Search the Community

TACAM T-60 Romanian 76mm SPG. INTERIOR KIT 1:35 MiniArt (35240) The T-60 was the result of the ongoing development of light tanks that had started well before WWII. This particular tank started development in 1938 as an attempt to replace the T-26, T-40, the failed T-46 project and the T-50. Whilst such a large number were produced, it was hated by all who had to deal with it – all except the Germans, who found it to be a substandard and underwhelming opponent, and a rather nice ammunition carrier or gun towing tractor, once captured. As a result of its poor armour, substandard armament and sluggish performance, it was more dangerous to its crews than anybody else, earning it the title Bratskaya Mogila Na Dovoikh, literally: “a brother’s grave for two.” The basic design was completed in a mere fifteen days, and Astrov, seconded by Lieutenant Colonel V.P. Okunev, wrote to Stalin contrasting the advantages of the mass-producible T-60 with the more complicated T-50, which had already received the go-ahead. An inspection from a senior minister resulted in two decisions: firstly, the 12.7 mm (0.5 in) machine gun was to be replaced with a 20 mm (0.79 in) ShVAK, although it was still inadequate against the Panzer IIIs and IVs that the T-60 would almost certainly engage whilst there was a shortage of T-34s. Secondly, the Main Defence Committee (GKO), headed by Stalin, ordered 10,000 T-60s to be produced immediately. Some sources have claimed that Stalin’s interest in the vehicle is because he attended the vehicle’s final trials in person. The displacement of the Soviet industry in 1941 disrupted production and further refinement of the T-60. In autumn, Zavod Nr 37’s work on the T-60 was transferred to Zavod Nr 38 at Kirov and GAZ in Gorki. Shortly after, industrial evacuations continued, and GAZ was the sole producer of the T-60. In 1942, the T-60’s frontal armour was increased to 35 mm (1.37 in), which was still inadequate and made the tank more sluggish. The GAZ-203 engine gave the T-60 theoretical speeds of 44 km/h (27 mph) on road and 22 km/h (14 mph) off-road, but this was always difficult to achieve as a result of horrifically bad mud and snow. Replacing the spoked road wheels on the 1941 model with all-metal disc wheels, especially as a result of rubber shortages, did not help alleviate this problem either. The development of removable track extensions also did little to help mobility. Finally, any attempt to increase the calibre of the gun proved difficult. There were attempts to replace the main gun with a 37 mm (1.45 in) ZiS-19 or a 45 mm (1.77 in) ZiS-19BM, but proved unsuccessful as a result of the small turret. By the time a redesigned turret with the ZiS-19BM had passed trials, the T-60 as a whole was cancelled with the introduction of the T-70 in late 1942, although 55 T-60s were produced in 1943. The Germans would use captured tanks under the designation Panzerkampfwagen T-60 743(r), and the Romanians would modify 34 captured tanks into TACAM tank destroyers in 1943 armed with captured Russian 76mm divisional guns housed in a lightly armoured superstructure. These vehicles were confiscated by the Russians when Roumania changed sides in 1944. The Model The kit comes in the fairly standard, yet sturdy and colourful top opening box MiniArt use, with an artists impression of the vehicle on the front. As with most MiniArt kits there is a huge amount of detail contained on the sprues and in this one there are 34 sprues, including the etched brass. A lot of the spures contain common T-60 parts but there is one larger sprue for the TACAM. The mouldings are superb with no imperfections and very few moulding pips. Some of the smaller parts, and there are a lot of them, do have a fair number of sprue gates, but fortunately they are relatively small and shouldn’t cause too many problems. The sheer number of parts is explained by the fact that this kit is equipped with a full, and I mean full interior, which for a model/vehicle this size will mean you will need a magnifying glass/Optivisor when building. The build starts with the lower hull floor, to which the drivers position is attached, complete with detailed gearbox, levers and brake drums. Then there is the comprehensively detailed engine, which is a model in itself, and has more parts than some whole kits, around 22 in total. The two batteries and battery tray are then added to the left hand side of the hull adjacent to the drivers position, followed by the right side panel which is fitted with a fire extinguisher and four support brackets. The rear bulkhead is fitted out with several parts on the outside, before being attached to the lower hull, as is the lower glacis plate. The engine assembly is then glued into position and connected to the gearbox via a couple of drive shafts. The interior is slowly built up with bulkheads, ammunition racks with spare ammunition drums and boxes and another fire extinguisher. The left hull panel is then attached, along with the outer drive covers, idler axles, internal longitudinal bulkhead and several pipes. The upper hull plate is fitted with several panels before being glued into place. The drivers hatch is made up from five parts, while the drivers vision block is made up from six parts. Both assemblies are then glued to the driver position, and can be posed either open of closed. Depending on which colour scheme the modeller has chosen there are two options for the style of headlights to be used. The suspension arms are then glued to the hull, followed by the road wheels, return rollers, drive sprockets and idler wheels. The engine cover is next made up of three plastic and two etched grille pieces. This is then glued into position on the top deck, along with the drivers access and viewing plate. The tracks are each built up from eighty five individual links, which, unfortunately are not click able, but have to be glued, making it a little more awkward to get the sag and fitted around the idlers/drive sprockets. But with plenty of patience and care they can be made to look the business. An additional ammo stowage box for the SPG is then mounted on the left rear. The track guards are fitted with many PE brackets, as well as storage boxes, pioneer tools and a nicely detailed jack. The 76mm gun and its mounting carriage is then built up and and fitted. As with many other arts of the build this is highly detailed and a model in itself. The shields for the gun are then fitted. the build is finished off with the fitting of more PE brackets around the hull and the engine exhaust glued into position. Decals The small decal sheet contains markings for three SPGs Unidentified unit, Romanian Army, under operation command of Red Army, 2nd Ukrainian Front. 61st Company Self Propelled tank destroyers, Romanian Army 1st Tank Regiment, Eastern Front Feb 1944 61st Company Self Propelled tank destroyers, Romanian Army 1st Tank Regiment, Southern Ukraine, Summer 1944. Conclusion This is another amazing kit from MiniArt and brings yet another lesser known military vehicle to the mainstream modelling community. With the numerous parts count and the large number of very small parts, this kit is really aimed at the more experienced modeller, it looks like it should build up into a superb model, absolutely full of detail, so much so that there shouldn’t be any need for aftermarket parts. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of Creative Models

Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Armoured Vehicle Crew (HS-011) 1:35 Meng via Creative Models With more main stream Chinese kit manufactures appearing it was only going to be time until we had some modern PLA vehicles on the scene. Now from Meng comes a set of figures for them. This seems to be less of a combat or general set with the figures looking like those you would see on one of the massive Army parades the PLA stage. From the box you can build four figures, each having separate arms, legs head and torso, plus one driver for which only the shoulders and head are provided. There is one figure standing to attention, one manning an anti-aircraft gun, one sitting, and another standing holding onto a hatch rim. There is nothing else in the form of equipment or weapons in the set. Conclusion Mengs's figures are excellent, and this crew will make a difference to your Chinese vehicle. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

US Motorcycle Repair Crew (35284) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models During any of the mechanised wars of the 20th and 21st century, motorcycles have been an important tool for messengers, reconnaissance, and even agile light attack behind enemy lines. During WWII the motorcycle was a more reliable vehicle than it had been in WWI, and saw extensive use by all sides. The US Army made frequent and widespread use of them, one of which was the Harley Davidson WLA, which was the military version of the WL and appeared in 1940. These machines required frequent maintenance to keep them running, and when they broke down, to get them back to the front line again. The Kit The title of the kit is slightly misleading, as it implies you're getting the crew only, when in fact you also receive a pair of the aforementioned Harley Davidson motorcycles. The box art shows the contents, and while it is figure-sized, it is a top-opener with four sprues of grey styrene, a pair of small clear sprues, three frets of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a decal sheet, and an instruction booklet. Each of the large sprues contains all the parts for a motorcycle (plus the clear and PE parts), with the three figures on the next largest, and the smallest sprue holding the basic parts for the toolbox. The instructions begin with the bikes, and have you bending the PE spokes around a dished jig, and some supports for the front mudguard are also bent to shape on another jig, held in place by the pins that fit into the holes on each part. The tyres are each made from three layers to achieve the detail of the tread pattern, with the spokes fitted into the centre with the styrene hub parts added to the middle. Then the frame and engine are constructed over several steps, incorporating the rear wheel and exhaust, and later the air box and the wide fuel tank that has dual filler caps. Underneath, a shaped sump guard is installed with a kick-stand, plus pannier bags on the rear, twin rear lights, instrument binnacle with clear lens and a decal, front fork and wheel with a long mudguard keeping the dirt off the rider. With the wheel in place on the front forks, the PE parts that were bent to shape earlier are added, and the Thompson-equipped scabbard with additional ammo are hung off these parts. The handlebars and windscreen with clear top are the final parts, along with a front headlight with clear lens. The toolboxes have a base of styrene parts, with the thinner parts such as the stays and lid made from PE. You can build one in the open position and another in the closed pose. The open box has the most incredibly detailed, tiny nuts, bolts and washers moulded into the compartments, which are quite a sight to behold. There is also a set of tools supplied to be placed into the box or around the work area, some of which are PE, others styrene, and a few with styrene handles and PE blades. The three figures have separate arms, legs, heads, caps, and one chap even has a separate hand in order to maximise detail, with various poses as seen on the front of the box. One is sitting, another kneeling down fixing something, while the third gentleman is leaning over, probably watching someone else work, which sounds about right! Markings The decal sheet is small and has some rather neat shoulder patches for the figures, which is very nice to see. The rest of the decals include white stars, stencils, data plates and instrument dials for the bikes, which are almost universally olive drab in military service, with colours for the engine and ancillary parts called out along the way in a variety of paint manufacturer's codes. Conclusion More typically excellent figures from MiniArt, and a pair of highly detailed motorbikes into the bargain. Perfect for a vignette, or the backdrop of a more involved diorama. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Panzergrenadiers (35248) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Panzer Grenadier was a term that was coined during WWII to describe troops that supported armour, or motorised infantry. They wore pink piping on their uniforms, with an S that stood for Shützen, or Protect to differentiate them from gun or other armoured crew. If they weren't riding on a tank, they would often travel in trucks, or if they were really lucky, a half-track such as an Sd.kfz.251. This figure set from MiniArt contains a group of Panzer Grenadiers sat in various poses on a vehicle. It arrives in a standard end-opening box, with four sprues of grey styrene inside. The painting and main construction diagrams are printed on the rear of the box, with colours called out in a large number of brands of paint for your ease. From the box you can build four figures, each having separate arms, legs head and torso, plus seven standard German helmets. They are all seated in differing poses, with most of them nursing Kar98s rifles, while one shows off his MP40, which has a separate folding stock. Each of them has the usual complement of pouches, gas mask canister, entrenching tool and water bottle, with ammo pouches to match their personal weapons. There are two weapons and one accessory sprues, each of the weapon sprues providing two Kar98s and MP40s, bayonets, a pistol and flare pistol, plus holsters in the open and closed positions, along with first aid kit, map case, binoculars and ammo pouches to personalise the crew or diorama with. The painting guide covers Vallejo, Mr. Color, LifeColor, Tamiya, Testors, AK Real Color, Humbrol, Revell, and Mission Models, with the names of the colours given in English and Ukrainian. Conclusion MiniArt's figures are excellent, and these gentlemen can be used to give your truck, half-track or tank a little human scale, or even just a squad sitting around on a wall or some ruins. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Concrete Mixer Set (35593) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Every home should have one! No, hang on. Every building site should have a cement mixer for mixing of cement, no less. They're a common site on building sites even today, but are more usually electrically operated where there's a ready source of power, but back in the day they were often run by small diesel or petrol engine housed on the side and hand-cranked into life. This set contains a WWII era mixer, and arrives in a figure-sized box with seven sprues of various sizes inside, plus an instruction booklet, and a painting guide on the back of the box. If you're a fan or collector of these useful sets, you may well recognise some of the parts such as the sand bags, the tools and maybe even the wheel barrow, as they have been in other sets before now. The centre piece however is the mixer itself, which is on a four-wheeled frame and has a small engine in a housing on the side for motive power. It's the power box that is built up first, with no engine detail inside (which seems fair), but a starter handle and moulded-in access hatches on the outer. The frame is made up from tubular and flat parts, with the wheels and their axles attached at the bottom, and the smaller front wheels mounted on a towing arm for moving around. The mixing drum is built up from two halves, and even has the mixing vanes inside, as well as a pivoting mount, with planetary gears around the edge to turn the drum. The engine compartment sits on a trestle to the side, and a large winding handle fixes at the other end for pouring out the mixed concrete. Then it's on to the wheelbarrow, which has a simple A-frame and single wheel, with the load area attached to the top. Two sized buckets are included, as are eight sand bags that fit into a small arrangement, with a selection of hand tools on the final sprue such as shovel, spade, pick, sledgehammer and lump hammer, with a long pry-bar to complete the set. Conclusion The paint job on the concrete mixer will be key, as these things see hard work on any building site, and soon end up rusted and dented, caked in dried concrete until someone knocks it off with a lump hammer, or puts a few bricks in to knock the residue off. Another great collection of equipment, ancillaries and detritus for your dioramas from MiniArt. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

