By Anthony "Anfernee" MasonPraise be Poseidon! A plastic truck in 1/56 has enter the market! Rubicon has just released their new plastic kit for the Opel Blitz, also known as the Sdkfz 305.
This vehicle was a mainstay in the German army and was the backbone of its motorised elements. Over 70,000 were made during the war and they served in all theatres the Germans were involved in. There were a few different variants, from Ambulances to ones that were mounted with 20mm AA guns.
The Rubicon kit allows you to make the basic Opel Blitz, but they have said more variants will be released in the future. As you can see above, it comes with 2 sprues, a seperate one-piece cab, instructions and a sheet of decals. The box art is good and the back has a great over-view of the Opel Blitz and its usage in the German army. This provides a good visual reference if you don't have the internet on hand while you are assembling.
The sprue lay-out is good and they have kept the parts count at a healthy balance between, allowing for easy of construction and allowing for modification. This helps to add slight cosmetic differences to distinguish vehicles from each other. Things such as jerry cans, spare wheels and alternate types of headlights can help make each Opel Blitz appear slightly different from its neighbor. Even more stowage is available in the separate German Stowage Kit that Rubicon has also recently put out.
The instructions are super easy to follow so this is where I put in the following..
DISCLAIMER: Follow the instructions! In my haste I put the towage sign which goes onto the cab backwards. I didn't realise until after I had glued it with plastic cement. I decided to end up leaving it as it was, but it's a good reminder to follow the instructions when building a vehicle for the first time.
While I have not completely painted the underside of my Blitz, you can see the great level of detail included, even on the oft unseen bottom. Each jerry can is separate so you can put as many or as few as you please.
The one-piece cab is simply perfect. There is no problems in it not lining up and it fits on well. You don't even need to glue it in place if you wish. I left it off so I could paint the interior and later add painted crew. The benches for the back can also be place in numerous configurations. I went with a U shape, but they also fit as 3 rows as well.
This is Rubicon's first kit which has included crew. There is a slight 'flatness' to them when compared to more dynamic crew models. But as this is their first attempt at human models and these crew are for inside a vehicle. Well, they still work and don't detract from the model. Definitely a plus over not having crew. Rubicon also includes a stencil on the instructions sheet for making windshields if you wish to do so, but I chose to keep my windows empty.
I painted mine up in a plain dunkelgelb with unpainted wood sides. Most of the pictures I looked at had the wood painted, but in a move copied from the great Patchimus, I left mine unpainted to help add some colour in. As you can see from the pictures below, the Blitz looks great from any angle, with or without the canvas canopy on the back.
"Anf" is a long-time gamer from Down Under, who currently focuses his hobby time on Bolt Action.
With an equal love of rockets and Ice Hockey, he constantly explores weird and wonderful army lists in his never-ending quest to collect them all.
