Mercedes L 4500

[Pig of the Week]

I did have German antecedents on my mothers side, but they came from Wurttemburg so would've spoken a rather different Swabian version, I believe it's a bit of a funny accent to other Germans 😁

[Lummox]

It's been a while since the last update, sadly life has got in the way so progress has been less than I had hoped. But there has been some progress, but firstly the usual belated responses...

 

On 4/16/2024 at 4:36 PM, NIK122 said:

Well I've run out of superlatives so what can I say!? Not bad, not bad at all!😎

Thank you Nik. I'll take 'not bad' any day of the week.

 

On 4/16/2024 at 4:55 PM, Pig of the Week said:

Stroke of luck having the proper hooter grille thing 😁

Looking the dogs doodahs anyway.... 

Cheers Mr P. It was certainly fortunate to have a suitable hooter lying around. All I need now is for those lottery numbers to pop in.

 

On 4/16/2024 at 5:54 PM, Keeff said:

Outstanding work, improvisation and scratch building Paul!  It's all looking superb .... 👌 

Thanks Keith, much appreciated. 👍

 

On 4/17/2024 at 7:20 AM, Hamden said:

In total agreement with my learned colleagues above - stunning work and attention to detail as always!

Cheers Roger, very kind of you to say. 👍

 

On 4/17/2024 at 7:31 PM, Jochen Barett said:

Anyway,  late again: German Hupen (Hupe one single klaxon, Hupen more than one) come from Bosch (not from Klaxon) and in case you search for or talk about "Hupen" be advised it is a German slang word like "bristols" (referencing precisely those, but not in the sense of helicopters or cars).

Thanks Jochen. You never fail to be a hive of fascinating information - it's amazing the things you learn on a modelling forum.

 

 

Right, now for the update...

The weather has finally improved slightly to allow me to venture into the shed paint booth without risking frostbite. Some paint has therefore been sloshed around, starting with a 'scale-black' grayish colour on the chassis. What do you mean you can't tell the difference from the primed pictures posted previously! It is gray, honest.

 

I thought I'd try this paint set for the dunkelgelb. Worth a go, let's see how things pan out..

 

Several hours of tedious fiddly masking resulted in this abomination...

 

...a few minutes of spraying gave this...

 

...which resulted in this once all the masking was ripped off. Hmmm, does that dunkelgelb look a bit light to you? I didn't use the highlight shades either:

 

There's the odd over-spray here and there, so touch-ups will be necessary, but generally I'm quite happy with how the masking went. The dunkelgelb definitively looks a bit light to me though. Hopefully the subsequent weathering will tone things down a tad:

 

 

Preparation for painting the wheels was a much simpler process, the kit tyres being an ideal mask for painting the resin replacements:

 

A quick spray and we end up with these:

 

The modelling gods were certainly smiling as the dreaded paint lift was limited to two areas, both of which will happily be hidden (the spare wheel on the side which will be facing the floor of the bed, and the front axle which will be hidden by the wheel):

 

So that's the base coats down - things seem to be processing, albeit slowly.

Unfortunately work commitments mean I'll for away from the bench for a few weeks. Such is life, but hey, it pays the bills.

 

Cheers, and thanks for looking,

 

Paul.

[Keeff]

Well, all that masking effort was worth it Paul ..... the chassis looks really good, and nice to see some colour on it! 😆

 

Keith 😁 

[NIK122]

Great stuff, it's already looking excellent.

What colour did you use for the tyre base coat?

[Pig of the Week]

Brilliant!... interesting to see some paint on it, I'd become accustomed to all the plastic and lovely PE 😁

As regards a bit of overspray, I bet there was loads on the real thing and doubt they were anything like as careful as you are! 

 

Ps the colour doesn't look too light at all, not to me at least... 

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2024 by Pig of the Week

[Stef N.]

Coming along a treat. DG looks good to me too.

[Lummox]

3 hours ago, Keeff said:

Well, all that masking effort was worth it Paul ..... the chassis looks really good, and nice to see some colour on it! 😆

Cheers Keith. I agree, a bit of colour makes things start to come alive.

 

2 hours ago, NIK122 said:

Great stuff, it's already looking excellent.

What colour did you use for the tyre base coat?

