W.I.P. pics of new projects....

[matrixone]

Thank you Ian,
This has been a fun diversion from my usual Luftwaffe stuff and I can see myself building more armor kits but in a larger scale.

Matrixone

[matrixone]

A couple pics of my 1/35th scale Italeri Opel Blitz truck, I WAS looking forward to building this kit but as I quickly found out it has some problems.
The first thing I noticed was the photograph of the completed model on the box top is printed backwards which is rather strange, also the markings on the box top model are not even included in the kit.

Fit of the parts is not all that bad but the clear parts are undersized, the windscreen was so undersized it would fall right through the cab and was impossible to glue it in. I ended up gluing  plastic strips on the inside of the cab to give something for the windscreen to be glued to.




Matrixone

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Keep going with it, Les. It's a cracking little model when it's done. I've built two over the years and have a third in my 'Will get around to it one day' pile !!

Ian

[matrixone]

Thanks Ian,
Did the kits you built have the too small windscreen problem too?

All the clear parts in my kit were slightly undersized but the windscreen was so small it just fell through the cab...I never came across such a problem before quite like this.


Matrixone

[kerick]

Was it not fully molded? Some kind of short shot?

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Pretty certain my past builds were all OK. Would need to check on the current one later. Will drop you a PM later today or tomorrow, Les.

Ian

[matrixone]

kerick,
No, the clear parts were actually in pretty good shape and had no signs of being a molding short shot, the cab parts looked good too. The windscreen itself was very clear and looked better than many clear parts in most other kits.

Ian,
Thanks for the reply, I wonder if clear parts shrink over a period of time? That might be a reason for the mismatch of the part sizes, after all this is an older kit and no telling when the parts were actually produced.

Matrixone

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks for the reply, I wonder if clear parts shrink over a period of time? That might be a reason for the mismatch of the part sizes, after all this is an older kit and no telling when the parts were actually produced.

Not in my experience. I've got LOADS of 1/24 scale car kits and I quite often get them out and fiddle with them before returning them to their boxes to do some proper modelling, ie aeroplanes.  I've never noticed any shrinkage of the clear parts and I often partially assemble the windows to the body shell to see how they would look if I actually built one.......

[Father Ennis]

I don't know how they did it but indeed "some" of them do do that.  It's been like that since the kit first came out. I've built a bunch of them over the years. I've always liked the kit and enjoyed building it. The Testors version had the best decal sheet in it !!!   

[matrixone]

Thanks Kit and Father Ennis.

Father Ennis,
Thanks for letting me know that, I can't think of anything I have done to cause such a poor fit of the windscreen.
The decal sheet in my Italeri kit looks rather poor so Testors would not have to try that hard to improve upon it.


Just a few minutes ago I painted one of the other camo colors on the model, when that's dry I will add the other color.


Matrixone

[matrixone]

The green added to the Opel Blitz earlier today. The paint job is sort of patchy looking but that was intended...I want it to look like it was a roughly applied field paint job, the weathering effects to follow will further distress the camo paint and give it a more natural look.



Next up for this model will be adding the other camouflage color, red/brown.


Matrixone

[Cobra]

This is Looking like Another Masterpiece,IMHO Dan

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

I checked last night, Les. Mine is a 2007 release (same kit, same decal sheet, new box). You're right the windshield is a little small, but not as much as yours seems to be !!

Ian

[matrixone]

Thank you Cobra!

Ian,
I purchased my kit well before 2007, no telling when it was actually produced. Everything I am hearing about this kit is its an oldie. For such an old kit its not that bad except for the windscreen problem.
The decals provided in the kit don't match the box top model nor the painting guide in the instructions.

Two more in-progress pics...here you can see the camouflage painting is complete as well as the first phase of weathering which was some drybrushing mostly on the wooden truck bed.



Matrixone

[The Wooksta!]

AFAIK, it's a 1970s kit.