1/43rd Dennis F8 Pump Tender

[Heather Kay]

I really got into model railways properly as a hobby after I met Best Beloved. He modelled in O gauge, 1/43rd scale. We had fun exhibiting two relatively small layouts, and then settled down to plan the Last Great Project. It was to be a modified version of Wolverton in North Bucks, set around the end of the 1950s. West Coast Main Line at the start of the end of BR steam, with some branch line activity to Newport Pagnell. 
 

Half of a large shed was set aside for the scenic work, with a large double loop going out under cover into the garden and back. We got as far as the main scenic track being laid, and basic work on the station buildings when Life found the largest monkey wrench it could and took most of Best Beloved's eyesight away. Without his skills, there was no way I could wire up the layout for power, control and signalling. The project was quietly abandoned, and most of the kits and stock sold up.

 

Where am I going with this? Well, as part of our ambition, we wanted period correct road vehicles as well as the trains. Finding good scale model vehicles at the time - mid-1990s - was not easy. There were good 1/43rd die cast cars, but die cast commercial vehicles were to the "collector" 1/50th scale. There were a few kits around, but most of those were 1920s and 1930s cars and vans. Scale plans could be had, and it might have been possible to scratchbuild decent commercials.

 

Anyway, a couple of enterprising bods noticed a gap in the market, and aimed to fill it. They created a small range of commercial vehicle kits in 1/43rd scale. Resin moulded, with cast and etched metal details, they were not cheap, but they were good.

 

 

Here's one. The maker went by the name Classic Commercials. The AEC Monarch/Mandator came as a 4x2 and 6x4 version. There was also a Morris van, Bedford O series - both military and standard - and a Scammell Scarab and trailer. I built the AEC, made some corrections to the kit to make it a little more accurate, and made a rudimentary front steering axle setup. I think it came out well. I’ve donated it to some friends who have a large exhibition layout, where the AEC will fit nicely into the scene.

 

Anyway, right round the other side of the planet, in New Zealand, a chap called Paul Bernsten was also producing 1/43rd scale commercials. He was better know for modelling some exquisite narrow gauge railways, but he set up as The Model Company. One of his kits was of a Dennis fire engine.

 

I'm a sucker for fire engines, since my earliest years. I don’t know why, but I just love a good fire appliance. I mean, red isn’t even my favourite colour! 
 

I managed to buy a kit. It languished on the shelf for ages, until about three years ago I wanted a change from some particularly challenging commission build. I got the chassis put together, adding some missed details like the prop shaft and the steering mechanism. I got a rattle can of red paint, made a mess of the one-piece body … and the model's been sat on the shelf of shame ever since.

 

Time to get it finished.

 

Here's the box. Look at that! Just look at that photo on the box! Doesn’t it call to you? Doesn’t it simply shout 1950s England? Can you not hear that bell clanging? The roar of the 5 litre Rolls-Royce engine, the whine of the drive train? 
 

Steady now!
 

 

Inside the box is this lot, with comprehensive instructions and some prototype photos. Happily, there are quite a few F8s in preservation, and lots of photos can be found online, too, so making a good model is not hard.

 

A bit more back story, if I may. I was born and grew up in Guildford, Surrey. Guildford was - and still is - the home of Dennis Motors. It was founded in the town in 1895, and became one of the UK's foremost providers of municipal vehicles, as well as buses and fire appliances. My grandfather worked in the plant, though sadly he died before I was old enough to appreciate it. I’d have loved a guided tour of the works, but it was never to be. Perhaps I can finish this little fire engine as a tribute to Grandad and his colleagues. Who knows, indeed, whether he was involved in the construction of the very prototype this kit is based on?

 

My aim is to strip the shoddy paintwork, and complete the model to my satisfaction. The work I’ve done so far is to make up the chassis and fit the axles. I found a way to "chrome" the radiator and windows frame etch, and I think I shall invest in a Molotow chrome pen for other body details. I have a load of good detail photos of an F8 I saw at a classic vehicle show a few years ago, so there’s no excuse for missing some details. I may have to look at getting some period registration plates made up. Well, that’s the plan. We shall see what happens.

 

 

[roginoz]

Brilliant !! I remember these well as our earliest home was opposite the fire station in Bushey Heath........what a feeling of nostalgia I got, opening your post, Heather.

 

Consider me figuratively breathing down your neck as I follow progress. Looks like a very  nice kit.

 

Rog

[TonyW]

Right up my street! I'll be following along with more than a bit of interest here.

