Today, I picked up another DUKW, in this case an Airfix 1/72nd DUKW which I hope convert into a fire/rescue DUKW and add to my (civilian) railroad layout.

While I believe that plenty of fire departments, including the one in Wayne, NJ, where I briefly stayed during my childhood, employed DUKWs as rescue vehicles, the only fire/rescue DUKW that operated west of the Mississippi (where the Burlington Northern RR operated) I’ve managed to find a picture of is ARC-1 of the Seattle Fire Department.

http://www.lastresortfd.org/SFD_History.htm#ARC-1

Hoping to build most accurate possible model of this DUKW, I’ve been searching for additional pictures and/or information of this prototype.

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find any additional pictures of/information on this DUKW or any other western DUKW.

Would any of you know where I could find additional pictures of or information on ARC-1 or any other western DUKW???

If your model railroad is in HO Scale, you would be far better trying to locate a Faller or ROCO minitank DUKW in plastic or Wespe models in Resin which are all 1/87nd Scale (HO).

The size difference between the two scales is considerable.
Nice shots of the Seattle FD DUKW, sorry I cannot help otherwise

Ian

Ian,

While it’s a somewhat obscure scale, I build ‘S’-scale trains. Personally, I think ‘S’-scale, or 1:64th scale, is nearly ideal since it allows for more detail then HO but is still small enough to avoid the need for “compression” (the tightening of turns and shortening of railcars) seen in ‘O’-scale.

The only downside to ‘S’ is that there are relatively few kits/finished models available, forcing modelers to improvise and scratchbuild (which isn’t always a bad thing).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_scale

However, because military vehicles aren’t widely available in 1:64th, I’ve decided to ‘fudge’ a little and use 1:72 scale equipment when necessary…