English text Translation of page 3 Editorial New Prices Regularly I get very promising that, since the last increase in price sample of accessories made by in 2014, the mailing costs have in- model builders who have great ini- creased continually and two years tiative and I get very excited about ago the volume of the magazine in- them. Unfortunately, I am not allo- creased by 16 pages without a price wed to share them with you, or only increase at that time. in the most exceptional circumstan- With the new pricing, the magazi- ces, and I am not allowed to share ne can now continue publishing in where I got them from. Behind this the high quality you are used to and sits the fear of the amount of admi- I am able to keep my original ideal nistrative work needed by the Ger- price idea that a yearly subscription man bureaucracy, even for the smal- of € 65. – / Fr. 75. – for the printed lest business. version will not tax the hobby bud- Now I have experienced that it is get more than the price of a single indeed so. Truck & Construction is model. liable to pay the Value Added Tax Despite all that administrative (VAT) and should have done so al- work, I would now like to return to ready 10 years ago. Because my pu- the core of the work I do and to pro- blishing business is exempt in Swit- vide you with interesting and varied I would like to give a heartfelt zerland, as it is considered a micro magazines today and into the fu- thank you to all subscribers who entity, it never crossed my mind that ture. I sincerely hope that I may still have voluntarily rounded up their the rules are different in Germany – count you among my readers. subscription fees. You are making my mistake! an important contribution towards But it is not only because of the “unbiased reporting”. VAT that the price of the magazine had to be increased. An escrow of- fice had to be hired and the admi- Daniel Wietlisbach nistrative effort required overall has increased substantially. For examp- PS: A letter is included for the le, the data protection act and the German subscribers of this issue, packaging act both came into law at explaining the exact circumstances the beginning of the year. On top of in detail about the Value Added Tax. Laster & Bagger online: www.lasterundbagger.net www.facebook.com/lasterundbagger www.twitter.com/lasterundbagger www.youtube.com/lasterbagger Laster & Bagger 4-2019 2 Translation of pages 6 – 11 Jakob Weissbecker collects historic models Exclusivities by Daniel Wietlisbach Jakob Weissbecker has been enthused by con- akob Weissbecker saw the light struction sites ever since he can remember. of the world in 1955 and grew There are some historic models in his col lec- Jup in Solln, in the southern part of Munich. He was enthusiastically tion; among them are some that are not so interested in construction sites and already as a young boy was a regu- well known … lar watcher when there was cons- truction in the neighborhood. He Wolff and Peiner. Finally, he even the climbing erection of a Wolff became well-known and so he had contacted companies like Michi- WK150 S really close up. Right up opportunities for regular rides in gan and Bucyrus Erie in the US on the crane! On top of that he was trucks. The re-construction of war and so in the end, he had a remar- occasionally allowed to operate a damage in Munich at that time was kable collection. Unfortunately, it crane or even a wheeled loader. almost finished and the ‘economic got lost in later years. Jakob earned the money for the miracle’ of the after-war boom in To play with, Jakob owned a films and developing with some Germany was in full swing. Pro- Menck M60 from Siku which he re- holiday jobs. Once he sent a fini- perty prices were on the rise and so built for drag line operation. With shed film, which also had pictures many of the old villas in the sub- much creativity and parts from the of competing firms on it, to the urbs were torn down to make room Märklin metal construction set, he Wolff Company, because he was for multiple family housing. built the drag line shovel. Then he firmly convinced that such a lar- got the Zettelmeyer Europe I from ge company would have to have Prospectus collection the same maker. In constant play its own photo lab. The manager, use were a Caterpillar #12 Grader Weinreich, understood his wishes At the age of 11, Jakob started and the 944 wheeled loader from and made an exception, since he the beginnings of his prospectus Ertl in 1:24 scale and other Ca- had a son of the same age. He took collection. His first letter was to terpillars in 1:87, made of plastic, the film to the nearest photo lab for the Menck & Hambrock Compa- from the construction machine se- developing and sent the pictures to ny. It started with ‘Sehr geehrte ries of Umex, later on Roco. Jakob. At Liebherr too, the young Firma Menck’ (Dear Menck Com- When Jakob got his first camera, fan was known and therefore was pany,) as he clearly remembers. a Kodak Instamatic, straight away invited to the 1971 and 1973 Bau- The return mail promptly brought he began to document construc- ma and given an exhibitor entran- him prospectuses about the Menck tion sites with the main focus being ce ticket. He was a bit of an exotic M40, M60, M90 to M 260 as well construction machines and cranes, and unique fan with his great inte- as the Elektro-Multi motor excava- of course. And, because ‘safety on rest in cranes and at Liebherr they tors. This motivated the youngster construction sites’ then was very re- enjoyed the pictures in his photo to pen further letters to all German laxed, the young Jakob got to have album. A little later he got a mo- producers of earthmoving machi- experiences that are no longer ima- del of the 30A/35 by Gescha sent nes and trucks and later on, also ginable today. For example, he, with to him directly from Liebherr and all crane producers like Liebherr, his camera, was allowed to observe he was overjoyed. Laster & Bagger 4-2019 3 Translation of pages 6 – 11 Sometimes Jakob skipped school quit university in 1977 and took the co-student because he wrote his no- when something ‘more important’ truck driver’s license in the same tes ‘print ready’ in a very excellent was happening. When, for example, year. Five years behind the steering and readable script. After the final in June 1972, on the Schmidbauer wheel for a haulage contractor fol- diploma examinations, he worked Company’s yard, their new Gott- lowed, first on a three-axle dump for three years in an accounting firm wald MK 650 was being disassem- truck without and later with trailer, which he did not enjoy at all. Then bled, he just that to be there and re- and later for Schmidbauer. There, he went back to driving a coach for cord the process with photographs. he was never given ‘his own’ tractor another two years. Even though Jakob was pretty truck but was constantly put on the In 1994, at age 39, he founded a much by himself in his hobby, on spare board, which was not satisfac- property development company. one of his construction site expedi- tory for him. So, he went back to Difficult years followed with no tions he met a boy three years older work for the haulers and drove long time for a hobby. Even though the than himself from the same school. distance and then in 1981 took his collector was visiting Berlin for After this the two went from site to bus driver’s license. The same year professional reasons at the time of site and the radius expanded ever he married and changed to the pub- the gigantic construction site at the more, since the older one already lic works Munich. Potsdamer Platz, he only got to see had a driver’s license. Later on, their After a year he felt called back to it by looking out of the windows of paths diverged and a few years back university and he began his business the S-Bahn. they met again. It was after Jakob management studies in Augsburg. inserted an advertisement into the He found the courses heavy on theo- The Collection ‘Baggermodelle’ magazine (the pre- ry but he had the strong will to com- decessor of Laster & Bagger (Truck plete them. As a balance, and to fi- His interest for construction ma- and Construction) with his name nance his studies, he began to drive chines was never extinguished and and contact information that his for- travel coaches. He quickly managed so he went and visited the 1995 mer companion made contact again. to acquire the necessary competen- Bauma on the Theresienwiese in His historic photo archive con- cies and was popular in the compa- Munich. In one of the pavilions he tains about 1,800 pictures and du- ny he worked for. So hardly a week discovered dioramas and models ring the last years, all the negatives passed without a bus trip, often at of Menck excavators that fascina- were digitalized in high resolution. nights. The bus company was hea- ted him. The model builder himself vily involved in flight replacement was not present, but Jakob was Time for training traffic and Jakob was often called able to take a card along and con- upon when a plane was stuck on the tact the model builder Peter Veicht.