Thanks Nik. The tyre colour was a home brew of these two from Vallejo. I tend to do mixing by eye (which causes no end of problems if touch ups are required) but I think this was a simple 50:50 mix:

 

2 hours ago, Pig of the Week said:

Brilliant!... interesting to see some paint on it, I'd become accustomed to all the plastic and lovely PE 😁

As regards a bit of overspray, I bet there was loads on the real thing and doubt they were anything like as careful as you are! 

 

Ps the colour doesn't look too light at all, not to me at least... 

Cheers Mr P, and encouraging to hear that the colour looks OK. 👍

 

2 hours ago, Stef N. said:

Coming along a treat. DG looks good to me too.

Thanks Stef. If the DG looks good to you I'll take that as a win (which is a relief as I didn't fancy all that masking again for a colour change ).

 

Paul.

[Jochen Barett]

6 hours ago, Lummox said:

It's been a while since the last update, +++

 

Unfortunately work commitments mean I'll for away from the bench for a few weeks. Such is life, but hey, it pays the bills.

 

Cheers, and thanks for looking,

 

Paul.

 

Don't rush it! Remember you promised to keep entertaining us with this build well into 2026.  👍 

[Jochen Barett]

On 19/12/2021 at 20:04, Jochen Barett said:

Wonder if we have somebody aboard who is fluent in cyrillic to translate the text for us (if it touches that intereseting payload). Anybody?

 

https://p.calameoassets.com/120814121529-7f5fb91dd904f348d01b4cd3b18dc6d4/p48.jpg

 

 

Regarding the Spriegel-holders, the etch parts do look nicer, or at least "more in scale" (open, rebend/reshape, shorten if neccessary, resolder).

 

The "piggy back trucking" thing ... OK, the police man looks like a German police man (and "Gerüstbau" is German for "scaffolding"), but who knows more about the truck driver? The load is not tied down properly 😉

I came across a person speaking cyrillic, and supposedly the truck in the upper picture "belongs to an unknown unit transporting concrete mixers somewhere along to the Westwall. The road trains with more than one trailer were dangerous on the autbahn. 7,2 litre engine, 100 hp, easily recognised Triplex wheels.".

 

I'll google 1930-40ies European concrete mixers to verify this claim "later".

[Jochen Barett]

On 15/12/2021 at 20:42, Lummox said:

+++ The trafficators in this example look to be quite pronounced, although this is a L 6500 (I think) so may well not be representative. As an aside it's an interesting load being carried here, don't really know what those things are - searchlights maybe? :

+++

Paul.

 

Excuse the detour! This Russian caption "concrete mixers" could maybe not be complete disinformation.

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-291-1213-23,_Frankreich,_Bau_des_Atlantikwalls.jpg

 

 

https://www.alamy.de/stockfoto-bau-einer-deutschen-kusten-befestigung-am-atlantikwall-1942-94209490.html

 

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-das-motiv-aus-der-nationalsozialistischen-propaganda-zeigt-bauarbeiten-94662499.html

 

https://digit.wdr.de/entries/122701

 

https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/4BWEITAK2PIIAYAFJXMRIXXL2NONZNXN

 

https://bochumer-bunker.de/html/mischer_.html

 

https://www.alamy.de/warszawa-1946-10-26-odbudowa-wiaduktu-oliborskiego-czcego-rdmiecie-z-oliborzem-nz-robotnicy-teuer-betoniarkach-als-papstanisaw-dbrowiecki-warschau-26-oktober-1946-das-rubuilding-der-zoliborz-uberfuhrung-die-den-zentralen-stadtteil-srodmiescie-mit-zoliborz-verbindet-im-bild-arbeiter-an-betonmischern-als-papstanislaw-dabrowiecki-image452997144.html

 

But all these "old" concrete mixers lack the rubber tires visible in the first picture.

Ah well, never mind, we take the torpedo.

[APA]

Gob smacking stuff Paul..........

 

Andrew

[Lummox]

Overdue an update as usual, but a brief respite from work allowed a smidgin of bench time, so there's been a little progress. First the usual late responses...

 

On 5/3/2024 at 11:09 PM, Jochen Barett said:

Don't rush it! Remember you promised to keep entertaining us with this build well into 2026.  👍 

Ha Jochen. Just checked the Gantt chart and it looks like the project may be slipping into 2027

 

On 5/4/2024 at 11:52 AM, Jochen Barett said:

I came across a person speaking cyrillic, and supposedly the truck in the upper picture "belongs to an unknown unit transporting concrete mixers somewhere along to the Westwall. The road trains with more than one trailer were dangerous on the autbahn. 7,2 litre engine, 100 hp, easily recognised Triplex wheels.".

