Airport Fire Truck
Built by Adrian Ashford in September 2016 for the Great Fire of London Secretary’s Challenge
This model is based on one of the famous cut-open drawings which appeared regularly in the “Eagle” comic back in the 1950s; this one was for the 7th March 1958. The prototype represented the latest in airport fire-fighting equipment at the time for dealing with aircraft fires. It was built on a Thornycroft 6-wheel drive chassis, powered by a 200 h.p. Rolls Royce petrol engine and could deliver up to 12,500 gallons of foam.
My reproduction is fairly basic, using 2½” plastic Road Wheels, and has leaf-spring suspension and steering and is free-running, motorisation not being practicable, at least with any degree of authenticity in such a relatively small model. It has a swivelling representation of a monitor on the roof, and a sliding hatch in the roof just behind it.
It will be a vital piece of equipment for our airport diorama at the 2016 Meccano Show!