After my complicated build of three Hudson bombers, I wanted to find something simple to do for the group. After living in San Antonio for almost 30 years, we have moved to a much smaller town just north of Austin. I was looking for something else on Ebay the other day, and I discovered a vendor who has a large selection of decals for a wide variety of locations. I was interested to find that he had a set of decals for the EMS vehicles in the country that we now live in. They were very reasonable priced, so I ordered a set. The decals are probably created on a home computer and printed on a home printer. Since they are printed on decal paper, they will have a continuous film and the decals will require careful trimming to eliminate most of the film. Upon examination, I noticed that the decals were slightly grainy. I checked Ebay and found another vendor who also makes a wide range of decals for emergency vehicles, and I found another set for my county's EMS, so I ordered a set. The printing on these decals, which are also printed on a home printer on continuous film decal paper, are much sharper. The prints are very clear, and there are decals for several logos that weren't in the first set. They are more accurate and include some pinstripes not printed on the first set. I really like this second set of decals, but it appears that the red stripes on the second set are not the correct shade of red. They are also made for a slightly different scale of vehicle. Which decals I use will be a game-time decision.
Next problem was to find a suitable vehicle. I needed a Chevy Tahoe SUV. I couldn't find a suitable plastic model to build, but I did find a company that sells diecast cars that are used as emergency response vehicles and police cars. They have a wide variety of vehicles available, all painted white overall so that you can create any paint scheme you need. When it arrived, I found that it was very detailed with a well-painted interior. They come with the pusher bumpers seen on emergency vehicles and a variety of light bars for the top of the car. And best of all, they only cost around $20.
I know it is probably sacrilegious to use a diecast model for a build, but it fits my requirements for a project: simple, quick, accomplishes the task in this group, and should look cool when done. I will need to disassemble the body to do some painting and upgrading, as well as doing the same on the outside. I have never built a diecast like this, so I am looking forward to the build.
I got started today by taking the car apart and making a plan for what I need to do with the car. It is held together with small screws. Cool. More tomorrow. (I do have some photos, but I am still having trouble getting them to upload. I will try again later.)
8 attached images. Click to enlarge.
