An (almost) never-ending story

Since 2016, a lot has changed in the fleet at the fire brigade base. Due to wear and tear and the age of some vehicles, as well as the ever-changing range of tasks, some vehicles were newly acquired while others were retired and replaced by new additions. One of these new additions is the Mercedes-Benz Axor Wechselladerfahrzeug (WLF), which model maker Roland Wurm has painstakingly reproduced in the 1/87 scale. The vehicle is being procured by the Donnersbergkreis district disaster control department and will be stationed at the Winnweiler volunteer fire brigade.

The swap-body vehicle is created as a model

The WLF is used to transport interchangeable roll-off containers, thus combining various tasks on a single chassis. For this purpose, a 10,000-liter roll-off container for water (AB-W), a closed roll-off superstructure for various logistics tasks (AB-Logistik), and a dump body (AB-Mulde) are available. The basis of this conversion is a 3a chassis with roll-off kinematics and a short Mercedes-Benz Axor cab from Herpa. The chassis is freed from all add-on parts from the large-scale production, and is then completed according to photos of the original with custom-built parts and stock from the hobbyist’s box filled with leftovers. On the cab, the rear panel, also called a backpack, has been cut off, sanded flat, and re-fitted flush. Many small parts, such as the exhaust cover or the headlight protection grille, complete the conversion. The two roll-off containers “water” and “logistics” are self-made from plastic plates and profiles, the AB dump body is a converted dump body from the Herpa Collection.