...is there any way I could do this? Is there any sort of kit I could base this off of? Also, right now, I only have a few sheets of styrene to my name, so I would obviously have to get some more...but do you have any tips? (Oh, by the way, that's a German WWII Firetruck...I can't tell you much more, I'm afraid....) Thanks for your time.

Hey Barv!

We have another one!

Grab him quick, before he gets away! :-) :-) :-)

MEMB,
First off, I'm no expert at scratching. But I'd advise you to start small and work your way up. I don't know what you primary modelling interest or experience is. Maybe think about adding some storage baskets or other such thing to a model to 'get your eye in' before anything too ambitious, start looking at various small items you see laying around here and there and think 'could this be used for ...?' (something like a pen top could save you a lot of work for that can thing on top of the fire truck fof example) You'd also need various sizes of rod and strip; copper and brass wire; Very good and LOTS of reference pics and diagrams and some good tools.
Hope this hasn't put you off at all, as I said I'm no expert, but I do dabble in the 'dark side' more as my experience mounts.
Tom

Hey Matt --where ya been hiding ---now you got a bit of time to research this beast ??
Well as was said last November ...its a lot of fun -----but you need to start by seeing if anyone here can recognise what it is --then get some more pics of it sides- rear -top ( ) mmm!!---then we can get you rolling ----good one if you sign -up for the campaign --ACUTR......then you have a year to get it on here all finished :-)
I am allways around if you need help --and if I cant answer --then ......."I know a man that can" --find some one who does..........


CRASH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, on a lark...I decided to type in "German WWII Firetruck" into Google, and this is what I found! It's the only picture of it that I know of...but I'm searching for more pics of it right now...and thanks for the responses!



P.S. Does anyone have any idea what chassis this is? Thanks!

I think that deep down in your psyche (or whatever) something made you type this in Google so you would post here and be drawn deeeeep into the "dark side"!


Oooooh... Spooky!

Ok if I was about to start scratchbuilding that vehicle I would first of all try to find out what type of truck it is. Further it is quite important to know about dimensions. How long is the chassis, what is the height of the vehicle. etc. etc. everything that might be usefull to scratchbuilt this vehicle need to be aquired.

When you have determined what truck it is try to find out if that type is available in kitform. I don't know if there is a kit of the fireengine but you probably can find the truck that this fireengine is based on in kit form. This will save you a lot of scratchbuilding because you probably can use a lot of that kit to built your firetruck on.

I have to say that the truck in question looks a bit like a Horch chassis looking at the nose and the cab. But I'm not precise.

Next thing you are going to do is try to replicate every part of the vehicle one by one by breaking up the shapes in separate objects and built these objects up with evergreen or other plastic stock.

Make basic shapes and start detailing these parts. Try to scavenge a lot of parts from the scrapbox.. Things as lights, Notek lights, and that sort of stuff. When you have these things it saves you a lot of work. I do actually the same with my vacu Form models.

I hope you can get a bit of information or inspiration from this post

with friendly greetz

Robert Blokker

Hi Matt,

Steve - Barv - Is having major problems getting on the site and he is DESPERATE to get on and reply. Half his reply was cut of earlier. He promises he will be in touch as soon as he can get back on.

He is great with plastic but a bit of of a "death wish" when it comes to computers, printers and anything not plastic. :-) :-) :-)

Okay Steve, msg sent...

I suppose that's me off the Christmas card list once again...

Cab on this firetruck, the angles and some shapes reminds me a Mercedes Benz truck, the L3000 type italeri produces, but the chassis is too low on this one to be it. But maybe it has something common with Mercedes, though it doesen't seem to have all the bits original either.

Hope this helps some
Greg

Ola Matt

I'm pretty positive that the vehicle in Question is a Mercedes benz L3000s
Check out this picture


Try to get in contact with these people they seem to have one of these vehicles restored
http://www.feuerwehr-taufkirchen.de/index_oldtimer_start.htm
It is a German firefighters group but They probably know english

Still not really am sure if there are kits out there of this specific Mercedes Variant

With friendly greetz

Robert Blokker

Hey Casper! You beat me to it, guess I type too slow in english
And here's a walkaround of one similar Mercedes on Tanxheaven:
http://www.tanxheaven.com/ljs/MercedesBenzMB-L1500S-Firetruck/mercedesMB-L1500Sljs.htm

Cheers
Greg

Ola Casper and Pedro

I really don't want to spoil your party but the 1500s is a completely different vehicle.

