Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Pierce Velocity PUC Engine 7

The excitement was building all week since I ordered my Fire Replica’s Miami-Dade Pierce engine from Fire Replica’s. Today a large box was delivered by UPS, it was from Fire Replica’s, oh boy sorry honey I am not waiting until Christmas. On opening the shipping box I found another white mailer type box, along with a signed card from the President of Fire Replica’s thanking me and wishing my family a happy holiday, what a nice touch. Once I opened that second box it contained instruction s on how to pull the truck out of the bed of foam that protected the acrylic case, I was able to use the ribbon ties to pull the case out, plastic clear wrap protected the case. The first thing that catches your eye of course is the the bright Lime Yellow Miami-Dade color scheme, it just jumps out at you, I placed the case down and looked at the 2 inch high base which looks like a crushed velvet that the truck is secured to, along the front of the base is the etched nameplate which alone was impressive. The case itself is a good size case 12 inches long by 6 inches deep and 5 and a half high. The velvet bottom is fully enclosed and I have not tried to open it to figure out how to remove the truck from the base. Have to be honest I don’t know if I want to since this case looks great the way it is. The model has a number of details features, starting at the front you can see the photo-etched parts and stainless steel parts of the bumper and grill, the federal Q-2 details is awesome, as well as the air horns, and electric siren in the bumper. The rookie bars on the bumper carefully painted with red and white stripes, blend into the Green and white Miami-Dade decals. The paint job looks flawless, the separation line between the White roof, and Lime Yellow is separated with a gold stripe. The roof lines are perfect with the lights, AC unit and antenna which sit atop of the resin cab. The doors are fixed closed on the mold which is ok by me, the grab bars, mirrors and side lights do pop on the cab, as well as the decals, you can see the door hinges clearly. Looking inside you will see a realistic gray interior, with a fairly detailed dashboard, life-like seats and controls can be seen. The windows are tinted in the rear however you can see the seats. Working toward the rear the PUC discharge area standouts, theres not much there since the PUC model itself has the controls inside the compartments. The pre-connects would sit behind the canvas strapped cover which you do see on the model. The roll up compartments look great again they are fixed the stainless steel spare bottle compartments as well as the light package look very detailed. The rear has more detail as you can see the hose loads and booster reel with various warning lights and a ladder to get to the top of the rig. The top of the pump section is detailed showing the exact compartment configuration covered in diamond plate. The tank fill as well as the vertical exhaust and exhaust for the generator are visible. The tires are rubber, with a fair amount of detail. I can tell the chassis has detail, again I have not taken the truck off the base. I am very happy with the model, I think Fire Replicas has delivered on it’s promise of a highly detailed replica of a real departments fire truck, I have a few more on pre-order and am looking forward to seeing the difference each model will offer. Nicholas you have hit a home run. Thanks for bringing Fire Truck collecting a long needed shot in the arm.