1976 Miller-Meteor Cadillac Criterion Ambulance

After many years of dreaming about it, I decided to make a model of one of my all-time favorite ambulances. The Miller-Meteor Criterion.   I started off with a 1:77 scale (by my calculations it's more like 1:85 scale...) Tomica Superior Cadillac ambulance.  It's a pretty neat little diecast, so I was a little sad to cut it up, but hey, you gotta break a few eggs!

I decided not to get too crazy with it, so I didn't worry about how the original model was a true commercial chassis length.  And I decided to keep the original Superior rear door, because I thought it would look better than anything I tried to scribe in at that tiny scale.

 First thing I did was file down all the "Superior" details.  Then taped off where I would use body filler to cover the windows and add some extra height to the roof.  I did this so that I wouldn't fill over details I wanted to keep, like the door handles or window trim.

After I had the body filler sanded to the shape I wanted, I marked where I would add small pieces of round styrene rod for the lights and scoop stretcher box.

After this was finished, I built the car up on a temporary clay platform for when I poured Part 1 or my two part mold.

With my two-part mold finished I was ready to cast the new resin body.

After priming and painting the car white, I taped off the areas that would be painted orange.

With the orange stripe painted on, I was ready to stick on the water-slide decals that I printed and paint the tunnel lights and rear bumper silver.

With the lights painted and the decals added, I was ready to spray on some clear coat and reassemble the body and chassis.