MOC: American Fire Truck

[ImLost]

Final Version Completed! Pictures updated (3/21/2010). Ladder and turntable design inspired by Steven Asbury.

Edited March 21, 2010 by ImLost

[slacker int]

Excellent Build!

8 wide isn't really my thing as it doesn't fit in size wise with what I build... but this is a great looking truck!

I like the attention to details such as the opening doors, wipers, front lights, and that grill.

The entire truck has a nice clean sleek look to it!

well done

Edited March 2, 2010 by slacker int

[lightningtiger]

Looks real good 'slacker int' - I dont normally go for eight wide trucks - but yours is loaded with detail !

Maybe some more gauges and controls on the drivers side of the truck and that would be it !

Great job and I'm a conformist! !

[Rufus]

That's one nice, detailed fire truck . I like the custom doors. It looks like the ladder will have a very long reach - does the vehicle have outriggers to stop it overbalancing?

[Jasper Joppe Geers]

Yes!!!! Excellent one!

This is exactly a fire truck you can't miss when there's a fire in town!

I'm one of those who do like the 8 stud standard for trucks, and this

one shows exactly why. Everything fits and works in the minifig stasndard

like it would in the real world.

Well done, and congrats on this effort!

JJ

[Ralph_S]

I agree that the pump control panels could do with a few more bits and bobs and would love to see you add some side supports you can extend somewhere.

The ladder pieces you used often look too short, certainly on vehicles built to a fairly large scale. I love how you've managed to circumvent that issue really nicely by attaching the pieces that slide out to the bottom and filling in the gap. The small ladder on the side is very nice too and overall it looks very neat.

Cheers,

Ralph

[ChefAgf]

Very nice truck.

I agree with the outriggers. A big truck like this really need those.

Would like to see some pictures of this monster in action!

[ImLost]

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

Excellent Build!

8 wide isn't really my thing as it doesn't fit in size wise with what I build... but this is a great looking truck!

I like the attention to details such as the opening doors, wipers, front lights, and that grill.

The entire truck has a nice clean sleek look to it!

well done

Yeah, a lot of people are not big fans of 8-wide but after looking at photos of american fire trucks, I feel a 6-wide is way too narrow. I think as an 8-wide, the truck looks more proportionally correct.

Looks real good 'slacker int' - I dont normally go for eight wide trucks - but yours is loaded with detail !

Maybe some more gauges and controls on the drivers side of the truck and that would be it !

Great job and I'm a conformist! !

That is one of the major flaws of my model.. there is no room to fit a steering wheel or controls on the driver's side! I know how to remedy that problem, but I lack the pieces to do so.

That's one nice, detailed fire truck . I like the custom doors. It looks like the ladder will have a very long reach - does the vehicle have outriggers to stop it overbalancing?

There are no outriggers unfortunately. I can't figure out how to build one at the moment. Suggestions would be great. I may have to go with "implied outriggers", which means I'll add some panels on the side to give the illusion that outriggers are behind them, when in reality, no outriggers exist.

Yes!!!! Excellent one!

This is exactly a fire truck you can't miss when there's a fire in town!

I'm one of those who do like the 8 stud standard for trucks, and this

one shows exactly why. Everything fits and works in the minifig stasndard

like it would in the real world.

Well done, and congrats on this effort!

JJ

Yes! An 8 wide supporter! Glad I'm not alone!

I agree that the pump control panels could do with a few more bits and bobs and would love to see you add some side supports you can extend somewhere.

The ladder pieces you used often look too short, certainly on vehicles built to a fairly large scale. I love how you've managed to circumvent that issue really nicely by attaching the pieces that slide out to the bottom and filling in the gap. The small ladder on the side is very nice too and overall it looks very neat.

Cheers,

Ralph

I agree that the pump control panel could use more dials and knobs and such. I just don't have the pieces for that right now. The pump control panel used to be populated with those little one-stud round gray pieces, but I had to use up all of them to make the truck's front grill.

I'll definately try to add some out triggers but right now, I can't come up with how to do it.

Very nice truck.

I agree with the outriggers. A big truck like this really need those.

Would like to see some pictures of this monster in action!

Good suggestion! I have a bunch of creator family homes and maybe I can make some sort of diaroma with this truck in action.

Edited March 2, 2010 by ImLost

[Darth Legolas]

Spot-on! I've been waiting for someone to make a real firetruck-looking firetruck. I guess they look different in Europe? My ignorant self will have to look that up.

Any way, the entire truck part of the truck is one million percent perfect! I don't think there's a single complain that comes to mind! It's so detailed it's like model team!

