MIG Productions provides this fairly simple update set designed for the Tamiya German 3ton 4x2 Cargo Truck (kit #35291) that basically transforms the appearance of the kit with very little effort.
The set consists of 12 parts cast in light cream resin with the standard of resin casting being excellent without any major blemishes or distortions although there are couple of minor niggles with the wheels as we will see below.
Included is a full set of 7 replacement resin wheels featuring the later rims with 8 lightening holes and tyres with a civilian pattern that was often seen used on various transport trucks of the Wehmacht plus a covered radiator to protect against freezing in the Russian winter and a full canvas cover for the rear cargo tray that features alternate open or closed rear flap.
Detail on the wheel rims/hubs is cleanly done with just some thin resin film to be removed from the lightening holes in the outer rear and spare wheels and small casting plugs to be removed from the wheels, the resulting scar can be positioned at ground contact to hide out of the way.
The civilian tread pattern in nicely depicted but the outer shoulder edges are quite sharp and light sanding may be an option, also a couple of the wheels were not perfectly round with small distortions in the profile as well as the tread slightly distorted either side of the pour plug on a couple of wheels and again light sanding should remedy this without destroying the tread pattern as it is only minor. This may not be an issue on some sets as resin casting can produce different results between sets but as mentioned was only minor in any case.
The rear duel wheels have the inner wheel that includes the central hub with the outer wheel fitting in place over this for easy assembly. You should ensure to line up the pour scar level on both wheels as you glue together to hide these out of the way at ground contact after assembly.
Using these later style wheels will also overcome the rear suspension issue with the kit where the reinforced rear springs are not applicable to the earlier wheels included in the kit.
Rear wheels
Fitting the wheels to the Tamiya kit is very straightforward but I did drill out the locating hole in the back of the resin wheels to better fit the kit axle stubs, you could of course shorten the axle stubs to fit the shallower holes in the wheels but leaving the axles longer ensures a more robust assembly. Be very careful if drilling the wheels not to go all the way through the hubs and test fit as you go to get the hole at just the right depth.
The covered radiator is also a straightforward fit as this simply replaces the kit radiator (part B14) and includes the lower locating lug and side indentations for the kit hood parts.
Moving the the rear cargo tray canvas cover this is in one large casting with separate end flap sections and as mentioned there are alternate open and closed flaps for the back depending on your choice.
Casing on the main cover is very good with just some minor casting residue to remove from the front edge, although determining which is the front and back is a little tricky as it's not identified but basically the end with the excess pour resin is the front end.
Detail on the cover is also nicely done with the tilt frame and creases well defined as are the 6 side flaps which are moulded in the closed position and there are the small round tie down cleats included along the lower edge which you can easily drill out to include tie down rope from thin thread if you wish.
The only minor issue is some of the canvas creases at the sides look a little sharp but light sanding will fix this if you think it's a problem?
Fitting the front end section was easy but there was a bit of a gap along the top which is easily filled using thick super glue or epoxy as there still should be a bit of a join seam but just less than the initial gap. The lower edge also needed trimming for a better fit to the kit tray and test fitting will determine how much if any trimming is needed on your set.
At the back there are alternate rear flaps either open or closed and fitting the large closed flap is much the same as the front if you want to fully close off the tray interior. The open flap is nicley depicted laying over the top of the canvas but the pour plug as along the curve of the flap and when removed there were a couple of holes due to the very thin resin at this point and some minor filling was required. You don't have to be to precise when sanding the filler as it is a canvas flap so any fold profile is okay and the flap itself sat very realistically on top of the cover to give a very good appearance over the 'sterile' closed flap.
The fit of the main cover the Tamiya cargo tray is excellent with a small recessed lip along the insides of the cover fitting perfectly over the tray sides making for a very easy and trouble free assembly.
Basically there aren't any other than a few small images of the fully assembled and painted set on the Tamiya Blitz but you don't really need any as it's quite easy to work out where things go, the only minor thing is to determine which is the front and back of the canvas cover and the corresponding end flap but test fitting will quickly determine this.
This is a very simple update set that doesn't require any alterations to the Tamiya kit to fit the replacement resin parts and fitting the later 8 holed wheels and full canvas tray cover gives a very different look to the finished kit.
The rendering of the canvas cover details and folds will come up very well with painting and the covered radiator perfect for a winter diorama.
Highly recommended
Also see the Opel Blitz subject page for reviews of additional update/detail sets available for the Opel Blitz
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Trucks of the Wehrmacht Hard Cover |
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Opel Blitz in Detail |
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Opel Blitz in Detail |
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Opel Blitz 43 pages with excellent colour walkaround photos of museum 4x4 Blitz with a bonus decal sheet included. |
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the review kit.