introduction

Got a Blitz with an underachieving engine when it comes to detail? Check out the catalog of Dnepromodel. It might very well be that they have exactly what you are looking for.

The Company:
Dnepromodel is a company from Hungary that caters to the market with a variety of 1:35 kits. Ranging from full resin kit to conversions and accessories. You might have seen them on Facebook where they regularly advertise their stuff and often have great reductions on their kits. Especially their Opel Blitz range which is very neat, but they also have some interesting conversions for the Ford V3000/Maultier and the BA64 series.

review

For a project I started recently I was in need of an engine with transmission. Since the kit I was working on offered nothing in the way of an interior (Hobby Boss Saurer RK7), just an emptiness… with an incorrect floor. So I started looking around for a 4 litre engine or at least something close. And that made me end up at the Dnepromodels webstore where I found a 3,6 litre Blitz engine with transmission. And since most people (me included) will not tell the difference between a Saurer or Opel engine block I decided that was good enough and I ordered it. With the new year holiday in between it took the kit a couple of days to get from Dnepropetrovsk in the Ukraine to me in Holland. Quite a decent speed and it was well packaged with protective foam sheet so nothing was damaged during the trip.

Inside the box:
Upon opening the package I found a well wrapped smaller white box measuring 12,5 cm wide by 5,5 cm high and 5,5cm deep. The box art consisted of a picture of the fully assembled engine and transmission set along with the companies contact details.

Inside was, again, well wrapped in protective foam, a bunch of bags all heat sealed with 19 resin parts, a smaller bag with a fret with 4 PE parts and an instruction sheet A4 sized.

The parts:
The resin parts look very cleanly cast. At first glance there appear to be some small air bubbles and holding some of the thinner parts up to the light showed some air bubbles close under the surface. They do not show but be careful with sanding or scraping with the hobby knife as you might just "pop" them. But fear not with a bit of putty it is a job done with ease.

The engine is broken up in several parts with the biggest part being the engine block itself. Nicely mastered with good details and sharply cast.

The second bag holds several smaller parts for the inside of the transmission housing, the distributor, spark plugs etc. Again… nicely detailed. The big flange like parts for the inside of the transmission housing are molded on quite thick resin blocks. For one part this is not a big problem as there is a bit of space between the part and the block to release it with a razor saw. But the other part is molded flush on top of the block and the only option to get it off is carefully sanding the block away. A sanding board might be a good solution here.
The distributor is molded with some short ends of wire sticking out of the top which makes the attachment of the wiring of the engine an easy one.

Bag 3 holds 4 really small parts. Among them an oil can. And some small bits & bobs to detail the engine.

Bag 4 is home to the transmission housing. This is a large part which is very well done; hollow on the inside and has the correct reinforcement ribs. It is complete all the way to where the driveshaft would connect to it. It is this part that suffers the most from the air bubble problem as it is quite thin.

Bag 5 holds three small parts to detail the engine and transmission set.

Bag 6 has some parts that you can add to the engine bay itself. A very neatly rendered battery, a car horn and a smaller doodad.

Bag 7 has the PE fret. On it you will find the tray on which you have to attach the battery to. The radiator fan and the big flywheel that goes inside the transmission housing. Plus a fourth that I have not exactly figured out where it should belong.

The Instructions:
The instructions are printed A4 format, and as you can see in the pictures the people at Dnepromodel used only half of it. This makes it a bit small and not easy to follow. Especially when it comes to the three photographs that show additional detailing from an original Opel Blitz engine bay. Since they are so small it is very hard to see what goes where.

Get the motor runnin’:
How does it stand up against the 1:1 Blitz powerhouse? Not counting on dimensions but on looks it is a carbon copy of the 1937 3,6 liter 6 cylinder in line engine. It stands up against all the pictures I have seen so far of Opel Blitz engines of that size. The ribs, the details, the smaller parts attaching to it...it matches up correctly.

Dimension wise I can’t comment too much on it. I have seen a lot of Blitz engines and I have seen a lot of photographs of Blitz engines. Sadly I never took the time to measure one up. It fits perfectly in the old Italeri Opel Blitz. And since the inside of my Saurer RK7 SdKfz 254 is like an empty ballroom… it fits in there as well.
The air bubbles could be a minor nuisance but I think even a modeler with moderate skills should deal with that with ease.

Conclusion

I’d recommend this engine set to anybody looking to swap the engine of their Opel Blitz kits. It certainly is an improvement of the Italeri engine. Also the company is a joy to deal with. Very good webshop and ordering is a breeze. They support Paypal, shipping is quite fast and they package their products really well.

And as an aside to that, they really care for their customers. I placed the order just before New Year, and inside the box was a Christmas card with a personal message. A really neat gesture and my first Ukranian Christmas card. Looking back at it… it is not only a review of the Blitz engine… it is also a review of the company. A company that I’d love to deal with in the future.