I think that's pretty much minifig-scaled. Maybe about 1/8 too big, it's huge, but you should definitely keep it that way!

That's a pretty long ladder, by the way. God forbid they ever need to use it!

[Ralph_S]

Spot-on! I've been waiting for someone to make a real firetruck-looking firetruck. I guess they look different in Europe? My ignorant self will have to look that up.

This truck is really nice and I don't want to distract from that by posting other MOCs in this thread (so I won't), but your comment is a bit of a disservice to the many builders of fire engines who have posted their trucks on eurobricks in the past. I'm sure you don't see every single MOC that passes through here (who does?), but there have been plenty of American fire trucks on eurobricks including some really nice ones.

European fire engines do look less elaborate than American ones. IMO they are more form over function. All the trinkets do make building American ones lots of fun.

Cheers,

Ralph

[ACCURATEin]

I've seen quite a few minifig scale fire trucks, and this one is by way my favorite out of ALL of them. With all the fire truck MOCs in a past few months, i have been thinking of building one myself. On the way home from work last week, i saw a brand new fire truck that distinctly caught my attention.

Great job with this MOC. I love 8 weight trucks.

[Darth Legolas]

This truck is really nice and I don't want to distract from that by posting other MOCs in this thread (so I won't), but your comment is a bit of a disservice to the many builders of fire engines who have posted their trucks on eurobricks in the past. I'm sure you don't see every single MOC that passes through here (who does?), but there have been plenty of American fire trucks on eurobricks including some really nice ones.

European fire engines do look less elaborate than American ones. IMO they are more form over function. All the trinkets do make building American ones lots of fun.

Cheers,

Ralph

Sorry... I didn't mean that way at all! I love all of the fire engine MOCs here on Eurobricks, but I was particularly referring to the fire trucks in my town!

I'm really, really sorry. Not to mention though, your fire truck is great! But that's also a different category, as it is model team and this is town scaled!

Sorry again everyone!

[Ralph_S]

Sorry... I didn't mean that way at all! I love all of the fire engine MOCs here on Eurobricks, but I was particularly referring to the fire trucks in my town!

I'm really, really sorry. Not to mention though, your fire truck is great! But that's also a different category, as it is model team and this is town scaled!

Sorry again everyone!

No worries. I know you meant no offence and fully understand your enthusiasm for this one.

Cheers,

Ralph

[ImLost]

Spot-on! I've been waiting for someone to make a real firetruck-looking firetruck. I guess they look different in Europe? My ignorant self will have to look that up.

Any way, the entire truck part of the truck is one million percent perfect! I don't think there's a single complain that comes to mind! It's so detailed it's like model team!

I think that's pretty much minifig-scaled. Maybe about 1/8 too big, it's huge, but you should definitely keep it that way!

That's a pretty long ladder, by the way. God forbid they ever need to use it!

I've seen quite a few minifig scale fire trucks, and this one is by way my favorite out of ALL of them. With all the fire truck MOCs in a past few months, i have been thinking of building one myself. On the way home from work last week, i saw a brand new fire truck that distinctly caught my attention.

Great job with this MOC. I love 8 weight trucks.

Thanks for the compliments, guys. I'm still not 100percent happy with this MOC, though. I think the front of the truck is proportionally incorrect. The headlights just does not look right, IMO. Also, the compartment section of the truck is too low. Plus, I feel the back is slightly too blocky. I'll try to make some improvements over the weekend.

[Loganwan]

Beautiful! I have to know first off: How many ladders do you have stacked up there on top to make the extension? And how high does it reach? I put an extra ladder on one of my TLG fire trucks, but this looks like it would reach awesomely tall.

As someone who lives right near a fire station and has them screaming by my house at 50mph, this looks spot on. Does 8 studs fit in with the Lego City theme, or is it too big? I sure can see that 8 studs just seems to work better than 6. I sure hope you are at least 99% happy with the truck. It is very nice.

[ImLost]

Beautiful! I have to know first off: How many ladders do you have stacked up there on top to make the extension? And how high does it reach? I put an extra ladder on one of my TLG fire trucks, but this looks like it would reach awesomely tall.

As someone who lives right near a fire station and has them screaming by my house at 50mph, this looks spot on. Does 8 studs fit in with the Lego City theme, or is it too big? I sure can see that 8 studs just seems to work better than 6. I sure hope you are at least 99% happy with the truck. It is very nice.

Thanks, Loganwan. I used 7 ladders total. 6 ladders are stacked in the front. Although the height is 7 ladders tall, the turnatable cannot support it! Also, when fully extended, the ladder bends like crazy. Funcationality is definately NOT one of my top priorities.

