Trucks were an imporatant part of the mechanised style of war that came about in World War Two, they were the key to getting supplies to the fast moving fronts where horses and carts just couldn’t keep up. But when it comes to making models they are nowhere near as exciting to build as a tank or an SPG so there just aren’t that many of them available in kit form. This one from Italeri is an older kit that has recently been supperceeded by a more recent offering by Tamiya.

This kit comes in a tray and lid style box and is an older one of Italeri’s kits. This particular kit is the newer production one which is cleaned up a little but is still the same kit as the older one which includes “3(t) Type S” in the kit title and different artwork on the box lid. You get two large sprues which in true Italeri fashion come loose in the box with no bags which probably keeps the price down but I do find frequently it results in loose and/or broken parts.Also included are eight vinyl tyres moulded in black and a small sheet of decals.

The moulding quality overall is good, with detail that is sharp, though there is of course the usual mould lines that will need to be removed. The plastic used is also quite a hard and brittle type so care needs to be taken when removing parts so as not to cause any cracks or splits.  The instructions are clear and easy to follow for the most part, and whilst they could be improved upon the kit is a fairly simple one so it’s hard to go wrong.

The chassis is fairly simple, with the frame moulded as a single piece. To this is added a reasonably good representation of the engine and transmission, drive shafts, differentials, springs etc. There is a lot of the smaller detail missing like bolt heads on the transmission and differential, brake lines, fuel lines etc, but other than that the detailing of the underside is quite good and includes the spare wheel,  gas tank, exhaust, battery box and steering assembly.

The wheels are the late style with eight lightening holes in each front wheel ( wheels pre-war had six ), with the tyres moulded as one piece each in vinyl which to be honest I’ve never liked as they are hard to clean the mould seam off and hard to paint. The wheels are also missing proper brake drums so this is one area where I do think a good set of resin wheels is a bonus as you overcome the drawbacks of vinyls tyres and get proper looking brakedrums at the same time.

The cab comes with a very basic interior and this is probably one of the kit’s major failings. The pedals in the footwell and the internal door detail are all moulded on with no real definition. If you use the two included figures this becomes lessof a problem as they obscure much of these areas but without them the inner door details in particular are quite apparent. Luckily the real vehicle is rather simple so these are easy areas to detail yourself. The floor of the cab does include decent enough looking treadplate detail but the cab does not come with separate doors so a little surgery is required if you want to model the doors open.  The dash is quite good though rather plain and simple, and no decals are provided for the dials, though again the real vehicle dash is also somewhat plain looking. 

The external side of the cab is sharply moulded though rather simple with no option to open the hoods, and the side panels are not separate parts. The radiator grille is moulded as part of the bumper and is tapered in a little too much at each side. This is a minor accuracy issue but if it bothers you it’s vey easy to correct. The headlights have the option of blackout covers or clear parts which are a bit heavy, as are the clear parts for the windows and windscreen, with the windscreen also having moulded on wipers. The tool mounts and mirror however are delicately made pieces, though they do require a little cleanup of excessive mould flashing.

The rear cargo bed is also very simple being just the sides, ends, floor and three bench seats. There is no option to position the tailgate or sides in the folded down position though theywould be very easy to modify if you wanted to have them down. There is no woodgrain detail, though as these parts were usually painted it isn’t really necessary as it wouldn’t be seen on the actual vehicle anyway. Again areas like the hinges and latches are over simplified and could do with better detailing but they’re better than some I’ve seen and are passable for a simple OOB build and easy enough to replace with scratchbuilt ones for a more detailed build. There is also the option of a deployed canvas tilt which is actually quite a good looking one. If the tilt isn’t used there is the option of four tilt bows moulded as a single piece in the stowed position with an optional rolled tilt. If however you wanted to add the bows in position with an open tilt or a partial one then you’d need to make your own.

The figures like most of Italeri’s attempts at figures are best not considered as anything more than rubbish bin filler. In this case they are massively undersized, stiff and unanimated, and completely dull in the detail department. If you’re going for the manequin in a truck look they’ll be fine, but if you’re going for the real people look, look elsewhere.

Decals are included for four different vehicles though no identification is given for any of the unit markings.

Italeri, now working with Tamiya, have begun re-releasing their older kits with cleaned up mouldings and better plastic so hopefully this one will get the same treatment as it’s only real downside is the quality of the moulds, which could use a general sharpening up all over, and the lack of the smaller details. However as it is this is still a good little kit that makes up into a very presenatable little model of a vehicle that was seen everywhere throughout the Second World War. Tamiya’s kit is without a question the better of the two Opel kits available in 1/35 though the Italeri offering is usually a lot cheaper ( often as much as half the price of the Tamiya kit here in NZ ). It will benefit greatly from some good basic modelling skills to add the missing details so you can still arrive at a very good end result without having to throw great wads of cash at AM bits for it.

