dayglo orange livery. Now the British fire brigade often refurbishes appliances as they get older (a pump/rescue appliance nowadays can cost in the region of £200,000 or more while specialist appliances such as turntable ladders are dearer still, maybe £300,000 for a state of the art aerial appliance) and in the case of aerial appliances this takes two forms - taking an old chassis in good condition and putting a new ladder on it or taking a ladder in good condition and putting it on a new chassis. What I've done with the 3781 is the first, putting the ladder from the 3879/3182 fire engine on it, plus changes to the livery and adding a pump.
Here we go with the pictures.
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The chassis has been fitted with a pump on one side and a hose reel on the other, giving the machine the capability to be used as a pumping appliance as well as a rescue unit. (Tim-w has also done a very neat conversion on another of my 3781 chassis with a rear-mounted pump which I shall rebody one day.) The blue lights of the original have been replaced by working ones, connected to a flasher unit within the chassis, with the battery attached underneath the body. The cab area is unaltered apart from detail items such as the map (I suppose we'll move to satnav sometime) and a crew of five is carried usually.
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The ladder from the 3879/3182 was a fairly easy switch, although a ladder rest had to be fitted on the top of the bodywork behind the cab to keep the ladder in place when it was lowered; this was the same piece as used on the 3879/3182 ladder truck.
On one side of the ladder itself, a holder has been fitted to take a short length of suction house which is used to connect the pump to a fire hydrant (no internal water tank is carried) and on the other side of the ladder a ceiling hook is carried. On the extending section of the ladder itself a length of hose has been permanently fitted which is used to conduct water to the water monitor fitted on the rescue cage. When the water monitor is in use, a length of hose running from the pump outlet is attached to the end of the hose fitted to the extending section so that as this is extended upwards the hose from the pump automatically follows it (the pictures "rear detail" and "testing" show this).
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Amongst the equipment carried are some jacking plates which held spread the weight of the appliance on the road surface when the ladder is in use. By spreading the load the jacking plates stop the jacks sinking into the road surface, especially in hot weather. Also carried are some hose ramps which are used to protect the hose when traffic has to go over it.
A more recent addition is the equipment storage behind the cab unit.
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Finally, some detail shots of the headlamps, the two-tones under the bumper (which proved very fragile and are no longer there) and the rear light clusters. The registration plate shows the year of the refurbishment and the original set number. The Ziegler transfers are actually 1:87 scale but fit in very nicely with the Playmobil scale in this case.
A word, too, on the livery. The idea for the black and silver reflective striping came from a visit to West Midlands Fire Service who had just started using a grey and silver reflective striping which was proving very effective. In daylight the grey looks black and so I made my own version of it.
Finally, a closeup of the helmet markings used in my brigade which, as the idea for CHVFB came from the German volunteer brigades, are based on German practice. The helmets of all fire crew below officer level will eventually carry a reflective silver rectangle on each side and an appliance number on the front. Leading firemen will have a single red stripe on the silver rectangle and sub-officers two red stripes. The markings for officers (which follow British practice) I will show sometime in another thread.
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Very interesting Gordon!
Just outside my south-facing front door is a dent in the tarmac, cause by a motorbike leaning on its stand on a hot day. One might not realise the tarmac can get hot enough in the UK sun, for this, but it happens.
To clarify, you say a crew of five is carried - so is this a driver, an officer to co-ordinate (front passenger seat) and three regular firemen (seated in the back area of the cab)? You showed six men standing outside the truck, so I am slightly confused.
Presumably each man has a specific duty upon reaching the scene - could you run us through a typical callout to an actual fire, with pictures, naming or numbering the klickies so I can keep track?
The recent Camden Market fire refocussed London's attention on the vital nature of the Fire services, and I have a fire station 100 yards up the road so frequently hear and see the units being called out.
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To clarify, you say a crew of five is carried - so is this a driver, an officer to co-ordinate (front passenger seat) and three regular firemen (seated in the back area of the cab)? You showed six men standing outside the truck, so I am slightly confused.
Presumably each man has a specific duty upon reaching the scene - could you run us through a typical callout to an actual fire, with pictures, naming or numbering the klickies so I can keep track?
Wel spotted, Martin, but I did say a crew of five is carried usually. ;D I must admit the text is from an earlier posting some years ago when I limited the crew to five because having a full crew of six in with the reflective jackets on made getting them in and out awkward, but six were carried at a push. However, since these pictures were taken, to overcome the problem of access only the grey uniformed klickies man this appliance and that does allow six to be carried.
In the British fire service there is only one specialist firefighter and that is the turntable ladder operator. Most TLs have just a normal two-man cab and usually attend an incident just crewed by a driver (although a new style appliance very similar to the 3781 is coming into use which is multi-functional and I'll post some pictures of one). Once at an incident, the driver of the TL does his job of turntable ladder operator and crew from other appliances actually go up the ladder and operate the pump if the TL is fitted with one.
In the case of the 3781, the driver is the TL operator and the rest of the crew take up whatever duties needed, being assigned them by the firefighter in charge, who may be an officer but could be a sub-officer or a leading firefighter (these are the fire service equivalent of NCOs). The advantage of the 3781 carrying a crew of six is that five crew can be available for firefighting duties when an officer isn't carried. The disposition then would be driver operating the TL, one firefighter operating the pump and also dealing with communications and acting as overall in charge and two teams of two firefighters each to carry out search and rescue duties and firefighting. If an officer is carried, then you only have three available for firefighting and rescue work, one of whom will act as pump operator leaving (if needed) and a team of two for firefighting/rescue.
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Hello, Gordon ...
