Introduction

The following is the introduction supplied on the front of the instruction booklet;
The Daimler-Benz company designed Chassis L1500S with a 1.5 ton capacity in 1941. Most of these chassis received bodies for transporting a fire team of eight men (LLG). Truck trailer TSA were equipped with fire fighting pump, equipment also included ladders and fire hoses. Up to the end of 1944there were approximately 2850 LLG chassis of all types produced. Vehicles built onto the Daimler-Benz chassis were extremely durable and reliable. L1500S LLG fire trucks were used by German fire police (Feuerschutpolizei) up to the end of the war.

Contents

This product is packaged in a cardboard tray with a card lid. Inside there is a re-sealable plastic bag which contains the sprues. Inside the box you will find;

• 6 tan sprues
• 1 clear sprue
• 9 vinyl rubber tyres
• 1 decal sheet
• 2 loose plastic parts
• An instruction booklet

Review

Instructions
The instructions are printed on a light weight semi-gloss paper. The instructions start with a short introduction in Russian and English; this is followed by a painting guide, but only supplies colours by name and by Model Master. There is then a list of cautions to exercise during construction; this is followed by a sprue layout guide. The construction of the model is then shown in 35 stages using black and white line drawings. The instructions finish with two finishing paint schemes for the model.

Sprues
The sprues are nicely laid out with some thought appearing to have gone into part placement. The layout provides good access for removal of parts from the sprue, and the gates joining the parts to the sprue area are a reasonable size and not excessive in number. There are a lot of flow marks in the parts, but these do not appear to have created any issues in this example. There are a number of ejector pin marks on a number of areas, some of these are quite large; however ICM looks to have done a good job of having these in hidden locations on the model I believe, with the ones needing attention being on the underside of floor pan or the interior.

Decals
The two finishing options supplied with the model are;
L1500S LLG, Germany, 1941
L1500S LLG, Germany, 1942

Engine
The 6 cylinder, 2.6 litre, 60hp, Daimler-Benz engine is a fairly basic lump, however ICM has as usual put quite a lot of work into making it a fair representation; just requiring some wiring to be scratched. There are some nice details represented on the engine such as good bolt detail and radiator fan. There are some colour callouts during the build but I would stick with what you know when it comes to painting engines.

Wheels
The tyres are supplied in vinyl rubber which I know is not popular with many of you, but the road tyre tread pattern looks quite good and extends around the edge of the tyre wall; I do not know if this is accurate as I know very little about WW2 German tyre patterns. Clean up should be minimal judging by my example as the mould seams are minimal. The wheels themselves have nice bolt and hub detail and should be easy to put together.

Chassis
The chassis is made up of a fair number of parts and care will have to be taken to ensure the chassis is square during construction. If you make an error here then getting this model together will be very difficult as the floor pan will be a pig to get fitted later on. ICM has you fit a number of parts to both side rails of the chassis which I believe will make life difficult at this early stage in which it is suggested. Items like the running boards which are each attached with four small pieces of plastic would I suggest be begging to get broken off. One beauty of a multi-part chassis is how realistic you can make it and ICM has made the most of this with some very nice undercuts and detail overall. ICM does not at this time appear to be using slide mould technology which creates some extra work for the modeller such as drilling out a small amount of the exhaust and the like, this not really a hard ship as it is not overly difficult but does improve your skills base.

Interior
The cab interior of the fire engine is quite well replicated; the seats have been well thought out with the only thing I would have liked to see being some added wear and tear rather than the new look. The dash board is nicely replicated and it is finished off with some dial decals. All of the parts you would expect to see in the cab such as the three foot pedals, hand brake and gear stick being supplied as separate parts. Interior door detail fillets are supplied with the model with some very nice detail parts to add to them, however they do look a little on the thick side. I do feel that ICM has missed a big selling point here by not supplying any of the equipment for the bins on the vehicle; for me that aspect is the biggest let down of this product as it takes away so many display opportunities that could have existed with the fire crew that ICM released last year.

Exterior
The external detail on the model is very good with it would seem ICM getting into the habit of providing the option of the bonnet/hood either open or closed; a fire tender with its bonnet open is not the first thing that springs to my mind when it comes to display, but it is an option. The inability to show any doors or bins open really cuts down on the display possibilities for this kit, with ICM having taken this route they have I believe really effected the appeal of this model; this is a shame as the guts and outside of the model are very good by and large. Still finishing this area with a high the bonnet, wheel arches, and grill look very good, having good detail and nice lines.

Water Bowser
This is a nice little model in its own right. There is good detail on all external surfaces, and it even has its own trailer chassis. The trailer like the tender has no internal detail and I again feel ICM have missed a big selling point.

Conclusion

This model is very good for a static model in terms of general look, but ICM really hurt the appeal of this model by not at least providing bins that could be shown open with the various bits and pieces inside. The fire crew figure set that ICM released last year would have looked great with this fire tender, in I suspect 1001 different dioramas if only the bins could have been opened. I personally am disappointed in this offering due to the display options I had in my mind, which cannot be achieved without attacking the model with a razor saw and trying to source reference and equipment for the bins.

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