British Rucksacks, Folded Canvas & Bags WWII (35599) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models No matter where or when armies fight, they always need to bring things with them, and to carry smaller equipment and personal effects, rucksacks, bags and so forth are always present. In addition, covering equipment with waterproof tarps for camouflage and to prevent water damage is a common occurrence, so these too are often present, either rolled up on the side of vehicles or folded and strapped together. This new set from MiniArt gives the modeller just this sort of ancillary stuff to use in, on or near models or dioramas. Arriving in a standard figure-sized box, there are six sprues inside, two of each with different themes per pair. If you think you have already seen one of the pairs you'd be right, as one contains general and vegetable sacks, each of which are moulded in halves. The next pair contains two long rolled tarps, and two of the small rucksacks often seen worn high on the backs of Tommies. Each of these parts are hollow on the rear, but made of one part per item. The final pair contain larger rucksacks of two types, some bed-roll sized bundles, and three other tarps that are folded and rolled, then strapped up. Two of these are designed to be glued together into a stack with pins holding them in the correct position. The rear of the box has a guide printed upon it that shows the typical arrangement of some of the elements on Allied tanks, but other than the colours used, there's nothing holding you to using them exactly as shown. Conclusion Detail is excellent as we've come to expect from MiniArt, and with everything doubled up in pairs, there should be plenty of stowage to keep you going for several models at least. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Panzerlok BR57 Armoured Locomotive 1:72 Hobby Boss via Creative Models Ltd. During the 20s and 30s, the German National Railway dropped their previously dismissive doctrine regarding the use of armoured trains and realised that the armoured train was an effective way of pushing the railway further toward the front line, with sufficient protection for the locomotive to counter all but large calibre, high velocity rounds. A standard 1910 Prussian series G10 locomotive (0-10-0) with was fitted with armoured plates of thickness to render them almost invulnerable to small arms fire and air attack, permitting the loco to carry on unmolested unless the track was damaged. This type of loco became the standard in track clearing duties, and often pulled/pushed armoured and armed wagons mounting surplus gun turrets, seeking out ambushes in advance of important consignments that would follow. The BR57 often pulled two tenders and both pulled and pushed a couple of such wagons from the centre of the train. The Kit Although Hobby Boss don't immediately strike you as a producer of railway kits, they and their associate company Trumpeter do have a long-running and infrequent habit of producing (mainly military) engines, rail guns and wagons to go with such things. I have a couple of these in my collection, such as the Trumpy Leopold, the BR52 loco and a Panzerjägerwagen, as well as a diesel shunter the name of which I can't quite remember as I write this. This armoured loco is a new tool, and arrives in a standard HB box with a small card divider within, protecting the bodywork and under frame from damage, with the rest of the sprues individually wrapped, and in places protected by additional foam sheet. Take heed regarding the wrapping around the chassis ends though, as it is quite tightly wound, and could damage the delicate details underneath if removed roughly. Inside the box are seven sprues and two separate parts in sand coloured styrene, a glossy A4 painting sheet, instruction booklet and no decals, which I'm a little surprised about, as military vehicles of all types usually have at least a few stencils. Moving on… The detail of the slide-moulded upper shell parts is excellent, with bulky rivets and panels on the surface. The purists will want to replace the grab rails on the loco sides with wire ones for ultimate fidelity, but care will need to be taken here not to damage the surrounding detail. The overall part count is fairly low due to the fact that much of the structure is covered by armour, but what is there is finely moulded to a high standard. Construction begins with the lower chassis, which is a long narrow ladder into which the bearings, leaf-suspension and brake blocks are added on the inside face, with the wheels on the outer face. The wheels and their connecting rods are applied to the outer face, with a good level of moulded-in detail on the single part, given the limitations of plastic moulding. More parts including the pistons at the front of the wheel runs and the connecting rods are added before the running gear is mated with the lower floor of the loco. The boiler front and tread-plates are fitted to the front of this over the pistons, and plates are added to the front and rear. The armoured body is pretty much a single part, and is moulded with three tabs on the lower edge of each side, which must be removed before it is installed over the floor. Mirrors, couplings, a short funnel, and cheek plates to the pistons are then installed to finish off the loco. The tender has a wider, shorter chassis with three pairs of wheels added inside the frame, and suspension detail moulded to the outer surface of the frame. This and the loco coupling are fitted to the underside of floor, with the armoured shell fitting over the top with steps, grips, buffers and couplings fitted to the exterior. A small valance is fixed to the shroud around the accessway, and a plate is glued to the rear underside of the loco to fix the link between the halves in place, completing the build. Happily, Hobby Boss have included a stand, which consists of four track bed lengths with end-caps that result in a 60cm base that is covered in faux ballast, which if I'm being critical is a little bit too regular. The sleepers/ties are moulded into the ballast, and you slide eight lengths of rail into the cleats, linking them together with bolted plates as per the real thing (before welded rails became a thing of course). This gives the (roughly) 25cm loco and tender plenty of space to float around, and an additional truck or two could be added for a mini-diorama. Markings There are no decals in the box, and only one colour scheme included on the sheet, which is a base of Dark Yellow, over which is applied Red brown and Field Green stripes in a similar fashion seen on Panzers of the time. Given how filthy railway gear got due to the soot and grease, there is then plenty of scope for the modeller to express themselves with weathering. Conclusion A nicely moulded kit that would have benefitted from the inclusion of the footplate and controls, so that the sliding panels over the windows could have been left open. The boiler front is also locked away behind a non-opening armoured door, which again would have been useful to be able to leave ajar for a more candid look to the finished model. That aside, it's an appealing addition to a collection of military railway hardware, which I seem to have been indulging in without even thinking about. Maybe that's where my son gets it from afterall? Review sample courtesy of

BMR-1 Early Type with KMT-5M MiniArt 1:35 Based on the SU-122-54, which MiniArt have also produced, this kit is of the first version of the armoured mine clearing vehicle. The main gun has been removed and the fittings of the attachment of the KMT-5M mine roller system. Where the top hatches would normally be, there is instead a round cupola fitted with a single heavy machine gun. The forward section of the lower hull was fitted with much thicker armour to prevent penetration in the event a mine exploded under the vehicle. Surprisingly these vehicles were still in use during the Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion in the 1980’s. The Model As with the TOP engineering vehicle this is typically Russian in style, tough, rugged and with the singular purpose of clearing mines. As with most MiniArt kits the box, with an artist’s impression on the front is full to the brim with sprues, a total of seventy one in grey styrene, one in clear, a small sheet of etched brass, two lengths of chain and a small decal sheet. The way the sprues are moulded is how the company gets so many versions of their kits out, as there is a lot of commonality. The mouldings are extremely well executed with no sign of flash or other imperfection, but there are quite a few moulding pips which increases clean up time. Whille the build looks fairly simple there are a lot of parts used to build up the suspension and particularly the mine roller system. Construction begins with the lower hull, which is fitted out with the torsion beam suspension fixtures and you have the option of fitting the whole torsion beam or just the end part. Each suspension beam/axle plate consists of seven parts and there are ten axles to fit. Once the suspension is assembled the lower hull is built up from two side plates a rear plate and the internal firewall for the engine bay, the engine being available separate should you wish to fit one. The suspension bump stops are then attached, as are the drive gearbox covers and idler wheel axles. The large armoured olate is then fitted to the forward underside of the hull. The superstructure is next and is made up from separate plates which require holes to be drilled out before gluing together. In order to help get the plates the correct angles there is a small internal part the helps with this and give the structure strength and rigidity before the roof and mantle are attached. The roof is fitted with two, spades, with their respective clamps and the commander’s cupola is fitted with three vision blocks. The superstructure assembly is then glued to the lower hull, along with the track guards, and three multi-part engine deck covers. The rear of the superstructure has a single large hatch glued into place, as well as other unidentifiable fittings. The commander’s cupola is made up from no less than nineteen parts if you include the searchlight. There is a much simpler second hatch on the right hand side of the super structure. The front and rear mudguards are then assembled and fitted along with the very complex PE engine deck grilles, with separate shutters are built up and fitted. On the sides of the superstructure there are a lot more grab handles and brackets to be attached, while to the rear there is the five piece exhaust outlet fitted to the right track guard. The twin headlights fitted to the left and right sides of the glacis plate are assembled from thirteen parts including the base and all the support beams. On each front track guard there is a visual width pole fitted which are also fitted with reflectors. The turret ring is then fitted to the roof, while on the left side of eh superstructure the canvas roll is fitted with PE straps. The glacis plate is fitted with a selection of brackets, towing hooks and four pairs of spare track links. Two large stowage boxes are assembled and glued to the track guards, one per side. The BTR style conical turret is fitted with the 14.5mm heavy machine gun and a co-axial light machine gun via a separate mantle before being covered with an additional circular turret and fitted wot the turret ring on the roof. There is an aerial mount and aerial fitted to the front left of the superstructure and a further three pairs of track links fitted with their brackets, also on the left hand side. Each of the road wheels are glued into pairs and fitted with a small hub cap, as are the sprockets and idler wheels. Once assembled these are all glued into place, as are the large towing cables. Finally the tracks are assembled and draped over the running gear. With this kit you get the newer link and pin system that MiniArt have started using. This system is so easy to use and you can get a full length of track within minutes, even with 91 links per side. With the vehicle complete it’s on to the raison d'être of the tanks mission, the mine roller system. Now these are quite complex, so take care in reading the instructions carefully as it could easily go wrong. The rollers themselves are of three wheels on a common shaft, these are then fitted with two axle plates and hub covers. The axle plates are also fitted with two beams onto which the thicker of the two chains are attached. The main support arms are each assembled from thirty nine parts and are fitted to the lower glacis plate of the tank. The roller assemblies are then attached to the support arms and fitted with the smaller sized chain and some cable with simulated spring units. Between the rollers there is another length of chain with a smaller roller fitted at the mid point. Decals The decal sheet gives the modeller four options, all of which were used in the war against Afghanistan. The decals are beautifully printed, are clear and in good register with a slightly matt finish. The options are:- BMR-1, No.004, Soviet Army, Afghanistan in the early 1980’s BMR-1, No.11, Soviet Army, Afghanistan in the early 1980’s BMR-1, No.165, Soviet Army, Afghanistan in the 1980’s BMR-1, No.059, Soviet Army, Afghanistan in the late 1980’s Conclusion Continuing their march through the various T-55 variants, MiniArt are producing some really interesting vehicles. Although the mine roller system is quite complex to assemble it will look superb once complete. This is another vehicle that’ll make an interesting stand alone model or great in a diorama. Review sample courtesy of Miniart - Distibuted in the UK By Creative Models

