1/24 Italeri Mercedes Benz Actros MP4 GigaSpace

[cifenet]

I just finished building a modern German truck kit from Italeri and it was both delightful and humbling experience.   

My motivation to start something new and finish it in days came during the Christmas week, but that eventually turned into 3+ weeks. 

I built mostly box stock and I didn't try to correct/improve anything that may require efforts.  I did use its Hobby Design Detail set to enhance the overall look though.
 

What I liked:

- builds into a quite accurate and detailed modern truck

- joyful building experience except one part- dealing with Italeri's multiple panel cab assembly

- being a 1/24th scale, the final result is outright massive and gorgeous (to me)

 

What I didn't like:

- a very challenging kit as it requires careful pre-planning of how to paint and assemble.  Most of the times, you end up attaching painted parts to painted body panels.

- many sink marks to clean up

- the cab does not tilt, I ended up modifying the hinge mechanism to tilt

 

Overall, this kit left me with some frustration wanting to do better job next time.  It really stimulates your building skill in many aspects, I really want to try this kit again.  If I wasn't so concerned about the truck having a tilting cab, it could have been certainly an easier and quicker build. 

 

The kit has great chassis and engine details straight out of the box.  I really enjoy putting these together.

 

The exterior is also very accurately reproduced in the kit.  The body proportion and the overall stance look correct without corrections.

 

This was the biggest problem of the kit for me.  In order to display the engine details, you must build it in this open cab position (fixed position). 

Some modification was required to make the tilting cab operable and it called for some unconventional building techniques.  I am sure there are better ways to do it, but I didn't. 

 

 

My base color was a mixture of CLK Silver and Super Duralumin as shown above. 

This created some interesting paint job.  It is bright silver by day, but turns into dark metallic grey at night.  And mostly it is due to my camera unable to capture the metallic finish at night when the light reflected off the truck is quite strong. 

 

First, here is a quick size comparison with U.S. COE truck. 

I know the left is 1/25th scale and the right is 1/24th, but you can easily see Actros isn't anything less of truck here.

 

The upper grille opens up.

 

This is how much I can tilt forward without scrapping off the paint in the front bumper piece.

 

I really appreciate the front design with its massive grille and aerodynamic fairings.

 

After I built the truck, I realized there are many aftermarket products available to further enhance the truck's capability.

 

When I get to build another one, I will definitely consider adding those roof lights and ground effects with chicken lights.   And give darker/greenish hue to the windshield!

This one in the photo has a side exhaust which I like.  They are all very doable modifications, I think.

 

The Hobby Design Detail kit includes metal transfers for emblems.  I think they clearly boost the fine details of the truck.

 

I only added a bunch of cables/hoses.  And the kit has all the components fully represented!

 

I am missing air supply hoses and electrical cords to the trailer here.  I wanted to add, but I am keeping my main objective- "a quick build".

 

Overall, I had fun building it and hope to build another Italeri kit next time.

Lastly, here is my WIP for the truck:

 

 

 

Edited January 19 by cifenet

[Rattlecan Dan]

What a gorgeous beast! You did a fantastic job on it. Thanks for posting.

[Jim B]

Great looking Mercedes.  Fantastic job.

Remember, you're also comparing a truck from 1976 to a truck from 2020-ish.  Lots of changes in those intervening decades.

[cifenet]

52 minutes ago, Rattlecan Dan said:

What a gorgeous beast! You did a fantastic job on it. Thanks for posting.

Thanks your supportive feedback on this, Dan!   

 

47 minutes ago, Jim B said:

Great looking Mercedes.  Fantastic job.

Remember, you're also comparing a truck from 1976 to a truck from 2020-ish.  Lots of changes in those intervening decades.

Thank you, Jim!

That is an excellent point, a good catch!   And I think even after that, the math still works out in terms of how mighty Actros is in terms of the size.    

[grodudulle77]

Very nice work !! 👍😀

[Rockford]

Great looking finished product, any of us would be proud to build to such a standard. 

