Plastheniker

Thanks for the response! IMO least perfect kits are always most appealing – no challenge no fun. In this sense one of my next topics, Minicraft's terrible Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud reworked, was v e r y appealing.

Excellent work, looks very realistic!

Beautiful work, spectacular paintwork!

Excellent work, perfect colour choice!

Hi, Since my model is no truck this sub-forum “All the Rest“ seems to be right. Berlin has a very long history of double-decker buses reaching back to the era of horse-drawn buses. Their first new double-decker design after WW2 was Büssing's model D3U. The D3U adopted a slightly modified chassis of Büssing's heavy underfloor engine truck 12000 U13, that I showed in the Big Rigs sub-forum as a scratch built model a few years ago http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=82042. This topic also includes pictures of the intricate (model) chassis. Thus the D3U was a technically overly sophisticated and very expensive vehicle. Consequently only 39 D3Us were built and replaced in large numbers by the very similar-looking Büssing D2U, a 4x2 also with underfloor engine but now with a modern self-supporting body. This D2U had almost the same passenger capacity but was much cheaper. The D3U was in service until 1965. One vehicle has survived and can be seen at the „Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin“. My model turned out to be more difficult and more laborious than my usual scratch built trucks. I estimate that my sacrifice of time was between 1500 and 2000 hours.

Fantastic result, hard to believe that a Revell kit was the basis!

Great model, flawless work!

Excellent work! I love the furst picture.

Fantastic work, truly museum quality!

Thanks for the latest replies! If anyone is interested in making wire wheels like the wires on this Alfa: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=77554 Helmut, I remember that you have a soft spot for vintage Alfas. During the next weeks I am going to show 1/24 Giulia TZ Giulietta SS 6C 2500 Villa d'Este I hope you will like them too.

Beautiful, great colour choice!

Nice work!

Very nice work! I built this kit maybe 40 years ago. I still remember issues with the lower edges of the doors. Your result is better than mine.

Excellent work, very realistic!

Beatifully done!

Looks better than the real car!

Perfect! Your pictures look like taken from a sales brochure.

Thanks for the response! Matt, you are right, it is my own mix. Who ever tried to achieve a very dark red knows that this can be frustrating, The simple secret is not to use a very bright red (f.e. Revell's #32131 = RAL 3000) because the result after mixing it with black will always be rather brown than red. A more purple red (f. e. Humbrol's #19) mixed with black gives the right shade.

Hi, most of Heller's 1/24 car kits were released during the seventies. Nevertheless they can make really beautiful models but not in the fast and easy way of modern kits. Besides the general issue of Heller kits that assembly instructions often give only a vague idea of the correct parts location, this particular kit requires some attention especially here: Heller's rims are often the poorest parts of their kits, but here the kit rims are completely unusable. Even if you tend to accept plastic spoke wheels the wires of this kit look really terrible. Making new wires is indispensable. The 1:1 vehicle has a lot of delicate chrome mouldings. A nice BMF work makes or breaks the model. If you haven't yet aquired BMF routine you will not be satisfied. The kit dashboard is a completely plane piece of plasic without any detail. Moreover the dial decals of the kit are too crude to be realistic. The moulded bonnet catches and handles don't look convincing. I removed them and made new parts from stainless steel wire and hypodermic needles. The original vehicle has adjustable friction shock absorbers. The kit has simple one-piece parts without any details. Since the open front fenders reveal them very clearly they should be detailed or replaced. The headlamp supports and the connecting bracket between the front fenders are poorly moulded and should be replaced. With these reservations Heller's kit can make a convincing replica that can sustain comparison with modern models. It requires, however, more time, resilience and skills than modern kits. And don't forget: the characteristic paintwork on pre-war Alfas was a very dark burgundy even if nowadays restorers seem to prefer black or bright red.

Even if the kit wasn't perfect - your work is!

Fantastic finish! Could it be that Revell reworked the old Doyusha kit?

Perfect colour choice and fantastic paintwork!

Perfect work as always!

Thanks for the replies! Since response for my scratch builds declined here steeply during the past years I will consequently confine myself to the German Modell-Laster-Forum and the British 1:24th Scale Model Truck Forum - a good occasion to recommend these outstanding forums once again. Nevertheless I would show any further AITM cabs still here, and anyhow I will continue to post in the car section occasionally.

Hi, originally Henschel was one of the oldest and largest German locomotive manufacturers. Due to the economic crisis after the end of WW1 the demand for locomotives dropped to zero, so Henschel had to look for further business activities. As a result Henschel started producing trucks in 1925 - late by comparison, but very soon Henschel trucks gained a very high reputation. During WW2 Henschel became one of the leading German arms factories. F. e. Henschel designed and solely manufactured both Tiger tanks I and II and a rather effective video guided RC smart bomb; a few advanced jet plane prototypes did not go into production before the end of the war. Thus a permanent target for allied bombing all Henschel factories were completely destroyed. Nevertheless Henschel managed to resume the production of heavy-duty trucks in 1949. While gradually other German truck manufacturers dropped behind in terms of quality Henschel matched up to Mercedes. Finally, however, Henschel was too small to survive as a truck manufacturer. A merger with Hanomag in 1969 did not help, Mercedes bought Hanomag-Henschel and soon after the name Henschel disappeared from the truck market. One of the most successful Henschel truck series were lightweight short hood 6x4 and 6x6 trucks, particularly adapted e. g. for dumpers and concrete mixers. This series made Henschel dominate the German market for concrete mixer trucks. The final concrete mixer chassis of this series was the 1962 HS 22 HBM. Most German mixer chassis were equipped with Stetter mixers. Driving a mixer drum requires appr. 60 HP, so if truck engines, as mostly in those days, had not enough power separate engines for the mixer were necessary. My scratch build replicates such a combination as shown f. e. on this historic picture: As with my other scratch built trucks already shown here my sacrifice of time was appr. 1000 hours. Sadly most chassis details are no longer visible after the final assembly.