TOP Armoured recovery vehicle MiniArt 1:35 Vi Creative Models Although based on the SU-122-54 assault gun, there is very little else I can find out about this vehicle, the identifying feature of the donor tank is the gap in the wheels between the third and fourth road wheel. The main gun was removed and a large plate welded in the place of the mantlet. Large towing eyes were welded to the rear of the superstructure and rear hull plate and a small cupola fitted with a searchlight for the commander. Only about one hundred were made and mostly stayed within the Moscow military district or seen at the big parades Russia/Soviet Union likes to give. The Model Without the main gun this vehicle does look rather odd, in a typically Russian style. As with most MiniArt kits the box, with an artist’s impression on the front is full to the brim with sprues, there being a total of fifty one, which, considering there is no interior, is still quite a lot, no matter how small they are. The way the sprues are moulded is how the company gets so many versions of their kits out, as there is a lot of commonality. The mouldings are extremely well executed with no sign of flash or other imperfection, but there are quite a few moulding pips which increases clean up time. Even though it looks a fairly simple vehicle take your time to read the instructions carefully as there are a lot of small parts and options. Construction begins with the lower hull, which is fitted out with the torsion bean suspension fixtures and you have the option of fitting the whole torsion beam or just the end part. Each suspension beam/axle plate consists of seven parts and there are ten axles to fit. Once the suspension is assembled the lower hull is built up from two side plates a rear plate and the internal firewall for the engine bay, the engine being available separate should you wish to fit one. The suspension bump stops are then attached, as are the drive gearbox covers and idler wheel axles. The superstructure is next and is made up from separate plates which require holes to be drilled out before gluing together. In order to help get the plates the correct angles there is a small internal part the helps with this and give the structure strength and rigidity before the roof and mantle are attached. The roof is fitted with two, three piece vision scope and the commander’s cupola is fitted with three vision blocks. The roof is also fitted out with grab handles and other fixtures, which this reviewer cannot identify. The glacis plate is fitted out with a variety of hooks, eyes, plates, brackets and a pair of spare track links. The superstructure assembly is then glued to the lower hull, along with the track guards, and three multi-part engine deck covers. The rear of the superstructure has two large hatches glued into place, with, rather oddly, two external seats attached to them, and there are two, large four piece bottle jacks assembled to be fitted to the right hand side of the engine deck. The commander’s cupola is made up from no less than nineteen parts if you include the searchlight. There is a much simpler second hatch on the right hand side of the super structure. The front and rear mudguards are then assembled and fitted along with the very complex PE engine deck grilles, with separate shutters are built up and fitted. On the sides of the superstructure there are a lot more grab handles and brackets to be attached, while to the rear there are three large multi-part stowage bins to be assembled and glued to the track guards. The twin headlights fitted to the left and right sides of the glacis plate are assembled from thirteen parts including the base and all the support beams. On each front track guard there is a visual width pole fitted which are also fitted with reflectors. Each of the road wheels are glued into pairs and fitted with a small hub cap, as are the sprockets and idler wheels. Once assembled these are all glued into place, as are the aerials and large towing cables. Finally the tracks are assembled and draped over the running gear. Unfortunately these are of the glue together type rather than MiniArt’s latest system of pin and link, so you will need some patience, as there are ninety links per side, or go out and buy some aftermarket metal tracks, which in my view gives a better natural sag anyway. Decals The decal sheet gives the modeller three options. The decals are beautifully printed, are clear and in good register with a slightly matt finish. The options are:- TOP ARV, USSR, Moscow Military District 1970’s to 1980’s TOP ARV, USSR, Moscow Military parade, November 7th 1990 TOP ARV, USSR, Moscow Military District, presumably early 1990’s Conclusion MiniArt seem to be attempting to produce every variant stemming from the T-55, no matter how odd or obscure they are. This is great for the military modeller who is either into weird vehicles or Russian/Soviet equipment, or as in most cases, both. Once again it’ll make an interesting stand alone model or just as great in a diorama. Review sample courtesy of Miniart - Distibuted in the UK By Creative Models

Chinese Type 59 Medium Tank MiniArt 1:35 Obviously, the Type 59 was a faithful reproduction of the Soviet Type 54A, internally and externally, although the Chinese did make some modifications. It was simplified in design, without the characteristic IR searchlight and main gun stabilization system. The hull was welded with some 99 mm of armour thickness on fht front slope, and 100 mm for the front turret armour, which had the characteristic decrease in thickness from the base to the top, according to ballistic penetration calculations. The turret floor was non-rotating. The driver, loader, commander and gunner positions were unchanged. Main armament was the 100 mm Type 59 tank gun, a copy of the original D-10TG with its characteristic muzzle fume extractor, with 34 rounds in store, mainly into the hull. Secondary armament comprised a coaxial Type 59T 7.62 mm machine gun, a bow MG manned by the driver from inside the central glacis (3500 rounds in store), and the anti-aircraft heavy machine gun Type 54 12.7 mm over the loader’s hatch, apparently also a copy of the DShKM, with 200 rounds in store. The engine was the Model 12150L V-12 liquid cooled diesel, giving 520 hp at 2000 rpm. The overall weight was also equivalent to the T-54A and road range was about 600 kilometres, with the rear external fuel tanks. These tanks, were upgraded several times throughout their career which lasted from 1959 till 1985. The Model Having reviewed the T-54A here MiniArt are now releasing the various derivatives and those used by other countries. As with earlier kits there are a lot of similarities but quite a few new parts as well. Although not having as many sprues as those kits with interiors, the box is still stuffed full of sprues. On opening you are greeted by a mass of sprues, many of them quite small because of the tooling's modular nature, with quite a few parts going unused for this boxing. The mass of sprues fill up just about all the space in the box, leaving only room for air between the sprues, anyone familiar with the old Krypton Factor will realise getting all this back in the box is one of life’s little challenges! Construction is almost identical to the earlier releases, The lower hull then fitted out with a multitude of parts that include the torsion beam suspension, multi part axles, gearbox covers, and interior escape hatch plus PE beam covers. The upper glacis plate is then fitted as are the three piece road wheels, drive sprocket and idlers. The turret ring assembly is the attached, followed by the rear bulkhead, each fitted with more detail parts. The engine deck is then built up and the separate hatches are able to be posed open or closed as per the modellers’ wishes, but since this kit doesn’t have an interior there seems little point unless you have purchased the separate engine kit which is available. The deck is topped off with PE grilles in their frames and the large hinge for the main hatch. The tracks are of individual link type, with ninety links per side, and it will be a case of assembling it like a link and length style, gluing each link together before draping them over the road wheels. The fenders are fitted with stowage boxes, fuel tanks and spare track links plus front and rear mudguards before being glued into position. The two fuel drums mounted to the rear of the tank are assembled and glued into their mounting frames, as is the unditching beam and the pipework for the fender fuel tanks. The turret roof comes complete with all the periscopes and hatch details for the commander and gunner positions, a highly detailed Dushka (DsHK) 14.5mm heavy machine gun, consisting of twenty nine parts, and rolled up tarpaulin. The single piece main barrel is glued into the breech, and fitted with the mantlet cover. There aren’t as many grab handles fitted to the outside of the turret on this version, or brackets and clamps. Finally the driver's wet weather cover, that fits over his hatch can be posed stowed or in place. If you are stowing it, there are some PE straps to tie things down on the bustle. The turret assembly is then fitted to the hull, completing the build. Decals The decal sheet gives the modeller seven options. The decals are beautifully printed, are clear and in good register with a slightly matt finish. The options are:- Type 59, No.308 of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army currently still in service. Type 59, of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, used during the Iran – Iraq war in the early 1980’s Type 59, of the Albanian Army, used on the border area with Kosovo, April 1999 Type 59, No.503 of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army currently still in service. Type 59, No.408 of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army currently still in service. Type 59, No.852 of the 201st tank regiment, Viet Cong, on the 17th Parallel, March 1972 Type 59, No.808, of the 108th Tank Regiment, 43rd Army Corps of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army during the the Sino-Vietnamese War, February 1979. Conclusion MiniArt’s march through the various T-54 and T-55 variants continues apace with this release. Being without the mega amount of parts found in the interior kits, this is definitely more suited to the intermediate modeller, or those who just don’t want interiors to their models. It’s still a great looking kit and with the decal options available for a number of different coutries something different for the collection. Review sample courtesy of Miniart - Distibuted in the UK By Creative Models