The real truck photo you've posted is actually a UK vehicle, so the exhaust might be rerouted because we drive on the left, on the standard German build the exhaust would point at our pedestrians. We're awkward people over here!. 🤪

[Gary Chastain]

Outstanding build and well detailed 

[Force]

It came out nice Steve.

[iamsuperdan]

That turned out beautiful!

Excellent work!
 

 

 

 

[SpikeSchumacher]

That is an outstanding build Steve!

[cifenet]

 

22 hours ago, grodudulle77 said:

Very nice work !! 👍😀

Hey Philippe, appreciate your encouragement!

 

18 hours ago, Rockford said:

Great looking finished product, any of us would be proud to build to such a standard. 

The real truck photo you've posted is actually a UK vehicle, so the exhaust might be rerouted because we drive on the left, on the standard German build the exhaust would point at our pedestrians. We're awkward people over here!. 🤪

Haha, I did notice that the mirror look at the front area is on the opposite side, so I knew something was opposite.

Thanks again for riding this build with your support!

 

16 hours ago, Gary Chastain said:

Outstanding build and well detailed 

Thank you, Gary!!!

 

8 hours ago, Force said:

It came out nice Steve.

Hi Håkan, thanks for sharing interesting facts about Italeri kits in the WIP thread. 

I do plan to try out one of the Scania trucks (143 Topline looks super cool), I hope to get valuable feedback from you.  

And I am thinking they may not be totally accurate, but I would still like to give it a try. 

7 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

That turned out beautiful!

Excellent work!
 

 

 

 

Thanks Dan!  We will have to explore more methods about tackling the multi piece cab assembly.  There has to be an easy way out!

 

7 hours ago, SpikeSchumacher said:

That is an outstanding build Steve!

Hi Mathias, thanks again for checking this out! 

It was somewhat frustrating build experience (because I didn't know better), but I am glad it is finally completed. 

I definitely didn't want this kit to be one of those builds that started out well, but then left untouched for years because something went wrong. 

 

[Force]

2 hours ago, cifenet said:

Hi Håkan, thanks for sharing interesting facts about Italeri kits in the WIP thread. 

I do plan to try out one of the Scania trucks (143 Topline looks super cool), I hope to get valuable feedback from you.  

And I am thinking they may not be totally accurate, but I would still like to give it a try. 

 

You bet, I will be of assistance.
If you get a Scania 3 axle kit with spring suspension where the rearmost one is a tag axle wich you can lift hydraulically I can tell you right now that the Italeri instructions for that suspension is wrong.
Scania with spring suspension with a drive axle and a tag axle uses a balance beam suspension with a fixed pivot point between the 2 axles (and Volvo too with a slightly different construction) this suspension is like a teeter-totter, push one side down the other goes up.

This is how Italeri wants us to do it wich is wrong, the arrow points at the axle lift beam and the hooks are under the spring hangers/tag axle carriers like it's drawn in the instructions.
This will in fact do nothing other than restrict the suspension travel so it can't move freely like it can with the tag axle down and the lift beam in the correct position, and if the hydraulic cylinder piston aft of the tag axle goes out the lift beam will do absolutely nothing as it's going down because the pivot point of the tag axle lift is at the same place as the tag axle carriers...so it's drawn backwards.
 

The correct way is like this with the hooks above the spring hangers/tag axle carriers, the axle lift beam is up against the frame when it's not in use so the suspension can travel freely, and when you lift the tag axle the beam pushes against the spring hangers/tag axle carriers and pushes the drive axle down and the tag axle goes up...like a teeter-totter.

Edited January 20 by Force

[PappyD340]

WOW, that's a magnificent build!!

[Chuck Mols]

Great job. Excellent fit and finish on this truck. Those Italeri trucks are fun and challenging. 

[cifenet]

On 1/20/2024 at 12:56 AM, Force said:

You bet, I will be of assistance.
If you get a Scania 3 axle kit with spring suspension where the rearmost one is a tag axle wich you can lift hydraulically I can tell you right now that the Italeri instructions for that

..

cut

..

