Kamerad LKW-Fahrer !!
Today we will see the history of one of the heavy trucks of Germany, built in the WWII years: the Mercedes Benz L6500 4x2 heavy truck tankwagen (tanker version).
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Mercedes Benz L6500 4x2 heavy truck - early version
Notice the vertical vents of the hood, typical of early types. |
History:
The saga of the Daimler-Benz, owner of the Mercedes-Benz brand, is intertwined with the history of the automobile, from its beginnings. It all started with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Cannstatt, Germany, 1882, developing various types of engines and experimental vehicles.
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| Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900) Wilhelm Maybach (1846-1929) |
These initial works presented the first practical results in 1884, with the advent of the "Grandfather Clock".
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| Grandfather Clock engine |
This engine was characterized by generating one HP at dizzying 600 rpm, when the normal engines of that time were mere 120-180 rpm's. These engines were installed in various vehicles, such as a motorcycle Reitwagen in 1885 and culminating in the Daimler automobile in 1886, the world's first car.
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| Gottlieb Daimler and his son Adolf on the motor car (motor carriage), 1886. |
The Daimler car was a quadricycle with the basic features of a car, while the vehicle of Karl Benz, another car pioneer who would later become part of the history of this great brand, was a tricycle.
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| Karl Benz tricycle - 1886 |
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| Karl Benz - 1844- 1929 |
After 10 years of the releasing of its automobile, the first Daimler truck was manufactured in 1886, with Phoenix two cylinders engine, 1100 cc and 04 HPs of power, with a weight of 1200 kg and capacity of load of 1500 kg. Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, from Cannstatt (DMG) made the world's first truck.
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| Daimler world's first truck - 1896. |
Meanwhile in 1897, Emil Jellineck, a very prosperous insurance trader who was passionate in speed, goes to Cannstatt to order a two-cylinder Daimler. This transaction would be the beginning of a Jellineck representation across Europe of the special Daimler vehicles with four-cylinder and high-performance engines, which would be called the Daimler-Mercedes. The name Mercedes is due to its daughter, Mercedes Jellineck.
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| Emil Jellineck and his daughter, Mercedes. |
The pioneering spirit of these men made them collect other achievements, such as the construction of the first bus, the first gasoline-powered truck, and the world's first diesel truck. Daimler and Benz's work in Germany resulted in the formation in 1926 of Daimler-Benz AG.
The Mercedes Benz L6500 heavy truck:
At the end of the 30's, the fleet of commercial vehicles in Germany rose by about 150%. Daimler-Benz, with the Mercedes Benz L6500 participated in this growth. This vehicle was a 4x2 heavy-duty truck with its characteristic long hood housing a six-cylinder in-line diesel engine with 12,528cc of displacement, generating abundant (for the time ...) 150 HP of power at low turns with stunning torque. They were roadside vehicles, with very poor performance in off-road conditions.
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| Mercedes Benz L6500 4x2 heavy truck - 1940 - metal rounded cabin |
These heavy trucks served throughout the War, attached to the
Grosstransportarium - GTR (Comprehensive Transport Service) from 1939 to the end of the war, including the Reconstruction of Germany.
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| Mercedes Benz L6500 4x2 heavy truck - 1935 - squared meta cabin , with heavy trailer |
The GTR, through the
Kraftwagen Transport Regiments -
KwTrRgt (Motor Transport Regiments), suffered heavy losses of these vehicles on the Eastern Front, because of the poor condition of Russian roads.
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Mercedes Benz L6500 4x2 heavy truck in Russian front
Notice the civilians helping to push the truck jammed on a muddy road in Russia.
Look at civil tires for paved roads and the profusion of tactical markings.
Truck belongs to 1st Company - Transport Regiment 505. |
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| At the beginning of the campaign in France, the Kraftwagen Transport Regiments were reinforced by Reichsbahn vehicles with a total payload of more than 10,000 tonnes. Here is such a truck of the German Reichsbahn, a Mercedes-Benz L 6500 with a trailer payload up to 11.0 t, in a breakneck situation at Peronne. |
The heavy trucks Mercedes Benz L6500 4x2 had three types of cabins: square, rounded and military type, open.
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Mercedes Benz L6500 in combat conditions. The truck carries
a 105mm gun and towing a trailer with 155mm howitzer
Notice the license plate: Westfalen province (IX) |
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Mercedes Benz L6500 4x2 rounded cabin with three-axle trailer, a Reichsautobahn long-distance transport truck
of the German Reichsbahn, now in the service of the Wehrmacht.
