Tamiya 3ton 4×2 Opel Blitz German Truck

The German army in WWII used a wide variety of wheeled vehicles as part of their overall strategy of fast mechanized warfare. Among the most widely used was the 3Ton 4×2 Cargo Truck, a truck design that was first produced in the 1930s. Featuring a dependable 6-cylinder gasoline engine, the 3Ton 4×2 Cargo Truck could take on a very large payload disproportionate to its size. They proved to be not only extremely reliable, but also very versatile, and were employed in a wide variety of roles, including fuel truck, ambulance, radio truck, as well as general-purpose cargo truck.

Mass production of the civilian version started in 1935 and the military version started in 1937, the Opel Blitz 3-ton 4X2 cargo truck became the backbone of the German military logistics machine in WWII.

Its 68hp engine gave it a top speed of 85kp/h and a range of 320km, which with its amazing load-carrying ability made it perfect for the German Army. By the time the production factory was bombed in 1944, over 78,000 examples had been built.

Kit Highlights

• High-quality 1/35 scale assembly model kit of the 3Ton 4×2 Cargo Truck.
• This kit is an all-new molding, and is much more accurate than kits current on the market.
• The actual truck’s chassis had a forward slant (designed to balance the cargo’s weight), and this unique feature has been accurately reproduced.
• Suspension features a reasonable number of parts for easy assembly without sacrificing detail.- Driver and navigator figures included.
• Accessory set of fuel drums and jerry cans also included for a full cargo load.
• Comes with 4 types of markings, including both German army and Luftwaffe units.
• To aid with painting, window masks will be included for the first time in a military model.
• The actual truck served from the 1930s to the end of the war on all battle fronts, so this model can be displayed together with a wide range of other Tamiya 1/35 scale vehicles and figures such as Sturmgeschutz III Ausf. B and King Tiger.
• Kit # 35291
• MSRP: $44.00 USD

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The Kit:

There’s nothing that many modelers over the last few years haven’t said about this model kit. This is the German 3ton 4×2 Cargo Truck in 1/35th scale from Tamiya. It is an excellent representation of the otherwise known as Opel Blitz. The kit come with a nicely (for my taste) sculpted driver and passenger figures with separate arms to depict different poses.

Markings are provided for 4 different vehicles:

• Northern sector of the Eastern Front, June 194.
• Poland, September, 1939
• Western Front, May, 1940
• AA Gun Regiment Luftwaffe, North Africa 1942.

The kit also has X 2 sprues with 3 drums and 8 crisply detailed jerry cans. What can the modeler display on the cargo area is up to our imagination. I chose to use only 1 sprue for 3 drums, 8 jerry cans and left some room. There was an oldie but goodie Tamiya 20mm Flak 38 MIT kit # 35102 in my stash so here it is straight out of the box.

The fit on this kit is the classic Tamiya fit we are used to. The cargo bed is comprised of 5 mayor parts. These parts have some ejection pin marks to deal with. To make it harder, they are on the wood grain area. Some of these pin marks are behind the cab but others are quite visible.

As with most vehicles from the era, there’s not a lot of gauges and modern amenities on the dash board. The few are very nicely represented and the fit to the firewall and top is great.  The posture of the driver is near perfect, I modified the right arm to have it rest on the shifter. BTW, both figures are the same sculpture but provided are 2 heads and a extra left hand.

The entire kit was painted using Tamiya XF-63 German Gray using my Aztek A470 airbrush. After coating the entire model with Testors Dullcote, washes were given selectively using AK Interactive Products. The kit provides vinyl masks for the clear parts. At least the ones that came with my kit are not pre cut so I decided instead to use Tamiya making tape.

The tire threads are exquisitely portrayed on the kit and I’d dare to say that it does has the quality and accuracy of the resin counterpart. 1 things is missing, well, actually 2:

There is no way to display this model with the hood ”wings” open unless you want to depict a no engine vehicle diorama. This is a shame, the front grill is nicely rendered and thru it one can see that there is no engine in there. Looks like a halfway done job from Tamiya.  There are holes on the top of the oil pan that gives a hint that engine could be added. I’d love to see the engine included with this kit or at least offered separate as the MAYBACH HL42 from Great Wall Hobby.

Also missing from this kit is the Opel Blitz emblem. C’mon Tamiya, this is the famous Opel Blitz. It’s like building a Mercedes Benz with no emblem.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Despite the lack of engine and emblem, the 3ton 4×2 Opel Blitz German Truck from Tamiya will be a nice addition to your German utility vehicles collection. The display possibilities are endless. I would blindly recommend it to a friend.

Thanks to my wallet for this sample.