Sd.Kfz.173 Jagdpanther Ausf.G1 (TS-039) 1:35 Meng Model via Creative Models After the Nazis encountered the formiddable Russian T-34, their medium tank project took a new turn to become the Panther, which proved to be one of their more successful designs and is still admired today for its technical prowess and abilities. The need for tank killers took the chassis of the Panther, removed the turret and superstructure, replacing it with a casemate and powerful high-velocity gun in a new mount with elevation and limited side to side movement that was used for fine-tuning targeting. The heavily sloped glacis extended to the roofline, giving the vehicle a sleek look that was echoed at the sides, with a step down from the roof at the rear onto the engine deck. The G1 variant used the Panther A as a base, while the later models designated G2 were based up on the Panther G chassis. The same Pak 43 88mm gun was mounted, in an internally fixed mantlet initially, and later externally bolted in the G2. As with all WWII German tanks, the design was complex by comparison with the enemy's, so production was slower, which was probably just as well as it was a capable tank, just like is turreted progenitor. The gun was unstoppable by armour at the time, the engine had enough power for the task in hand, and it wasn't overweight, so the transmission could handle the power easily. If there had been more of them, they could well have had an impact, certainly slowing down the Allied advances (providing they could have fuelled them, and making gains more costly in men and materiel. The Kit Given that Meng have now tooled a Panther in 1:35, it makes sense for them to add a Jagdpanther to their line due to the overlap in parts and research. We reviewed the Ausf.A here and the later D here, so it looks like a Panther G and a Jagdpanther G2 will hopefully be on the list soon enough. Meng have a well-earned reputation for producing good, well-detailed models, mainly because that's what they keep on doing. I'm a fan of Meng, and I also love the Jagdpanther for no reason that I can divine, so I apologise in advance if I come across a bit giddy at times. The kit arrives in a standard classy Meng box with effective artwork and that satin finish I like so much. Inside are nine sprues in sand coloured styrene, a small clear sprue, two sheets of Photo-Etch (PE) in varying thicknesses, a length of polycaps, two thicknesses of braided metal wire a small decal sheet, turned aluminium barrel, instruction booklet and separate colour painting guide on folded A3 glossy paper. First impressions. There are very few common sprues, extending as far as the two road wheel sprues, but there are a lot of common parts that have been re-allocated to the new sprues in substantial numbers as you can imagine. Even the track sprues have been redesigned with the links horizontally and with an extra sprue gate added, presumably to cope with dangers of short-shot sprues coming hot off the presses. Detail is excellent throughout, and I really like and appreciate the inclusion of things such as a turned barrel and realistic braided wire for the towing cables, as it's just one less thing to have to add to your model. The more that’s in the box and used by the modeller, the better the eventual value is. Construction begins in the same manner as the Panther with the paired road wheels with a polycap between each one, plus the idler and drive sprockets. The lower hull is built from floor and two side panels, with two t-shaped braces holding them to the correct angles, so that when you fit the rear bulkhead it should fit perfectly in place. Various bits of suspension and drive train are added to the sides, as are the stub axles through the holes in the hull sides. These have a small additional peg at the end of the swing arm to allow the modeller to set them at the correct (stationary) ride height, and before installation the small hole in the back that is there to prevent sink marks is filled with small inserts, even though they mostly won't be seen. The lower hull with the engine deck and radiator bath sections are then made up, and glued on the lower hull, with the overhang closed in by adding the bottoms of the fenders once in place. The road wheels are interleaved in the same manner as the Tiger, so must be put in place in the correct order to prevent complications, so take care here to put types A and B in the correct places, after which the tracks are needed. The links are individual, with twin guidehorns that are supplied as separate parts and must be added into the small square holes in the links before you can glue the links together. The new position of the sprue gates on the links are on curved surfaces, which makes removing that last fraction of a millimetre that much harder, requiring a circular diamond file to do a good job. This slows the task down quite a bit initially, although as with all things you'll probably speed up near the end, which is exactly what I did on my short run, electing to add the horns dry to the links, and glue them in place. The links fit together snuggly, and hide all the seamlines as well as any less-than-perfect sprue gate removal, so it's not the end of the world, but the task will be a fairly long one, and as the guidehorns are small and tapered, they love to ping out of your tweezers at the slightest increase in pressure. Once all the links have their horns in place, a relatively swift gluing of links should leave them flexible enough to drape around the wheels, and taping or chocking them in place will give you the realistic slight sag behind the drive wheels that you need to the top run. The upper hull that was installed earlier is merely the liner, but the front panel is exterior armoured surface, and this needs some holes opened up depending on which decal option you are going to use for your model. The side armour panels are similarly in need of holes for the same reason, at which point you have a vehicle that looks more like a tank. Small PE are added to the exterior along with other fixtures such as the lights, towing shackles and pioneer tools that are a must for any AFV. The rear bulkhead is fitted with armoured access panels and either two or the later three-plus-one exhausts, which have cast armoured lowers and are surrounded by the angular stowage boxes that usually fare badly in reversing incidents. The later tubular Notek convoy/number plate light is hidden away on the left lower , with a scrap diagram showing the correct colours and its location on the stowage bin, which is a new one on me. The engine deck has three louvers, two of which are rectangular and have PE mesh covers, the other a raised cast circle that has its own PE insert, while on the sides a run of narrow PE fenders are fitted with styrene brackets, which later also act as hangers for the schurtzen side skirts. A rack of spare track links and tools are added above on the right, with more tools on the left, plus a choice of three barrel cleaning tubes either on the side or at the rear of the engine deck. The central lift-off cover to the engine deck was a source for some variance, so holes are flashed over and drilled out as needed for the various decal options. Even the jack block was moved to the engine deck on some examples, so the option is provided here as well. The rear is finished off with the crew hatch, spent shell-ejection port, and aerial base, with an alternative stowage box, blanking plate or antenna base on the left of the crew door, just to confuse things. Speaking of variations, there are a few on the roof of the fighting compartment, with a simple flat mushroom vent, or a higher domed one, as well as being able to leave the commander's hatch open or closed. The rotating sighting periscope is made up and dropped into the roof, being secured by a ring to allow it to rotate if you wish it. The roof can be installed before the main gun at this point. The bow mounted machine gun was surrounded by a domed armour panel called a Kugelblende, which came in two flavours with a stepped aperture and a smooth one. The gun barrel is fitted to the ball mount and trapped in place by the installation of this part, or it can be left off and covered by a plug with PE chain that was fitted during deep wading for example. The gun breech is surprisingly detailed considering this is a "no interior" kit, and this is built up over a number of steps before being pushed through a choice of three mantlets, one of which has no external fixtures, the other two with large bolts top and bottom as befits their decal option. The Saukopf (literally "pig head" due to how it looks) that protects the vulnerable gap between mantlet and breech is slid on next, with PE lifting eyes added for two decal options, presumably after they realised these things were REALLY heavy. The completed assembly slides into the glacis and can be glued in place to accept the turned barrel once it has been top & tailed with the three-piece flash hider, and four part gun sleeve. The barrel is keyed, so there's little change of it going in upside down unless you are very determined and brutal with it, and again there's a choice of styles of flash hider between decal options. With the barrel glued in and the nickel-plated Schurzen put in place, that's construction over with. Markings There are four markings options in the box, and a small decal sheet covers them all, as with most AFV models. Everything is camouflaged in weird and wonderful ways, as the Germans were at this point in the war running scared of an increasingly overwhelming aerial supremacy by the Allied after years of chipping away at the Luftwaffe til there was very little left, and almost no experienced pilots to pull things back. Decals are printed in China in black and white, and have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion I'm in love with this kit, and will put up with the slightly fiddly tracks for the sake of the rest of it. Awesome detail, simple enough construction, and it's a Jagdpanther. By Meng. Review sample courtesy of

Soviet 2 ton 6x4 Truck w/76mm USV-BR Gun MiniArt 1:35 The ZIS-6 is a Soviet general purpose 6×4 army cargo truck, a three-axle version of the ZIS-5 two-axle truck. It was built from 1933 until October 1941 at the Moscow Zavod imeni Stalina factory and reached a total production of 21,239. The robust and reliable base was used for many different bodies, for example as a searchlight truck or mobile workshop. But is best known for its role as the first multiple rocket launcher in July 1941. It was built by the "Compressor" Plant's Design Office during World War II (1941–45). Very few ZIS-6 trucks survive till today. The 76-mm divisional gun M1939 (F-22 USV or USV) was a 76.2 mm cannon produced in the Soviet Union. It was adopted for Red Army service in 1939 and used extensively in World War II. The gun was designated as "divisional" - issued to batteries under the direct control of division headquarters. The F-22 USV was an intermediate model, coming between the F-22, which had limited anti-aircraft capability, and the simpler and cheaper ZiS-3, which eventually replaced it in production and service. The Model MiniArt ahs a great habit of combining several kits into one set and this is no exception, the Gaz AAA and Divisional gun have been released separately before, but then they have added several new parts that will make for a great addition to a diorama, this includes ammunition boxes, shells and a couple of figures. The mouldings, particularly for the truck are showing their age in that they are really quite complex and certainly not for the beginner. This is shown more in the running gear and suspension as well as the steering rack parts. That said the parts are still well moulded with no sign of flash or other imperfections, but there are a fair few moulding pips. The gun is of a similar vintage and again the parts are well moulded. I still don’t understand how MiniArt packaging department get all the sprues into the poly bag, I’ll have to video them the next time I’m there. There are seventy five sprues of grey styrene in total, plus one of clear, along with two sheets of etched brass and a small decal sheet. The build starts with the nicely detailed engine with the block, head and sump being glued together followed by the addition of the starter motor, alternator, water pump, auxiliary drive belt, cooling fan, cooling pipes, oil filler pipe. The gearbox is then assembled from three parts and glued to the engine assembly, along with intake manifold. The two, chassis rails are fitted with an extra beam where the truck bed will sit. These are held on the rails by three “U” bolts and their associated clamps. The rear leaf springs are then attached via their support links. Four cross members are then used to join the rails together, as well as the rear chassis end piece, to which the towing eye spring is attached. There is a three piece box attached to the left hand rail, near the front. The wheels are assembled, and in this, MiniArt have deviated from the norm, by making the inner tyre half made up from four individual rings, while the outer section is made up of three rings. The wheel itself is then sandwiched between the two tyre sections. Whilst this sounds odd, I think it’s to make a realistic tyre with the type of radial tread used at the time. The rear axles and differentials are each made up from fifteen parts, if you include the drive shaft. These assemblies are then fitted to the rear leaf springs, while the front suspension is made up on a single leaf spring assembly mounted laterally and fitted with the front axle, steering rack and support arms. The rear differential is then fitted with a triangular support structure which also supports the brake rods. The front chassis end cap is attached as are the two bumper side arms, while to the rear there is a choice of towing hook styles, one, just a single piece unit, the other is made up from five parts. The spare wheel, mounted under the rear chassis is held in place by a support large clamp. The front and rear brake drums are then attached to the axles, followed by two wheels per side on the rear axle and one per side on the front axle. The engine assembly in then glued into position, followed by the two piece radiator, two piece front bumper and two support brackets on chassis rails. The three piece exhaust is the attached to the right hand side. The two front fenders are each single piece units to which a small hook is attached before being fitted to the chassis, as are two of the lateral truck bed beams. The cab floor is also attached and fitted with the bench seat, gear stick and panel support. The three piece wiper/wiper motor is fitted to the front screen surround, once the clear screen has been fitted. The screen is then fitted with two small arms, these can be glued in either the stowed position for a closed screen, or down, so that the screen can be posed open. The rear of the bonnet section is then glued to the front of the screen support, along with eh two side sections and engine bulkhead which has been detailed with several small parts. Inside the foot pedals are attached lower bulkhead, part of the floor panel fitted earlier, before the front cab assembly is glued into place, along with the steering column and wheel. The three piece rear panel and roof of the cab are then glued into place, as are the two bonnet supports, between the bulkhead and the radiator. Each door is made up from six parts, including clear section, door handles, latches and window winders. The doors are then put to one side. The bonnet halves, split longitudinally are each made from two sections, which can be posed in either the open or closed positions, allowing the modeller to show of the engine should they so choose. The doors are then attached; again, they can be posed open or closed as the modeller wishes. The three piece horn is attached to a rail, which in turn is attached to the front of the vehicle between the fenders. The two, three piece headlights are then fitted, as is the single, two piece wing mirror, on the drivers side. The truck bed is then assembled from five parts, bed, sides, front and rear sections, and glued into place, completing the truck section of the build. The truck bed is made up from the bed itself which is strengthened by four small and two large lateral beams along with three tie hooks per side. The rear large beam forms the backplate of a stowage box, while the two spare wheels are stored just forward of this. The front, side and rear panels are then assembled with their associated latches, with the side panels also being fitted with holders of the snow tracks which are also provided with the kit. With the bed sides attached the six ammunition boxes are assembled, complete with shells, three with armoured piercing and three with high explosive shells. The snow tracks, which wrap around the rear wheels when required, are assembled completely from PE parts, and are assembled from a series of two piece links and two piece connecting rods, there being a total of 90 links. The tracks are split into three sections per side and if not being used around the wheels there are stored on the sides of the truck bed and clamped into place. The completed bed is then attached to the chassis completing the truck build. Ensure you have taken you’re yearly dose of patience and dexterity when building these tracks, because you’re going to need them. Work then begins on the gun and its carriage. The split trails are assembled from two parts and fitted with items such as the cleaning rods, grab handles locking pins, spreading handles, rear mounted spades and towing eye. The central mounting is a complex affair consisting of 29 parts, to this the trail brackets are then attached, wach being made up from three parts and the trail assemblies glued to the brackets. The wheels are assembled in the same way as the truck wheels and fitted to the axles on the mounting. Then its onto the gun, with the slide assembly built up from six parts and the gun from eight. The gun is then slid onto the slide before being fitted with a large PE plate and small mid section splinter shield. The two trunnion mounts are fitted out with a selection of hand wheels, gear housings and sights before being attached to the mounting and the gun to the trunnions, as are the recupertor cylinders. The main splinter shiedl is a single piece item and fitted with a multitude of smaller parts such as site doors, stowage boxes and support bars. This assembly is then fitted to the gun assembly finishing the build, well apart from the option of having the gun in operational or towing position, if in towing configuration there is a locking bar that locks the two trails together. In addition to the truck and gun, the kit also includes a couple of figures, one appears to be pouring water out of a bucket, perhaps into the radiator, the other looks like a driver, but standing on the fender holding onto the steering wheel. Each figure comes in multiple parts such as separate head, hat, legs, arms, lower coat for the bucket holder, and bucket. Unusually there is fair bit of flash on the figures, but nothing that can’t be sorted with a sharp knife or sanding stick. Decals The decal sheet gives the modeller just two options for the truck, and yet there are three options for the gun. The decals are beautifully printed, are clear and in good register with a slightly matt finish. The names of the different companies are included, as well as their respective registration plates and insignia. The options are:- Soviet 2T 6x4 Truck of an unidentified unit of the Red Army, presumably during the winter of 1941 – 1942 Soviet 2T 6x4 Truck of an unidentified unit of the Red Army, 1941 – 1944 Divisional gun from an unidentified unit of the Red Army, Western Front, December 1941 Divisional gun from an unidentified unit of the Red Army, Winter 1943 – 1944 Divisional gun from the 889th Artillery regiment, 387th Infantry Division, 2nd Ukrainian Front, May 1945 with the gun shield showing 5 victory marks, denoting 5 destroyed German tanks. Conclusion As most people will know I am a big fan of MiniArt, and not just because the owner and some of the staff have become friends. Their product line continues to grow almost exponentially, both with new releases and products like this one where several separate kits have been brought together to provide the modeller almost a diorama out of the box. The truck and gun are quite complex as mentioned earlier, but they will build into lovely models for any collection. Review sample courtesy of Miniart - Distibuted in the UK By Creative Models