Blimey, that's a blast from the past! So they are concrete mixers - nice. Many thanks for gathering the translation Jochen. 👍

 

On 5/6/2024 at 10:28 AM, Jochen Barett said:

Excuse the detour! This Russian caption "concrete mixers" could maybe not be complete disinformation.

No problem at all with the detour. The mixers would certainly be a interestingly different load, so much so I was mulling over how easy it may be to scratch build the things. All things considered though I think I'll stick with the Maiale or that Gantt chart will be slipping another year or two.

 

On 5/6/2024 at 6:55 PM, APA said:

Gob smacking stuff Paul..........

Cheers Andrew - you know all about gob smacking stuff my friend!

 

 

Right now for the update.

As a postscript to Jochen's translation for the interestingly loaded truck a quick word about licence plates. The mixer truck is WH-142893:

 

You may recall that this plate is one of the options offered up be Zvezda, supposedly used by the 62nd infantry division around Kharkov in 1942:

 

Hmmm, not sure what Zvezda were smoking when they came up with this. 🤪

Firstly, Jochen's translation mentions the Westwall (or Siegfried Line) which is 2000+ km from Kharkov, Secondly, and more tellingly, the mixer truck may well be a Mercedes-Benz, but it's a L3750 rather than a L4500. Although similar, the two truck are quite different (L3750 on the left which matches the mixer truck, L4500 on the right which is our truck):

 

So it looks like I'll be ignoring what Zvezda says and coming up with an alternative licence plate option. That's all for another day though...

 

Right, now on with the actual progress report (you'd never guess that I'm spinning this out would you? )

Worried that ham-fisted airbrush work could easily clog the fine Voyager etch replacement radiator grill, I did several light passes of heavily thinned paint at low pressure. Fortunately it all went well, so much so that the grill is quite transparent translucent 'see through':

 

This raised the question 'perhaps we should try to replicate the radiator behind the grill rather than a 'black hole'?' So, is anything visible on the real thing? Well, yes, there does seem to be the ghost of something there:

 

But what is the 'something'? Looking 'under the hood' things become clear - the 'something' look to be radiator hanger thingies:

 

OK, let's see what we can do. First we create the 'hangers' by the usual trick of shaping laminates of styrene to produce four similar 'hanger' shapes. These were then mounted into the radiator hosing hole along with some spare etch hex grill. Some paint give a stylised impression of a radiator:

 

So the $64k question: 'do we see anything with the grill in place?' Well, it's subtle, but if the light is in the right place you do kind of see something.

 

If the light's different though you see nada. Hey ho, such is the life of a modeller. At least we know it's there, right?

 

And that's where we're up to. Cheers, and thanks for looking,

 

Paul.

[NIK122]

Beautiful!😎

[Jochen Barett]

On 23/05/2024 at 15:52, Lummox said:

Overdue an update as usual, but a brief respite from work allowed a smidgin of bench time, so there's been a little progress. First the usual late responses...

 

Ha Jochen. Just checked the Gantt chart and it looks like the project may be slipping into 2027

 

+++ Some paint give a stylised impression of a radiator:

 

So the $64k question: 'do we see anything with the grill in place?' Well, it's subtle, but if the light is in the right place you do kind of see something.

 

If the light's different though you see nada. Hey ho, such is the life of a modeller. At least we know it's there, right?

+++

Paul.

That is "amazing" under normal standards and "still pretty good" for your first attempt. I'm hanging on the edge of my seat to see your second, third and the final version of that radiator!

[Pig of the Week]

Probably need a few cans of Barrs Leak with those big 'oles in the rad tho... 😁

[Keeff]

5 hours ago, Pig of the Week said:

Probably need a few cans of Barrs Leak with those big 'oles in the rad tho... 😁

Or a few eggs! 

 

Great work as always Paul ... lovely detailing work! 👌

 

Keith 😁 

[Lummox]

It's shamefully been a month since the last update. Sadly it's a case of 'all work and no play', and Jack is definitely becoming a dull boy. Progress has been minimal, but first the usual (very) belated responses...

