The Manurba
wagon, as stated this morning is a reasonable rendition of the Magirus-Deutz 'Jupiter' 6x6 truck which
was the staple truck when I was visiting Germany in the late 70's, by the time
I was back there as a serviceman myself in the mid-80's they had mostly been
replaced by newer cab-over-engin (COE) designs from MAN in 4x4, 6x6 and 8x8. It also has the lines of the M35 Duce-and-a-half from the US arsenal.
Here we see an earlier toy one in a deep
olive-green with grey wheels, and a later issue in a drabber green, with black
wheels and wearing a German cross on the bonnet. It is this version which seems
to have been sold in the UK as/under the Tallon
branding.
Looking at the contemporary rivals
alphabetically; we start with Airfix,
nominally 'HO/OO' both scale to an approximate 1:76th-1:72nd and are
useful additions to an 'old school war-games army, the Airfix being a WWII era type - I'm never sure how you tell a GMC CCKW from a Chevy' from an
International or a Studebaker/REO? Except the true REO's seem to have a very different mudguard!
The Airfix
model seeming to have GMC/Chevrolet open-cab and mudguards, but the Studebaker's
slightly more pointed bonnet/hood and shallower bed, but a lot of it's down to
camera-angle and point of view I think - they were all to a common DoD design
and meant to be as compatible as possible in workshops?
Both the Jean (here) and Noreda
are slightly larger models (I've tagged them 1:64th as well as the other sizes,
in all three posts - the US 'HO' slot-racing 'size'), and both are pretty
fictional, the Jean having a vague look of the Mercedes 911.
The Noreda
effort - like Jean's - fictional, is a 4x4 and has
been described as a Berliet truck, but I can't find a match, so it's French Generic Mk1! Again heading
toward 1:64th (or 1:70th at a push?) it has the added benefit of a towed trailer
- as we saw this morning.
All four stripped-down to open flat-bed for
all weather cargo, or miserable, wet troops! Lengthwise they are all much of a muchness, but the two-axle
Noreda is clearly a scale or two
above, while the Jean is noticeably
taller or 'chunkier'.
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