German Tank Crew at Work (35285) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Tanks despite looking cool demand a lot of hard work from their crews to work well. This is as true now as it was during WWII. This new set from Miniart shows a crew performing maintenance on their tank (well apart from the Officer taking a drink, so thats not changed either!). It arrives in a standard end-opening box, with three sprues of grey styrene inside plus a small sheet of PE as well as an instruction sheet and sprue guide. The painting and main construction diagrams are printed on the rear of the box, with colours called out in a large number of brands of paint for your ease. From the box you can build five figures, each having separate arms, legs head and torso, plus two caps. Three soldiers are cleaning the barrel, while a is holding some sort of tool. What appears to be an offer its taking a drink. There is a small sprue with two buckets on it, and an accessory sprue which provides various tools and tool boxes, the PE fret provides the doors for the open tool box and additional tools. The painting guide covers Vallejo, Mr. Color, LifeColor, Tamiya, Testors, AK Real Color, Humbrol, Revell, and Mission Models, with the names of the colours given in English and Ukrainian. Additional painted renditions of the accessories are also included for your use. Conclusion MiniArt's figures are excellent, and these figures can be used to give your Panzer a little human scale. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Kugelpanzer 41(r) (40006) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models This is a hypothetical design from an alternative reality where ball-tanks were practical, and although there are some quite realistic looking pictures out there on the web, this is a decidedly "what-if" design for a small infantry tank that might have been quite handy for approaching bunkers or installations with significant light weapons presence. It does appear to have some weaknesses though, such as the little outrigger wheels that if shot out, would result in a seriously dizzy crew at best, so it's probably for the best that it remains in the realms of the fantastic. The ball hull is static, with a large wide track running around the circumference, propelled by the motor inside. There would be some serious torque transfer to the hull on acceleration or deceleration, but as this doesn't seem to adversely affect those big-wheel motorcycles, it wouldn't be a huge impediment, especially as the majority of the hull won't be moving. There is a crew of five, with the top-most crew member in each side running the weapons stations, and the front-facing crew driving and operating the forward machine gun. The final rear-facing crew operates another machine-gun that faces to the rear. Oddly, the main guns face sideways in ball-mounts, which would make shooting straight ahead difficult without cooperation from the driver, which could be tricky in such a confined, noisy environment. In reality, it would probably have been a massive failure, who know? but it's interesting nonetheless. The Kit This is the first real What-If subject from MiniArt, who usually keep their subjects in reality, or at least prototype form. A lot of effort has been put into making it appear real however, including a complete interior, which gives the model a bit more to it than an empty shell would have done, and also opens up the possibility for dioramas or vignettes. The kit arrives in standard sized MiniArt box, inside are 23 sprues in mid grey styrene of various sizes, a single sprue of clear parts, and a decal sheet. The instruction booklet is bound in a colourful glossy cover, with greyscale drawings inside, and the decal options printed on the inside covers front and back. Detail is really nice for a relatively small kit. This is the second of these "ball" tanks from Miniart the Russian version was reviewed here. Construction begins with the engine, which is quite a complex assembly, and has a large friction roller at the rear to apply power to the track. The crew seats are built up next, and then attached to the main frame, which consists of two large hoops with cross-members to retain its shape. Track rollers are fitted to the inside of the frames, and the engine, seats and ancillary equipment are all suspended from this. Ammo racks for the main guns are built up at the same time as the machine guns are made up, and all these sub-assemblies are installed into the hull halves, which have cut-outs for the ball-mounts, a radiator grille (backed with a fairly standard looking radiator), and conformal fuel tank. In the centre of each side is a crew hatch that is operated by a wheel, with arched hinges and interlock parts included. With the breeches and machine guns fitted from the inside, and the hatches put in their required positions, the halves are glued to the frames, and the hollow tipped gun barrels are added, plus a headlight with clear lens for night operations. The track is supplied in four parts with a chevron tread and matching joins to minimise clean-up. The four parts glue around the open section of the hull, with a scrap diagram showing the correct location on the lip, and of course the two "trainer-wheels" that stop it from tipping over. That's all there is to it! Markings As it's all fiction, it's probably more a case of choosing the scheme that appeals to you, and as there are a choice of six, it should be pretty easy. You can of course mix and match decals and scheme, as no-one (sane) is going to be complaining that it isn't accurate! From the box you can build one of the following: German Afrikakorps 1942-46 Assault unit Kreigsmarine Marine Corps 1942-46 Coastal defence mobile fire point, Normandy 1944-45 Captured Tank by 6th Australian Cavalry Div North Africa 1942 Captured tank in US Army Service, Europe 1944-46 Mobile firing point, armoured train 168, defence of Berlin 1945-46 Decals are by Decograf, with good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Taken from MiniArt's website Conclusion An trip into alternative history that's got a certain appeal to some, and no appeal to others. The internal structure has been well thought-out, and the variation in decal options makes for a fun project that shouldn't take too long to complete. Very highly recommended if you want something a bit different. Review sample courtesy of

Tiran 4 Late Type MiniArt 1:35 The meaning of Tiran [pronounced as Tiy-RAE-N] in Hebrew is beginner. Israel's chronic lack of AFV's on one hand and it's phenomenal victory in the 1967 Six Days War on the other, brought the IDF to adopt captured enemy vehicles for its use. The Arab armies lost hundreds of fighting vehicles - mostly Egyptian T-54 and T-55 MBT's which were abandoned by their crews. In order to allow for greater standardization in its armour corps, the IDF initiated a conversion program. The captured tanks were re-engined and re-gunned (with the standard 105mm gun used in the Centurion and Patton MBT's). Chief was the several hundred captured T-54/T-55 tanks that were taken and modified into the Tiran 4 (T-54) and Tiran 5 (T-55). The main difference between the two versions is the main gun armament. The Tiran 4 was armed with the original 100 mm main gun and the Tiran 5 was fitted with a 105 mm main gun, although the 105mm was also fitted to late Tiran 4’s. The Model Since this is an upgrade of the earlier T-54 kits there are a lot of similarities but quite a few new parts as well. As with MiniArt kits with interiors there are a lot of sprues, eighty five in this case, of grey styrene, plus three of clear, one sheet of etched brass and a smallish decal sheet. The box, deeper than a standard tank kit box has a nice painting of the tank on the front. On opening you are greeted by a mass of sprues, many of them quite small because of the tooling's modular nature, with quite a few parts going unused for this boxing. The mass of sprues fill up just about all the space in the box, leaving only room for air between the sprues, anyone wishing to just take a look at the sprues and getting them out of their bags will realise that getting all this back in the box is one of life’s little challenges! Construction is almost identical to the earlier releases, complete with the full engine, which is a beautiful model in its own right, and consisting of forty two parts if you include the engine mounting cradle. The lower hull is then fitted out with a multitude of parts that include the torsion beam suspension, multi part axles, gearbox covers, and interior escape hatch plus PE beam covers. The interior is then built up from the fighting compartment floor and includes all the pipe work, seats fire bottles, steering mechanism and internal bulkheads. The interior and exterior of the sidewalls are also covered with detail, including the large racks of shells for the main gun, with additional shells stored around the fighting compartment. The detailed sidewalls are then glued into place, as is the engine assembly, engine compartment firewall and other ancillary equipment. The upper glacis plate is then fitted as are the three piece road wheels, drive sprocket and idlers. The turret ring assembly is the attached, followed by the rear bulkhead, each fitted with more detail parts. The engine deck is then built up and the separate hatches are able to be posed open or closed as per the modellers’ wishes. The deck is topped off with PE grilles in their frames and the large hinge for the main hatch. Another slight difference with the T-54 is the large grille on the rear bulkhead and the additional stowage bin that across the whole width of the hull. The tracks are of individual link type, with ninety links per side, and it will be a case of assembling it like a link and length style, gluing each link together before draping them over the road wheels. The fenders are fitted with stowage boxes, fuel tanks and spare track links plus front and rear mudguards before being glued into position. The two fuel drums mounted to the rear of the tank are assembled and glued into their mounting frames plus the pipework for the fender fuel tanks. The turret is another new moulding, which has even more equipment in it than the earlier versions, due to the improved technology. The turret appears to be where the main changes were made. As with the other kits the turret interior includes the full main gun breech, this time for a 105mm gun, rather than the old 100mm, radios, training motors, seats, hand cranks, and other equipment, but with additional sighting equipment for the main gun, and more spare ammunition boxes for the co-axial Browning 30 cal machine gun. Ready use shells are added to the inside of the upper turret along with a multitude of brackets and clamps. The turret roof comes complete with all the periscopes and hatch details for the commander and gunner positions, two highly detailed Browning 30 cal machine guns, consisting of fifteen parts, one for the commander and one for the gunner. There is also a twenty three piece Browning 50 cal heavy machine gun that is mounted onto the mantlet. Two five piece aerials are affixed to the rear of the turret, along with a large stowage bin; while on the sides are a pair of Jerry cans and their respective cradles. On the right hand side there is another large stowage bin, made up from ten parts. The single piece main barrel is glued into the breech, and fitted with a choice of two mantlet covers. There a many more grab handles fitted to the outside of the turret on this version, not to mention brackets and clamps. The turret assembly is then fitted to the hull, completing the build. Decals The decal sheet gives the modeller four options. The decals are beautifully printed, are clear and in good register with a slightly matt finish. The options are:- Tiran 4 of the Israeli Defence Force for eh 1970’s Tiran 4 of the Israeli Defence Force Training Unit for the Lebanese Army, Negev Desert early 1980’s Tiran 4 of the South Lebanese Army, Used on Operation @Peace For Galilee”, June to September 1982 Tiran 4 of the South Lebanese Army from the 1980’s Conclusion Ok, it’s essentially another T-54, with additional equipment and a different gun, but you can never have enough T-54/55’s. These kits are really coming thick and fast MiniArt’s moulding machines must be going full chat day and night. There is so much detail that it could overwhelm a modeller unless their mojo was really cranked up. But if you break the build into bite sized pieces as sub-assemblies, painting as you go, there shouldn’t be a problem. Not one for beginners or maybe even intermediate modellers, but there are versions being released, without interior, which would perhaps be more suited to their level to gain experience before tackling a full interior build. As bang for your buck goes, these have to be some of the best value kits around these days. Review sample courtesy of

