Cold & weary Opel Blitz

1/35 Cyber Hobby Opel Blitz (early type),

This is a first attempt at a winter whitewash. Using Cyber Hobby's 'early' six stud pattern wheeled Opel Blitz as a testbed.

 

3D Printed Sd.Ah 56/57 Ammunition Trailer

Having already built the only available 1/35 kit of the Sd.Ah 56/57 Flak ammo trailer made by Wiener Modellbau, a new 3D printed version is now available. The WM resin kit is a nice little kit and builds up well, but it is pretty basic in certain areas and lacks a lot of detail. The new printed version has been designed by modeller Darius Stucinskas and is available to download from: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/1-35-scale-sd-ah-56-57-ammunition-trailer

The single axle 1.5T trailer was used to carry ammunition for self-propelled Flak guns and were typically towed by late war vehicles such as the Sd.Kfz 7/2, Mercedes 4500 and Bussing NAG 4500. http://www.kfzderwehrmacht.de/Homepage_english/Trailers/Special_trailers/Sd__Ah__56-57/sd__ah__56-57.html

Apart from the obvious careful removal of support material and the clean-up of the little nubs where they attach to the parts there is no other clean up required. The detail in the printing is difficult to see in the beige-coloured resin so any imperfections are only going to show up after a light coat of primer. It is advisable therefore to primer the larger panels before any small fragile parts are attached. This way any issues can be addressed whilst still possible. 

The front and rear support legs are engineed to be moveable if you wish and the suspension and axle bolt to the chassis as per the real thing. With care it is also possible to make the handbrake workable. The only additional material required is some 0.3mm copper wire. 

A selection of tread patterns are available for the tyres and a wooden  'roof rack' can be added. Two optional rear chassis profiles are included both with their own support leg design. The sliding interior portioning grills are intricately designed and along with all the separately printed retaining hoops, clasps, wingnuts, and padlocks, make for an incredibly details model.

Constructions starts off with the axle chassis and suspension. The main chassis is printed in one piece but here you can choose from two rear braces with their own individual support leg designs. The legs are workable and can be positioned up or down.  

The front support leg can be built to be moveable using the small bolts available and will slide up and down. It is advisable to open the existing holes with micro drills to achieve a better fitment of the bolts as the printing process does flatten the exit holes a little.

The handbrake can also be built to be moveable using additional 0.3mm wire but care is required as the parts are very thin. Tiny pins and bolts are employed to achieve moving parts should you wish to.

A selection of tread patterns is available as are wheel designs so if you want to represent a particular vehicle it might be worth contacting the designer to request a particular wheel or tyre design.

The body is built up from a floor, four sides, a roof and a centrally located support bar.  Care is needed to align these tightly noting the slight floor design cut-out at the front which sits on the angled chassis frame. My kit came with the curved roof design although later variants can be seen with flat roofs and door designs with less hinges.

 

Any interior cargo and ammo will need to be attached before the roof is glued down.

Ammunition containers for Flak 36/37, 38 and 43 are available and these are printed open and closed along with the shell trays ready for firing. The shells are also available on the trays, separate and as spent casings, so all possibilities are catered for.

 

The sliding dividing grills are incredibly fragile, so special care is required removing the supports. These were employed to prevent the load sliding forwards are backwards in transit. Typically, the ammo containers were placed over the axle with additional equipment and crew gear at either end. Access was available from two doors either side and from doors front and rear. 

A wooden sided roof rack is also available and gives additional storage.  I plan to add more load items to this area.

I decided to model my trailer with both doors open on one side and with the rear door open. To avoid using all the 3D printed ammo boxes, plastic stock was used to bulk out the hidden boxes on the floor.  Any areas that were visible through open doors was also covered with ammo boxes or additional equipment.  Loose ammo boxes and crew paraphernalia will be kept separate to aid painting.

 

The last parts to add will be the very small locker door wingnut catches, hoops for the door clasps, and the padlocks and chains. I fear that some of these parts are so well represented in scale to be virtually impossible to remove from the supports without damage, but I will endeavour to salvage what I can. 

Build complete with additional roof box accessories ready for paint

This build was going to replace a resin Wiener Sd.Ah 56 trailer currently displayed with my Sd.Kfz 7 Flak 43 sitting on a windy Italian mountain round. The paint scheme is in plain Dunkelgelb so the trailer will receive the same monochrome finish.

I had a few ready mixed shades of Tamiya dark yellow and levelling thinner left, so I used these for shadow areas underneath the trailer and on the lower panels. The final coat is with Mission Models Late 1944 RAL 7028. This to my wonky eyes is one of the more accurate in scale appearance dark yellows. My Sd.Kfz 7 Flak 43 is highlighted in this and I recall adding a drop of Tamiya clear yellow to a subsequent varnish coat to get a more harmonised effect. This will receive the same treatment.

The attached roof box accessories colours were blocked in with Vallejo acrylics and the same manufacturers Iraqi sand was used to give pronounced areas a highlight which always works well with proceeding pin washes and post shading steps. All the 3D printed ammo containers and added accessories were painted at the same time. The ammo boxes deliberately finished in a shinier yellow hue to give them some contrast.

The final base coat layers were carried out was a fine misting of lightened and darkened MM Dunkelgelb through a stencil mask to the larger panels. This gives a worn patina finish I like to use which starts off the weathering stage.