FIRST DUE FIREHOUSE REPLICAS

Website by Andrew Benzie Creative Design.

About the Owner/Designer/Builder/Author

Andrew Benzie began collecting model emergency vehicles in the 1970s when his grandparents gave him his first Corgi and Dinky toy fire engines. He has an extensive collection and knowledge of Code 3 models, and has published three books on Conrad, Siku, and Tomica emergency vehicles. Andrew currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where he runs a design and book publishing company, and plays bass and drums with several local bands.

First Due Firehouse Replicas

Release #1:

FDNY Engine 58/Ladder 26

“The Fire Factory”

The first release of First Due Firehouse Replicas:

FDNY’s “The Fire Factory”

Code 3 produced three versions of FDNY’s Engine 58 (two Seagrave models and a lime yellow Mack CF) along with three versions of Ladder 26 (two Seagrave rear mount models and an American LaFrance tiller truck). These companies are part of The Fire Factory in East Harlem—the first release from First Due Firehouse Replicas. It seems Code 3 had a special appreciation for this world-famous firehouse, so it’s fitting to make this our first official release.

About the Firehouse

The Fire Factory firehouse is located at 1367 5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, and was constructed between 1959 and 1960. This historically active firehouse in Harlem saw heavy action during the famous war years of the 1970s, making it home to two of the busiest companies in the world. It was so busy a second ladder company (Ladder 26-2) was organized and also responded from this firehouse from 1968 until disbanded in 1974.

Engine Company 58 was established on June 1, 1893, and was quartered in a new firehouse at 81 West 115th Street. Ladder 26 was formed in 1902 and moved in with Engine 58 on November 4, 1948. Both Engine 58 and Ladder 26 relocated to their brand new firehouse at 1367 Fifth Avenue on March 10, 1960, and have been stablemates ever since.

The nickname of the firehouse dates back to the 1960s when the company radioed in yet another fire to dispatch and received the on air reply, “What are you guys running, a fire factory up there?”

About the Replica

First Due Firehouse Replicas goes to great lengths to capture as much accuracy and detail as possible within each model we produce. Once the research is completed and a firehouse is chosen to replicate, the process involves taking photographs, creating an architectural building plan, assembling and editing the photos to digital 1:64 scale artwork, printing the artwork on glossy poster-quality paper and mounting the prints to foam-core board. Next the walls are cut out using a professional-quality mat cutter (to achieve 45° angle cuts for joins), and each model is then assembled by hand. Additional exterior details are added including air conditioning units, railings, exhaust vents, etc. Finally, remaining small details are hand-painted, the custom-built apparatus bay doors are installed and the raising of the flag completes each firehouse replica.

Fore more information about this product, please see our Frequently Asked Questions page. If have any further questions, please Contact Us.

Code 3 produced three versions of FDNY’s Engine 58 along with three versions of Ladder 26 (not included with firehouse purchase). Battalion 12 was also an early Code 3 release—although this unit is not quartered at this firehouse, both Engine 58 and Ladder 26 are part of the 12th Battalion.

Engine 58:

•Mack CF (lime green, #12355-0058, 2001)

About the Apparatus

How to Order

You may Place an Order for any of our products online. Once we receive your order we will contact you via email with more information about availability, payment, shipping costs, etc.

Location:

1367 5th Avenue

East Harlem, New York, NY

Years in Service:

1960-present

Companies Quartered:

• Engine 58 (organized 1893, quartered March 1960–present)

•Ladder 26 (organized 1904, quartered March 1960–present)
•Ladder 26-2 (organized 1968, quartered 1968–1974)

Books:

The Fire Factory (Harry J. Ahearn, ISBN: 9781557700216, 1988)

Videos:

Firescene VM (documentary, 1991)

Sesame Street (Elmo Visits the Firehouse, 2002)

Captain Charlie Roberto (historical/house tour, 2017)

Release Date:

• January 2022

Dimensions:

• Base width: 10 inches

• Base depth: 16 inches

• Building width: 10 inches

• Building depth: 14 inches

• Building height: 9 inches

• Height to tip of flagpole: 13 inches

Features Included:

•Black base with 2 inch apron in front
•Removable roof
•Working apparatus bay doors (slide them into any position with the touch of a finger)
•Flag/Flagpole
•2 Bollards
•Printed firehouse fact sheet booklet

Pricing:

Our introductory price for this firehouse replica is $359 plus shipping (Note: the models of the apparatus are not included). The price covers the cost of the photo-quality prints (starting at about $50), the building materials (various paper, foam, plastic, wood and metal products), and around eight hours of time to construct (not including the many hours of preparatory research and design time spent to create each prototype model). Note: We create each or our replicas by hand—this is NOT a 3D printed or laser cut model.

Ladder 26:

• Seagrave Rear Mount Ladder (series 1, #12720-0026, 1999)

Engine 58: