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Allied Drivers (53052) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd This new figure set from MiniArt arrives in a figure-sized box with a painting of the four figures on the front, and the same artwork cut-down and separated to act as the paint and assembly instruction plus a sprue diagram sheet inside, with a panel of colour profiles of the accessories underneath, and a paint chart beneath that, giving codes for Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, plus colour swatches and generic names for completeness. There are five sprues of grey styrene in total, two containing parts for the figures, the other three full of accessories for you to detail them or the surroundings in which you place them. The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprues for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model. There are two Soviet drivers, one operating the levers of a tank or other tracked vehicle, the other driving a truck with a wheel, resting one elbow on the door sill whilst conversing or looking to his left. A US Army driver is included in the process of dismounting his vehicle, one leg and arm still in the cab, his other hand on the sill of the door. The final figure is a British RASC (Royal Army Service Corps) driver, sat in his cab, driving with both hands on the wheel and an intent stare forward. All figures are wearing typical battle-dress clothing and equipment of their respective army, as can be seen from the box art, and the accessory sprues are also themed, so take care in choosing which parts to use with each figure. Conclusion A useful set of drivers to give your next project that trusty human scale, and give some rationale for a vehicle being there in your diorama. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Junkers F13 Mid Production (48005) German, Polish & Swiss Service 1:48 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The design process that led to the Junkers F13 was begun while WWI was still raging, and it was an unconventional and advanced design for the time, when most aircraft were still wood and canvas biplanes that were strengthened by copious rigging wires that created excess drag, making them slow and delicate. The J13 as it was initially called first flew in 1919, and reached maturity during a time that Germany was prevented from having an Air Force, and the market was flooded with military surplus aircraft that could be quickly and cheaply converted into rudimentary airliners or transports. It had a few cards up its sleeve however, such as its all-metal monoplane construction that was far easier to protect from the deleterious effects of weather, especially in humid or damp climates. Through careful design and extensive testing, it had a clean aerodynamic profile that meant a lower power output engine could be utilised to achieve desired speeds, meaning that it could be fitted with different engines from many manufacturers, rather than being saddled with a single high-output and potentially temperamental power-plant. It was crewed by one pilot with a spare seat to his side twin control columns, and a further four passenger seats in the rear compartment, utilising the cockpit seat for an extra passenger should the need arise. Its stressed, corrugated duralumin skin and internal bracing made it both light and strong, with the fuselage attached to the top of the wing, which gave the crew and passengers an extra layer of protection in the event of a rough landing that compromised the gear legs. It also had an unusual trimming system that utilised fuel that was pumped between header tanks in the fore and aft of the fuselage to adjust for centre of gravity changes of the aircraft, and its fixed gear was simple to replace with skis or floats if the need arose. Germany was prevented from building any aircraft until 1921, which resulted in initial sales going overseas, even selling to England and America, Germany’s former enemies. It became so popular thanks to its many appealing qualities that within a few years it constituted around 40% of the world’s civilian air-traffic, and was a familiar sight in the skies of many countries around the world. Production continued until 1932, and included license-built examples that were manufactured in Russia and America, with airframes around the world continuing commercial service until the early 50s, whilst civilian operators were less inclined to give up flying them. The type’s development was mostly centred on the engine type that was mounted in the nose, having several options during its life-time, but there was also a stretched-fuselage variant that could carry more load, and the afore-mentioned float or ski options. More unusual variants were created by users, including a light bomber in China, a bizarre ground-attack aircraft in the US that mounted thirty downward-firing machine guns to pepper enemy troops below, and Soviet forces pressed some of their aircraft into military service with the Red Army. The aircraft remained popular despite its age, and in the new millennium, a Swiss-German company decided to create a series of replica airframes in the noughties, utilising as much of the original design as possible, but substituting a more modern Pratt & Whitney engine and precision instruments where the improvement would be worth the change. The design was based upon original blueprints and a laser-scan of an original airframe to confirm their accuracy, but at $2.5m per example, there won’t be too many gracing the skies any time soon. The Kit This is a new boxing of a recent tooling from MiniArt of this grandfather of the Ju.52 that utilised many of the same technologies and engineering techniques that were pioneered in this small aircraft. The kit arrives in a standard MiniArt top-opening box with a painting of the subject-matter on the top that is parked on a grass field on a sunny day, and has the decal option profiles on one of the