Italeri 1/24 Los Angeles Fire Department Recovery
Vehicle
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Introduction
This is an adequate model of a nonexistent vehicle. While the LAFD operates
a fleet of wreckers, both for the Department shops and as part of its
heavy rescue operations, all of them are on Peterbilt chassis, with the
Peterbilt 377 being prevalent in the fleet. The LAFD uses hydraulic single
boom rotators and some twin boom rigs. This kit features Italeri’s
long serving Western Star Constellation Tractor kit paired with their
longer serving Bro wrecker unit and body. That said, let’s look
at this kit as an eastern Canadian or New England style heavy wrecker.
Chassis
The basic frame underpinning this kit is Italeri’s generic U.S.
heavy truck frame. It features very generic cross members and it is quite
fiddly to align properly. The set back front axle positioning for this
particular version of the Western Star is achieved through the use of
frame extenders for the front of the frame. The rear suspension incorporates
features of Freightliner, Peterbilt, and other air leaf suspensions. The
rear axles depict a Rockwell SQHD tandem drive set. Rockwell S Cam air
brake chambers are provided for all axles.
The engine is a Cummins N-14 big block 14-litre diesel which is a bit
dated but well detailed. The engine can be painted Cummins Tan or metallic
black for this particular model. I painted mine metallic black to simulate
the more recent version of the engine. The molded on transmission is a
typical Fuller Roadranger unit with add-on oil cooler. I painted the transmission
semi-gloss black with a gloss black oil cooler. The induction system includes
an air-to-air intercooler molded to the front of the radiator. With the
judicious use of flat and semi-gloss black, the air trunking is quite
acceptable.
The wrecker subframe is extremely difficult to get to align properly
and took a fair bit of fiddling to get it to sit square on the truck frame.
It is molded in the same reddish orange as the cab, body, and hood/fender
unit. The frame itself is a reasonably accurate representation of a Bro
20 tonne unit from the late '80s to the mid '90s. The wrecker subframe
was painted semi-gloss black to match the truck frame. With the rolling
chassis completed, it is now time to turn to the truck cab and wrecker
body.
Cab
The cab is a typical Italeri heavy truck cab, in that the cab shell
comprises five moldings to define the shape of the cab itself. Most of
the join lines for the parts fall on the natural panel lines of the real
truck, however there is an extremely awkward seam joining the roof and
cowling that falls about 15 percent of the way back on the roof. Since
this was not an unlimited time build, I cleaned it as best I could and
left it to ghost through the paint. The interior was painted with Testor’s
Model Master Neutral gray, with the dash itself done in Tamiya German
Gray. The instrument panel is a decal with somewhat overdone wood grain.
OK, but not perfect. The seats were done with Testor’s Auto Lacquer
fabric red. Due to warpage of the Hood/Fender unit, it was glued solidly
to the cab once the cab had been fully aligned. The sleeper cab was then
attached to the back of the cab and the rear sleeper support arms were
attached. All of the chrome bits for the cab were attached at the very
end of the assembly process.
Wrecker body
The wrecker body supplied in this kit is a generic metal wrecker body
of a standard European style. Each of the side units are two parts with
a very pronounced seam line that has to be removed. They do however clean
up quite well. Once painted, the moment of truth arrives, is the wrecker
subframe square? If not, it will finally show as the two sides will not
be aligned when placed on their mounting points. Luck was with me: it
all lined up. Once the body is mounted, it is time for all the fiddly
bits of trim, lights, and other such stuff. The Wrecker boom itself, as
previously stated, is a Bro 30 tonne unit and goes together easily. The
best part of this particular kit is the inclusion of an underlift spreader
bar. This at least helps it look a little more US style when looking at
the boom. And yes, as I said earlier, you can find rigs with this style
of Bro recovery body in New England and eastern Canada.
Conclusion
So there you have it, a reasonably decent model of a wrecker with no
prototype. By mounting it on the Western Star Constellation chassis it
is definitely more probable in US/Canadian appearance than some of the
other US chassis this body has appeared on. I do like the Italeri truck
kits - they are the only company modern highway truck kits in a standard
scale. As with most Italeri kits, no matter what genre, when they get
it right, they are magnificent and when they blow it, they blow it big
time. This kit actually fits somewhere in the middle of that spectrum,
as the Western Star is a good representation of the original, as is the
Bro Wrecker body. Even the decals are reasonably accurate. Just these
three components together push it to the “Blew it” side of
the spectrum.
I painted mine using Testors Automotive Lacquer Honduras Maroon Metallic.
The interior was done in a variety of Testors Model Master grays. The
seats were shot with Testors Auto Lacquer Fabric Red.
Now let’s see, Italeri Peterbilt 377: check. Revell Germany Peterbilt
wrecker: check. Lots of sheet styrene: check. Think I’m gonna build
a real LAFD Heavy U…
Once again, thanks to Italeri
for the review sample.
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