March 31, 2025

Preview: 1/35th scale 3t Troop Carrier, 3,6-36S Radkasten-Normal Type from MiniArt.

We have the newest of MiniArt's "Blitz" trucks in 35th scale. This one is the troop transport with high sides. In CAD features in our preview...


1/35th scale 3t Troop Carrier, 3,6-36S Radkasten-Normal Type from MiniArt.

3t Troop Carrier, 3,6-36S Radkasten-Normal Type
From MiniArt
1/35th scale
Kit No#35453
Plastic & Photo-etched kit
Five marking choices are included in the box.
The Subject: Opel Blitz 3.6-36s
From 1939, the Blitz 3.6 three-tonne version was used in large numbers by the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) throughout World War II. Variants included an elongated version and the four-wheel drive Blitz A. To cope with the bad road conditions and the rasputitsa mud seasons on the Eastern Front, a half-tracked Maultier ("mule") Sd.Kfz. 3 version was built using tracks and suspension based on the British Universal Carrier. Among others, these were used as service vehicles for the Messerschmitt Me 323 military transport aircraft.
The light basic model was manufactured as the Blitz 2.5 in Rüsselsheim until 1942 and again from 1946, equipped with the 55 hp (41 kW) Opel Super 6 engine. On 6 August 1944, the Opelwerk Brandenburg was devastated by an RAF air raid. Until the end of the war, about 2,500 Blitz 3.6 trucks were built by order of Minister of Armaments Albert Speer at the Mannheim plant of the rival Daimler-Benz company, while production of its own Mercedes-Benz L3000 model had to be discontinued. After the war, the facilities in Brandenburg were completely dismantled at the behest of the Soviet Military Administration, while Daimler-Benz in Mannheim resumed building the Blitz 3.6 under the designation L 701 until 1949. The last 467 medium trucks were again assembled by Opel in Rüsselsheim until production finally discontinued in 1954 without a successor.

This version has the tarpaulin sides, not included in this kit.
The blitz radkasten-type.
The first platform superstructure, which was made especially for the Wehrmacht, was the offener Radkastenaufbau - open wheelhouse superstructure - with 965 mm high sides. The clear width was 1,880 mm. Two benches were installed inside in the longitudinal direction. The entrance was at the rear. This version was mainly used as a personnel carrier of motorised infantry units.
There was also a broadened version of the offener Radkastenaufbau with a clear width of 2,070 mm. This version was mainly used for the installation of special equipment sets like ammunition racks for heavy machine guns or other heavy infantry weapons like the 5 and 8 cm mortars. The hoops were fixed to the forward section of the superstructure, and the tarpaulin was fixed with two straps to the roof of the driver’s cab.

The Kit:
We have some nice CADs of this kit providing some details of the makeup of the model. A walk around of the whole 3,6-36S Radkasten-Normal Type kit.
You notice the stringers that the canvas hood are folded down over the roof of the cab. The bench seats in the rear tray also give this away as a troop-transporting truck.
You get a better look at the high-sided rear tray in the photos below. It is nearly as high as the cab roof.
You see the differences you can choose in this kit. The different mudguard at the front being the major difference to the earlier type.
The MG-34 on a pedestal gives some form of self-defence to the troops that it carries.
The rear tray can, of course, be folded down too.
There are five marking choices in this boxing also. More on that to come.

This kit from MiniArt will soon be available. Until then, keep an eye on MiniArt's website or just look in here for more info on MiniArt’s new stuff.