Besides model building, my hobbies also include photography, filming and drawing, as well as writing books.
These three books were written between 1999 and 2016 and reflect my interest in tow trucks, including heavy wreckers and crane trucks. Another book is in the works.
As far as model building is concerned, my absolute favourites, next to tow trucks, are American fire engines. First and foremost, of course, are the vehicles from American LaFrance, a company with a long tradition. Sadly, the former market leader has no longer existed since 2007.
Education and professional activities
My favourite subjects at school were art education, artistic design, drawing and handicrafts. German and Raumlehre (spatial geometry), as the subject was called back then, were also among them. In my free time, after school and in the holidays, I was never bored. Having grown up in a small village, I helped out the farmers in the area, went around with horse and cart, rode my bike a lot and built a raft for the local stream. Model building came later, when I could earn some pocket money on the side.
In 1968 I began an apprenticeship as a window dresser (decorator) at a department store in Marl, and learned everything that would prove useful later in life: precise work, handling colours and shapes, building exhibits for particular themes such as Christmas and Easter, and much more. Wallpapering, hanging fabrics and laying carpets were part of it too. My master even taught me welding and bricklaying, not to mention working with electricity. I know how to lay cables, make connections, fit sockets, connect lamps and so on. And whenever I was in the shop window decorating, heavy trucks would drive past, three-axle Mercedes with trailers, loaded with material from the pit. They drove to various places in the Ruhr area and tipped their loads onto the so-called spoil tips and heaps, of which there are quite a few in the Pott.
You can read more about my time in the Bundeswehr and as a truck driver below.