 

On 5/23/2024 at 4:16 PM, NIK122 said:

Beautiful!😎

Cheers Nik 👍

 

On 5/25/2024 at 10:55 AM, Jochen Barett said:

That is "amazing" under normal standards and "still pretty good" for your first attempt. I'm hanging on the edge of my seat to see your second, third and the final version of that radiator!

Thanks Jochen, but I'm afraid you'll have to make do with the first attempt as I'm all radiatored out!

 

On 5/25/2024 at 12:52 PM, Pig of the Week said:

Probably need a few cans of Barrs Leak with those big 'oles in the rad tho... 😁

Cheers Mr P <quickly opens search engine to find out what on earth 'Barrs Leak' is>

 

On 5/25/2024 at 6:01 PM, Keeff said:

Or a few eggs! 

Thanks Keith. I always thought cracking eggs in a radiator was an old wives' tale, but it's obviously not. 👍

 

OK, so what have I been up to?

Well not a great deal, so much so that this update is going to solely be about license plate numbers. Yes, really, just license plates. Riveting hey? 🤪

I've been mulling over what number plates to use on the truck, discounting what comes with the kit because, a) I don't trust them (one option being for a different kind of truck as mentioned previously), and b) they don't fit the replacement etch plates anyway. No problem, I thought, just find a suitable example from a period photo and run with that.

Well, it's surprisingly tricky to find an example of a bog standard truck that has the plates clearly in view. You find many examples of trucks that are a bit out of the ordinary, but not so many pictures of 'standard' workhorses. It's understandable I guess that the Leica would only come out for a vehicle that was unusual or 'sexy'.

So you see lots of flak trucks like this (not sure what the guy with the megaphone is up to):

 

Lots of fire trucks:

 

Lots of box truck type conversions:

 

And lots of rail truck thingies (don't know what the guy on the right is holding but don't think I'd like to meet him in a dark alley)

 

Good pictures of your 'common and garden' truck are harder to find, but I did come across this Kriegsmarine example which I thought could fit the bill. The plan is to have the truck carrying a Maiale SLC manned torpedo, so a Kriegsmarine example kinda makes sense. I'm thinking La Spezia in northern Italy, which was a base for both the Decima Flottiglia MAS (who operated the Maiale), and the 29th U-boat Flotilla. It's fanciful, but not beyond reason. OK I'm not sure it looks like Italy in the picture, and the truck is probably DunckleGrau, but let's run with it anyway: 

 

So we have a license number of WM-34341, let's make it happen.

I was thinking how best to mask the front bumper for the license plate background when I noticed a item on the etch update fret. It certainly looks like a license plate doesn't it? Oddly there's no mention of it in the Voyager instructions, but it does appear on the finial overview diagram. A bit of a bonus really, certainly easier than masking:

 

What about the numbers? Knocking the plates up in some graphics software and printing them out would be the way to go, but I'm a Luddite, so we need an alternative. Anyone who's built a Dragon kit may well have come across these decal sheets before. OK, there's no 'WM' on there but we should be able to knock something up using the 'WH'. Let's give it a go, after all, how hard can it be?

 

Well the answer is 'very hard'. 🤪 Getting the spacing and orientation right was an incredible faff and massively frustrating. The 'WM' turned out OK, but the numbers are a bit squiffy and lopsided. Painting the black plate outline was also a challenge, proving that my hand is nothing like as steady as it once was:

 

Things improve when you pan out a bit. With a bit of weathering, and if you squint, we might actually get away with it

 

And that's where we're up to. Cheers, and thanks for looking,

 

Paul.

[Hamden]

Another great update, nice to see this progressing well.

Looking forward to the next update when you have the time

 

          Roger

[Bullbasket]

The plates look fine to me Paul. It's coming on a treat. Nice work.

 

John.

[Keeff]

Number plates look fine .... don't forget, you're close in for the pictures .... 

 

Keith 😁 

[Jochen Barett]

On 26/06/2024 at 13:49, Lummox said:

+++

And lots of rail truck thingies (don't know what the guy on the right is holding but don't think I'd like to meet him in a dark alley)

+++

The white writing on the windscreen to be read from the inside(!):

"Höchstgeschwindigkeit 40 km" [probably, there are some jpg-artefacts]

("Maximum speed 40 km/h")

 

Would make a nice detail for your build, so maybe a good excuse to prolong/derail the project via a rail conversion, just look at that nice horn on the roof!