What I've done with the 3781 is the first, putting the ladder from the 3879/3182 fire engine on it, plus changes to the livery and adding a pump.
You are too modest!
Your attention to detail is incredible!
I couldn't help but notice the driver. Was that you, by any chance, in your younger years?
see attachment
Thanks for the great photos and another very fine custom.
All the best,
Richard
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Thank you, Richard. Any modesty is entirely unintentional! ;D
Detail is something that's always fascinated me, and probably what drew me to Playmobil because of the lengths gone to to put just the right amount of detail in a child's toy. There is enough to reflect the reality of what is being portrayed, but not so much as to leave room for imagination. There is detailing and over-detailing, and Playmobil avoid the latter.
The driver is not me in my younger days. My beard then was black and much smaller than it is now.
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http://www.glosfire.gov.uk/sections/schools/school_firetour_appns.html
A nice site by Gloucestershire County Council showing the typical locker contents of a fire engine.
I'm expecting my first engine to arrive this week, and got the 4180 Fireman Box today, so I hope to pack my lockers appropriately.
I was checking out the reported incidents in London int he past month - most events seem to have 4 engines and 20 firemen in attendance, but some get bigger. The 5 men per engine rule seems to apply universally, though they always say "around 20 firemen", so there may be occasional variations.
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My favourite site is Norfolk Fire and Rescue as they report every incident and the website is updated every 30 minutes with new incidents. They also have a good section on their vehicle fleet and a page for each station with room for local input by the local crew. Mind you, I'm a bit biased as it was Norfolk who offered the post of senior technical officer (photographer) 20 odd years ago (after letting me write the job and person description!). Sadly, drastic house price rises in Norfolk prevented me taking the offer up.
I've visited Gloucestershire fire service. At the time (the 1980s) they were partners in a project building fire engines based on a Jeep chassis. They carried a small water tank but were capable of tackling 90% of the incidents in the brigade and because they were much smaller than the normal fire engine were more adept in the narrow country lanes. They used lay flat hose, the same sort you could buy for your garden sprinkler.
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The fire truck looks great!
It's amazing the potential hiding inside Playmobil!
-Tim
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Checking out the various regional Authorities websites, I cama across a good one for insignia at the Hamphire FRS.
http://www.hantsfire.gov.uk/theservice/organisation/rolemarkings.htm
I was wondering about the yellow vs white helmets.
It seems that Hampshire Firefighters and Crew Managers wear yellow, while every rank above wears white. Playmobil have provided both colours over the years, plus red, black (especially for the US), but the current offerings are all white. I'll be seeing if I can get some yellow ones by direct order (with thanks as usual to Playmodb for the part number).
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I was wondering about the yellow vs white helmets.
It seems that Hampshire Firefighters and Crew Managers wear yellow, while every rank above wears white. Playmobil have provided both colours over the years, plus red, black (especially for the US), but the current offerings are all white. I'll be seeing if I can get some yellow ones by direct order (with thanks as usual to Playmodb for the part number).
The standard UK practice is yellow helmets up to the rank of Sub-Officer (now Crew manager since the report some years ago into the fire service which felt it was too military in its organisation - not something I found!) and white for officers. The story goes that these colours were chosen because in the days of metal helmets the fire crew had brass ones and the officers silver-coloured ones. Rank markings are usually black, but some brigades use red. However, where brigades adopt the French style helmet it only seems to be available in a silver finish. The German practice is white/off white helmets for everyone with rank markings in red. I suspect that any new PM firefighters will have a new style helmet based on the European standard one
Last year (2007) or the year before, the yellow helmets were still available and, of course, they are being used on the new Special out later this year.
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I'd forgotten all about the 4675 Fireman special coming out! The actual figure seems an odd choice of colour though - do UK or German firemen wear blue uniforms?
As the yellow helmet is clearly still in production, I shouldn't have any problems getting them on DS.
Interesting about the yellow vs. white helmets. I was thinking it was something more practical, like yellow being easier to see at night or in a smoke-filled room.
Of course this theory didn't explain the US use of black helmets, or red ones...
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I'd forgotten all about the 4675 Fireman special coming out! The actual figure seems an odd choice of colour though - do UK or German firemen wear blue uniforms?
As the yellow helmet is clearly still in production, I shouldn't have any problems getting them on DS.
Interesting about the yellow vs. white helmets. I was thinking it was something more practical, like yellow being easier to see at night or in a smoke-filled room.
Of course this theory didn't explain the US use of black helmets, or red ones...
Some of the new uniforms used in the UK are a blueish colour but it's not a pure blue.
The white helmets of the German brigades usually have a narrow silver reflective strip just above the rim. My brigade is modelled on the German brigades to a great extent, but this strip was very fiddly so I've used a reflective silver rectangle on each side of the helmet.
Overall, colour of helmet is probably unimportant as you can always add reflective striping or other shapes to help in poor visibility.
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Gordon
Just out of idle curiosity, how big is your Playmo fire collection. Is there a photo of it all?
I've been thinking of moving from military to civillian figures and a brass helmeted Victorian fireman sounds a good place to start!
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There's a photo of some of the brigade here:
http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=1680.0
but as I say in the post, there are other appliances being built or planned. In addition, I don't mention there all that is planned. There are plans for additional Jeeps for example, either as forward control units (like the present one) or as small, go-almost-anywhere pumps. The lorry with the HIAB crane referred to is now built (http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=1745.0), and there are plans either for a trailer unit to go with it or revamp which would end up with the HIAB-type crane off the new PM construction truck being used on a larger truck chassis.
I hope to create a website this year which will hopefully give a fuller picture of things.