When looking for a suitable 'Deutsche Bundespost' (German Mail) van for our diorama we discovered a HERPA model vehicle with a printed advert for a German model railways magazine. As the model was produced in the 1980's it is pretty difficult to get your hands on nowadays. At last, we were able to buy one on an internet auction website. We also wanted to use some spare parts from an old ROCO model (VW transporter T3 crew cab/pickup 'Deutsche Bundesbahn') which had been part of our own model car fleet for about three decades.
First of all, we had to take the yellow HERPA vehicle apart, as some of its parts would have to undergo various modifications.
Dismantling
an unknown model car should always start with pulling off the wheels with a
tweezers. After that you can usually have a look under the wings to find out how
the parts are held together by mortise and tenon.
The
black number plate holder at the rear is actually a snap-in nose. Pushing it
carefully inwards (e.g. with a pair of tweezers) allowed us to lift up the rear
part of the body; the whole bodywork could then be pushed forward and that way
slid off the lower front grille.
The
upper grill is connected to the body with two tenons; it could therefore be
easily removed by pushing and pulling.
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