Fire bigade water carrier

[playmofire]

This isn't the fire engine I originally intended to show, but work on that one hasn't progressed as fast as I had hoped.  So here goes with a water carrier (WCr).

A modern UK fire engine carries 1800 litres of water and a pump with a maximum throughput of 2,200 litres per minute.  Normally, fire engines use the water in their tank initially at a fire and as soon as possible connect their pump to the mains water supply via a hydrant.  However, in rural areas there can be problems with mains water supplies because of low mains pressure.  (When I was a volunteer photographer with my local brigade, the criteria for calling me out to a fire was if it required four pumps or more. Almost invariably, however, the problem was one of poor water supplies with one fire engine fighting the fire and the other three keeping it suplied with water, rather than a "goer" - i.e. a good big fire.)  As a reuslt, brigades covering rural areas often have a WCr with a 10,000 litre capacity tank.  This can ferry water to the scene of a fire, dump it in one go into a portable tank which the appliances fighting the fire can then use, while the WCr goes off for more water.

Copt Hewick Volunteer Fire Brigade covers a largely rural area and,  like a real fire brigade in similar circumstances, has a WCr.  This was built in the brigade workshops using the chassi from a 3880 fire engine and the tank from the airport refueller.  The 3880 chassis needed a bit of building work on it to support the tank.

Here are the first three pics.

[playmofire]

Like all CHVFB fireifghting appliances, the WCr carries a front -mounted pump instead of a winch.  The pump is basically there for the purpose of filling the tank, but it can also be used to pump water.  As a result, the WCr acts as a reserve pump (though one without rescue capability) if necessary.

The rear of the pump carries a pattern of marking s designed to make it look wider than it is for safety purposes, the idea being that drivers of vehicles passing it when it is working will give it an extra wide berth.

[playmofire]

On the driver's side, two lengths of suction hose are carried in specially built racks.  These are connected to the pump to pump water from, say, a stream or lake into the tank or used to connect to a hydrant.

At the rear on the same side, a hydrant standpipe is carried to allow access to the water mains.

On the other side at the rear, a hydrant key is carried.

[playmofire]

I'll continue tomorrow as I keep getting the message that I've already posted my next post!

[Morgan]

Really nice pictures. The water carrier looks very realistic. And of course, you know what you are talking about 

Thanks for the information, it was very interesting. It is allways interesting to learn some of the background of good customs

[playmofire]

Well, after the frustrations of late last night (partly my fault as I hadn't checked the file sizes carefully enough, but also I kept being told I'd already posted a post which I hadn't) I'll post the last few pics.

On the top of the tank is a tool box containing basic hand tools such as spanners, a hammer and screwdriver, together with hose connectors.  There's also a spare hydrant key, just in case the other one gets lost or is stolen off the appliance.  (Yes, there are dishonest klickies who would steal equipment from fire engines!)

[playmofire]

The last two pics now.

A small ladder is carried behind the cab, not for rescue purposes but for access, e.g. getting down a steep river bank with hoses etc.

A spade is also carried for use when pumping water from a shallow water supply such as a small stream.  The crew can dig out the stream bed to form a pool in which the water can collect and then be pumped into the tanker.

The second photo also shows the pump control panel which is the standard sticker from the airport tanker.

[playmofire]

Some information on materials etc now.

The livery in yellow was done with decals from Mabex.  They specialise in OO/HO and 1/50 bus decals, but these can be used for other purposes. They also have some specialist fire,police and ambulance decals which are too small for Playmobil vehicles but can be used on figures.  The company is small but give a very fast service.  They do strips in different widths and colours which are also useful.

The rear of the 3880 chassis needed building up and I used grey ABS for the rectangular sections and white plastic sheet by Evergreen for levelling out the chassis.  The white sheet had to be built up in layers to get the chassis level.  White plastic channel was used for the hose racks.  In future, I'm going to use only grey ABS as this is easier to work with and needn't be painted if you want grey. If you do have to paint it, it takes paint better than the white plastic.

The tool box is basically a piece I bought from an electronics supplier and is designed to take computer components. Originally it had small projections at each end but these were sawn off.  The lid is made from white plastic.

The paint used was Polar Grey acrylic car spray.

Glueing was done done with two-pack epoxy 90 second Araldite.  The two-pack epoxies have the advantage that you can usually take things apart if you don't get things lined up pefectly when you glue.  You can't do this with a polystyrene glue such as Polyweld.

Thanks for looking at this thread, and I hope you found it interesting.

[Sylvia]

I'm stunned by the attention to detail and the quality of your craftsmanship!

This is a marvellous conversion. Thank you for going to so much trouble to explain what you used and how you made this.

Sorry to hear you had some problems posting the pics. I'm not sure why you got the error message about having already posted, unless it was caused by trying to submit the post too soon after the first attempt.

[playmofire]

I'm stunned by the attention to detail and the quality of your craftsmanship!

This is a marvellous conversion. Thank you for going to so much trouble to explain what you used and how you made this.

Sorry to hear you had some problems posting the pics. I'm not sure why you got the error message about having already posted, unless it was caused by trying to submit the post too soon after the first attempt.

Thanks for your kind comments, Sylvia.  They are much appreciate.

I think you're right about the reason for the error message.