PLAAF J-16 1:48 Hobbyboss History The Shenyang J-16 is a multirole fighter capable of both ‘beyond-visual-range’ air-to-air and precision strike roles. The aircraft is the latest addition to the ‘Sino-Flanker’ family, which has been developed by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) from the Russian Sukhoi Su-27 ‘Flanker’ airframe, but incorporated with Chinese indigenous avionics and weapon systems. The most noticeable difference of the J-16 to the previous J-11B series is its two-person crew, with the pilot seated at the front of the cockpit and the weapon system officer (WSO) at the back. The airframe of the J-16 appears to have been developed from the Shenyang J-11BS two-seat fighter-trainer, an unlicensed copy of the Su-27UBK ‘Flanker-C’. Therefore, the aircraft can be distinguished by its cropped vertical fin tails (same as the J-11BS/Su-27UBK) as opposite to the square topped vertical fin tails of the Su-30MKK. At the same time, the J-16 also bears some design features of the Su-30MKK, including the side-mounted electro-optical sensor (as opposite to the centre-mounted design on the J-11BS/Su-27UBK) in order to make room for the in-flight refuelling probe, and the twin-wheeled nose landing gear (as opposite to the single-wheeled gear on the J-11BS/Su-27UBK) to support the extra weight. Like the Su-30MKK, the J-16 is also expected to have undergone structural enhancements in its airframe in order to achieve an increased take-off weight. The Model The large sturdy box with a depiction of the aircraft in flight over a non-descript Chinese city hides something pretty nice. On opening the box, and on giving a very unusual WOW!, you are confronted with an inner tray which carries the upper and lower airframe, neatly tied to the tray and protected by foam wrap for particular areas. Normally you have to glue the wings to the fuselage when building an aircraft kit, which is why I used the term airframe, as the upper and lower fuselage halves are complete with the main wing sections, I’d love to see the mould for these parts. On removing the tray there are a further twenty six sprues in a similar grey styrene, three sprues of clear styrene, four vinyl tyres and two medium sized decal sheets. The mouldings are very nice indeed, with no sign of imperfections, flash but a fair few moulding pips. The surface detail is nice and fine with the panels all seemingly in the correct place and of the right shape. The build begins, naturally, with the cockpit. The twin bay tub is fitted out with front and rear bulkheads, instrument panels and coamings, rudder pedals and joysticks, which I wouldn’t have though the WSO would have had, so looks like the kit hasn’t been modified from the SU-27UB. Not being able to find any cockpit photos on the internet I’ll have to rely on the BM massive to confirm this. The ejection seats are each assembled from eight parts and look to be a reasonable representation of a Russian K36 seat, the biggest problem being a complete lack of seat belts, so it looks like the modeller will be using some aftermarket belts. The completed seats are then glued into place and the tub glued into the upper airframe section followed by pilots upper coaming. The nose wheel assembly is built up from nine parts and put to one side. Before the two airframe sections can be joined together, the two, three piece exhaust nozzles are assembled and glued into position, as is the five piece nose wheel bay. Ensure that you have drilled out all the holes required for the pylons you wish to hang from the wings, before you join the airframe together. Once the airframe has been assembled it’s time to add the pair of two piece flaps, nose undercarriage assembly, four piece vertical tail fins/rudders, two piece horizontal tailplanes, exhausts, either open or closed, and separate slats/leading edge flaps, depending on your choice of phrase. The two ventral fins are also glued into place, along with each of the five piece intakes, with the internal ramp being positioned to the modellers wishes. The underside of the forward intakes looks like it should have some moveable slats, but the detail is quite indistinct and soft, at least to my eyes. The main undercarriage is now assembled, from the main oleo, with actuator moulded onto it, the two piece wheel and the mounting bracket at the top. These are then glued into place and the undercarriage doors added as are several aerials to the airframe. The separate nosecone is large enough to pack with weights should the kit require it, and I would presume it would need some, It looks pretty accurate, but may need a rub down to get rid of the moulding join line as from pictures it is a pretty clean shape, without the lightning runs seen on some radomes. The canopy is fitted out with PE rear view mirrors, rear hinge plates and mid section strut. The canopy can be posed open or closed and per the modeller swishes. The windscreen is moulded complete with the IRST on the right hand side, which has a separate clear part to fit on the end. The separate inflight refuelling probe is also fitted as is its cover panel. The three piece airbrake is also poseable, although it is very rarely seen open with the aircraft o n the ground and shut down. The airframe is finished off with the addition of the pitot probes, AOA sensors, air temp sensors and radome tip pitot. The kit comes with a fair selection of weapons to fit onto the twelve pylons provided, these include:- 6 x PL-12 medium range air-to-air missiles 4 x PL-10 short range air-to-air missiles 2 x KD-88 anti shipping missile From the pictures I’ve seen on the net, this aircraft is meant to be quite a bomb truck, so it’s a shame no bombs or air to ground missiles have been included Decals The kit comes with two decal sheets, the national markings and exterior of the aircraft while the other is for the cockpit and the markings for the missiles. The decals are very nicely printed with minimal carrier film, in register and with pretty good opacity; they are slightly glossy and should settle down ok on a glossy surface. There are two colour schemes to choose from:- J-16, No. 78077 in blue grey over light grey and with full colour national markings. J-16, No. 70191, in Barley grey over medium grey and with toned down markings. Conclusion This is my first big Mig from Hobbyboss and from what I can tell it certainly looks like a J-16 from the research I’ve done, but I’m sure those of the BM massive will know better just how accurate, or inaccurate it is. For me though it’ll build into a pretty impressive model and will look great in any collection. Not a difficult build by anyones standards so could be good for those who want to try out a big jet. The only real downside for me is the lack of air to ground weapons which should really have been included even at the expense of the multiple medium range missiles, especially at the price point it’s been set at. Review sample courtesy of

KrAZ-260 Heavy Utility Truck Hobbyboss 1:35 History Production of the KrAZ-260 began some time during the early 1980s when it replaced the earlier KrAZ-255B on the production lines at the Kremenchug Motor Vehicle Plant. However, the vehicle was not disclosed to the general public until 1985 when examples were displayed towing 152-mm 2A36 nuclear-capable field guns during a Red Square parade - the KrAZ-260 can tow loads of up to 10 tons when fully loaded (30 tons when empty). The Red Square example had an open body equipped with forward-facing bench seats although this had been a parade configuration. The normal body uses a conventional cargo body with tailgate all covered by the usual tilt over bows. A winch is a standard fitting under the cargo body and can be employed for either forward or rearwards recovery, including self-recovery. The overall appearance of the KrAZ-260 is similar to that of the earlier KrAZ-255B but the bonnet is more angular to accommodate the turbocharged diesel engine, and the overall dimensions are slightly larger. As far as can be determined the KrAZ-260 was produced for military service only and as apparently not been delivered to armed forces outside the Soviet Union. The Model The kit comes in a sturdy top opening box with a artistic impression of the vehicle in use in a very snowy environment. Opening the box reveals seven sprues of caramel coloured styrene, one sprue of clear styrene, a small photo etched brass sheet, seven vinyl tyres, a small decal sheet and a sheet of masks for the clear parts when painting. The mouldings for all the parts are superb, with no sign of flash imperfections but with loads of moulding pips, which will add to the cleaning up time. As with most truck kits there are a lot of parts that will probably never be seen, particularly the very detailed chassis, suspension and engine, but in my view it’s better to have them than not. The build begins with the very detailed engine, which is a model in itself. The block consists of four parts, which also include the cylinder barrels. The cylinder heads are then attached, these are separate items, but include the exhaust manifolds. There then follows the clutch bell housing at one end and the auxiliary drives at the other. The sump is then fitted, along with the fuel rails, intake manifolds, turbo chargers, starter motor, alternator, drive belts and fan. The four piece gearbox is then fitted to the bell housing, while at the front of the engine the three piece radiator/housing is also attached. The transfer gearbox, consisting of six parts is also assembled at this point. The next part of the build is the assembly of the chassis. First of all the cross-members have to be assembled. The two long chassis rails are then joined together by these cross-members and the engine assembly fitted, as is the transfer gearbox and the drive shaft from the engine. The front bumper is assembled from a single piece beam, four clear parts for the lights and three PE parts for the top of the beam. This is then attached to the front of the chassis. The rear bumper consists of side sections carrying the rear lights and a centre section which includes a step, plus the lower beam is fitted with a tow hook. The chassis is also fitted with an eight piece winch unit which is attached to the transfer gearbox by another shaft. Another three cross-members are attached to the chassis rails, including one which has three guide wheels for use with the winch. An eight piece cross-member is assembled and fitted to the front of the chassis just to the rear of the front bumper. The four piece exhaust systems is then attached to the engine, followed by a pair of four piece air filter units which are attached to the intake manifolds on top of the engine. The front differential/axle is made up from five parts and is fitted to the front suspension springs and attached to the transfer box by another drive shaft. U bolts are used to fix the axle unit to the leaf springs and the shock absorbers are fitted to the axle at one end and via a separate bracket to the chassis at the other. The front wheels are made up of outer hubs, inner hubs and ball joints, each wheel is then fitted with three piece brake accumulators and steering brackets. The steering rack is then fitted, along with the steering dampener, steering column and a couple of cab bearer brackets. The rear bogie attachments are part of the main rear cross-member, so all the modeller has to do is add the leaf springs and the two twenty one piece rear differentials/axles and add the multitude of drive shafts between the axles and the transfer box. Several sub-assemblies are now required, these include the Jerry can stowage, which consists of a PE framework and two, three piece cans all held in an external plastic frame. There are also two, five piece fuel tanks, a five piece storage box come access steps on the right hand side of the chassis, a five piece accumulator/access steps for the left hand side, another pair of accumulators and a six piece oil tank, also for the left hand side of the chassis. The chassis, suspension is completed with the assembly of the four, five piece wheels for the rear axles and three piece wheels for the front axles, these include the large rubber/vinyl tyres. With the chassis and suspension complete the build moves onto the cab, with the assembly of the two piece bench seat and four piece driver’s seat. The seats are then glued to the cab floor, along with the foot pedals and gear stick. The instrument panel, with decals instruments, and steering column/steering wheel are assembles. The IP and steering column are then glued into place in the front cab section, followed by the cab floor/seating and windscreen panels. The rear bulkhead of the cab is fitted with a clear screen, before being glued to the rear of the floor/seat section. Each of the two doors is made up from three parts before being attached to the cab, being posed as per the modellers wishes. The roof is fitted to the cab and detailed with three small reflectors and a roof mounted searchlight. The two wings are each assembled from six parts before being attached to the front of the cab, and finished off with the fitting of the grille and bonnet. The fresh air vent on the bonnet as well as the door handles, two piece mirrors and grab handles are all glued into place. The completed cab is then attached to the mounting points on the chassis. The thirteen piece spare wheel frame is then assembled and the three piece wheel/tyre is fitted along with a two piece air conditioner unit, before being attached to the chassis just behind the cab. The truck bed is made up from the main bed, back panel, two side panels and rear panel. Each of the panels is then fitted with their respective number of tie hooks for the tilt. On the underside there are eight lateral structural braces fitted, as well as two short longitudinal braces. Also on the underside the four mudflaps are attached, two forward of the rear wheels and two aft each with their support rods. Inside the loading area the modeller can choose to have the four bench seats posed in either the stowed or down positions, with each bench made up from four parts. The completed bed is then fitted to the top of the chassis completing the build. Decals The small decal sheet provides decals for just two different markings, both in overall Russian green with a black chassis and wheels. The only difference being the markings on each of the cab doors. Conclusion This kit is certainly not as complicated as the Takom release to build, although there are still a lot of detail parts, mainly for the chassis, it should be a relatively simple build for anyone other than a novice modeller to get a great looking model. I imagine some will probably want to replace the vinyl tyres with resin ones, but it really isn’t necessary as the kits items are more than sufficient. The biggest downside with this and most truck models is the lack of tilt rails or tilt option, which on a kit at the price point it is set at really should have these basic items included. Review sample courtesy of

German Tank Crew Afrika Korps (35278) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Deserts are hot. It is known. What's also known is that metal when exposed to copious quantities of strong sunlight also gets hot, which makes crewing tanks quite unpleasant unless it is fitted with air conditioning. During WWII these niceties weren't available, so crews got hot and had no choice in the matter. This figure set from MiniArt contains a group of Afrika Korps tank crew that are stripped down to their shorts while performing maintenance on their vehicle. It arrives in a standard end-opening box, with three sprues of grey styrene inside plus a small instruction sheet and sprue guide. The painting and main construction diagrams are printed on the rear of the box, with colours called out in a large number of brands of paint for your ease. From the box you can build five figures, each having separate arms, legs head and torso, plus two caps and three pith helmets for you to insert your own joke into. They are all wearing shorts and canvas topped boots barring one rather louche gentleman who is wearing open-toed slippers whilst changing over the muzzle of the coaxial machine gun, seated on the mantlet. Two soldiers are cleaning the barrel, while a chap with a bandaged hand watches, presumably on light duties due to his ailment. The final character is exiting or entering the turret side hatch, holding onto it for balance. Sculpting is excellent, and all figures are sporting six-packs from their efforts in the desert and general lack of excessive supplied. The accessory sprue provides two Kar98s and MP40s, bayonets, a pistol and flare pistol, plus holsters in the open and closed positions, along with first aid kit, map case, binoculars and ammo pouches to personalise the crew or diorama with. The painting guide covers Vallejo, Mr. Color, LifeColor, Tamiya, Testors, AK Real Color, Humbrol, Revell, and Mission Models, with the names of the colours given in English and Ukrainian. Additional painted renditions of the accessories are also included for your use. Conclusion MiniArt's figures are excellent, and these gentlemen can be used to give your Panzer III or Panzer IV a little human scale, just make sure your flesh painting is up to snuff, as there's plenty on display. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

