Opel Blitz 1/35

[JeroenS]

Hi everybody, after finishing the Fiat last Saturday I wanted to do a quick build, something that would go together rapidly and would give me a chance to try out some weathering techniques for the build of the Benz, which I'm ready to reboot now. Recently, I purchased Tamiya's 1/35 "3 ton 4x2 cargo truck" which is an Opel Blitz. It's pictured as a military model, but I wanted to do one in civilian "livery". I mean, grey is just grey isn't it. 

 

 

Also, I was kind of curious to see whether I could finish this in two days.... Well, turns out I couldn't so I'm posting it as a WIP instead of an RFI 🙂 

 

But, I came close. I want to finish it properly, some work still needs to be done. 

 

About the kit: this is actually my first Tamiya build and I found out it's true what people always say; it just falls together. I wanted to do (almost) all the building first and then worry about painting and such. So I built it up into 3 parts: the chassis, the cab and the load bed. I figured this would be doable, if I took a little extra care when painting the interior. 

 

Now, I don't have much to show in the way of build shots, I was on a roll and just went with it. Almost no clean up, everything fits, instructions are clear... all kits should be like this one 🙂 

 

So this was end of day 1: 

 

 

The cab is still without doors and roof, my plan was to paint the interior and then close up. 

 

Start of day 2: a flat black basecoat and desert yellow interior, tyres are rubber black. All Tamiya paints. Before the basecoat I sponged on some Tamiya liquid surface primer on edges and such to create some texture. Next time I'll probably use thinned Milliput as that will probably give more texture, but I wanted to try this.

 

 

 

Seat painted with Vallejo medium brown, and some black for the details. Also, sponged on some Red Brown. This truck will have seen better days.

 

 

 

It was a busy afternoon, too busy to take pictures... fast forward and this is the end of day 2: 

 

 

After clearcoating with the Zero Paints 1K (great stuff!) I mixed my own shade of orange, not too bright. I used the "salt method" on the cab and the load bed, because I'd never done that before and wanted to try it. I might use this method again. Pro: it looks quite good and the salt/paint combination adds some extra texture. Con: it's quite a bit of work to get the salt on in an organized manner, and more work to get it off. It makes for a pretty sticky layer, needing fingers and a very stiff brush to take it off. 

 

For the chassis I decided to go for a black grey, and this time I used the "hairspray" method to be able to do some chipping. I had only used Vallejo's chipping fluid before, but it doesn't work that well under Tamiya paints (at least not when I do it). So hairspray it was, and then a coat of Tamiya's Nato black (wrong period, but ok I just like the colour 🙂). I already started some chipping on the chassis and that works very well. I'm adding that one to the arsenal for sure. 

 

I've added a dark brown wash to cab and load bed. Wheels and mudguards are painted Vallejo black grey and still need some chipping. 

 

Lastly, a dry fit of all the parts. I like it! I will add mud and dust, I also need to practice that for the Benz. Sure, you can practice all this on white card, but this is much more fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ian T]

A great attempt at the weathering Jereon, I’ve not yet tried weathering of any description. I keep telling myself that I’m building vehicles straight out of the showroom to satisfy my lack of weathering knowledge!! After seeing this I’ll have to give it a go, maybe hot exhaust pipes on the next bike build at least ..... Keep up the good work, I’ll be looking for this in RFI shortly.

Regards Ian 

[Cooper645]

Well this popped up from nowhere.  Great effort on the build speed and weathering. I too need to start trying weathering, I have an un-used golf mk1 shell in the stash, so maybe I’ll do something with that. 

 

I’ll keep an eye on the RFI section for it

[JeroenS]

Thanks guys. You should just give it a go, it's good fun and less nerve-racking then trying to achieve that perfect finish 🙂 ... I'm by no means a weathering expert, but when you make sure you have a good sturdy basecoat (I've found that waterbased paint does not fit that bill), with a nice clearcoat over it, you can take it from there. From the chipping methods I've tried so far I think the hairspray works best. Salt works too, but is a bit more work and you need to make sure the grains are not too big (but the regular table salt is too fine grained). 

[Alan R]

15 hours ago, JeroenS said:

I mean, grey is just grey isn't it. 

Too true!

Great to see a military subject being given the 'civvy' treatment.

 

Great work!

 

Cheers, Alan.

[JeroenS]

RFI is here: 

 

 

[mbdesignart]

Excellent work Jeroen, really like the finish you have achieved, and as others have said in such a short time.

[Old John]

Hi Jeroen really like your truck build & so quick. I have the 1 24th scale Blitz which will also be built as a civilian one as I don't do military stuff,but that is for a bit later.Next I think I must do a early Mini. A Brit can't have a collection of cars/trucks without one.Seeing as it was so iconic of the once British car industry,which is no more 

[JeroenS]

Thanks, yes this was a really nice build to do. This little kit is truly excellent. Your Blitz that you have in the pipeline, is that the Revell version?

[Old John]

Yes it is the Revell  Any info would be great. Though must admit I am not a all familiar with truck. It just took my fancy & thought it would be Ok with my other models which is normal with me. Not by any means a auto historian. Do a bit google research but that is about as far as it goes.

 

[BIG X]

I've only just found this - smashing job sir.