Italeri 1/24 Tecnokar Trailer w/20' Tank Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Containerized shipping has been around in a variety of forms for more than a century, but intermodal shipping didn't really catch on until the International Standards Organization (ISO) published the standards for shipping containers which allowed for the development of cargo and specialized payload carriers that can stack and interlock on different transportation systems as well as atop one another. Today, we see massive container ships, railway cars, and truck trailers all designed to move containers from one location to the next. While there are a variety of container sizes defined by the ISO standards, about 80% of the containers in use globally are either the 20 foot or 40 foot types.

With the success of moving dry cargo around the world using ISO containers, it only makes sense that various liquids could also be moved using these standards. Now we have tanks mounted inside a 20' ISO frame that carry over 6,000 gallons or over 71,000 pounds to anyplace on the globe where ISO containers can be handled. There are also liquid tanks inside 40' ISO frames as well.

Here is the latest release from Italeri, a 20' ISO trailer from Tecnokar of Italy with a 20' ISO liquid tank. The kit is molded in multi-color styrene and presented on six parts trees (duplicate tree not shown): four parts trees molded in black, one in white, and one in silver/gray. The kit also includes six rubber (vinyl) tires and one fret of photo-etched parts.

he kit is really two kits in one box. First is the ISO tank container with the liquid shipping tank molded in white and mounted into a 20' (scale) ISO frame with photo-etched catwalks. Second is the Tecnokar trailer that is built to EU standards with three axles and one wheel on each end of each axle. If you're building this to pull with your Mercedes Actros or other European tractor, this will be a simple out-of-the-box build.

If you want to build the trailer in US configuration, there are lots of photos online to help, but essentially you'll eliminate the third axle and set up the two remaining axles for dual wheels (you'll need to find another set of wheels for this). You'll also need to scratchbuild some landing gear as well.

I've seen a few of these 20' ISO tanks being moved around the country in my travels over the last few years, and most of them have been either chained down to a standard flatbed trailer or mounted to a multi-purpose ISO trailer that can carry 20' or 40' loads.

On my trip a few weeks ago, however, I saw many of these ISO tanks on purpose-built 20' trailer/haulers similar to the one depicted in this kit. With a little work converting the trailer to US configuration, this model will look great behind your Moebius Navistar Prostar or the various 1/24 or 1/25 Peterbilt, Freightliner, etc., kits out there.

My sincere thanks to MRC for this review sample!