sides. Inside the box are twelve sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a large decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that has a cover printed in colour, with a full set of profiles on the front and rear pages, also in colour. Detail is up to MiniArt’s current standards, and examining the sprues reveals a huge quantity of detail that extends across the entire exterior, covering the model with finely rendered corrugations, and where appropriate, these corrugations also extend to the interior. The cockpit is well-rendered, and sits behind a replica of the BMW IIIa six-cylinder engine, with a radiator at the front, while the passenger compartment has a humped floor just like the real thing to accommodate the wing spars under the floor. This edition also sports extended span wings, and the changes to the airframe commensurate with this mid production airframe. Construction begins with the starboard rear fuselage, which has a window and two bulkheads fitted, setting it aside whilst building the cockpit on its contoured floor. The two control columns are detailed with a lamination of two PE layers that represent the control cables, fitting a bow-tie wheel at the top of each one, and setting them in place through rectangular holes in the floor, mounting rudder pedals in front, and making up two barrel seats from two styrene parts and PE lap-belts, setting those aside while the unusually-shaped instrument panel is further detailed with levers and controls, plus a few PE parts, adding another PE lever between the columns along with a styrene part. The panel is decaled extensively after painting, and is fitted to a bulkhead via a C-shaped stand-off bracket that locates on two recesses. This too is put aside, mounting the starboard fuselage half to the short cruciform fuselage floor after drilling out a few holes, and fitting two optional boxes in place in the wing roots if you plan on building your model with the wings mounted for flight. The forward section of the fuselage has three window panes added and is fixed to the rear, using raised guides in the floor to ensure the assembly is straight and true. The cockpit is fitted next, and will be useful to help align the fuselage sides, fixing the two seats in place, then adding the instrument panel on its bulkhead. Another bulkhead is made to separate the cockpit from the passengers, adding a window and two tied-back curtains, plus a pair of wedge-shaped strengtheners into slots at the sides. Two more individual two-part seats with PE lap-belts are made and inserted in the floor as the front row, building a four-part bench seat/sofa that also has PE seatbelts added, gluing it to a stepped bulkhead, and fitting that into the rear of the passenger compartment, using the guides to ensure it is correctly aligned. A handle is inserted into a hole in the side door, fixing another to the opening door on the opposite side later. The six-cylinder in-line BMW engine is based upon a two-part block, into which the individual cylinders are dropped, adding a prop-axle and generator, then completing the tops of the cylinder heads, cooling tubing, wiring loom, air-intake and exhaust manifold to the sides, ending the manifold with a vertical horn if you plan on leaving the cowling open. Engine mounts are installed on both sides of the bay, lowering the completed engine into position between them, fitting the radiator after gluing the rear and a PE cross-brace to it, and a fixed aft cowling panel. The opposite side of the fuselage is made from two almost identical (but handed) parts, although a separate door is included, fitting the windows, a door handle and rail, and drilling two small holes in the rear section close to the wing root. The completed parts are then brought in and glued to the floor, creating a cowling for the engine bay from top and side parts, with a further option of a PE strap around it if you wish. The cowling open option isn’t discussed any further in the instructions, which is unusual. A folded PE part is available to replace a styrene grab-handle part if you prefer, mounting it on the forward section of the cowling, fitting the roof on the fuselage after adding a circular light to the inside and drilling a small hole nearby. Another styrene or PE grab-handle is fixed to the side cowling on both sides, and a pair of clear windscreens are installed in front of the cockpit, as this variant also didn’t have an enclosed cockpit, which is tough luck for the crew. At the rear, the elevator is made from upper and lower halves, the upper half having the entire flying surfaces moulded-in to achieve a slim trailing edge, mounting it on the open rear of the fuselage behind the roof panel. The new straight tapered tail fin is slotted into the top of the elevator, with the rudder moulded-in. There are two short C-beams provided for the inner wing upper panels, which are only utilised if the wings are to be built ready for flight, fitting into a recess under the short inner wing panels, then gluing them into place either side of the fuselage. At this stage the decision must be made whether to mount the wings, or leave them off for transport, using either three parts to create the joint for the mounted option, or an open rib with a socket glued behind it that will be seen in the wingless option, depending on your choice. Your preferred insert is glued into the ends of the inner panels, adding a pair of intakes under the belly, fitting a PE crew step under the port trailing-edge, the tail-skid under the rear, and a PE actuator tab in a recess on the rudder. More PE or styrene grab-handles are fitted to the rear fuselage for ground-handling, and around the square back windows to ease access to the door over the wing. The extended outer wing panels are stiffened by adding two ribs to the grooves moulded into the inner surfaces, and slotting a three-quarter span spar lengthways into the grooves in the ribs, cutting the inner ends off as indicated if