History
The Lanz Bulldog was a tractor manufactured by Heinrich Lanz AG in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Production started in 1921 and various versions of the Bulldog were produced up to 1960.
The Lanz Bulldog was one of the most popular German tractors, with over 220,000 of them produced in its long production life.
The Bulldog was a simple and easily maintained vehicle due primarily to its simple, single cylinder, horizontal, two-stroke, hot bulb engine. Initially the engine was a 6.3 litre, 12 horsepower unit, but as the Bulldog evolved the engine was increased to 10.3 litres and 55 horsepower. While hot bulb engines were crude, they were easy to maintain and could burn a wide variety of low grade fuels – even waste oils. The engine was designed by Fritz Huber.
Info from Wikipedia
In the box
Packed in a top opening box, the tractor comes on 12 grey sprues, one clear sprue, a small photo etch sheet, a set of instructions and a small decal sheet.
No flash is found on the parts and ejector pin marks look to be on the back side of pieces, so shouldn't interfere with the build.
Sprue gates on the other hand are quite large and will need a little clean up of the parts. The plastic is quite soft to work with, so be careful when sanding parts.
Some of the sprues at some point were joined together but have been cut (probably to fit into the box), thus giving you 12 sprues, all of which are not that large.
Detail is quite exceptional on most parts, with plates and bolts adorning the chassis.
The chassis is made up of front and rear parts which then mate together, then the rear axles, linkages, towing arm and various other parts fitted.
Next up is the main body shell, which comprises of two side parts which fit snugly underneath the top cowling. The top also has four filler caps which slot into holes.
A rear part which has the window screen frame fits onto the back.
The front of the tractor has the Lanz Bulldog plate in photo etch, along with a P.E number plate (not shown in the build pics).
A multi part seat is built up and is then attached to a large tread-plated deck, along with various pedals and linkages.
The body shell and deck are then attached to the main chassis.
A large bell-housing attaches onto the right, and a teardrop fairing that covers the drive-belt is fitted on the left side.
The large rear mudguards are then fitted, which are made up of three parts each, and are a little fiddly to put together.
The rear brake hubs and rear lights are also fitted, minus the clear covers, as the inside of the lights need painting.
The last parts of the build, have you attach the front axle, attach the front mud guards, and build and attach the wheels.
The rear wheels have the tyres moulded as one part, with the hubs and sidewalls are two separate parts.
The front wheels are made up of five sections to depict the various tread surfaces, and do look pretty good once it all comes together
A large multi piece exhaust fits underneath the tractor, much like a car, unlike a tractor which normally goes straight up.
The steering wheel, front glass, the roof supports, the roof, and the front lights are also fitted.
The wheels and roof are only dry fitted, for ease of painting.
Instructions, decals and markings
The instructions are printed on A4 size pages with the build printed in the black line drawings. The build takes place over 28 stages, is easy to follow, although a couple of stages do need more then a cursory glance to figure out where the parts go. Any decals that need to be added or photo etch parts are clearly marked.
No internal colours are given, as most of the tractor is in the main body colour.
Colours for the exterior are given for a wide range of paint manufacturers, on the first page along with the sprue tree guide.
The decals sheet is only small and has the number plates, various Lanz signs and a few placards. The decals are printed by Decograph, which should make them easy to use. The decals have good registration, sharpness and colour, and don't have any excessive carrier film around the decals.
Four different painting schemes are supplied.
1 - British Occupation Zone, Morth Rhine-Westphalia, early 1950s. Tractor in blue.
2 - Belguim, early 1950s. Tractor in grey.
3 - American Occupation Zone, province of Hesse, early 1950s. Tractor in green.
4 - Italy, 1950s. Tractor in red.
Mfg. ID - 38041
Suggested Retail - £36.99 (Hannants)
Related Link - https://miniart-models.com/products/38041-german-traffic-tractor-d8532/
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