Burned Blitz

An insinerated Opel "Blitz"
Original: A standard Opel Blitz to play the role of a couple of Renault AHS on the real bridge. Our big "a bridge too far" diorama is much to small to be authentic. The real trucks on the bridge had more bullit holes than tin left from the fierce fighting. It's a bit of a compromise, but it makes an excelent addition to a diorama with a very big lot of exploring / viewing pleasure, for little ones and older.

Model: Italeri 35th scale, with 3d printed rear tyres and a lot of extra little things from the spare box and from Bas (The canisters)

Build: November 27 2022 - February 21 2023. It was on my list for a long time. After the burned kübel it was the natural thing to do. If it had not been for my stumble it would have been 2 months. It was a challenge to find the ballance between every detail correct, and just a visual better modell than before. The details almost got the better of me.

March 4 2023

On this build day in the Historama, in Son, the huge acrylic cover was opend to enter the Blitz and the "MP halted kübel" where put on the bridge deck. The 251/c wil be replaced by a /d in a command version. Bas Slaats decided the MP was checking an officer and his driver out of town, not into Arnhem. As he is the winner of many a trophy in diorama, he is probably right. I challenged him to improving the bridge itself after the 251 is done.

February 26 2023

It seems odd that the "ready" pictures are not the last ones, the placing them on the diorama are of course the last, but the pictures from February 21 are the best in lighting and thus in details visable. The adding of the foilage is disputable. What would be left of these branches? Than again, the fighting parties on the bridge had no chance of putting out the fires. The real vehicles were burned fully. This half way burned Blitz with it's cargo, gives a better idea of what devastation you get from fire.

February 20 2023

It took some time to get going on it. Humpty Dumpty, esspecially the cab, is together again. The frontwheels have a thin sheet of card under them to mimic the fallen debry of the tyres. The box of Maultier wheels has found a better place. The overal colour has been blended together and all is turning more black than my camera wants to believe it should be.

January 25 2023

We've all been there, one little stumble with a model in a box on top of your tools and a deafening silence after a sickening sound of a crash. Luckyly the box was a firm closed one, but it's a hugh step back. The cargo was the simplest part, the cab is a different story.

January 23 2023

All cab parts are getting together. Turns out a lot of the interiour (bench and door insides) are hardly visable. The doors open is an idea but that would make the modell very delcate. It is to be moved several times in the comming months, so I pus a reinforcing beam near the bottom, holding the doors open. The Maultier wheels are to fall through the nearly burned out part of the cargo bay. The doors are so thin that the paint from the inside shines through!

January 17 2023

The "piece de resitance" for this build is ready. The bench was just a lot of work, the inside of how a Blitz door looks is the cover panel has been burned off was the real puzzle.

January 6 2023

The cab is getting together, the bonnet sides from thin aluminium sheets have a first layor of paint. The setting with the rescued kübelwagen is getting it's shape. And how is this done? Just use every moment and be mobile. Being the first in your home gives you an oportunity to set the breakfast table and after that make some parts for your Blitz.

December 25 2022

The rescued kübelwagen gets crew members. After all, the Arnhem bridge was in one of the main roads of Holland, so they had it opened for traffic asap.

December 11 2022

And it's got exit rip holes, and a lot of small stuf added tot the cab. The holes in the bridge holding the bonnet sides has small holes that are to be hollowed out from within and the doors and bench remains are next.

December 7 2022

The solution is a top part made of aluminum sheet and a aluminum foil pressed over another spare cab's side grid's.

December 6 2022

The delicate broken down cab parts are together again, with some reinforsments and some putty. On the rest of the truck it begins to show where I'm heading. Devatation. I always become quiet and impressed with remains of vehicles like this.

December 5 2022

A quick grap in the spare box with all parts roughly cleaned and separated. The all time fixes, the radiator frame and the headlights are adressed. The pictures of a couple of AHS trucks on the bridge show lots of small caliber impacts, that make a dent to the inside, and rip holes to the outside, so an explosion inside is called for. That means that the engine covers must have been bulged out. First test: the original covers are punctured wit a small dril and aluminum foil glued on with superglue. pushing the foil out through the drilled holes is not what I want for these ripps.

December 4 2022

The chassis is a reworked wreck from the spare box. the frontwheels have brake drums, the rear wheels have non terrain tyres. The exhaust has a hole drilled to mimmic an open pipe. The box on the chassis is hanging open, as is one on the cargo bay. Some of the cargo supports are not fixed. When the 3 main build parts come together, we'll see about that.

December 1 2022

All burned wood parts are chewed away with a small milling cutter. The metal strips protruding. Empty trucks are rare, so just to create interresting bits to view, this truck brings spare parts for an armour workshop. The crates are spare seating benches and the strips that are left over from the milling. When the rest of the Blitz has been build, I can go on with that.

November 27 2022

The plan is to spare the rear part of the cargo bay, and as the cab wil be completly burned the front of the cargo must be burned extensively. With a dremel all not metal parts are taken out. All imperfections of the kit are filled and sanded.