Verlinden Blitz Diorama

Opel Blitz diorama

Original: In the book "the Verlinden way 1" François Verlinden publishes a picture of this diorama. A spare wheel is to replace the flat. A very simple story, perfectly captured

Model: Italeri Blitz with reworked figures, spare parts and detailing. The iconic thin base, a sheet of wood-like material with the small sign, are part of the unmistakable Verlinden style.

Build: Somewhere 1980. It has the first rubber tyres that used the wrong agent. March 2023 the snow is the last detail to bring back this masterpiece to the delightfull viewing standard.

March 12 2023

And a test shot after the touching up of colour on the rims. I saved as much of the original rims and I replaced everything with original parts of the same kit. I even have to look twice to see where the new parts are put in. And the less I see, the better this magnificent yem is preserved for now. Saved and viewable for the next 40 years?

March 6 2023

After the burned vehicles I build, for the "A bridge too far" diorama, the curator of the Historama pulls a burned MB L3000 on a little diorama, from his storage and challenges me to save it. It has a magnificent paint job, you can almost smell the burned details. That went wel (See the gallery) and halfway it hits me. It is a glass ceiling. I've got this magnificent diorama to save, to make viewable again. It has to happen now. In a wink the rims are harvested from the unbuild parts. The first step is cutting te largest part of, than sanding it until the inner art of th wheel falls out. The old ones are cut off easily. The plastic is soft as butter. The wheels are testfitted and the pictures are the check for flaws.

September 2020

Autum 2020 brings a new piece of the puzzle of what happend to the huge collection of models of Jos Stok. Among them this Verlinden diorama. Suprisingly complete, but dirty and with a big problem. The first generation of Italeri's bafeling 1975 Opel Blitz had an agent in the tyres that dissolved the plastic it came into contact with. Bare, liquid plastic bulging out of the wheels. The hint of snow is a small problem, but there is no way that these old rims can be fixed. It needs new rims and a new front suspention. But how can I bring myself to cut into a masterpiece.....