I think 8 wide fits well with the city theme (although many would disagree). The mobile crane in 7633 Construction Site is 8 wide and I have seen people incorporate that vehicle seamlessly into town layouts. In fact, ACCURATEin's Lego City has plenty of both 6 and 8 wide vehicles coexisting beautifully. In real life, trucks vary greatly in width- the lego world should be no different.

Edited March 4, 2010 by ImLost

[Princess Muttonchops]

Wow, great MOC ImLost! I love all the little details you've managed to squeeze into this cute model. The levers as windscreen wipers work really well.

[JayDuck]

Wonderful eight-wide! I know many people don't care for it, and it really is at the max of 'minifig scale', but for huge stuff like a big fire truck like yours I think it just fits.

[Fires-storm]

Wow, a truly amazing truck you've got here, one of the widest and most amazing I've seen, all the detail such as the opening doors and the ladder are stunning! keep up the good work

[MetroiD]

I can't wait for you to post the final version of this ;)

[marvinblue]

Nice work ImLost! It looks great, I love all of the details. If this fits into a standard Fire Station Engine Bay, then I would very much like to have one!!

[CommanderFox]

Hmm, thats amazing, definitly not a WIP to me.

Nice job, I like how its 8 wide, looks very nice, I like the desgine of it.

Nice job with it!

CommanderFox

[ImLost]

Wow, great MOC ImLost! I love all the little details you've managed to squeeze into this cute model. The levers as windscreen wipers work really well.

Thanks, Walrus Keeper! I love how you described the model as "cute" when another poster before you described it as a "monster" (but ihe meant it in a good way).

Wonderful eight-wide! I know many people don't care for it, and it really is at the max of 'minifig scale', but for huge stuff like a big fire truck like yours I think it just fits.

Thanks, JayDuck. You know, I was tempted to make it even wider! If you look at photos of actual American fire trucks, my model still looks too narrow compared to its real-life counterparts. But I'll resist the urge and keep it 8 wide.

Wow, a truly amazing truck you've got here, one of the widest and most amazing I've seen, all the detail such as the opening doors and the ladder are stunning! keep up the good work

Thanks, Fire-storm. One of my model's weaknesses is that the cab has a lot of detail but the rest of the truck looks too simplified in comparison. I'll address this problem soon.

I can't wait for you to post the final version of this ;)

Thanks, MetroiD. An improved version will be up later this weekend.

Nice work ImLost! It looks great, I love all of the details. If this fits into a standard Fire Station Engine Bay, then I would very much like to have one!!

Thanks, marvinblue. If by "standard fire station engine bay" you mean the one found in 7208 Fire Station, then this truck is out of luck. But there is a solution: take 2 fire station bays, put them side by side and take out the middle wall. Then, stack two more bays on top of that. Simple enough renovation, right?

Hmm, thats amazing, definitly not a WIP to me.

Nice job, I like how its 8 wide, looks very nice, I like the desgine of it.

Nice job with it!

CommanderFox

Thanks, CommanderFox. Hopefully after this weekend, it won't be a WIP anymore!

[Ralph_S]

Thanks, JayDuck. You know, I was tempted to make it even wider! If you look at photos of actual American fire trucks, my model still looks too narrow compared to its real-life counterparts. But I'll resist the urge and keep it 8 wide.

Width of minifig vehicles is a regularly reoccurring topic of conversation. American fire engines can be very big, particularly this type (combining functions of a pumper and a ladder truck), but they're not wider than a regular truck. I personally feel that 8 wide is already a bit too big for minifig scale vehicles and making it even wider would mean that it would completely dwarf any figure standing next to it.

Of course making it bigger means that it becomes progressively easier to add details (part of the reason why most of my fire-engines are 14 studs wide and why I don't include minifigs).

Thanks, Fire-storm. One of my model's weaknesses is that the cab has a lot of detail but the rest of the truck looks too simplified in comparison. I'll address this problem soon.

I'm not sure whether I'd see that as a weakness. On many of these trucks the cab does have a lot of little bells and whistles while the rest of the body is a bit simple. If you do want to add more stuff to the back, I'd suggest adding a few lights to the top of the body (a few floodlights and a few rotating lights) and perhaps some handrails. It's on a larger scale and but you can see the sort of things I mean on my the back of my FDNY fire engine.

I look forward to seeing the finished product.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Jasper Joppe Geers]

Just my two cents, but...

Never forget that it is only you who can decide about

what you create, and when you're happy with it!

If you feel that this is exactly what you're aiming for,

then bingo! I'd say!

Cheers!

JJ