Back in the 1970’s the Monogram Model Company released a plastic model kit of a Mack CF 600 Class “A” Engine. It was based upon the very popular fire apparatus line that Mack Trucks of Allentown, Pennsylvania was producing nationwide at that time.  The real CF was a big seller, and Mack found that the apparatus was widely favored by not only the metropolitan fire departments, but by many small communities as well. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see this model still in front-line service in many locales.

Looking at what Monogram did at the time was vogue for the model makers of that era, and that included a sizable collection of model fire engine builders. They released a 1/32 scale of this engine in not one, but two versions. The Lime Yellow craze was sweeping across fire departments in our country, so another influence factored here as well. What the Illinois based model company did was produce a red version for Skokie FD, with a sidebar release of a yellow version for Elmhurst.

The difference on the box tops was that the Skokie model sported a cab roof mounted deluge set, while the Elmhurst had a Mars triple bulb floodlight ensemble. Included in both kits were the deluge set and the floodlight, so you did have a choice, whatever version you wished to make.

The other unique makeup of this kit was a new approach to the model making assembly process. This kit used a new technique called “Snap-Tite”. Snap-Tite was to eliminate the need for the use of model glue. In other words, once parts were removed from their trees, all one needed to do was snap the various parts together and produce a nice model, just as nice as one assembled via the gluing process. Anyway, that’s how management thought that the assembly process would go. When I tried this, I still needed some glue to make things seal and bond to each other. This novel process was somewhat influenced by the glue-sniffing craze going on as a substance abuse of that decade.

Serious model makers did not find added value in the Snap-Tite process, as certain details were molded in, leaving very little room for enhanced detailing and kit bashing adventures. Concern was also directed towards other detail parts that should have been made to truly reflect the real machine that the model was to represent. Monogram did make a small assortment of various Snap-Tite models in other designs, but scrapped the idea after their limited success and feedback from the model makers themselves.

The CF 600 Pumper kit did enjoy a round of success and was welcomed by the fire apparatus modelers of the 1/32 scale, as this kit was suitable for kit bashing with the earlier Aurora release of an 1960’s American LaFrance. A striking and very professional  edition, Aurora’s model was a 900 series Class “A” enclosed cab with opening doors. Aurora’s kit was also a 1/32 scale release, and was warmly welcomed into the model making industry. Surprisingly, both kits do show up as vintage collectibles at fire flea markets, and hitting the eBay website occasionally.

In 1991 the movie BACKDRAFT was released, and the CF 600 model was released as the famous Engine 17. The box top showed the model in the livery of the Chicago Fire Department, with its traditional black over red color scheme, and bold white letters and striping on the body of the apparatus.

An interesting fact is that Chicago only had one CF on the roster. Somehow this Mack was never a unit sought after by the CFD’s brass for their large fleet, and Chicago did have a lot of Mack on the roster through the years. Only Engine 35 was a CF Mack. It was quite similar to Monogram’s model with twin booster reels, but had a Stang Deck Gun mounted in the crow’s nest between the booster reels.

After the BACKDRAFT release ran its course the model quietly slept until a dual kit release happened that paired it with a police car model. The police car was also a Snap-Tite assembly. This release was based upon a “patriotic” theme in the aftermath of 9-11. How well it did in sales is anyone’s guess. I only found out about it while seeing this dual kit package at a fire flea market.

Thus, we are presently seeing a new 2007 release of the CF 600 on the dealers’ shelves. You can find this model being marketed under the Revell name, entitled “Mack Fire Pumper”. The boxtop sports the engine in a black over red color scheme with stick-on graphics showing it as “Engine 7” of the “County Fire Department”. A shield crest with the word “Firefighter” and “America’s Bravest” is on the front cab doors.

The body of the model is molded in red. There are also black and clear parts with the usual assortment of chrome plated parts in the package. On the side of the box, there is a suggestion guide for obtaining other paints to properly detail your model. The current trend in model making is having factory finished paint jobs already on your model. One only needs to view the assortment of available models out there to see a wide variety of examples. 

If you are going to make your model exactly as the boxtop shows, then it will be easy to letter the miniature apparatus. Inside the kit you will find that all of the graphics are made of the “stick-on” type application. No water based decals are present. 

Although this is a repeat of a historical kit, it should be welcome to the 1/32 scale enthusiasts. There is another wave of suitable parts for kit bashing and general model making ventures. 

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