 

Tony.

[Mancunian airman]

I do wish one could still purchase English commercial vehicles, I love your Monarch, it screams BRS to me.

 

I dont quite remember the 50's fire engines but the 60's Bedford I do.

Good luck with the build H, it should be a real beaut when YOU apply your skills  . . .

[Mjwomack]

You've made me so happy!! Just out of interest, how many seats did the original have because I can well imagine that you're going to have plenty of people hanging off the back to keep up with this one.

Will you be humming sections of Penny Lane to yourself as you work on it, because it's certainly going to be a gleam machine😉

[Heather Kay]

47 minutes ago, Mjwomack said:

Will you be humming sections of Penny Lane to yourself as you work on it, because it's certainly going to be a gleam machine😉

More likely reciting the Camberwick Green engine crew!
 

Actually, if anyone knows where I might find 1/43rd scale 1950s firemen figures…  

[Mike Dean]

46 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

More likely reciting the Camberwick Green engine crew!
 

Actually, if anyone knows where I might find 1/43rd scale 1950s firemen figures…  

Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub. You'll not get that out of your head for hours.

 

 

 

Here's a link to sanddmodels, they have a few white metal firemen in various poses, looking very 50's/60's -ish. There's even one rescuing a cat.

https://www.sanddmodels.co.uk/products_43_figures.htm

 

Mike

[Heather Kay]

20 minutes ago, Mike Dean said:

There's even one rescuing a cat.

You know, I’d forgotten all about S&D! 
 

And Trumpton, of course. Silly me.

[Heather Kay]

17 hours ago, Mancunian airman said:

I do wish one could still purchase English commercial vehicles, I love your Monarch, it screams BRS to me.

The Classic Commercials range was acquired by the late Adrian Swain. Quite where they’ll end up once his estate has been sorted out is open to conjecture. The only other 1/43rd scale kits available are from Langley Miniature Models. 
 

I've been trying to figure out my fascination with fire engines. None of my family has been in the fire service, so it’s not that. My love is a deep-seated one, going right back to early childhood, but I can’t pin down any one thing that may have triggered it. There was certainly no early experience of being involved in a fire or rescue from that age. 
 

As I have grown ever older, I have become particularly fond of specialist vehicles. By that, I mean vehicles designed to perform a specific function. Into that definition go all forms of agricultural machinery, industrial and construction plant, utility and emergency vehicles and so on. While I’ve always been interested in vehicles and machines of all kinds - still a fairly rare thing for a girl - specialists seem to draw me in much more. 

[JeroenS]

2 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

I've been trying to figure out my fascination with fire engines. None of my family has been in the fire service, so it’s not that. My love is a deep-seated one, going right back to early childhood, but I can’t pin down any one thing that may have triggered it. There was certainly no early experience of being involved in a fire or rescue from that age. 

Big, red and noisy... what's not to like? 

 

2 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

As I have grown ever older, I have become particularly fond of specialist vehicles. By that, I mean vehicles designed to perform a specific function. Into that definition go all forms of agricultural machinery, industrial and construction plant, utility and emergency vehicles and so on. While I’ve always been interested in vehicles and machines of all kinds - still a fairly rare thing for a girl - specialists seem to draw me in much more. 

I've only restarted the modelling thing about 3 years ago, and I've slowly but surely drifted into the "trucks and workhorse" area. I too have a love for the specialist, odd looking stuff. I can relate!

[Heather Kay]

 

This model has quite a bit of shiny chrome, as well as brass, so I’ve invested in something I have been thinking about for far too long. 🕶️

[Heather Kay]

 

I had my first Covid vaccine dose on Thursday last, and while the side effects have been pretty mild, I’ve allowed myself a few days to let it work its magic. I am not, therefore, piling into this group build with gusto - not yet, anyway.

 

My first task with Dennis was to strip the gods awful paint job I’d managed to do previously. The awfulness of it was part of the reason the model remained on the Shelf of Doom for so long. Anyway, half an hour or so with the stripper and an old toothbrush got me more or less back to the bare resin. I’ll go at the body shell with various implements to get the resistant bits of paint and primer out of nooks and crannies. Then I shall drill out the various holes for lights and hand rails and so on.

 

Repainting should be high on the agenda, I suppose. While I consider how to approach that, I shall do some prototype digging around, and learn a bit more about fire engines so I can fill out the modelling bits with some fascinating history.

