Siegfried Kamleiter is a truck driver at MGG Metrec. He has fulfilled a childhood dream with his job: Driving trucks. Loaded with scrap iron, he travels all over Austria on behalf of sustainability. Now his profession has also found its way into his private life. The passionate model maker has built a scale replica of a remote-controlled MGG truck. And even the paintwork was done in MGG design!
If you don’t have a direct size comparison, you could mistake the „little one“ for a really big one. The model truck also cuts a fine figure off-road.
Siegfried Kamleitner is a professional driver and has been working at MGG Metrec, the company where his father was already employed as a truck driver, since 2020. As a boy, Siegfried was fascinated by the big truck driven by his father. He was often there and marveled at the truck with wide eyes. Years later, Sigi, as he is commonly known, became a driver himself and has been driving for MGG Metrec since 2020. There are also parallels between father and son in their private lives: model making. While his father spent his free time building model trains, Sigi’s heart is set on building larger vehicles. Currently, he is building remote-controlled trucks.
And so it came about that Sigi’s profession, which he pursues with great passion, has also found its way into his private life. In the spring of this year, he began building a model of a Mercedes Actros truck that looks exactly like the MGG truck that his colleague and friend drives on a daily basis and which looks very similar to Sigi’s professional vehicle. When asked why he didn’t build „his“ truck, Sigi answers pragmatically: „The model was a whole lot more expensive, so I just bought the other one.“
Home from work, a quick shower, a bite to eat, and then he has already devoted himself to his passion. Sigi spent a total of 700 hours building his model truck.
Truck 24/7
Sigi started assembling in March 2023. „I came home from work, took a shower, ate a few bites and then I started building,“ he says, recounting a very intense time. It took him around 700 hours in total before he was finally finished. But you’re never really finished with a project like this, as Sigi vividly explains. But let’s go back to the beginning. The basic model was quickly assembled, and it was also driven relatively quickly. But then it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty of model building. The standard kit only provides the basis. Add-on parts, additional equipment, extra features such as lights and sound, the remote control, the paintwork – and much more – are then added separately. Sigi has invested a lot of time and money in this: High beams, warning lights, headlights, fog lights and much more were fitted, and a sound system that „plays all the tunes“ was installed. The final paintwork and decals made it perfect: the MGG truck „in small“.
No models for the glass cabinet – they have to prove themselves in real operation
The remote-controlled model truck is 12 km/h fast, but speed is not the goal here, it’s the power that counts. „I can load the trailer with a 10 kg load,“ says Sigi. „We built a small wall in the garden this year. An RC model excavator did the digging and the excavated material was taken away by my truck. It felt pretty real,“ he says with a big grin on his face.
Sigi gets ideas and inspiration for the further development of his models from the Internet or at model building fairs, which he regularly attends. He is not alone in his passion. One of his friends – also a truck driver by profession – indulges in the same passion. Together they spend a lot of time with their hobby, where building is the main focus according to the motto „The journey is the destination“. They often take the truck off-road, often over hill and dale and through mud and dirt. „I don’t build models for the glass cabinet. My trucks are functional models,“ Sigi likes to emphasize. And if something breaks during operation – no problem. He knows all about repairs.
Sigi Kamleitner and his two trucks, there’s not a leaf between them! Further exciting model-making projects, including a can shredder, are in the pipeline.
Can shredder and concrete crusher
Committed to the idea of recycling and sustainability, Sigi already has his sights set on his next model-making project. It will be a (beer) can shredder so that the aluminum waste at home doesn’t take up so much space and can be collected better. And then a concrete crusher, drawn in AutoCAD, powered by a 24-volt battery, is planned as a joint project with a model-making colleague. A really powerful piece. He never runs out of ideas.
Sigi is not a member of a RC-club. He is also not – yet – prepared to present his masterpieces at trade fairs or exhibitions. But who knows, maybe that will come. After all, he only started his hobby at this level of intensity less than three years ago.
The next generation
The youngest of his three daughters, nine years old, supports him within the family. She shares his passion for assembling things. And she also loves to accompany her father to his real, big truck. The one he drives on the roads of Austria every day for work …
TECHNICAL INFO:
Towing vehicle:
– Mercedes Benz Actros 1851 from Tamiya
– 1:14 electric RC model truck kit
– 3-speed manual gearbox
– Maximum speed: 12 km/h
– 14-channel remote control, some channels assigned multiple times
– Extensive extensions and numerous functions: Sound effects, various lights, indicators, signal lights,…
Trailer:
– 1:14 electric RC model dump truck from Carson
– Maximum load: 10 kg
– Length including trailer: approx. 1 meter
– Various functions such as various lights, tilting, lift axle,…
