Herbert Wurst is the proud owner of over 500 miniature fire-fighting and municipal service vehicles. Looking back, however, he realises he might never have started collecting if it hadn’t been for moving house. Sad about having to quit the volunteer fire brigade in Stuttgart-Münster, he started collecting 1:87 scale models to take his mind off things.

Of course, these miniatures are not intended as children’s toys. The rarest item in the collection, dating from 1960, is a water rescue vehicle with dinghy, based on a Mercedes-Benz L 319 panel van. But occasionally, grandson Julius is allowed to take one of the showpieces out of the glass cabinet and play with it - although only if his grandfather is supervising, of course, to make sure there are no accidents! In the long run, however, Herbert Wurst’s collection failed to cure him of his passion for life-size fire engines. Since 1985 he’s been back in action again, this time as a member of the volunteer fire brigade near his new home in Stuttgart-Birkach