PLA ZTL-11 Tank Destroyer (84505) 1:35 Hobby Boss via Creative Models The ZTL-11 is a variant of the ZTL-08 developed for the Chinese Military by Norinco (China Ordnance Industries Group Corp Limited). This like many similar vehicles today is a modular designed eight wheeled amphibious light armoured vehicle. Versions include the 08 Infantry Fighting Vehicle, 08 APC, and 08 Recon Vehicle/ There is an 05 Mortar Carrier, an 09 SPG, and the 11 with a 105mm rifled gun. Some class this as an assault gun and others as a Tank Destroyer. The Kit First impressions are excellent. This is a new kit from Hobby Boss. As well as the large hull moulds & turret there are 16 sprues of plastic, a small sheet of PE, some cable and 8 rubber tyres. All parts are well moulded with no visible defects or issues. Construction starts by adding the various suspension components onto the lower hull. Once these are on the wheel hubs can be added to the tyres and they are added on. For the rear of the lower hull two water propulsion units are made up and added. The rear hull plate can then be made up and added. Construction then moves to the upper hull. The hatches and PE grill are added. To the left side is added the NBC/Air con pack and the rear exhaust, PE grills then go over both of these. Additional top armour is then added along with various grab handles and other parts including the head lights and their protective grills. The upper hull can then be joined to the lower hull. Thngs then move onto the turret. The base is added to the main turret part, the gun mantle is added at the front (from the inside) along with the main gun. The gunsight is added along with the smoke grenade launchers. The hatches are made up and added along with antenna mounts and various handles and other parts. The AA machine gun mount is also made up and added at this point. To the rear of the turret the stowage basket is added. The turret can then be attached to the main body. Markings A small sheet (not shown) of markings consists of mainly tactical number and a couple of red stars. There are 2 marking options of normal PLA camo and new Digital version for those feeling adventurous. Conclusion This looks to be a good kit of a modern Chinese wheeled AFV. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

RMSh Workable Track Links Late Type For T-55/T-62/T-72 1:35 MiniArt With the release of the early track links for the T-54/T-55 earlier this year, MiniArt have now released the later style track links, as used on not only the T-55, but also the T-62 and T-72. Needless to say that you can use them with any manufacturers kits, not just those from MiniArt. In the colourful end opening box are seventeen sprues, each with twelve links and twenty four pins. Each link is removed from the sprue gates and cleaned up. Be aware that the styrene is quite soft, so be careful if using a blade to clean up, might be best just to use a foam emery stick. With the links cleaned up you then join each link together and insert a pin, add a drop of glue, in my case I used Tamiya extra thin, so you have to be careful not to put too much on as it can wick up the pin and you won’t get moveable tracks. With the pin glued, just snap off and fit the pin on the other side, rinse and repeat until you have a full length of track. The length of track I built up as shown in the photograph took about 5 minutes once the links had been cleaned up. Conclusion This set represents a much better solution to the click together style MiniArt used to use. They are so easy to put together that even the most ardent opponent of individual links should be happy putting them together. They really do work too as my photo shows. I now hope they include these tracks or ones like them in all their new tanks and other tracked vehicle kits. There are enough links to make a set of tracks for the T-55 which require 91 links per track, or the T-62/T-72 which require 97 links per track so you will have some spare if used with a T-55, which you could then use as additional armour or in a diorama setting. Review sample courtesy of MiniArt - Distributed in the UK By Creative Models

Flettner Fi-282 Kolibri V-23 MiniArt 1:35 History Although the first helicopter to enter service with the German forces in 1939 in the shape of the Fi-265, although the 6 machines built were really prototypes for what followed, the Fi-282. The Fl 282 shared the same "intermeshing" rotor design as the Fl 265, this arrangement involving two individual rotor blades crossing one another, without touching, while rotating in opposite directions and on individual masts to achieve the desired vertical lift. The Fl 282 was given an all-new engine in the Bramo Sh.14A, a 7-cylinder, air-cooled radial piston engine outputting at 160 horsepower. Flight testing of the Fl 282 began in 1941 and eventually involved two flyable prototypes. These two prototypes were given enclosed cockpits while follow-up units were to feature the well-photographed open-air design. It was the German Navy that saw the value inherent in the Flettner helicopter and ordered a batch of fifteen for evaluation from its surface ships. Prototypes were designated Fl 282 V1 through V7 and followed by the Fl 282A-1 single-seat reconnaissance version for launching/retrieval from German warships. The Fl 282B-2 designation was given to the submarine-launched, single-seat reconnaissance variants, which were actually two seaters, with a second seat to the rear of the frame. This was for an observer in the scout, reconnaissance or mission liaison role. The Luftwaffe was granted a production order for some 1,000 Fl 282 units sometime in 1944, these to be manufactured by the BMW for the sheer numbers required of the German war effort. But these plans were disrupted when the plant designated to build them was bombed by allied aircraft. In 1945, the Luftwaffe went on to establish a dedicated reconnaissance wing through Transportstaffel 40 (TS/40) which was to stock several Fl 282 helicopters and based out of the Muhldorf District of Bavaria. It is interesting to note, that after the war, Anton Flettner eventually went to work with the Kaman Helicopter company, renowned for using the twin intermeshing rotors on canted masts that Flettner had introduced with his wartime helicopter, and these are still being produced today. The Model The third incarnation of the Kolibri, the V-23 comes in a nicely illustrated top opening box. As with the previous kit, this could have fitted in a smaller box as it takes up about half of the available space. That said, once the sprues are removed from the two layers of plastic bags, it does prove that the tightly packed sprues have kept the many fragile parts safe from damage. The model comes on eight sprues of grey styrene, a small sheet of etched brass and a decal sheet. As usual with MiniArt kits the moulding is superb with no sign of flash or other imperfections, but there are an awful lot of moulding pips, particularly on the tubular framework which will require very careful clean-up. The detail variation between the earlier kits is minimal, but this one does show the helicopter in it’s final form as flown by the USAF. Construction begins with the frame work fuselage; with the main bulkhead drilled, out the two piece rear seat is attached. The floor is fitted with what looks like a keel beam, before the main and rear bulkheads are glued into place, followed by the two side sections. The rear roof section is then added, followed by the two piece fin and single piece rudder. Two tubular cross members are then attached, along with two tubular engine mounts. The engine is a model in itself with a single piece block, which is fitted with one set of conrods on a circular frame and the single piece crankcase, the other conrods are separate as are the cylinder heads which are glued on next. The four piece gearbox is the attached to the crankcase followed by the output shaft. The forward section of the upper fuselage, containing the main rotor gearbox mounting frames is then attached, as are the horizontal tailplanes, control runs and, rather strangely, a two bladed propeller and protective ring to the front of the engine which sits inside the fuselage. The main rotor gearbox is made up from no less than thirty three parts, and includes all the control linkages, filters, rotor masts and other fittings. Probably the most complex part of the build is the assembly of what we could loosely call the cockpit. There are four sections of tubular frame that make the cockpit surrounds, then it is fitted out with the control column, all the control linkages, collective lever, rudder pedals, throttle quadrant with linkages attached and the two piece instrument panel with decal instrument faces, which you can then glaze with your favourite glazing medium is fitted into the new nose piece before the assembly is attached to the cockpit frame. With all this in place it is fitted to the fuselage and the rear of the cockpit fitted with its strangely shaped bulkhead and the two piece seat. The main rotor gearbox assembly is then fitted to its mounting and enclosed with three panels. There are two four piece side panels that enclose the rear seat area and a four piece under fuselage section that fits under the engine area. There are two fuel tanks, each made up from four parts, the seven piece main undercarriage, and five piece nose undercarriage. These are all assembled before being glued into their respective positions. The rear panel of the main rotor gearbox is then fitted, as are the two small instrument panels and two piece PE seatbelts which fit in the cockpit, which is then enclosed with two side panels and windscreen, which is held away from the panels by two PE struts. Lastly the two six piece rotors are fitted to their respective masts completing the build. Decals The single decal sheet provides markings for four schemes. Although all of the same aircraft they make interesting variations. The decals are very nicely printed, in register, and opaque. They do include two piece swastikas, should you wish to apply them. The schemes are:- Captured, in the service of the USAF, Nellingen, Germany, June 1945 USAF, August to September 1945 USAF airbase Freeman Field, October 1945 USAF, Camden Airport, 1947. Conclusion As with the first releases, it’s great to see this interesting helicopter in 1:35. If you buy all three, you can see the progression and adaptation of the aircraft as it became more mature. The colour schemes that the markings are provided for are also interesting and it shows how much interest that the aircraft provoked that it was still in use in 1947. Review sample courtesy of

Hessian Bags (35586) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Hessian bags, sometimes known as sand bags are a coarse material that is also strong and cheap to manufacture, which is perfect for wartime use. They're also quite adept at stopping small-arms fire and shrapnel, hence their widespread use around major cities, military installations etc. More recently, they have been replaced by the modern Hesco barriers, which are like giant caged sandbags that are more modular and cover a greater area with less effort in filling. This set from MiniArt arrives in a figure-sized box, and inside are eight sprues in grey styrene. Six of the sprues contain sand bags of three types, while the other two sprues have two different sized bags and a bag full of vegetables that are good for use in the back of trucks, kitchens and so forth. The sand bags are made of two halves, and have optional tied ends that you can add for exposed ends of runs of bags. The instructions show the correct way to lay the bags down on each other, with a corner "buttress" given as an example that can be adapted as per your requirements. The bags are shaped on the underside to be laid out in an overlapping manner, and the bottom row have concave undersides to assist with bedding down on whatever you are using them with. Overall there are 24 sand bags, plus two each of the large sacks, medium sacks and vegetable sacks, which should be plenty for most uses, and the extras can be repurposed as suggested on the boxtop. Review sample courtesy of

