Rubicon Models Sdkfz 305 Review

 Rubicon have recently released their new Opel Blitz kit, labelled as the Sdkfz 305 for copyright reasons, and supplied one to me to review. (The painted vehicles being ones I have assembled for work, with my own one being the unassembled one).

The kit comes in the familiar dark grey plastic on 2 sprues, and is scaled to 1/56. Of note is the fantastic decal sheet, and the slide moulded cab. Also included are 2 crew figures.

 No windows are provided for the cab, however a template is supplied on the instruction sheet for you to make your own. also included are a choice of canvas tilts for the cargo area. 

Rubicons Opel assembles very quickly and simply, taking around 30 minutes to put together, and fitting very well. One nice feature is that you can leave the cab and cargo tilt off the model until painting is complete, and then they just snap into place. 

One feature I especially liked was the pose able nature of the cargo bed, allowing you to model the tailgate dropped, or even convert the kit to mount a 20mm anti-aircaft gun, something I may well do with mine. 

Only a few negatives presented them selves with this were the crew, who were very soft in detail and are probably best off replaced, however they are also hard to see so it's not too much of an issue. 

One thing that did confuse me though was the instructions suggest you can fit the benches along the sides of the truck bed as well as rowed up along the centre, however if this is the case there's either one missing or you have to cut one of the benches in half. 


 


Again, a minor complaint. The final issue to present itself was the pioneer tools are quite brittle and several snapped in removable from the sprue, although this was easy to over come due to the way they fit to the rest of the truck. 

I painted the trucks with a base coat of Vallejo middlestone, before mixing increasing amounts of Pale Sand in and airbrushing on a series highlights and areas of fading. Weathering was carried out with washes of artists oils, notably Daley Rowney Burnt Umber.   

More information can be found at the Rubicon Models website, and the kits can be obtained in the UK through Plastic Soldier Company. As ever you can find more of my work at Volley Fire Painting Service.