Cologne Duck-Tours Dukw

[nönöbär]

Cologne Duck-Tours Dukw

The Vehicle:

You can find Duck-Tours all around the world. A mix land and sea city tour is almost fun to do and the drivers of those vehicles are very "special" all the time.
While some of the operators use modern amphibious vehicles (Miami Beach for example), most of them use old WW2 Dukw for it (like in Boston or Dublin).

Converted with passenger rows in the back (4 seates a row) and equipped with a roof, the vehicles look much more intersting than the more modern ones.
Sometimes local laws require that additional float chambers are added to the Dukw before they enter the water (like in Dublin) but in most cases, they are run in the same config as it was used back in the 1940s.

In Germany, none of this tours exist, propably because it would be almost impossible to get to all the burocratic traps to run such a business.

However, in my town of Cologne, such a tour would make sense - with the Rhine river you could do quite an intersting part of the sightseeing tour.

So this is how a Cologne Duck Tour might look like - the slogan "Kölle Alaaf" on its side is the slogan you need during the Cologne Carnival Season








The Cologne Duck together with an original Dukw:



The Model:

This is the old Airfix 1/76 sclae Dukw kit. The seats inside are taken form an Italieri Ju 52 kit, the 1-2 configuration makes it very comfortable to ride in it.
The roof and entry stairs are made from 0,5mm thick plastic sheets, the windscreen is made of some kind of food package. It was the first model to try to make own decals, so the "Kölle Alaaf", licence plate, the Cologne crest and the skyline are all printed on transparent decal paper and then added to the model.
The rollable side cover at the roof is a toothpick surrounded with a paper handkerchief, and a lot of glue.

Painted with Revell Aqua Color in the traditional red&white Cologne colours.

[tigercat]

Great Model  

[Dizzyfugu]

Lovely - I esp. like the city silhouette on the flanks. 

[zenrat]

Excellent.

[NARSES2]

Been looking forward to seeing this finished and it hasn't disapointed, excellent 

Have to agree that a Cologne Duck tour would make a lot of sense. Lovely city.

[loupgarou]

Sh..t.! When I read the title I hoped it was for real!
Also in Berlin it would make sense. there are already many sightseeing boats on the Spree, could have some amphibians too.

[PR19_Kit]

That does look the business, yes. 

And I agree with loupgarou, a DUKW tour in Berlin would be really something, they could launch into the Tegelersee, go south to Potsdam through the Wansee and back up the Avus autobahn, great fun. 

[buzzbomb]

Nice work

[ericr]

lovely !

a series could be started, with the touring DUKWs from all over the world
NYC has some I think?
where else?

[Nick]

I saw a London Duck Tours model at a show some years back, he'd actually taken an album full of photos for his references!

These do exist in:

London  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24328708
Liverpool  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_BbWXiddG4
Dublin
Boston
Seattle
Singapore
Wisconsin
Rainforest Park, Australia http://www.rainforest.com.au/experiences/army-ducks/

Rotterdam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNI9TY7YFdY
Montreal had a Duck School Bus http://www.montreal-amphibus-tour.com/

[Glenn Gilbertson]

That's different &  fun - I like it!