 

Haha, I see what you mean here on incorrect build instructions.  

But slow down for me, Håkan.   

Let me find me a good looking Scania subject from either 80s and 90s.  I think their boxy style is at its best from that era!

 

On 1/20/2024 at 7:37 PM, PappyD340 said:

WOW, that's a magnificent build!!

Thank you for your positive comment, Larry!

 

On 1/20/2024 at 9:23 PM, Chuck Mols said:

Great job. Excellent fit and finish on this truck. Those Italeri trucks are fun and challenging. 

Thank you, Chuck!  I totally agree, these truck kits force you to do well, I think things can turn out mediocre quite fast if you are not careful.   

[ChrisR]

AWESOME!

[Force]

12 hours ago, cifenet said:

Haha, I see what you mean here on incorrect build instructions.  

But slow down for me, Håkan.   

Let me find me a good looking Scania subject from either 80s and 90s.  I think their boxy style is at its best from that era!

The first Italeri kit I built was the Scania T142H followed by the Volvo F1225 back when they were new in 1981-82, I built a few more among them a couple of R142H, the Volvo F1225 Globetrotter, a Mercedes 2448 and a T142H Tow Truck, all in the late 80's early 90's.
I bought several newer kits in the 90's, the Volvo F16/F16 Globetrotter and Scania T143,  R143 Topline and the R143 Streamline, but I was so disappointed with the inaccuracies so I sold them all, in total I had over 20 Italeri kits and I now have only 5 or 6.

Edited January 22 by Force

[Dutzie]

Very beautiful build! The colors look great together. 

[PierreR89]

On 1/20/2024 at 7:56 AM, Force said:

You bet, I will be of assistance.
If you get a Scania 3 axle kit with spring suspension where the rearmost one is a tag axle wich you can lift hydraulically I can tell you right now that the Italeri instructions for that suspension is wrong.
Scania with spring suspension with a drive axle and a tag axle uses a balance beam suspension with a fixed pivot point between the 2 axles (and Volvo too with a slightly different construction) this suspension is like a teeter-totter, push one side down the other goes up.

This is how Italeri wants us to do it wich is wrong, the arrow points at the axle lift beam and the hooks are under the spring hangers/tag axle carriers like it's drawn in the instructions.
This will in fact do nothing other than restrict the suspension travel so it can't move freely like it can with the tag axle down and the lift beam in the correct position, and if the hydraulic cylinder piston aft of the tag axle goes out the lift beam will do absolutely nothing as it's going down because the pivot point of the tag axle lift is at the same place as the tag axle carriers...so it's drawn backwards.
 

The correct way is like this with the hooks above the spring hangers/tag axle carriers, the axle lift beam is up against the frame when it's not in use so the suspension can travel freely, and when you lift the tag axle the beam pushes against the spring hangers/tag axle carriers and pushes the drive axle down and the tag axle goes up...like a teeter-totter.

First time that i know of that some pic's of one of my models is used to help someone. I feel kind of honoured for that. These 2 pic's are from my T142 i built some years ago.

[TonyK]

This is a great looking model! I was most impressed looking at the chassis pictures and all your detail. I don't build trucks but would think something like this would take me a year to build. Amazed that you completed such a nice model in the time you did it in.

[Force]

On 1/25/2024 at 7:03 PM, PierreR89 said:

First time that i know of that some pic's of one of my models is used to help someone. I feel kind of honoured for that. These 2 pic's are from my T142 i built some years ago.

It was the only one I found to illustrate the issue clearly, I didn't know it was yours.

[stavanzer]

Awesome Build, and great detail on the chassis! I really like the detail on this build.

Clever how you solved the interference problems on the tilt cab.

I must say, that to my eyes, the real truck has a grotesque, almost Japanese Samurai look to the whole front of the cab. Striking, but not very good looking. But, that is Mercedes' fault, not yours.

Good Show!