In military use such heavy trucks were only a makeshift. |
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Mercedes Benz L6500 4x2 heavy truck - Military version - soft cabin
In combat conditions, stuck in the mud... |
And the Mercedes Benz L6500 trucks were also used as tanker trucks, buses, fire engine ladder and some rare models featured short-wheelbase version.
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| Mercedes Benz L6500 4x2 truck fuel tanker with heavy fuel trailer. |
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This Mercedes-Benz L6500 bus had a tractor with 150hp engine and six cylinders.
The trailer, almost 20 meters long, could carry 170 seated passengers -1936 |
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| Mercedes-Benz L6500 fire engine ladder |
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Mercedes Benz L6500 4x2 - short wheelbase - rounded cabin
Unit- unknow. |
The Mercedes Benz L6500 description:
The Mercedes Benz L6500 was a two-axle truck and has a U-shaped ladder frame with front and rear rigid axle. The axles are suspended on half springs, the front axle is single-masted, while the rear axle is equipped with twin tires. The tires have the size 12-22. Steering is done with a steer steering system from
ZF . On all wheels with
Trilexfelgen system there are hydraulically actuated inner shoe drum brakes, which have a compressed air support (brake servo). The handbrake acts on the transmission. From the engine, the power is transmitted via a multi-disc dry clutch on the transmission with four gears and additional gear. The L6500 is only available with rear-wheel drive (4x2).
The engine used is the
OM 57 . It is a six-cylinder diesel engine with water cooling and overhead valves , which has a capacity of 12,517 cc. The underlying camshaft is driven by the seven-bearing crankshaft via spur gears. The fuel is injected into the prechamber by a Bosch injection pump. Vehicles at the Wehrmacht had a throttled engine.
Specs:
| Mercedes Benz L6500 |
|---|
| Manufacturer: | Daimler Benz |
| Designation: | L6500 heavy truck 4x2 |
| Production period: | 1935-1940 |
Previous
model: | none |
| Successor: | L 6600 |
| Technical specifications |
| Length: | 9450 mm |
| Width: | 2500 mm |
| Height: | 2420 mm |
| Wheelbase: | 5100 mm |
| Turning circle: | ø 20 m |
| Payload: | 6.5-7 t |
| Perm. total weight: | 13.65 tons |
| Engine & Dynamics |
|---|
| Manufacturer: | Daimler Benz |
| Specs: | Mercedes-Benz OM 57 (diesel, 12.517 cc) |
| Cooling: | water |
| Valvescontrol: | overhead valves |
| Compression: | 17:1 |
| Power: | 150 HP @ 1.700 rpm |
| Torque: | 618 Nm @ 1700 rpm |
| Top speed: | 60-75 Km/h |
| Fuel tank: | 155 l |
| Fuel consumption: | 36 l / 100 Km |
| Tires: | 12-22 |
| Transmission: | 4 speed with add. gear |
| Clutch: | Dry multi-plate clutch |
| Power transm.: | rear wheels (4x2) |
| Injection pump: | Bosch |
My version:
As usual, I like the unusual versions for my collection. I choose built the Tankwagen version for this time. I'll just make the truck in this project ... who knows in the future I'll do the trailer ...
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| MB L6500 tankwagen with trailer |
I manipulated the photograph to show only the truck:
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| Mercedes Benz L6500 tankwagen - squared cabin. |
I'll use this kit:
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| Wespe Model (WES 35012) |
Unfortunately, I have the rounded cabin version in my stash. I did not find a specific photo of this version, but ... who knows ?? And honestly, I do not want to spend a few euros on buying the "correct" version ...
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Wespe Models kit (WES 35013)
Square cabin version |
I drew a profile as a guide to do this conversion ...
Lets have fun!!!
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| Wespe kit parts... |
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| Starting the building... The (long) nose under construction... |
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| Using plasticard for fix some lenght flaws... |
I choose built my truck with nose closed... But the kit don't come with the lateral engine panels. Time to scratch...First of all, the real details:
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| Details in the lateral panels of the hood: eight ventilation panels and 2 grabs. |
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| Starting the panels... |
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| The nose with with ventilation flaps installed and other details ... |
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| Right side... |
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| Notice the internal rearview mirror, installed in the cabin, made in scratch ... |
The Mercedes Benz L6500 tankwagen had a metal sub-chassis to support the tank on the main chassis. Time to remove the wooden sub-chassis from the cargo version. Time to use Dremel and be very careful.