Sd.Kfz.174 Bergpanther Ausf.A (SS-015) 1:35 Meng Model via Creative Models The Panther was Nazi Germany's answer to the surprise appearance of the Russian T-34 after they finally reacted to the invasion that was Operation Barbarosa. Although the project had been in gestation some time before, they took some design cues from the T-34 in the shape of the sloped armour, resulting in the Panther that was intended to fill the gap between the Panzer.IV and the (then) new Panzer VI Tiger. It was eventually supposed to replace both the Pz.IV and the earlier Pz.III that was really showing its age, but in reality it often fought alongside the Panzer IV. It was planned as a lighter, more manoeuvrable tank than the Tiger, and was fitted with a high velocity gun from the outset. The Germans came to the realisation that they needed a form of armoured recovery vehicle as even the larger halftracks could not recover a Panther or Tiger tank. In fact so many tanks themselves became lost to recovery efforts that order were given not to try recovery with another tank. MAN were tasked to develop the vehicle and used the Panther chassis which was fitted with a central 40 tonne winch in place of the turret and a large rear spade to dig the vehicle in. Over the winch would be placed a wooden work platform and a light crane (1500 kgs capacity). The added benefit of the vehicle was that crew protection was improved and it could work under fire. As well as the standard machine gun a 2cm KwK-30 cannon was mounted on the front, though the use of this fell off in the latter stages of the war, The Kit After the initial release of the Ausf.A by Meng, and then theD, we now get the Bergpanether which as you will guess shares a number of the Battle tank sprues., with a number of new ones. There are eleven sprues in sand styrene, one run of poly-caps, a clear sprue, two sheets of Photo-Etch (PE), braided cabling, a small length of chain, a very small decal sheet, colour painting and markings guide, plus the instruction booklet, which is printed in greyscale on standard paper. Construction starts with the wheels. Two drive sprockets, two idler wheels and 16 road wheels are made up. Each are two part with a poly cap going in between. The torsion bar suspension components are then added into the lower hull plate. The lower hullsides are then added with the two internal bulkheads and the rear one. At the front the driver and radio operators compartment is built up along with the vehicle transmission. In the central area the drive shaft and PTO for the winch is built up, The winch can then be built up, care must be taken when applying the wire to wind it on correctly. We then move to the upper hull. The sides are added along with a few parts such as the drivers hatch which fix from the inside. The rear engine grills are added along with the engine hatch. The upper hull can then be fitted to the lower. The fender lowers are added along with various tool boxes they have. At the rear the large attachment for the spade is added along with the exhausts. The transmission covers are added along with a whole host of brackets. The suspension arms are also added, followed by the wheels. Once they are on the tracks can follow. There are 87 links per side, the links are one part, but with 5 sprue attachment points and two track horns per link this will test the modellers time and patience. Once the hull is done its time for the engineering bits which make this model. At the rear the large spade is made up and attached. On the rear decking tow bars are added and spare track links attached to the sides. Many and various different tools, blocks, connectors, cables etc are all attached. Next up the large working platform on top is made up. This has storage compartment sin which can be open or closed. The front and rear sections can also be open or closed. There is a rain cover for the front compartment which can be open or stowed as well. A wooden beam is also made up for the side of the compartment. If the crane is to be made in the stowed condition it is also added at this time. The completed compartment is then added to the top of the vehicle, We then move back to the hull with mounting brackets being added for the side plate, followed by the PE plates themselves. The front fenders are then added. If the crane is going to be made in the deployed state it needs to be built up and added. The AA machine gun can then be built up and added. If you are adding the 2cm cannon then this needs to be made up and added. A photo etch gun shield is provided. Markings There is a tiny decal sheet with national markings only. Two schemes of Dunklegelb and cammo are offered. Unknown Unit Eastern front - 1944 Unknown Unit France - 1944 Conclusion Another excellent kit from Meng and one this reviewer has been waiting for. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Sd.Kfz.171 Panther Ausf A w/Zimmerit (84506) 1:35 Hobby Boss via Creative Models The Panther was Germany's answer to the surprise appearance of the Russian T-34 after they finally reacted to the invasion that was Operation Barbarosa. Although the project had been in gestation some time before, they took some design cues from the T-34 in the shape of the sloped armour, resulting in the Panther that was intended to fill the gap between the Panzer.IV and the (then) new Panzer VI Tiger. It was eventually supposed to replace both the Pz.IV and the earlier Pz.III that was really showing its age, but in reality it often fought alongside the Panzer IV. It was planned as a lighter, more manoeuvrable tank than the Tiger, and was fitted with a high velocity gun from the outset, which gave it enormous penetrating power that was only equalled by the British 17-pounder fitted to the Sherman to make the Firefly. The sloped frontal armour gave it an increased effective armour thickness, but this was not so true of the side armour, which was comparatively weak, and this area became the preferred target of engaging allied tanks, especially in urban combat where this was a telling issue. Like most German WWII tanks it was complex to produce, so suffered in terms of volume produced, and this led to it being rushed into service with quite a tick-list of things still to sort out. Later production solved most of these initial gremlins, but loses in the interim were high with many being abandoned after failing during combat. Curiously, the Ausf.D was the first to enter production, with the Ausf.A following later in 1943, replacing attrition of the less reliable Ausf.Ds until they themselves were superseded by the Ausf.G, which became the final major variant with increased ammo storage, simplified design to ease production, and further improvements to reliability, although this was never fully cured with a high rate of attrition due to mechanical issues, some of which resulted in catastrophic fires. The Kit First impressions are excellent. This is a change to Hobby Boss's 2012 German Panther Ausf. D Flak Bergepanther with the same chassis & a new Tank Turret. There are also some other changes. The schurzen (or side plates) were PE brass in the Flak, but are now provided as laser cut plasticard. One reason for this could be that all the zimmerit for this kit is sheets of cut plasticard. Different companies seem to be trying different ways of representing zimmerit, but this is the first time we have seen it as these thin sheets of plasticard. In the box there is an upper & lower hull, turret, 11 further sprues of dark yellow plastic, a sheet of PE, 19 track sprues, and the 4 sheets of card previously mention. The plastic is of good quality with no issues visible. Before construction starts the modeller will need to decide if they are adding the zimmerit or not. If so then the coating needs to be added to the hull sides before proceeding with the suspension components. The straight parts are added to an internal rail which is inserted into the lower hull from the inside. Inside the torsion bar parts are added. The actual axle parts with the arm for the wheels are attached to the longer bars and added from the outside. Gearbox covers are added along with additional suspension components. The road wheels, driver sprockets, and return rollers are made up added at this time. The tracks are now made up these are individual links with two guide horns to apply to each of the separate 178 links! There is though no jig in the kit to get the lie of the tracks right so they will have to be done on the wheels. As a quick guide to see how they fit some were cut of a sprue with clippers and they fit without additional clean up. Once the tracks are on the covers over the tracks can be added in place, this now completes the lower hull. Construction then moves to the upper hull, a few small fittings need to be removed before the zimmerit is added if you are using it. The rear part of the hull is made up with the exhausts and tanks being added. Inside the top of the hull viewing periscopes are added along with the front hatches. The rear engine deck and fans are added along with photo etched grills. Tools and the gun cleaning equipment tube are added. The upper hull can then be added to the tank. The side skirts can then be added, as previously mentioned these are made from laser cut plasticard and need to be cut out. The turret is now made up. The gun mantlet is made and added to the front. The hatches and their machine guns were used are added and the rear turret wall added. The two part muzzle is made up and added to the gun, this in turn is added to the turret. Zimmerit The zimmerit for this kit is on three sheets of textured laser cut plasticard. It is thin and should adhere well with liberal amounts of glue. How this does work is yet to be seen, and there are bound to be parts this does not work well with, and joins were the modeller will have to apply there own. However this plastic form should be easier to work with than photo etch. Markings A small sheet of generic numbers and hull crosses is included, however the instructions make no reference to any markings at all? Conclusion This looks to be a nice kit of the Panther and less complicated than some of the other "full interior" kits on the market if the modeller does not want a full interior. The use of plasticard for the side skirts and zimmerit coating is new. Highly recommended. Metal Barrel If you want to take the kit up a notch then Hobby Boss now also offer a replacement metal barrel for the kit Review sample courtesy of

Su-122-54 Tank Destroyer Early Type (37035) 1:35 MiniArt Not to be confused with the unsuccessful Su-122 of WWII era, the Su-122-54 (Object 600) was a re-tread of the concept but utilising the more recent T-54 chassis as its basis, although this was lengthened slightly to accommodate the alterations that included a fixed casemate for the gun, which has elevation and limited traverse like many other tank-killers and Self-Propelled Guns (SPGs) to allow fine tuning of aim. It was fitted with the D-49 L/48.4 rifled main gun with 35 rounds carried onboard, and a pair of KPVT 14.5mm heavy machine guns with 600 rounds, one mounted coaxially to the barrel, the other on the commander's station on the roof, which rotated to give fire all round. The commander also had a TCD-09 stereoscopic rangefinder available for targeting, and could be used out as far as 5000m at extreme. They were only produced in small quantities (under 100), and were kept well away from prying eyes for much of their career, with NATO barely mentioning them in reports, despite them playing a part in some of the major exercises and deployments of the 60s. This could partially be due to the use of the Armoured Recovery Vehicle variant in parades that possibly gave a false impression of the type at the time. The Kit This is a new tooling from the masters of armour at MiniArt, using some of the sprues from their successful T-54/55 series. It arrives in their standard sized box, and inside are a lot of sprues of varying sizes. There are 49 sprues of grey styrene, two in clear, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, decal sheet and instruction booklet, with colour profiles at the rear for paint and markings. If you're not familiar with MiniArt kits, 49 sprues might seem a lot, but if you scroll down to the pictures you'll see that some are small, and often there are upwards of dozens of the same sprue for example in respect of track links. If you have built a T-54, you will recognise the construction of the lower hull, which is achieved by adding the suspension mounts to the lower panel, threading the torsion bars through the hull, attaching all the suspension parts such as the swing-arms, dampers and such to the side, then putting the sides with separate final drive housing and rear bulkhead in place. Between the two sides is a firewall, which is there as a structural element, as there is no interior to this kit. That said, you do get a full-length breech, which is assembled with its big coaxial machine gun and slipped through the big bolted mantlet and then set aside while the casemate is made up. The roof of the casemate is first to be put together, with four hatches on the roof, mating with the other sides before the whole assembly is placed on the top of the hull. Worthy of note are the two diagonal corners to the casemate, which are separate parts that normally leads to worries about alignment. MiniArt have sensibly provided a pair of angled plates to glue inside the joints, which ensures that the sides and diagonals obtain the correct angle to mate with the glacis plate, which by now has the mantlet and breech installed. The wide fenders are also glued in place at this stage, with large tabs holding them to the top of the hull at the front, and two pins that locate into the side of the engine compartment, which is slightly raised compared to the front. The rectangular hatch sports the commander's periscope, and the larger round hatch at the rear has the huge KPVT machine gun attached to it, with twin magazines, one each side on a sturdy mount. The engine deck is made up in three sections, with louvres and hatches, plus small parts, some of which are PE for scale fidelity. A large storage box fits onto the deck once it is in place, and the rear bulkhead is decorated with towing hitches, rails and pioneer tools, plus a pair of large mud guards with separate supports on each side. The remaining two hatches are fitted, a number of supports are glued along the length of the fenders, and stowage boxes plus fuel tanks are added to any free space, as is the large side-facing exhaust on the port side. At the front, the fenders are finished off with front guards, which have PE stiffeners inside, and the single-part barrel is inserted into the keyed slot in the mantlet, with the outer saukopf-like section slid over before the two-part hollow muzzle-brake is closed up around the tip of the barrel. The vehicle now needs some road wheels, which are created in pairs with separate hub caps that hide the axle that also holds the multi-part drive sprocket and idler wheels. There are 10 pairs of road wheels needed, and two of each of the idler and drive sprockets, one for each side. At this stage various small parts are added around the hull, with a choice of day or night operations headlights on the diagonal sections of the glacis, more pioneer tools, additional stowage, aerial masts, plumbing for the additional fuel cells, and a rolled up tarpaulin that is attached to the rear of the casemate with PE straps. A common theme to Soviet era armour was the unditching beam and additional fuel drums on the rear, which were carried over to the Su-122-54, with PE straps and fuel caps that are shown from other angles in scrap diagrams to ensure you place them correctly. The towing cables are something you will have to supply from your own sources, with a requirement of two lengths of 1.1mm diameter with lengths of 175mm each, but you do get the towing eyes to terminate them with, so forewarned is forearmed. Keeping the best and most fun part until last, we come to the tracks. Yes, I'm being slightly sarcastic, as there can't be many modellers that actually enjoy putting tracks together, due to their repetitive nature. Each of the 90 links per side is attached by four sprue gates, and they are located in the pit of the concave track-pin tunnel, so will require extra care during clean-up. I found this a bit of a chore for the three links I did, but I do have easily fatigued hands, and you may come up with a faster method than I found using a sharp knife and round file. Detail on the tracks is staggering, with individual casting serials in the depths of each one, and happily no ejector pin marks to contend with. Markings There are three markings options available from the box, and the profiles are split between the inside front and rear covers of the instruction booklet. You can build one of the following: Soviet Army, winter camouflage 50-60s, marked red 326 Soviet Army 60s, marked white 318 Soviet Army 50-60s, marked white 344 Decals are printed by Decograph, which as usual have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion Whether you've heard of this Tank Destroyer before or not, it has a certain presence, and the angular casemate is appealing as well as a useful feature for deflecting shots away from the crew. The detail levels are excellent, with PE and clear parts to give it extra realism. The only minor gripe is the positioning of the sprue gates on the track links, but with some careful cutting and making good, no-one will ever appreciate your effort! It's typical modern MiniArt, who have made producing great kits look easy. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of