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van Gouveia has a gift possessed by very few,
the talent and temperament to create a precision scale model that is
so detailed in the photos you could be fooled into thinking it is
the real thing.
The Brazilian laptop repairer builds models
in his spare time, and in the past year has switched his focus to
Scania trucks, which are extremely popular on the roads of is native
land.
The model pictured is his first Scania, an L
111 (Brazilian version), though an L 36 or L 50 will be next,
joining the many other makes he has already completed in his quest
to document the past 70 years of trucks seen on Brazil's roads.
Ivan has been hampered by a lack of
documentation with dimensions of the actual trucks so has created
his masterpieces using only images drawn from the internet, which
makes replicating body panel curves all the more tricky.
“The angles and the curves are deceiving,
especially seen only on pictures,” Ivan says.
“I sculpt all the moulds in steel using a scale of 1:25. My plan is
to complete about 36 models
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of Scania, comprising L 36, L 55, LS 64, L 75,
LS85, L 111 in day cab and sleeper. and LK 140 cab-over.
Ivan's focus on Scania has come from his fans and
customers, who have demanded so many models he practically cannot make
any to keep for himself.
“People say: ‘Sell it to me. You can make another
one for yourself at any time.’ But I want to keep one example of every
model I make. Particularly after having done so much research I have
become attached to these trucks, especially the classic ones.
Models sell for around US$1,100 each.
“I do not make prototypes out of clay, but use bumper filler, sometimes
a mould takes a month to make, but the quality is very good, and must be
superior to mass-produced examples.
Ivan says that for some interiors, where
reference material is not readily available he relies on experience and
a dash of imagination.
For the featured Brazilian model L 111, slightly
different to the more familiar European model, the rear corner window is
bigger, but aside from that the detailing is spectacular. |
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