Click on the images to enlarge ( opens in new window )

Also check out the Opel Blitz Walkaround HERE

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This set of resin wheels is intended to replace those on the Italeri kit of the Opel Blitz but can also be used with the Tamiya kit. In this set you get a total of seven wheels, all with the six lightening holes of the early war wheels, plus two jerry cans, two driving lights and a set of tools.

The front wheel and spare wheel are moulded in a light creamy coloured resin. The mouldings on a whole are very good with very nice detail to the tread. There is a 7mm wide pour plug on each to remove and either side of this the tread moulding is a little rough on the spare tyre. There is light flashing in several of the lightening holes as well as the centre and bolt holes of the spare wheel which will need cleaning up. The hubs come as separate pieces, also moulded in the light creamy coloured resin and are very well moulded.

The rear wheels are moulded in a light grey resin and as with the front wheels have very good tread pattern. There is again a 7mm pour plug to remove from each and on all four of this set there was rough surface deformation of the pattern either side of the pour plug that will take quite a bit of cleaning up to correct. The hubs for these also come in the creamy coloured resin and are well done.

In addition to the wheels two jerry cans with moulded on vehicle mounting frames are included. While this is a nice touch I’m not sure if they are overly useful as they need a bit of cleaning up and defining as the hanles are not moulded open and on one of them in this set the filler cap was missing, being replaced by a large air buble hole instead.

You also get two driving lights but if you are building an early war vehicle ( hence needing the early war wheels ) then these will need to go into the spares box as they only appeared later in the war.

And lastly you get a set of tools with two differnt jacks, a shovel, a pick and a small axe, which are all well made.

When it comes to buying aftermarket sets for a model it is normal to pay as much, if not more, for the upgrades than the kit itself and this is the case here as well, as this set will cost a little more than the Italeri Opel itself. They are a huge improvement over the kit supplied wheels and the extras you get in this set make them good value for money compared to similar sets at a similar price. The ammount of cleanup work required may however be a deterent though the flaws in the moulds around the plugs looks to be the result of the pouring rather than the moulds themselves so may not be evident in every set.

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We’re adding a new feature to the site covering modeling resources. As part of this we’re adding this section called “FOCUS ON … :” which will look at a particular subject and what is available in the way of kits, after market accessories, etc.

Today the focus is on what plastic kits are available of German WWII trucks and a little about each.

Considering the huge variety of trucks used by the Germans in WWII there is surprisingly little available in 1/35. In fact the view of the German forces as being an armoured one tends to overshadow the fact that they were still heavily dependent on older trucks, and even horses, to move supplies from A to B ( troops could move themselves, supplies couldn’t however walk ).

Also used as the basis for many mobile AA platforms as well as mounting mobile cranes, generators, communications eqipment and ambulance bodies.

For a long time the main German WWII truck available in plastic kit form hs been the venerable 3 ton Opel Blitz ( which actually had a 4 ton max loadweight ). Available in various forms from Italeri and Revell and more recently Tamiya.

Recently however we’ve been able to add to that with the Zvezda Mercedes offerings and now the IBG Einheitsdiesels.

But that sadly is still pretty much it. There are several wonderful versions available in resin kits but we’ll deal with those seperately at a later date.

So here’s what you can expect to end up with if you want to build a WWII German truck.

Italeri Opel Blitz :

I’ll be honest here, this is not the best kit. The mouldings are average ( some heavy ejector marks and mould seams as well as a little flash ) but the detail is seriously sparse. This kit really requires one of the PE aftermarket sets such as the one from Eduard.

Older versions of this kit will have 6-hole wheels ( each wheel having 6 lightening holes ) and later ones having 8-hole. The significance of this being that the 8-hole was introduced in 1939. Trucks with 6-hole wheels are most commonly seen in photos from the invasion of France and the lowlands and in North Africa. This kit also has the single spring suspension found on Opels made up till 1942.

Negatives are the tyres which are both low in detail and a pain to paint and the lack of small details like the inside of the cab, hinges and catches, and engine detail ( there is an engine but it only bears a passing resemblance to the real one ).

Positives are the two crew members ( who to be honest do need a little work ) and a tilt cover ( though advanced modelers will most likely prefer to construct their own ).

With some work and a decent PE set this makes up into quite a good kit. With a lot of work, resin wheels, resin engine, PE and some skill it makes up into an excellent kit.

AM options include a resin engine from Plus Model, PE sets from Lion Roar and Eduard, and resin wheels from a number of manufacturers.

Italeri Opel Mautier :

Essentially the Opel Blitz with  the rear wheels replaced with tracks to handle the muddy conditions in Russia. Italeri’s offering therefore is basically their Opel Blitz with an added sprue to build the tracked rear. As such much of the above also applies here.

The tracks are one piece vinyl tracks but a cheap option to replace these are the Masterbox Pz.Kpfw I individual link tracks which are very good as well as being inexpensive.

Again this kit responds well to a little PE and some modeling TLC.