[Heather Kay]

Having stripped the paint off the carcass, I found my interest in the subject had wandered away. I decided to just let nature takes its course, and spent a while looking out photos and background history instead.

 

I learned that the Dennis Brothers had started out in 1895 making motor cars. They built what is claimed to be the first purpose-built car factory in Britain, which is still there in Guildford. It isn’t a factory any more, and I’m not certain what it’s used for, but it’s survival is something the town is rightly proud of. Things went well enough for the company in their early years, with plenty of willing people happy to buy stocks and subscribe to the enterprise. World War One rather dented ambitions. The British government provided a subsidy scheme where if you bought a lorry they'd pay part of the purchase price. In return, if the War Office needed more lorries, your new toy could be taken away. Dennis did have a 3-ton and 6-ton lorries in their catalogue, but the models were never quite as popular as the Leylands and AECs. After the war, the market was flooded with ex-military lorries, and Dennis found sales plummeted.

 

Stepping back a little bit, the company had built a couple of fire appliances. Their first was delivered to Bradford fire brigade in 1909, and proved an excellent machine. During the first half of the 20th century, fire fighting equipment in the UK was made by a handful of specialist firms. Merryweather and Shand Mason had been making appliances since the mid-Victorian period, and specialised in horse-drawn steam-powered pumps. John Morris, Halley and Tilling Stevens also made fire appliances, but by World War Two, the market was pretty much dominated by Merryweather, Leyland and Dennis Brothers.

 

I suppose I should try and explain the descriptors I use. The common generic term for firefighting vehicles is "fire engine". This goes right back to the 17th and 18th centuries, when hand-powered water pumps were invented specifically to fight fires. These pumps were sometimes pulled by the men who would operate them, later horse-drawn. In official circles, the various machines used by fire services have specific titles, like pump escape, emergency tender, turntable ladder and so on. All these are properly known as "fire appliances", but everyone calls them fire engines. I use the terms interchangeably. The model I'm working on is interesting in its own right, and I’ll come to that in a later post. Remind me if I forget!

 

So, as the 1920s arrived, Dennis Brothers had been struggling to keep going, but had found a niche market of fire appliances, buses and municipal vehicles that could be supplied to councils up and down the country. Such vehicles were often specialist, such as refuse disposal, gully and drain cleaning, towers for maintaining trolley and tram wires, and so on. Councils would often change and update their fleets on a fairly regular basis, as the work they were required to do changed, meaning Dennis could keep innovating and selling to existing customers without worry.
 

To round out the potted history, Dennis fire appliances used a turbine pump, which was far superior to the reciprocating pumps of their competition. The pumps were supplied to other manufacturers, as well as built into Dennis products. Dennis continued to build lorries for general commercial use into the early 1970s, but their main business was the specialist vehicles. If you want to find out more about the company and where it’s all gone, search for the name in Wikipedia.

 

For many decades, fire services were supplied by town and city councils. Each one was fiercely proud, and territorial! Cross-boundary co-operation was rare. Working at a county level wasn’t even thought of, until the whole thing changed when World War Two forced a wholesale rethink of fire services and the equipment they needed. By the 1950s, minimum standards had been laid down by the government to ensure all modern fire appliances met basic essential criteria.
 

Pre-war firefighting, especially in towns and cities, had been based on ready access to water mains. Hydrants were - and still are - placed at strategic points on the water main network. An engine would arrive at a fire, plug into the water main with one hose, and pump the water where it was needed. This all changed rather quickly in 1940, when heavy bombing destroyed water mains. The lessons learned in this hard way led directly to the specification of a completely new kind of fire appliance, one which could carry a supply of water sufficient to begin dealing with the incident. The Type A water tender towed a self-powered pump, but was soon replaced by the Type B, which had the pump on the vehicle itself.

 

In 1949 Dennis introduced the F series. It was a "limousine" bodied vehicle - meaning it was entirely enclosed and the crew sat inside - with a pump capable of shifting 4,500 litres of water a minute. I can’t find anything telling me how much water the vehicle could carry, but let’s assume it was at least 2,000 litres. Hoses, standpipes, rescue gear, a smaller pump, a 12 metre ladder, and room for five firefighters, were all carried in a vehicle with a 3.8m wheelbase and a body 1.9m wide, powered by a 4.2 litre Rolls-Royce 6-cylinder diesel engine.

 

 

Which brings us, finally, to the Dennis F8 on my workbench. Sorry for all that text, but I hope it was interesting. I realised I haven’t really shown the kit in great detail, so let’s set that right.

