After the Peterbilt Wrecker of Stepp’s Towing Service, this model was an absolute must. Revell had long had the kit of a Kenworth W900 as a tractor unit in its range. The good thing was that the chassis did not have to be changed in length or wheelbase, which saved additional costs. Fifth wheel and sleeper cab off, new crane body on.
As with the Peterbilt Wrecker, I had a lot of fun developing this model. I went to the USA again, which of course delighted me as an America fan. At the time I travelled with Bertus Backer, who had drawn the assembly instructions for Revell for years, from New York to Haverstraw, two hours away. We spent a good week with Fred Viohl, photographed his W900 from all sides, recorded every detail and even measured the entire truck. Here is a short explanation of the pictures above.
- top left Fred Viohl and me
- then four pictures of the wrecker, fitted with a Miller Industries Century 1040 body
- in the sixth picture I am standing on the body with my camera
- at home at the drawing board I then drew a four-view drawing in 1:25 scale
- and then built a model of it for the toy fair in Nuremberg
- when the first test shots came out of the injection moulding machine, I assembled a first model to check the fit. I also assigned the numbers of the new parts
- my last job on this model was drawing the assembly instructions
