Athearn - We know what at least four of the next batch (second release) of Athearn's fantastic Ford C fire trucks will look like! Shown above from left to right are paint schemes for the fire departments of the respective cities of Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, and Chicago. Unlike the first series these all have chrome front bumpers; just one more improvement on an almost perfect product already!
Boley will be importing Peterbilt 377 (shown above) and Ford Aeromax 120 diecast truck tractors. The Pete will be offered in white, silver, and red. The Ford will be offered in blue, red, and white.
C in C Soft Metal Castings' excellent pewter kit of a 1974 Chevrolet C-60 truck cab and chassis and a variety of truck bodies for this chassis are once again available. Check the C in C web site for more details.
Cursor - In January, 2003 we were able to present the first promotional models of the Rosenbauer Panther 8x8-AT airport crash tender made by Renner (sold under the Cursor brand) in 1/87th scale in this section. The prototypes were located in Athens, Greece, and Munich, Germany. Now, there are two of these heavy fire trucks to be regularly available at hobby shops, lettered for German Cologne/Bonn (above, top) and Hanover (above, bottom) airports, respectively. To reach a broader base of potential customers, Rietze, who happen to be Renner's neighbors in Altdorf close to Nuremberg, will distribute these die-cast metal models. Unfortunately, Rietze does not have an official U.S. importer, but the models may be bought at the Rietze shop at www.rietze.de . German retailers to carry the Cursor line include GMTS (www.gmts.de) and Schlüter (www.schlueter-automodelle.de).
Dennis Aust announces two new resin cab kits for two different version of the Kenworth C500A on/off-road truck. Each Kit includes: Cab, Hood, Grill, Seats, Dash, Steering Wheel, 2 Air Filters and pipes, Bumper, Fuel tank, Battery Box/Step, 2 Air Tanks; Tool Box and External Oil Filter (not shown). Available direct now from Dennis Aust or on the internet from Truck Stop Models. Check the announcement page for more information.
KTD/HHB Modellbau of Kaarst, Germany, introduced several new truck headlight batteries with their March releases.
3570 - Bumper-mounted headlights, generic style (shown above). Contains four photo-etched items. 3580 - Roof-mounted high-beam lights, Scania style (will fit most truck types apart from Volvo). Contains four bars of four and six lights, two of each style (shown above). 3599 - Roof-mounted high-beam lights, Volvo style. Contains four bars of four lights plus various detailing parts.
Please note that the photos show painted and detailed parts. Announced for around April are various Scandinavian-style cow-bars (elk-bars?), made from photo-etched parts. The complete range of accessories is available at www.ktd-hhb.de.
On the occasion of the 2003 Dortmund Intermodellbau fair, KTD/HHB Modellbau announced the following new items:
3710 - Scania mud flaps (shown above), various applications. 3711 - Volvo mud flaps, various applications.
These mud-flaps for front-bumper mounting are common accessories on heavy European trucks. In 1/87th scale, these are photo-etched parts instead of rubber pieces.
#3430 - Chrome Plated Front Bumper For Scania 4 Series
3390 - Bull bars with headlights, highway style, for Volvo FH (1st generation). 3420 - Bull bars, highway style, for Scania 4 series. 3385 - Bull bars with headlights, for Volvo FH and FM (1st gen. each). 3425 - Bull bars, for Scania 4 series. 3430 - Chrome plated front-end bumper section for Scania 4 series with additional headlights (shown above).
All bull-bars are delivered as kits and consist of two photo-etched parts per item. The sprues also contain various additional spot-lights.
#3599 - High-beam lights for Volvo FH and FM (1st gen.) with four headlights
3599 - High-beam lights for Volvo FH and FM (1st gen.) with four headlights. The kit also includes various roof-and bumper-mounted lights (shown above). 3580 - High-beam lights for Scania 4, DAF, Iveco, Renault, Mercedes, MAN, and other trucks. The bars feature four and six lights, respectively. 3570 - Additional headlights, bumper-mounted, for Volvo, Scania, DAF, Iveco, MAN, Mercedes, and Renault trucks. Four lights per bar. For easier modeling, the new generation of high-beam lights is designed as one-part items - no gluing of micro-sized parts necessary, just positioning the lights will do. 3440 - Add-on headlights for Scania 4 series. These ultra-thin photo-etched parts can be glued on the existing headlights and will make for a prototypically correct effect once painted in body color, most similar to the so-called "DE" high-output lenses. 3450 - Add-on headlights for Mercedes-Benz Actros, often seen on low-liner tractor versions, similar to #3440
Sheepscot has recently announced several new model kits. Shown above is a generic 1930s era solid cast resin bus.
Shown above is one of several versions Sheepscot is offering solid cast resin kits of the ubiquitous Mack B series built from the mid-1950s until 1965 or thereabouts. Offered in single (above, left) and tandem (above, right) drive axle versions with options for step or saddle type fuel tanks. Check the Sheepscot web site for more information.
