Scratch Built 1958 Mercedes-Benz LP 333 Twin Steer Truck aka "Tausendfüssler" - Plus Tutorial: Making Louvers (complete)

[le_marbrier]

great model !! 

[ChrisR]

AWESOME!!

[peekay]

Another absolutely stunning replica! One hopes that these might one day be in a museum for a wider audience.

[Harry P.]

Another absolutely stunning replica! One hopes that these might one day be in a museum for a wider audience.

Wider audience?

We're on the internet, baby! It doesn't get any wider than this! 

[DRIPTROIT 71]

Top Notch in every aspect!! True craftsmanship!!!

[Plastheniker]

Thanks again!

 

It may be interesting that Mercedes modified the twin steer layout for the tractor LPS 333 by setting back the second steering axle.

 

 

While the normal LP 333 was dropped when the a. m. restrictions for weights and dimensions were canceled after a few years, the twin steer layout was continued for tractors for almost 40 years. It was so popular because it reduced tire wear, gave more directional stability and made tire punctures less dangerous.  

Edited December 1, 2016 by Plastheniker
New picture link

[peekay]

Wider audience?

We're on the internet, baby! It doesn't get any wider than this! 

I suppose you're right but I was thinking of an audience outside the model-building world.

[Ace-Garageguy]

The "awesome" tag is applied to almost everything these days, no matter how trivial and insignificant.

In reality, very few things really qualify as "awesome".

This does.

Beautiful beautiful work.

[slusher]

Amazing model and work..

[CUSTOMBOY]

GEOGEOUS !!!!!! what a fantastic job for this result here !!!!!

 

[yura1961]

Amazing build!

Edited November 16, 2015 by yura1961

[Atmobil]

I can only stand in line with the others and say that this is amazing. 1500 hours of work on a single model, that really is comitment to the hobby. I agree with you that it should be in a museum, I would pay to come and see that for real

[maxwell48098]

A spectacular work of art.  Bravo!

 

A.J.

[Silver Foxx]

Really nice build , you do top class work .

[Plastheniker]

Thanks for the recent feedback!

 

I am really pleased with the response for a subject that presumably most of you hadn't even heard of.

 

If I can take pictures of the interesting chassis from underneath during my next photo session without risking to damage the model I will post one or two pictures.

[Old Albion]

Superb build!  Looks like a museum piece!

 

 

[Old Buckaroo]

 

 

I am really pleased with the response for a subject that presumably most of you hadn't even heard of.

 

 

Your right, I have never heard of this truck before nor can I pronounce what model it is.  But I sure appreciate fine modeling skills no matter what the subject is.  Besides it is a Truck , what is there not to like !

[Plastheniker]

Thanks for the latest comments!

 

 

Your right, I have never heard of this truck before nor can I pronounce what model it is.  But I sure appreciate fine modeling skills no matter what the subject is.  Besides it is a Truck , what is there not to like !

Sean, total agreement, the quality of a model should be  t h e  criterion for the response. In reality, I am afraid, things are pretty different.

After joining/observing car and truck forums in America, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Austria these seem to be the more important factors for the response:

1. Models of domestic 1:1 makes are preferred conspicuously. In some forums foreign makes usually get hardly half the response of domestic subjects, and Japanese cars are almost ignored.

2. The less popular and familiar the original vehicle, the less the response for the model.

3. The smaller (than 1/25) the scale, the less the response.

4. The older the 1:1 vehicle, the less the response in many cases.

IMO skill level and execution are of subsequent rank.

More or less this true for nearly all forums I know.

[etmccaus]

Beautiful work!

Ironically, I think I witnessed one of the four remnants in person a few years back when I toured the Mercedes-Benz truck plant in Woerth. The Customer Center not only had some neat modern machinery to ogle up front, but some amazing historical machinery on display in the cafeteria.


Admittedly, I was more interested in Unimogs -- especially the early 401 also in the cafeteria -- and I might have missed getting the model number for this rig, so if it's not the same model, forgive me!

 

Edit: Actually, after going through my files, looks like we saw two examples on that trip, since a few days later, we ran into this green example at the museum in Stuttgart as you noted...

Edited December 9, 2015 by etmccaus

[Kenny900]

I can't say I've ever seen one of these before, but I like it! Extremely good work mate!

[Plastheniker]

Evan, Daniel, sorry for my late reply!

 

Both pictures are excellent. Indeed they show two LP 333.

The blue one is an early model, the green one is a late model. The most obvious difference is that early models have two small roof hatches and no ventilation hatches in the front end, and that the late models have one large roof hatch and two small ventilation hatches in the front end.

As Evan said the green vehicle is Mercedes' static museum exhibit. The blue vehicle is fully roadworthy and appears often during major vintage truck events. As far as I know it is also property of Mercedes.

 

As mentioned I took two additional pictures of the chassis from underneath. Please note the rear axle design. The halfshafts and the carrying axle are still separated. Mercedes preferred this conservative design on their heavy trucks until the seventies. Then they used planetary hub reduction axles.

 

BTW in the meantime my model became the cover picture of the German Modell-Laster-Forum. I would like to recommend it to you (I think I did it once before), particularly if you are interested in European trucks. It is a small but excellent forum only for converters and scratch builders. I don't know any truck modeling forum of a similar standard. http://www.modell-laster-forum.de/

 

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by Plastheniker
New picture links

[Ack! Ack-ack!]

Hallöchen Jürgen! I didn't expect to find a model of this iconic German truck in an American forum. I never saw your model in a German forum. It is breathtaking! In the past I saw several attempts to replicate the Tausendfüssler but none of them was up to the level of your model.

 

To my knowledge these are the two more remaining original vehicles. They were meticulously restored by their private owners. I saw both vehicles in reality.

 

[kilrathy10]

Even the underside looks great.....This is a great build.....And, I for one, appreciate the Euro builds.....Even the classics....I don't know that much about these trucks, but they sure are fun to look at.....

I like the more modern European trucks, admittedly, though....I think my favorites are the Merc and Man tractors.....I just love what they do with the limited amount of space a cabover can offer....And how they make a box on wheels so aerodynamic........It's just amazing.....

[Plastheniker]

Thomas, thanks a lot. The pictures are excellent.

The green vehicle shows the early version as my model does, but notice the unusual position of the wipers on top of the windscreens! As far as I remember this particular vehicle was for sale recently at € 300,000.

The orange one has a non-standard luxurious cab offered by the (in those days) renowned coachbuilder Wackenhut.

 

JT, I agree. There are so many differences between American and European trucks technically as well as externally. Building them both and comparing them is really interesting. 

[Ack! Ack-ack!]

Even if not a static model another real masterpiece that I saw some years ago might be interesting here, too. It is a scratch built 1/13.6 scale R/C model with trailer. It is a faithful replica of the orange Tausendfüssler as seen in my previous post.

Since it is even more impressive in motion here is a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJPdOvNfzX8