IPMS/USA Reviews

The Opel "Blitz" truck was produced from 1930 to 1975. It was used as a commercial vehicle, and when the Wehrmacht needed a reliable and fast truck, the Blitz was chosen. In 1937, the Nazis had Opel build a factory at Brandenburg, which turned out over 130,000 Blitzes, until the RAF stopped production in 1944 by bombing the plant.

This kit is the ambulance version of the Opel Blitz. The ambulance had a transportation box on the back to handle casualties.

The Kit

There are two sprues, along with a clear sheet for windows, and a decal sheet. One sprue is for the chassis and cab, the other is the ambulance box. No PE, no resin, no problem.

The model is fairly straightforward to build. There's a frame section, the cab, the ambulance box, the wheels, and some detail parts. The kit is a reissue of the ESCI ambulance from the 1970s. The molds have been reworked, as there 's no flash, and the parts are pretty well molded.

Background

The T-54/55 series of Soviet tanks are the most important tanks to see operation in the Cold War era, if for no other reason than sheer numbers: some estimates put total production at over 100,000 units. This series of tanks have also been used in almost every conflict of the second half of the 20^th century, large and small, beginning with the invasion of Hungary by Soviet forces in 1956, the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967, 1973, 1982, the Vietnam war from 1967-75, the Iran-Iraq wars of 1980-88, the conflicts in Afghanistan, the Yugoslav Civil wars, and conflicts across Africa. This new, super detailed kit from MiniArt represents the initial production variant of the T-54 which started rolling off production lines in 1947, but suffered from a great many teething troubles. For a superb blog on the T-54, please check here: https://thesovietarmourblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/t-54.html

The Churchill Mk. IV infantry tank was the most produced version of the Churchill. It was used as a basis for a number of special models including the Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE), a combat engineer vehicle designed for destroying enemy fortifications. After the failure of the Dieppe landings, it was realized that there needed to be a way to effectively handle enemy defensive fortifications during an amphibious landing. The AVRE was developed by the Canadians and saw its first action supporting the landings on D-Day. The normal gun on the Mk. IV was replaced with a Petard 290mm spigot mortar that fired a 40lb round. A team of five combat engineers crewed the vehicle with a driver selected from the Armoured corps. The vehicle was very successful and was used until the end of the war.

The original BMPT Terminator was designed to be a combat support vehicle for urban combat. It seems to have been conceived from combat experience gained in the first Chechen War and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The BMPT itself was built on a modernized T-72 chassis with the main armament consisting of four 9M120 Ataka missile launchers and two 30 mm 2A42 autocannons. The BMPT-72 Terminator 2 is the successor to the original BMPT Terminator 1 and like the original is built on the T-72 chassis. However, the BMPT-72 is only being built as a retrofit kit for export to countries that have old T-72s. This new kit from Tiger Models is the first kit of this very unique vehicle.