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Fire engines

GFLF Simba

Revell's 1:24 kit of the Frankfurt Airport fire giant Simba from 1988 and my build report in Modell Magazin.

Something really big was waiting in 1988 for the model builders who were into fire-fighting models at the time. Revell released a 1:24 scale model of the GFLF Simba of Frankfurt Airport.

Thanks to Revell, I was able to look at the development of the Simba at Heljan in Denmark on the computer beforehand.
Thanks to Revell, I was able to look at the development of the Simba at Heljan in Denmark on the computer beforehand.
In connection with this giant model, I got my first insight into tool making and the production of kits.
In connection with this giant model, I got my first insight into tool making and the production of kits.

Announced as a novelty in the 1988 catalog, I received the Simba as a kit from Revell in the fall of that same year. At that time I was not yet a Revell employee, but I was allowed to test kits that were about to be delivered, including this fire-fighting giant from Rosenbauer.

So I combined the pleasant with the useful, calmly assembled the model and wrote a report about it for Modell Magazin, which appeared as the cover story in February 1989 and can be read below.

For the cover page, as can be seen in the original photo, I recreated a piece of the airport apron and lettered and painted it just like in the original photograph.

Build report in the February 1989 issue of Modell Magazin