Guys,

I'm looking for a suitably sized bell to place on the front bumpers of some of my 1:64 kitbashes, in the fashion that some fire departments do with their best rigs.

Does anyone know of a source for miniature cast bells? The full scale diameter would be 8" to 10." I tried Walthers, but there are literally thousands of search results when you inlude all of the possible disambiguations. I don't have enough Code 3 parts to fill the demand, and I haven't had much success in casting them either. If anyone has a source, I would appreciate it.

Maybe Toytrucker Magazine knows of a supplier/advertiser?

Thanks,
Steve

Howz 'bout Costume Jewelry "Charms" @ Hobby Lobby ?
Or HO Church Bells

Rich Cuddihy has posted on his site that Gearbox is in the process of casting new light bars for their cars. With a lot of agencies switching to LED bars, Gearbox is investing in the new castings. Scheduled for release later this year are the Tomar "Blade", Code-3 "Javalin", and Federal Signal "Argent". I think that this is great news, and it is nice to see that Gearbox is paying attention to their police line and moving ahead. It also says that in an effort to keep costs down for the new light bars, they will be phasing out the "Jet-Sonic" bars. So if you use a lot of these, hang onto them before they are gone.

Location: New Gearbox News

Jam man. I have dealt with Dumas products and in fact have had them cast some parts in metal for me. They are an R/C boat company, but have an extensive cast meetal parts catalog, and perhaps have the bell that you need. There is another aftermarket boat builder that has cast metal bells too, but I cant recall. Finally, those miniature Christmas trees in the Craft stores have just what you need, but you might have to wait until Labor Day to get them. Rich

Location: Tucson, AZ

I have seen bells that could be used for fire apparatus in model train shops. There are sometimes a rack of various parts which have had bags of different scale train bells on them.

I thank you all for your responses and suggestions.

I combed the aisles of AC Moore and Michaels, looking for costume jewelry bells. No luck.

There are tons of model railroad bells out there in cyberspace, but I can't ascertain their size.

Finally, my old friend Mike Adams has come forward, and is able to spare some of his extras. Thanks again, Mike.

The mention of Gearbox lightbars is occasion for a rant about them. The most recent GB lightbars are OK, but the original two - the Jetsonic and the Vector (or Vision, whichever it's supposed to be) were poor. They stuck with the Jetsonic long after hardly any agencies still used it. It wasn't bad except they hung an Arrowstik on it. I've only seen one other department that did that (Texas Dept of Public Safety Highway Patrol). I'm sure there were others but that configuration was rare, certainly not the norm - but all GB's Jetsonics had it. Then, why did they make the hole in the middle of the Vector bar frame!?? I appreciate that GB is trying to keep up, sort of like Road Chumps attempted with varying degrees of success. Maybe they're starting to feel the heat from the approaching First Response releases.

Location: Woodbridge, VA

Check out your local railroad hobby shop and look for the brass bells they use on HO scale steam locomotives. They'd be just what you want.

Thanks Charlie, will do. I have a nice little hobby shop nearby that specializes in trains (which is why I seldom go there). I'll have to have a look-round.