Multiplex Amphi-Truck (radio-controlled model)

The Multiplex Amphi-Truck was a radio-controlled amphibious model offered in shops by the German model-making firm Multiplex. It is known in the archive from a 2003 German eBay listing that described an example then believed to be at least 15 years old.

Design

The model is about 47 cm long, 26 cm wide and 25 cm high, with a boat-like hull under the truck body. It has two separate drives: a geared electric motor turns the rear axle on land, while a second electric motor drives a propeller at the stern for use afloat. A linked rudder steers in the water, and a single servo operates both the front-axle steering and the rudder. The rear-axle motor is controlled by a mechanical speed controller worked by a servo, and the propeller motor is switched on, in either direction, by another servo. Power came from a 6-volt NiCd battery housed at the rear of the body so it could be changed without removing the superstructure.

The seller reported that the motors still worked and that the model had passed a 'bathtub test', though by its construction a little water always got inside; the previous owner had sailed it on a lake.