Modified FlameOut Showrod

[farmboy]

Time for a change.  I"m currently building a ship (a modified model of the USS Constitution now changed to the HMS Lion).....and need a break. 



I've given myself a 3 year build limit for the ship and I'm a few months into it.  I've apparently given too-much-at-once time to the ship and have more or less lost my mojo for it.  Time for a change to get it back.

The change:


I bought the bison  solely for the three hemi's and their associated transmission adapters.  I plan on using 1 hemi, modified frame rails, and steering assembly/linkage.  

Adding to the build will be a hopefully semi-accurate scratch build of an 1869 Allerton steam pump assembly.

That's the plan anyway.  I should be getting the build started in the next couple of days.
Nice to be back in the showrod side for awhile.

Comments and observations welcome.

[rodsnracin]

Should be an interesting project! I've hit the same wall with my Cousteau Revell Calypso kit. Going to do a couple OOB kits & finish my Spiderman figure kit to rest my modeling muscles!

[farmboy]

Show us Spidey when you're done!

[rodsnracin]

Will do!

[Rallymaster]

Sounds like a great project and got me curious about the 1869 Allerton Steam Pumper, which as it turns out, is a 1/12 scale Model TRAILWAYS KIT NO. MS6006.

Cool story and pic below:

History of the 1869 Allerton Steam Pumper Throughout the mid-19th century the City of Wooster’s Fire Department was made up of several independent fire companies. In the spring of 1869 Relief Company No. 4 opted to purchase a steam fire engine; the fire company raised funds for the purchase and the City of Wooster agreed to provide funds to aid the purchase. In the summer of 1869 a contract was made with the Allerton Iron Works Manufacturing Company of Naugatuck, Connecticut to purchase “a second-class steamer and 2,000 feet of India rubber hose, with patent couplings,” to be delivered to Wooster for the sum of $6,000.00 - approximately equivalent to $103,500.00 in today’s money. The steamer was delivered in September, 1869.

The 1869 Allerton steamer remained with Relief Company No. 4 until the City of Wooster reorganized the fire department in 1888 as a paid fire department with volunteer support. The independent fire companies were disbanded and much of the equipment was used by the new fire department, including the 1869 Allerton steamer. It remained in use by the City into the 20th century.

At the start of 1919 the fire department’s horses were replaced with motor vehicles but the horsedrawn steamer remained at the station and on the apparatus roster as a back-up pumper until the mid-1930s. By the 1950s the steamer was completely removed from service and put into storage and, eventually, almost completely forgotten – out of sight, out of mind. Many firemen of that era and later believed the steamer fell victim to the scrap metal drives of World War II. Actually the steamer was quietly sold by the City of Wooster to a scrap dealer who then sold it to a fire apparatus collector who lived near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In 2001 the son of the collector, Charles Panella, contacted a Wayne County resident about selling the 1869 Allerton steamer. Representatives of the Wayne County Historical Society and local officials met with Panella, confirmed that the steamer was indeed Wooster’s. Panella wanted to see the steamer return to its original home and despite higher offers from fire museums sold the steamer to the historical society for $50,000.00. On March 30, 2001 the 1869 Allerton steamer returned to Wooster.

It was delivered by truck to the Wooster Fire Department for cleaning and preparation for being once again horse-drawn and paraded to its exhibit space at the Wayne County Historical Society. The Allerton Iron Works manufactured steam fire pumpers only from 1867 to 1871; Relief Company No. 4’s steamer was the 12th unit produced by the company. It is the only known Allerton steamer still in existence – unfortunately it is no longer operable. The steamer did not carry water, instead it used a coal-fired boiler to draw water from wells, cisterns, and et cetera located around the city and reported pumped 350 gallons per minute. Douglas C. Myers, Historian Wooster Ohio Fire Department.

[farmboy]

Hey Dave.

I stumbled on the original build log for the production master of this kit (though it seems to be gone now), however there are a couple of good kit builds of it. Ken Foran is a master builder in brass and other mediums having done beautiful models -- some see thru -- that include a helicopter, other aircraft and large scale scratchbuilt items including Tommy Ivo's Showboat which I followed with great interest, detailing mine as much as possible in 1/25 scale from the kit. He even supplied me with a reliable sketch for the fuel system layout! Ken had access to the Allerton museum piece and spent lots of time taking measurements and photos, showing his process/results as this original master copy came to life.
When I saw his Allerton, trying to incorporate a large part of it into the Flameout in my stash was the trigger. I don't know if I've bitten off more than I can chew, but, well, models fall off workbenches all the time lol.

[farmboy]

Whew, what week but it's all ok now.
I don't know about you, but given time to study something and I end up deviating from the original plan, and, well, I'm deviating from the original plan.

The frame of choice will be from the Surf Woody.  I bought this kit a while back solely for parts use.  The front and rear suspensions are well done, and with a bit of additional detailing will be just the ticket for all 4 corners.  The mods to the suspension will see the rear axle as a straight thru with no differential and using the double tire assemblies.   Horsepower will come  from a  Corvair 6 cylinder that is part of the FlameOut kit, just relocated to the front



Below is what the frame may or may not include.  Always nice to overplan just in case.



Starting from the top:

1.  The over simplified chassis from the FlameOut kit.  Too short, too toylike by itself.  Not sure if any part of this chassis will be used but time and desperation will tell.
2.  One of the yellow side panels from the Blazin' Bison.  These look tailor made for this build. We'll see.
3.  The orange frame is from the Surf Woody.  The plan is to lengthen this so everything fits by inserting a section or two from frame #4.
4.  The frame from the Mooneyes Dragster.  I used the Potvin for another build.  Did you know there's another relatively complete a complete other frame to build another hotrod?  Lessens the guilt factor for parting         the kit out.  Cool.

Parking the Corvair engine up front means no driveshaft to the rear to possibly add a problem or two to the build.  It does however mean the axle supplied with the kit (in front of the orange frame) has to be a two piece live axle.  Right now the plan is to have the whole thing in full view but if I can't do a good enough job of that and it may be covered somehow.  Again, we'll see.

Comments and observations welcome.