Edited June 27, 2024 by Jochen Barett

[Pig of the Week]

As the others have said, the no. plates look fine, especially once there's a bit of road dust / grime attached.. 

I'd been wondering about the little pig mini sub thing too 😁

[Lummox]

On 6/26/2024 at 1:18 PM, Hamden said:

Another great update, nice to see this progressing well.

Looking forward to the next update when you have the time

Cheers Roger, much appreciated. 👍

 

On 6/26/2024 at 2:03 PM, Bullbasket said:

The plates look fine to me Paul. It's coming on a treat. Nice work.

Thanks John. I wasn't sure about the plates so it's encouraging to have a vote of confidence.

 

On 6/26/2024 at 5:41 PM, Keeff said:

Number plates look fine .... don't forget, you're close in for the pictures .... 

Cheers Keith. The camera can certainly be a cruel mistress - things always look better from a distance

 

On 6/26/2024 at 6:31 PM, Pig of the Week said:

As the others have said, the no. plates look fine, especially once there's a bit of road dust / grime attached.. 

I'd been wondering about the little pig mini sub thing too 😁

Thanks Mr P. I'm warming to the plates, no doubt a spot of grime will work wonders. I dragged the Pig out of storage the other day, trying to remember where I was up to on the thing. I had to give myself a bit of a talking to: 'concentrate on the truck, concentrate on the truck...'  

 

On 6/26/2024 at 6:03 PM, Jochen Barett said:

The white writing on the windscreen to be read from the inside(!):

"Höchstgeschwindigkeit 40 km" [probably, there are some jpg-artefacts]

("Maximum speed 40 km/h")

 

Would make a nice detail for your build, so maybe a good excuse to prolong/derail the project via a rail conversion, just look at that nice horn on the roof!

Cheers Jochen.

The rail trucks are interesting beasts. I kinda assumed that they'd just trundle along the track as autonomous single trucks, but looking at this picture it appears as if there's two of then acting as engines for a full train (although I may be misinterpreting things):

 

PlusModel actually do a conversion set, which you'll be delighted to see includes the groovy roof horn:

 

A converted truck would certainly make an interesting diorama. Tempting as it is, I'll not be going that route. But if I did, I'd ramp up the weirdness and do this with an additional protuberance that makes it look like an anteater: 🤪

 

Cheers, thanks for looking, and thanks for the much appreciated encouragement,

 

Paul.

[NIK122]

Never put off what you can do tomorrow, tomorrow!🤔🤪

You know it would be a crime to not finish this build. No pressure! No, none at all!💪

 

[Jochen Barett]

2 hours ago, Lummox said:

+++ Cheers Jochen.

The rail trucks are interesting beasts. I kinda assumed that they'd just trundle along the track as autonomous single trucks, but looking at this picture it appears as if there's two of then acting as engines for a full train (although I may be misinterpreting things):

+++

A converted truck would certainly make an interesting diorama. Tempting as it is, I'll not be going that route. But if I did, I'd ramp up the weirdness and do this with an additional protuberance that makes it look like an anteater: 🤪

 

Cheers, thanks for looking, and thanks for the much appreciated encouragement,

 

Paul.

Just look at all those couplings!

 

 

The anteater seems to have some kind of Mittelpufferkupplung / Rangierkupplung / Straßenbahnkupplung + a trailer hitch on the front end as well. Today the Straßenbahn at Gaggenau is using the Scharfenbergkupplung.

The other two show a regular rail coupling (hook) and all seem to have some kind of trailer hitch, shown way better than the trailer hitches on the rear end in other pictures.

 

The "if I had a hammer" pic shows a larger more complex "trailer hitch", just like a Rockinger (in one pic with a WH license plate, so probably taken before 1946). So maybe this pic even does some good for the ongoing build without any rail conversion derailing.

 

Just one more attempt to derail this: At Gaggenau (home of the anteater) is the oldest continuously used car factory of the world. Unfortunately I have not found the church on google earth yet.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz-Werk_Gaggenau

 

or straight from the horse's mouth:

"The Mercedes-Benz Gaggenau plant was founded as "Firma Bergmann’s Industriewerke in Gaggenau" in 1894, making it the oldest automotive plant in the world."

https://www.daimlertruck.com/en/sustainability/environmental-statements/gaggenau