The moment you’ve all been waiting for … announcing the 2024 winners of our annual Craig Christensen Build-a-Model-Truck competition, brought to you by Italeri.

We again had a good response to the competition, with three standout entries taking out top honours. The level of detail was also exceptional, especially considering the materials you had to choose from. So, without further ado, we are proud to announce this year’s winners.

Blake MacMillan – At nine years of age, Blake is our first winner this year with his bright blue Kenworth K200 tractor unit. For his creation, Blake used cardboard boxes he rescued from the recycling bin in the shed at home as the base of his build. Using masking tape, he has bonded the boxes together, cutting out openings for the windows. When the time came to paint the rig, it was a trip to the local Mitre 10 store to acquire the required colours for his livery. Well done, Blake, a great effort with a good amount of detail.

Te Ahu Hippolite – Young Te Ahu has really stepped up the level of realism and functionality of his creation, making it an actual wearable piece that gives the wearer a feeling of cruising down the road. The build is based on the very cool eight-wheeler K200 Fat Cab Kenworth that Te Ahu’s step-dad Neil drives for Austin Transport. We especially liked the twin exhaust stacks and drop visor that Te Ahu crafted from cardboard. Te Ahu dreams of being a truck driver when he joins the workforce, just like his great-grandfather, grandfather and step-dad. Keep up the awesome work, Te Ahu, you definitely have the right stuff.

Wylie Sowman – Some of you might remember Wylie as one of our winners from last year’s competition. Wylie is back this year with another Kenworth creation, this time a stunning Legend T900 Aerodyne, his dream truck. The T900 cab and sleeper, as well as the chassis, has been made from cardboard. For wheels, Wylie used offcuts of PVC pipe from around the farm, and then fitted cardboard into the centres. The livery and company name ‘Hoony Haulage Ltd’ (HHL) are Wylie’s own creations. Well done, Wylie, another prizeworthy build.

We were super impressed with the creativity this year, as well as the quality of the entries we received. Well done to you all – it sure looked like you had a ton of fun putting them together. A huge thank you to our good mates at Italeri for supporting us with the awesome prizes – we couldn’t do it without you.

We look forward to seeing you again for next year’s competition; in the interim, remember to keep those little wheels rolling…