I was able to expand my collection of Dutch build cars and trucks over the last month, by adding a Spierings tower crane truck, a FTF 8x4 truck and to (finally) get a Ginaf in 1:50. Last week I received below Lion Toys scale models and one must say, they certainly did improve their casts over the last couple of years.

This Ginaf X4446 TS of the Nijkerk-based company Zandink is a typical product of the quality of Lion Toys you expect. The cast is quite ok, but it lacks finesse. The round lights on the truck for example are not real-life, do they actually add something. It looks a bit rally-like. The paint quality on Lion was always a big let-down, though this one is actually one of the least worse in that sense. This truck dump bed is actually covered, I presume for keeping asphalt warm, which can open to the sides, the bed can lift and the rear "door" will open.

This Lion example is more recent and shows a Dutch-build Kromhout truck.

Kromhout started out as a shipyard (the yard is nowadays a museum) and started building engines around the turn of the 20th century. It then progressed in building trucks and was the most important truck manufacturer until the rise of DAF. It ended production at the end of the fifties, but production of the trucks was transferred to a coachbuilder, Verheul. Kromhout supplied engines to them. Verheul was taken over by Leyland. The factory was destroyed by a large fire. Nowadays, Kromhouts are a rare sight on Dutch roads and probably never seen beyond it.

The scale model is of one of the last Kromhout trucks. The paint quality is - in my opinion - very good and the print is very fine. One can read the "Kromhout" print on the side of the hood. It's a rather heavy miniature, especially as the flatbed was made out of metal as well. This is one of my best buys of late.

This is a limited miniature of Lion Toys, in fact their first scale model in resin. It is really light, but rather realistic in it's appearance. It's an early example of a DAF truck, in this case a A1300 BA360 - according to the plint it is fitted too (I believe another first for Lion). I am not convinved by the modell overall. The lightness distracts, the paint quality - a rather mat finish - and the used decals do not work for me. It would've been better in all-metal and especially with the name of a particular department on the side. Having said that, it certainly is a model I would not like to miss in my collection.