 

 

The limousine body is a single resin casting. The pattern to make the mould must be exquisite. There is lovely fine detailing, right down to the diamond-pattern kick plates under the doors. The interior is a bit sparse, but glazing is catered for with recesses behind the side windows, and rebates on the exterior for the windscreen. I’ve shown one side here, but the other side is identical. There is a single resin block for the interior, with seats and instrument panel.

 

 

The front has dimples moulded to be drilled out to accept cast headlamps, the bumper bar and so on. You can just see the windscreen rebates here. The square aperture housed a spotlight behind a glazed screen. I don’t think the light was boxed in inside, so the occupant of the passenger seat could operate the thing easily. There is no spotlight provided in the kit, so I shall make something up from scratch. The classic Dennis radiator is a cast metal frame, with etched metal details.

 

 

The rear is plain, but gets quite a lot of cast detailing. I’ve marked out and drilled various holes, following the detailed instructions and drawings.

 

 

Underneath, the chassis is a fairly simple construction in cast whitemetal. Disappointingly, no attempt was made to model the engine and gearbox. Even a simple sump bulge and exhaust pipe run would have been nice. I suppose more research would turn up enough that I could scratch these items, but I won’t bother as they’re all but invisible anyway. I’ve added the prop shaft, and a very crude representation of the steering linkage. The front wheels have been slightly angled, to provide a little animation to the finished model. The assembly here has been with low temperature solder.

 

 

The AEC flatbed kit at the start of this epic provided brightwork in the form of PE stainless steel. All the PE in this kit is brass. I had a thought, a few years ago, that I could perhaps use a silver plate repair kit to make the brass look more like chrome. At the very least, it doesn’t look like brass any more! I’ve now got the Molotow pens, so some of this will hopefully be given a better finish.

 

 

The ladder scares me a bit. It looks horribly fiddly, but I’ve handled far worse in some railway kits. I’m still trying to work out what colour the ladder should be. If it’s a light alloy, it should be silver, but many preserved F8s appear to have the ladders painted a dark brown.

 

Finally, there’s this collection of brass and whitemetal castings. 
 

I think that’ll do for now. Having prepped the body, I shall spend today fitting various castings and getting things ready for paint.

[roginoz]

@Heather Kay, your railway engineering skills should make [re]building the Dennis a breeze !

The ladders look a bit tricky though.

 

Following, with great interest and encouragement.

Rog

[TonyW]

That's a lovely looking kit.

The ladder should be it's crowning glory, it looks like a kit in its own right.

 

 

[Heather Kay]

 

Here's a Dennis F8 in preservation. I managed to get up close and personal to this example at a local historic vehicle rally. Later, I realised it’s not exactly the same as the kit version. This preserved vehicle has a special body style, made for Leeds City Council. The crew mounted the appliance from the rear, rather than cabin doors. Only driver and passenger have doors into the cab. This just goes to show that there’s no such thing as a "standard" fire engine. Each vehicle, or set of vehicles, is bespoke, built to order and the specific needs of each customer. The basic details of the cab fittings, the ladder mountings, and pump details of this preserved 1953 F8, however, will all help me build the model.

 

A lot of F8s have ended up in museums and on the rally circuit. An awful lot were also made for export. The kit is based on an F8 that was used in New Zealand, for example. Happily, as with most fire appliances, they are also quite photogenic, and a quick search on Flickr turns up useful images. I think this link will work for you.

 

I'll scatter detail photos of the Leeds F8 through the build.

[Terry1954]

Excellent choice of subject Heather. I've always liked old fire engines, which likely started when I lived close to a fire station in Addiscombe (Croydon) as a child. We need more models of fire engines in all scales!

 

Will follow with interest.

 

Terry

[Heather Kay]

2 hours ago, roginoz said:

@Heather Kay, your railway engineering skills should make [re]building the Dennis a breeze !

The ladders look a bit tricky though.

 

Following, with great interest and encouragement.

 

2 hours ago, TonyW said:

That's a lovely looking kit.

The ladder should be it's crowning glory, it looks like a kit in its own right.

 

21 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

Excellent choice of subject Heather. I've always liked old fire engines, which likely started when I lived close to a fire station in Addiscombe (Croydon) as a child. We need more models of fire engines in all scales!

 

Will follow with interest.

Thanks all! I am hoping to break the back of the construction today, leaving only painting and detail work to do. We shall see. I am not feeling terribly confident about paint, if I’m honest, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.