Compare the Tanxheaven walkaround of the 1500s with the picture matt posted in the first post of this thread

Check out the doors at the side just behind the crewcompartment. It only shows 2 doors while the top picture in this thread clearly shows 4 doors. Also the 1500s is much smaller then this vehicle

Grill not the same and the ribs at the side of the nose are completely different too

Top picture also shows that the bumper sits in front of the grill and is overlapping it a bit at the bottom.. Again this feature is not to be found at the 1500s

I'm pretty sure it is a Mercedes benz L3000s There is however also a short wheelbase version with the 2 doors but that still is a L3000s


With friendly greetz

Robert Blokker

Hey Robert, you ain't spoilin' anything I wholeheartedly agree that it's the L3000.
This thread makes me wanna do something with my old -built-long ago L3000 from italeri. I was just wondering how much the chassis' of the truck and fire truck differs as the former seems to sit considerably higher than the latter?

EDIT: Oh, I think I got it, the fire truck is just built on the L3000S variant chassis, while the Italeri truck is plain L3000.

"Crash over"
Hi Matt
Dont know why I bother answering this ---seems ...that ---"I know a man who does"--didn't need asking
I will now leave you in the capable hands of Casper -Robert and Greg...and crawl back under my tank chassis ---redundant !!!!!
Feel free to contact if requiring help ---but I dont think you will need it -(they are three of the best...AND.....it has wheely things )
-- these youngsters are getting to quick for me ....... .......wheres me pipe - and slippers
aye
BARV
(GOSMG)

Some photos that maybe useful:
L3000F preserved in Poland pic1
L3000F pic 2
Rear of it
Few smaller pics also on this German site:http://www.feuerwehr-wetter.org/index.php?module=geschichte&id=1#top

I belive the fire fighting version id called L3000F, 'F' like in german 'Fuerwehr' I think?

Cheers
Greg

Oh Matt... And you thought this might be difficult!

If you don't get a move on these worthy Gentlemen are liable to turn up mob handed, tie you to the workbench and build it with you! :-) :-) :-) :-)

Well, I've found two models of it on eBay, one by Tamiya, the other by Italeri.
Here's the Tamiya One
and
here's the Italeri one.
Which one would you buy? I'm kinda leaning towards the Italeri one, mainly because of price. What do you think? Thanks for your time and consideration!

Well I did some comparison of the pictures of the Firetruck and yes I think the best starting point would be the Mercedes Benz L3000

I see you figured out that already..

I also see you are leaning to the Italeri Mercedes because of it's price... and I have to congratulate you with that choice. Not only because of the price but also because there is absolutely no difference in the kits... they are exactly the same... Tamiya did buy the molds from italeri, Re released them in the Tamiya box... added a pretty set of fueldrums and jerrycans and tripled the price tag. Yes the Italeri offering does not bring you the fueldrum set but who cares anyway if you are going to scratch a firetruck

WOT??? No fuel drums? What if you want to start a fire so you can put it out and get the girlies swooning at your heroic deeds???

Shocking!

Ok I see that there are questions about the Chassis height but I think the firetruck is built on a standard Mercedes benz L3000 chassis with the "S" being the designation of firetruck... This means that the firetruckconversion is the "S" to L3000S.

I want to show you something.
3ton Opel Blitz

Opel Blitz Omnibus


Ok what do we see here..... The omnibus seems to sit lower to the road then the Opel Blitz truck does.. however they are exactly the same chassis although the Omnibus conversion is a meter longer at the back to get more people in and to put the Sparewheel under it at the back. Opel Blitz 3ton truck has the truckbed a bit higher on the chassis because it has some sort of studs under it while the Omnibus passenger area is placed directly on the chassis itself. this was done so that passengers could step in more easily. The steps, fuel tank and luggage areas of the bus made that the rest of the body was built in such a way that it was almost lying on the ground.

I think with the Firetruck we have the same thing happening. Just a standard Mercedes benz L3000 truck made to a L3000S by making it a fireengine body on it..

Oh well then you buy the much cheaper Italeri jerrycan set they are much nicer then the Tamiya crap.... And nothing is better then to start a fire good looking

Ok Mathew- -thats enough --now that we have got you all excited about building this "Firrie" . ....and the guys (as I knew they would ) have got you on the slippery slope to the ""Dark side"" ......next step is to sign-up to the campaign :-)
Failure to do so is liable to cause ----- "scalpel blades to break at wrong time and glue not to stick "--we have ways to make you regret starting this thread ----visitations by "Darth Vader" ..for starters--styrene sheets to wrinkle and plans to shrink
The choice is yours (maybe ) -------
http://www.modelgeek.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Campaigns&file=index&req=showcontent&id=158
-------you have been warned !!!!
Plus you get more help and a ribbon at the end - -(plus the fun )--mmmmm!!!--mmmmm!!!
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
aye
BARV
(GOSMG)

ps..good luck on E-bay!