I would like to scratch build an old fire pumper- stuff from say late 19th century. But I have no idea where to find scale drawings for something like that. I did a google image search on “antique fire engines scale drawings.” The only drawings that came up were sketches, no machine/scale drawings. I could do my own drawings if I got some nice photos, but the photos need to be square on to the principle axes. The photos I could find in an image search were all quartering shots.
I have gone to a couple of fire museums. Either their collections start with the 20s and 30s equipment, and /or the equipment is so close together one cannot get square-on photos!
Try googling “19th Century fire engines”. There are a couple of museums listed with collections (one in Minnesota regarding the Nott Company looks particularly interesting) that you might contact regarding scale drawings. There is also a CD for sale with three books on it pertaining to 19th century fire equipment which might help. It’s $12. There is also a website that lists all the remaining steam fire engines and their locations. I’m sure somebody who is that interested in preserving the heritage could help you locate the drawings. Worst case scenario, maybe you could use the site to locate an old steamer near you and you could take pics and measurements yourself.
Okay, now you’ve piqued my interest. There is also a book called “Horse Drawn Commercial Vehicles” by Don Berkebile, which includes (according to the cover anyway) fire engines. In peeking into the book at Amazon, it appears to contain scale drawings for carts and carriages, so I assume it would contain something similar for fire equipment. The book may also be available on eBay.
Yeah, I googled using several arrangements of words, and even clicked the “more” button. Lots of photos, lots of sketch drawings, but nothing useful. I know what is in all the Fire Museums in Minnesota (wonderful what the web can do these days), but nothing there like I want to build (nothing pre 20th century). Did visit a fire museum in Michigan that had a manual pumper, but no steam pumper. Can’t afford to criss-cross whole country
Wow, what a neat site. I bookmarked it because I see other plans for possible projects. I could not find the steam fire engine, Blacksmith. Could you send a link just to the URL that contains the engine plans?
Again, I’m a little late to the party, but you could get the MPC Christie model and back date it into a horse drawn steamer. That is on my “to do” list…
We have a fire museum here that has equipment from the horse and carriage days . There’s a lot around , Don , it’s just like you said though .If it’s in a larger city they pack it so tight you can’t get good detailing photos .
When I do I will ask you to leave me a message on the message board and I’ll get you something . Tanker - builder
Commercial decal makers are able to print golden decals for you. I don’t know about the States, maybe try the DRAW Decals company, but there is one company in Germany (decalprint) and one in Poland (calle MeliusManu) and those print golden paint all right. A drawing in CorelDraw will do the trick.