 

 

Here is a better shot of some of the cast brass detail. At the top are parts for the ladder. The U-shaped things are supports for the hydrant standpipes, if I decide to use them. As I accidentally drilled the holes for them, I suppose it should.

 

The other sprues are handrail knobs for the curved handrails at the back, the L-shaped things are the cabin door handles, a set of hand wheels for the pump hose valves, control levers for the pump, and the bell. It does have a clapper moulded inside. I intend to fit the knotted rope or leather strop that was passed down through the roof. Almost until the end of service, bells were rung by hand. Bells were also retained on older appliances, even when they’d been updated with the "blues and twos" - blue flashing beacons and two-tone sirens.

 

 

The radiator surround is cast whitemetal, and I’ve fitted the brass radiator cap. Both will be "chromed" later. Fitted at the rear of the tender, above the pump, was a hose reel. I believe it was permanently plumbed into the water supply and pump, and was referred to as a "first aid hose". The tender also carried the larger hoses, rolled up in the lockers along the side, but the smaller hose could be deployed as soon as the vehicle had arrived at the scene of an incident. It is made of cast brass ends, brackets, and a whitemetal reel. I’ve drilled through to take the 1.2mm rod axle. 
 

 

Some of the castings perched on the front of the model. The characteristic 1950s Dennis "face" is there. 
 

 

Here's the real thing for comparison. The oval window above the windscreens originally had a pair of orange flashing lamps in it. When the blue beacons were fitted, the window usually had an illuminated "FIRE" sign installed. I hope to replicate the orange lamps - not illuminated, obviously. 

[TonyW]

When I joined the LFB in '78 there were a few bell equipped machines around. Not many, they were spares for when the regular machines were in workshops for whatever reason. The drivers dreaded the manual gearboxes as they could bite if you got the change wrong. They were a bit newer than your Pump but very similar in many ways. Compared to a new machine these things were real stone age stuff.

The OIC up front got to ring the bell. It was hard not to smile when it was clapping away, the sound was just so nostalgic compared to the usual two tones. There was a cadence to be followed. Not a manic banging away, more a DaDang Dadang, pause, Dadang Dadang... I think that's the correct spelling. Easy enough for a couple of rings, try doing it the length of Black Prince Road while the driver threw the machine about like Stirling Moss though!

 

Gotta go, something in my eye...

 

Tony.

 

 

[Heather Kay]

 

I've amazed myself by managing to solder the wheels on the axle stubs without breaking anything while I did it. The chassis even, more or less, sits flat and level! The front wheel set looks about right. I always try to exaggerate the angles and toe-in/out a little. I daren't tweak things any further in case I snap the wheel and hub right off.

 

 

Bell, ladder racks, cabin door handles and the rear handrails are all in. I’ve decided not to fit the standpipe brackets. UK practice was generally to stow the standpipes in a locker, rather than on the bodywork. I’ve filled the holes drilled for the brackets.

[Heather Kay]

Oops!

 

 

The pump controls and the first aid hose reel are assembled, but not glued in yet. The reel should be left off until after the body is painted, but the pump can go on. I did these before the handrail bits, as you can see! 

[dnl42]

Nice work on this! 

 

I'm particularly interested in following along as I found some metal 1/48 kits at https://wisemanmodelservices.com/

[dnl42]

Oh, how do you solder white metal?

 

I just use an electronics soldering iron and solder for the little bit of soldering I do on brass rod and sheet.

[Mjwomack]

23 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

Nice work on this! 

 

I'm particularly interested in following along as I found some metal 1/48 kits at https://wisemanmodelservices.com/

Shows 1:48 as O gauge which I've never encountered. Does this mean American O gauge is different? Further down the rabbit hole of scales

[Heather Kay]

6 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

Oh, how do you solder white metal?

I have an 80W digital temperature controlled solder station. I set it to about 180°C, which is enough to melt the low-melt solder (itself a different alloy of the whitemetal designed to melt at low temperatures) but hopefully not the casting. Some testing is required to find the optimum, but I usually find 180 works for most of the stuff I do. I use a liquid flux called Carr's Red Label. That may not be readily available in the US. It’s quite noxious, and quite acidic, but I’ve found it best for the whitemetal work. The only other tip is to mechanically clean, with a wire brush, scraper or file, the surfaces to be joined, and tin them as you would for brass and nickel silver work.

 

The soldering iron needs to be capable of keeping the heat going, as whitemetal castings can be heat sinks of the first order. The 80W job seems able to cope well.