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1982 Unimog U 1200 Snow Plow & Salt Spreader


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I am not sure if Unimogs are known in North America. Some information may be useful.

 

The first Unimog (Universal-Motor-Gerät) was designed shortly after WW 2 originally as a light agricultal vehicle. Because of its unique off-road abilties, is manoeuvrebility und numberless attachments its successors were widely used f. e. by the building industry, energy suppliers and emergency services. Armies worldwide use Unimogs as light trucks, there are even armoured reconnaissance vehicles on Unimog chassis.

Unimogs are really ubiquious as the backbone of road maintainance in Germany. Even the smallest village has its own Unimog with various attachments. In summer they are used f. e. as street sweepers, for mowing grass and cleaning road signs, in winter they are used as snow blowers and (as shown on the model) as snow plows with salt spreaders.

 

I had this Revell Germany kit for many years (I think it is out of production now) and built it some years ago. Its quality was rather high and building it was a pleasure. If you are interested in this unusual vehicle I would recommend the kit if it is still obtainable.        

 



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I am currently building this kit and have a WIP in the "On the Workbench" section. If you have any advice or information about the kit or the 1:1 vehicle, it would be most appreciated. I hope mine comes out as nice as yours. I was thinking about painting mine "Industrial Yellow", now I'm afraid I'll be called a copycat!:)

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Beautiful looking build. I don't think they would look that good after a few years of service. I noticed the "salt" spreader and how close to the roadway it rides. I think that's a very good idea, around here the KDOT (Kansas Department of Transportation) likes to have them closer to windshield height so that they can spray your hood and windshield and any other car on either side of the truck.  

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I am currently building this kit and have a WIP in the "On the Workbench" section. If you have any advice or information about the kit or the 1:1 vehicle, it would be most appreciated. I hope mine comes out as nice as yours. I was thinking about painting mine "Industrial Yellow", now I'm afraid I'll be called a copycat!:)

Hugh, enjoy this really nice kit!

 

One problem should be fixed while still building:

The snow plow brings a lot of wheight onto the front wheels. Unfortunately the tire walls are rather thin, so the high wheight will flatten the front tires sooner or later. I recommend either to lower the plow completely in order to take away the excessive wheight. Or block the front wheels and glue blocks of styrene under the rims in order to prevent the tires from being pressed down.

 

Actually the colour choice is limited. If you want to build a German road maintainance vehicle of a public owner the authentic colour scheme is always a yellowish orange body with a black chassis. My instruction sheet says that this is also true for Swiss and Dutch vehicles, only Austrian vehicles have light blue bodies.    

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Hugh, enjoy this really nice kit!

 

One problem should be fixed while still building:

The snow plow brings a lot of wheight onto the front wheels. Unfortunately the tire walls are rather thin, so the high wheight will flatten the front tires sooner or later. I recommend either to lower the plow completely in order to take away the excessive wheight. Or block the front wheels and glue blocks of styrene under the rims in order to prevent the tires from being pressed down.

 

 

Thanks, Thomas! I wondered about those tires, they are very thin. I am thinking about putting some foam pipe insulation inside them before I put the wheels in.

I am enjoying this kit, it is challenging but fun. I also enjoy seeing your wonderful model, great job!

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Nice job and cleanly built! I had this kit but traded it off as I didn't think I would build it.

I drove one of these when I worked at the Mercedes Benz dealer from 1981-83. As you mentioned, there are a bunch of different attachments and we had several of these and they were an awesome vehicle to operate!  Ours included a forklift, snow plow, loader bucket, backhoe, a grader blade and dump truck.

If I could, I would own of these as they are so versatile.

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Thank you all for your replies, much appreciated!

 

Those modelers interested in Unimogs may know that there was a nice resin model by Lassen Projekt of the first (1950s) Unimog generation.

The current fourth Unimog generation (completely different cab) is replicated by a rather nice Schuco diecast. It should be possible to combine a Revell Unimog (third generation) and this Schuco diecast to build a really nice and detailed model of the current generation.  

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