A new
mixed-media project, also "scenery" related, introducing the
Fries Kran 16t Strabokran.
This can be an objective or an excellent scenery piece for a diorama.
At the time heavy tanks such as Tigers and Panthers were developed, the existing gantry cranes in field maintenance units were too weak, so the Germans turned to the mobile gantry cranes manufactured by J S Fries Frankfurt am Main, which was developed in the 1930s, for lifting heavy loads in ports and railroad facilities.
The
Strabokran (Strassen bock kran, or road gantry crane) consisted of a horizontal gantry supported by a pair of collapsible support towers. Each of the twin support towers consisted of four hinged scissor-sections, which were erected by cables via a hand-cranked winch mounted in the base of each tower, and then locked together. Strabokrans with 15t, 16t and 20t lifting capacities were developed in different years, and were towed by SdKfz 8 and SdKfz 9 half-tracks. Approximately 100 Strabokrans were built, some of which were license-built at the company Stratenwerth in Duisburg until the war's end, and were supplied to units equipped with Tigers and Panthers, as well as V2 units.
![](https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/82/0c/kA3kUWY7_t.jpg)
![](https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/61/ec/lH2UaMVA_t.jpg)
![](https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/00/3a/GABpVcAh_t.jpg)
![](https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/62/fd/H4DueB8K_t.jpg)
Enjoy!
![Wink ;)](http://forum.rubiconmodels.com/Smileys/default/wink.gif)