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| Time of surgery. The wood sub-chassis it has to be removed ... |
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| Surgery done. Very nice!!! |
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| To relax, we will paint the dashboard ... |
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| ...and closing the cabin. |
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| The girl with suspensions , transmission axles and wheels |
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| This is very important for the test of alignment between chassis and wheels... |
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| The template of the future fuel tank ... |
To make the fuel tank, I use the lamination technique: I cut 4 rectangles of 1mm thick plasticards. I glued with PVA glue the templante in the front of the 4 plasticard plates and glued the 4 plates with each other with glue drops in the external angles of the set, because with the preparation of the pieces, these areas will be eliminated.
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The four plates of plasticard with template glued in the front.
Notice the the measurements and the marked areas that were
glued with styrene glue... |
The cutting of the plates will be performed by the abrasive tool of the Dremel line. The advantage of using these abrasive tools is that they generate heat that helps "adhesion" between the plates, on the scorched edges ...
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| The abrasive tool in the Dremel... |
The cut (perpendicular to the plates ...) was executed keeping the areas glued as long as possible. This ensures that the four parts are dimensionally identical.
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| Notice that the permanence of glued areas to ensure that the 4 plates are always aligned with each other ... |
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| Rectifying the cuts, keeping the areas glued diametrically opposite ... |
Before removing the last two areas previously glued, apply cyanoacrylate (super glue) in opposite areas and in a very small amount, so that the glue does not deform the pieces in the future separation of plates ...
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The areas for use of super-glue. I will apply a minimal amount of super-glue to
prevent the glue penetration between plates ... |
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Marking the center of the plates. This will be very important for the future alignment between
the plates and the lamination of the tank ... |
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| The four plates marked in the same position... |
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The future plasticards (1 mm thick).
The large ones are the top and botton. The narrow ones the side plates.
Notice the markings of the centers... |
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Marking the position of the plates in the plasticards...
Notice the measumements (in milimeters) in 1/35 scale |
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| Starting the building of the tank: aligning centers with centers ... |
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| Perpendicularity is essential ... |
A trick: Before glue the top and bottom, I rounded up the larger plasticard plates by heating the two styrene plates in boiling water and applying the plates against cans of cold beers, positioned side by side. Compress the softened styrene plates onto this "cold cylinder" to conform the plastic in curved aspect. Then, I recommend to drink the beers (to relax the tension of the procedure ...)
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After glue the sides, bottom and top of the tank.
The elastic bands in position perfectly align the separator plates,
to avoid deformation of the laminating plastic. |
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The gaps will be filled with Plastruct with1mm thick by 2mm wide.
They will be glued conforming the curvature of the tank ... |
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| The little gaps between the Plastructs filled with putty!! |
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| Fuel tank done... |
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| Testing...testing... |
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While the putty is dry, let's build the metal sub-chassis of the tank.
Testing the spare wheel... |
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| In position for testing... |
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| testing in the fuel tank (not glued...) |
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| The girl turning a Tankwagen!!! |
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| The spare wheel is in dry-run |
Time to make the four straps securing the tank to the sub-chassis:
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| The four straps in the tank... |
And the details are adding up:
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Sets of straps locks made with Plastruct
Notice the auxiliary platform in the left side... |
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| The straps locks with screws. The truck fuel tank in position... |
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| Left side: Notice the new exhaust pipe in cooper (before the muffler) |
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Attaching the rear fenders, with steel wires as support
right side |
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| Rear fender - left side |
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| A few more details on the tank (toolbox) and the front bumper ... |
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Right side: small toolbox under auxiliary platform...
Notice the reinforcments in the truck's fuel tank... |
Some details in the process of "militarization" of this heavy tankwagen:
And the Big Mercedes is ready for painting:
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| Indeed, the Kraut Girl is huge!!! |
The Mercedes Benz L6500 heavy trucks were vehicles that did not do well on rough roads or in the open field. Essentially, it was a vehicle for paved roads. Based on this premise, I will situate this vehicle as an aerodrome supplier, in airfields situated in rear and "quiet" theaters of operations. As it was a large capacity tanker, it should supply fuel to large multi-engined aircrafts. So this big girl will proudly show the colors of the
Kampfgeschwader 40 (KG40), which operated his Focke-Wulfs FW-200 in France, 1941, that generated a real scourge on the ships of the Atlantic convoys ...
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The Focke-Wulf FW-200 of KG-40
Notice the badge of KG-40: World in a Ring |
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| Markings for Mercedes-Benz L6500 Tankwagen |
Primer!!
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| After primer, horn and Notek light...I was almost forgetting ... |
First layers of Panzer-gray...Too bluish and dark...but, don´t worry...
Lets have fun!!!
Excelente, a cada trabalho me surpreendo mais com os resultados. Parabéns!!!
ResponderExcluirMuito obrigado Marcão!! Um grande abraço!!
ResponderExcluir