Why recover or restore a toy model?

[motorman]

Great work Gene

[Tinman]

That paint scheme really does the old Cadillac ambulance justice. Many of them were painted all red with white lettering and in combinations of red and white. They almost always had privacy curtains or opaque lines in the side windows to give privacy. It was very common to have the name of the hospital or the name of the ambulance company in the rear side windows.

Here is an old beater I fixed up about 20 years ago. The window insert was so badly damaged I had to use the signs in the side windows to hide the extent of the damage. Back then I didn't have any extra wheels so I had to use the badly play worn wheels which came on the model. The painted large axle end and the painted hub on the small axle end doesn't look so good in the close-up, but it did look good sitting on the shelf.

Joe your fine work as well as the works of some of the other members who give new life to these old playworn models has always been inspiring. So I thought that I would give it a go and see what I could come up with.
Here's what was, a very playworn 54b that with a lil sprucing up on my part is once again ready to roll back into service.
Before


After


zBret

[zBret]

Your version looks quite nice Joe and it's nice to see an early Tinman work.
I haven't gotten into making decals or labels yet, though I would like to try.
The company name in the window on mine came from a water bottle label, that was about the right size, so I clipped it out and stuck it in. Also had thought to the opaque lines and found a bit of bar-code of the appropriate size seems to work well for giving that effect.


The window unit in mine was pretty far gone, so I opted for a replacement. I don't think I had it all the way clicked in in my precious photos, as I was still fiddling with things. Somewhere on the forum I remember a discussion about how difficult the old window units are to remove from the 54b. Mine was no exception, but what I found was, that it seems, that it is in fact the beacon unit that locks the window into place, preventing it from being pushed directly backwards- after some space has been made by prying the rear of the window unit down. What I found that seem to work, was pushing down and back on beacon lights at the same time as pushing the windshield, down and back.

zBret

[Malibu]

Somewhere on the forum I remember a discussion about how difficult the old window units are to remove from the 54b.

That was mee.
After I bended the roof in the original position (it was a stepped on model) the new window unit fittet in properly.

I like the two-tone painting in White and red on the two models.

Stephan

[Tinman]

Also had thought to the opaque lines and found a bit of bar-code of the appropriate size seems to work well for giving that effect.

zBret

That really does work and it looks just like so many did, back in the day.

[Rixtoys]

Speaking of the old days. I remember not being able to find tires of any type. I tried making them or using 0 rings with only limited succsess. When the internet finally arrived and I found tires it opened a whole new world of fixing up my old diecast. Unbelievable whats out there now for restoration parts.

[zBret]

Thought I would make a Rescue Truck to go with the Ambulance

zBret

[Malibu]

Very nice custom.
I like it.

Stephan

[Tinman]

That's really excellent! Very realistic too.

My town used outdated surplus military vehicles (especially trucks) well into the 1970's (mostly WWII & Korea war surplus stuff). It was common to see them re-purposed in many different ways by the township and the county. The county used two old B-17 bombers which were converted and used to spray (vast areas) for mosquito control. The old bombers were a common sight up until the end of the 1960s.

[zBret]

Interesting Joe. That would stand to reason what with the lack of manufacturing going on for the civil sector because of the war and the abundance of surplus left over, after the war. I imagine at the time they made good use of all sorts of things.

zBret