PSC German Medium Trucks (Part 1)

Last month, I built some Pegasus German Army Trucks, which led me to order a box of PSC German Medium Trucks to compare them to.

Each box contains six sprues with enough parts to create three of any two different German trucks or a Maultier.

The PSC box costs twice as much as the Pegasus box, but a video from the 20mm channel describes how additional trucks can be created from the left over parts of the kit to bring the value to parity.

In this post, I will describe how I assembled the Mercedes-Benz L3000 that is the equivalent of the Pegasus model.

The underside of the truck bed has four large blocks on it which don't seem to appear on the actual truck. The two rear blocks are necessary for proper positioning of the undercarriage, but I don't think the front blocks are necessary at all. In fact, I removed the block on the passenger side entirely, because it prevented me from adding the spare tire to the truck.

Some bent staples were glued onto the spare tire to simulate brackets, and some of the underside detail was cut away to create space for the tire.

The front axle is too long, and the ends need to be cut down so that the wheels do not protrude out past the fenders.

I like the consistency of the PSC plastic because it is easy to cut. I removed the head from the passenger side crew member to reposition it in a more natural pose.

I cut some pieces of acetate sheet to use as side windows, and glued them into some handy ledges on the inside of the door. UV resin was used to create the front windshield.

Comparing the two trucks, the first noticeable difference is the size of the wheels. I get the feeling that the smaller diameter wheels of the Pegasus truck (khaki top) is probably more accurate, but I didn't bother trying to verify this.

The PSC truck seems to look a lot taller than the Pegasus truck because of the height of the bonnet, but they're actually very similar in height. The radiator emblem and the hood ornament on the PSC truck are also nice touches.

The Pegasus truck has a tow hook which does not exist on the PSC truck.

Overall, I like the PSC truck because it is easy to assemble and windows were easier to install because of how it was engineered. I get the feeling the Pegasus truck is probably more accurate, even though it does not have some of the details of the PSC truck.