Entry posted by Will Vale
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Opel Blitz by Will Vale, on Flickr
While I've fallen into the usual post-exhibition-leads-into-Christmas-holidays modelling lull, it's only been a railway modellling lull and I've actually got several non-train projects on the go at the moment. Thankfully I managed to steer my enthusiasm in the direction of railways again by building an Opel Blitz to use on a possible airfield extension to Tanis 1937.
(If you haven't seen Tanis, it's an A3 diorama/mini-layout combining Tamiya 1:48 models and figures with scratchbuilt Decauville-gauge rolling stock in an attempt to capture something of the Indiana Jones movies in miniature.)
The idea would be to extend the line off to the left, winding around/along a wadi and through a camp to the edge of an airfield. Given the theme the airfield is an intended as an excuse for some of the weirder WW2 Luftwaffe aircraft - I've almost finished a Do335 Pfeil, for example, and I have unbuilt kits of the Storch and the Go229 flying wing for when I muster the courage and skills to attempt them. I'm not going to worry about the combination of late-war prototypes and a pre-war setting, since Lucas and Spielberg didn't seem to either 
I thought a truck would be a good companion to this scene, and picked up the Tamiya-issued Italeri kit of the Opel Blitz in a HobbyLink Japan sale a year or two ago. It looked nice in the box but sat on the shelf for a while - I only got around to building it at the weekend and it's just seen the primer can today.
I was intending to build it straight from the box since I don't know much about the real trucks, but ended up chasing up pictures on the internet and making various changes to suit as I went along.
Things I've changed:
* Removed the honking great screw bosses for attaching the cab and load bed to the chassis, which opens up the underneath.
* Added a very rough scratch-built engine (and radiator, which isn't attached yet) since there was too much air visible through the (very nice) open slatted radiator grille.
* Realised that I'd gone too far on the engine and arranged for the cab to be removable with a washer under the seat and a magnet in the fuel tank, so that I can still see it after the truck's finished.
* Cut out one of the cab doors so I can pose it open, and added new pedals since what was in the kit bore little relation to reality.
* Made framing for the canvas tilt from brass wire, rather than using the supplied plastic tilt. The load bed is pretty nice, but the tilt is the wrong shape (sloping sides, presumably for mould-removal reasons) and meets the top of the load bed in a straight line rather than a wavy fabric edge.
* Removed the flag and tool clips from the wings and the towing triangle from the roof - I'm not sure if these were on the early trucks, and I think it suits the layout intent a bit better if it looks slightly less military. I've seen pictures of tools on the sides of the load bed so I might do that instead.
I'm intending to make a new canvas cover from foil or tissue or something and leave the rear frame off, which is why it's probably OK to have the rather heavy wire for the tilt - it'll be hidden;) The primer reveals that the load bed pin marks need more putty... I also need to gently sand back the primer since it's rather grainy - this is probably to the good on the chassis, but the wooden sides and the cab will need to be made smoother.
Anyway, hope you like it so far - I know this is only tangentially railway-related in itself but the skills do cross over and at some point it will have a layout to live on! For now it can share space with the Kubelwagen in the lower right, assuming I can squeeze it in there.
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