As well as the Masterbox tracks mentioned above the same AM parts as for the standard Blitz will work with this.

Italeri Opel Blitz Tankwagen :

Again a variation on the basic Opel Blitz, this version replaces the cargo bed with a fuel tanker body used for refueling aircraft.

Italeri Opel Blitz – Coal Engine :

Basic Italeri Opel Blitz as above with a new wooden cab and a coal burner added to the front of the truck hooked up to the engine ( still the gas engine of the Opel ).

Italeri Opel Blitz Radio Truck :

You guessed it, another variation based on the basic Opel Blitz platform, this time a housebody in place of the cargo bed to turn it into a field radio truck. It comes with no interior and it really cries out for one. Verlinden make a resin set for it and Eduard make a PE set for it. Although these fit it out nicely it actually looks better if you use the housebody as a guide to scratchbuild your own out of wood. Now out of production so might be hard to find.

Tamiya Opel Blitz :

A big improvement over the Italeri kit in terms of the level of detail and cleaness of the moulds. The main difference between the two visually is the Tamiya version having the low sided cargo bed to the Italeri’s high sides. The Tamiya version also has the twin spring suspension of a post ’42 model but again comes with the 6-hole wheels of the earlier model.

This kit also comes with two figures as well as stowage items for the rear in the form of the German Fuel Drum set comprising several fuel drums and jerry cans. Count that as a big plus.

There’s more available for the Tamiya kit in the way of aftermarket accessories but many of these can be adapted to the Italeri version also. These include PE sets from Lion Roar, Griffon and Voyager, the Plus Model engine and various resin wheels. CMK also makes a number of conversions such as an ambulance body.

Revell Mercedes Benz L-701 :

This is a hard one to find as it’s out of production but it is the Italeri Coal Engine Opel Blitz reboxed and without the coal engine parts ( Revell also did the coal engine version but it’s even rarer ).

So what you do get is a rebadged Opel Blitz with a wooden cab as this was an Opel built under licence by Mercedes.

As far as I can tell there are limited AM options though being essentially an Opel Blitz many of the above should apply.

Italeri Mercedes L3000 :

The major drawback to this kit is that all Italeri did was take their Opel Blitz and put a new cab on it and call it an L3000. As the Opel Blitz was built under licence as the L-701 it’s conceivable that there were simlarities but there are enough small differences that Italeri completely missed. So the running gear, chassis, engine etc are all wrong though they are passable.  If you can live with that then everything that applies to the Italeri Opel Blitz applies here with the exception that you no longer get the two crew members.

Tamiya Mercedes Benz L3000 :

Reboxed Italeri kit with fuel drums and jerry cans added for stowage.

Not worth the premium price for the Tamiya logo.

Zvezda Mercedes Benz L4500 :

A newer kit and a very nice one at that.

It includes a very nicely detailed engine, well detailed wheels done in plastic slices and also comes with two figures.

Resin wheels are available for this, though not really needed. Other than that as it is new there aren’t yet a lot of AM parts available but it builds into a very nice kit without them.

This kit is a real winner and if you’re looking for a good model of a German truck then put this on your list.

Zvezda Mercedes Benz L4500 Maultier :

As above but with the tracked rear drive in place of wheels.

Again being a kit from Eastern Europe there doesn’t seem to be the level of after market upgrades that the main players like Tamiya and Dragon get but hopefully we’ll eventually get a PE upgrade that at least replaces the small fine details.

IBG Einheitsdiesel Kfz. 61 Fernsprechbetriebskraftwagen :

A new kit only just hitting the shelves but initial reports are that this is a very nice kit that could use a little improvement on some of the fine detailing.

A multimedia upgrade kit is on the way for the interior comprising resin, photo-etch and laser-cut wood parts ( see post below for image ). No word yet on any PE sets for the exterior.

IBG Einheitsdiesel Pritschenwagen :

Cargo version of the above having a metal tray with wood inside. Again there’s not a lot of info available on this kit just yet but it’s out there and it looks promising.

Because both of the IBG trucks are new there’s no other AM for them yet but if they’re popular enough hopefully we’ll see resin wheels and PE detailing sets.

In Conclusion :

And that sums it all up. Not really a lot to chose from but a big improvement over the days when the Italeri Opel Blitz and L3000 were it. My pick of the lot ( prior to seeing the IBG kits in the flesh ) are the Zvezda L4500 followed by the Tamiya Opel Blitz.

Other Allied trucks can be used in German service of course, especially in North Africa where captured British trucks were frequently used by their new owners. Kits like the Italeri Bedfords qualify here.

Also trucks used by the Russians were captured and used by the Germans. Kits like the Zvezda GAZ range and the ICM Studebaker ( supplied under lend-lease to the russians by the USA ) qualify here.

But it would still be nice to see a good quality plastic kit of the Henschell 33 D1, the MAN 4500 and any of the Krupps.

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