Wiking has announced their releases for June 2003:
060 01 28 - VW Touareg, dark pearl-blue w/brown interior (shown above). Finally available in regular distribution, the promotional versions were some of the best models to come out of Berlin in recent years. You must see this one in person to appreciate the fine details and beautiful paint job. Prototype has just gone on sale in the United States. Suggested U.S. retail price $14.00. Bill is right! Different from the promotional models, the regular version will be delivered without the roof racks, but with the full “V10 TDI” engine markings only very few models got so far. 869 01 18 - Farm Trailer for MAN 4R3 Tractor, MAN-green. Suggested U.S. retail price $7.00 This item appeared for the first time in 1957, drawn by two horses and complete with a coachman back then. Suggested retail price was 1.20 Deutsche Mark 46 years ago. 159 40 26 - MB S-Class sedan facelift, emerald-black w/ivory interior. Suggested U.S. retail price $12.00 The prototype’s most subtle modifications went right through to the scale model. While the body color is known from the recent promotional models, the interior changed from black to ivory. With respect to the VW Phaeton, Wiking resisted the temptation to market this one as the (German) Chancellor’s other car. 693 07 27 - THW - MB Sprinter facelift, white w/blue graphics. Suggested U.S. retail price $13.00 The German disaster relief organization is another federal agency to go for an ever-so-common body color for resale reasons. The model is the Sprinter’s third generation, only marginally different from the 2002 version. 599 05 42 - Mercedes-Benz Actros truck w/van body and full trailer, Nord-Süd (North-South) Shipping Company, white with blue graphics. Suggested U.S. retail price $36.00 Nord-Süd’s main customer and shareholder is the automotive supplier Hella of Lippstadt in Westphalia. The facelifted Actros LH cab differs from the previously released Schober truck-tractor in the missing aerodynamics kit.
New Colors
063 02 37 - Mercedes-Benz CLK coupe with Dethleffs 350 Travel Trailer, car in Cuban silver lacquer w/gray interior; white travel trailer with graphics you would more likely have seen on a hippie van in the 60s (not that you are likely to see a new Mercedes pulling a travel trailer of any sort). Suggested U.S. retail price $25.00 A mid-size Mercedes coupé pulling a camping trailer is not an uncommon sight in Germany (or the Netherlands, for that matter); only the owner’s assumed age makes the colorful graphics not exactly probable. 799 09 26 - VW T1 “Amazone Maschinen” This is the original VW “Bulli” commercial van decorated for an agricultural equipment company. Light gray with red graphics. Suggested U.S. retail price $12.00. This year will probably see Amazone-branded agricultural equipment to match the Volkswagen. 827 04 23 - Opel Manta A, black. Fourth release for Wiking’s model of the last new Opel model introduced to the United States. Suggested U.S. retail price $9.50 … and the first nice color. One of the previous versions, colored in yellow plastic, was a limited edition for last year’s Intermodellbau fair.
385 02 32 - Massey Ferguson MF 8280, silver (shown above). When the MF8280 was introduced, the display model was silver. Wiking’s new model is a reproduction of the promotional machine. Suggested U.S. retail price $17.00 The increase in pricing is probably due to the addition of a driver figure as even the regular red versions are painted. 130 04 23 - Audi A6 Avant, crystal-blue metallic w/gray interior. Suggested U.S. retail price $9.50
372 02 33 - Unimog U 400, grass green w/black interior (shown above). Suggested U.S. retail price $19.00 An amazing choice of color, useful probably only for a forestry agency. Wiking’s construction company still waits for the current ‘Mog. 818 03 25 - MGA Roadster w/luggage rack, dark green w/brown interior. Suggested U.S. retail price $11.50 805 05 23 - Karmann Ghia Coupé, opal green w/gray interior. Suggested U.S. retail price $9.50 864 09 25 - Ford Capri I, North Rhine-Westphalen state highway police “White Mouse,” white w/black “Polizei” printed on hood. Suggested U.S. retail price $11.50 … to match the Volkswagen T2 in North Rhine-Westphalen police trim. 811 03 24 - Ford 17 M sedan white/sky blue two-tone. Suggested U.S. retail price $10.50 A good thing that consumer tastes changed over time. This must have been one of the more common color combinations of the ‘60s.
Note: all prices are based on best available information. These models will not arrive in the U.S. until late June or early August and currency shifts could affect actual final retail prices in North America.
Together with these releases, the second part of the Peltzer anniversary trilogy will be delivered to the hobby shops. A red Ford 3500 box-truck lettered for Wiking, a DKW light-truck in white, and a DC-3 (the greatest airplane of its time to some, of all times to others) of the Douglas Aircraft Company form the 990 30 set (shown above). All of these are reproductions of famous Wiking toys of the ‘50s.
Reported by Marc Schmidt and Bill Cawthon.