you are leaving the wings off the airframe. The wing underside is glued to the uppers over the spar, and once the glue is cured, the ailerons can be fitted into the cut-outs in the trailing edges along with grab-handles in drilled-out holes under the wingtips. They are put to the side for a while so that the landing gear can be made, which is based upon a K-shaped axle, which has a pair of V-shaped supports glued near the ends, finishing the assembly with a pair of two-part wheels, or using two-part tyres with PE spokes spaced apart by a hollow bearing in the centre, and mounting the completed gear in the recesses under the belly between the wings. The supports are handed, so be careful when putting them together to ensure the correct parts are used. The wings are completed by fitting PE actuators at the inner ends of the ailerons, after which the completed assemblies can either be slipped into their slots in the inner wing panels and glued, or depicted stowed nearby in whatever fashion you choose. An aerial mast is slotted into the roof behind the cockpit, and a choice of two propellers with or without spinner is supplied for you to complete the build. Markings There are three decal options on the large sheet, all wearing the same basic scheme of silver over black, with a black engine cowling and landing gear, differentiated mainly by the large individual markings and black or red wing bands. From the box you can build one of the following: CH-91 Ad Astra Aero, Switzerland, Early 1920s P-PALD ‘Daniel’ PLL Aerolot, Poland, Early 1920s D-230 ‘Wieldehopf’ Deutsche Luft Hansa AG, 1920s Decals are screen printed by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This popular aircraft went through design changes through its career like many other successful designs, extending the wingspan, changing the underside of the fuselage from flatter to tapered, and amending the shape of the tail fin, all of which are depicted here. Detail is excellent, and the kit should build into a creditable replica of this corrugated monoplane. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Ground Staff North Africa (49020) 1:48 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd This new figure set from MiniArt in 1:48 will mesh perfectly with your next North Africa diorama or vignette that incorporates Luftwaffe aviation in that scale. The set arrives in a figure-sized end-opening box with a painting of the figures and their equipment on the front, replicated separately on the rear to act as painting and building instructions, with a paint chart that gives codes for Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, plus colour swatches and generic names for completeness. Inside the box are six sprues of grey styrene, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, and a single sheet of instructions for some of the multi-part accessories that are included. The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprues for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model. They look more impressive for being that much smaller than their usual 1:35 figures. There are four figures, all bar one dressed in hot-weather light-weight clothing to keep cool in the extreme heat of North Africa. One is shirtless with braces holding up his trousers, resting one foot on a chair while he paints something, another is wearing shorts and a Pith helmet bringing a wooden toolbox for some task, retaining his calf-length boots and looking like someone from 70s sitcom ‘It Ain't Half Hot Mum’. The third figure is working at a bench on an engineering task with sleeves rolled up, while the last is sitting consulting a clip-board, comparatively over-dressed in long-sleeved jacket over a shirt, long trousers and calf-length boots. The accessories are spread across four sprues, providing plenty of assemblies to add to your work, consisting of a wheeled compressor with receiver tank, a wooden tool box with a choice of tools, a trestle table, a portable bench vice, wooden step ladder, a pillar drill, hacksaw, two metal toolboxes, one open with PE covers and spread open drawers, the other closed, an anvil, a fixed bench vice, chair, stool, buckets, spades, spray gun and many other small tools. Markings Whilst there are no decals included with the kit, the afore mentioned painting guide on the rear of the box should be sufficient to enable accurate painting with some care and a good quality paint brush. If you use other makes of paint than those given in the chart, those codes should give you a suitable starting point for conversion to your preferred brand. Conclusion Figures lend a human scale to any model for obvious reasons, and with careful painting these ground crew with the tools of their trade should add a lot more than just that. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Iraqi T-55 Al Faw/Enigma (37095) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The T-54's gestation and transformation into the T-55 was long-winded and complicated by constant changes to an unsatisfactorily performing vehicle, and began as early as the end of WWII. Production of the T-54-1 was halted due to production and quality issues, and recommenced as the re-designed T-54-2, with the turret design changed to closer resemble the eventual domed shape of the T-55. The -2 didn't last all that long before the -3 replaced it, and the requirement for survival of tactical nuclear blasts led to the eventual introduction of the similar looking, but significantly different T-55 that we know so well. As the heavy tank fell out of favour, the T-55 became part of the burgeoning Main Battle Tank (MBT) movement, with thousands of them being produced over the years in various guises. In the early 60s the T-55A was developed, providing more competent Nuclear Biological and Chemical (NBC) protection that required a lengthening of the hull and concurrently added anti-spall protection for the crew. It also sounded the death-knell of the bow-mounted machine gun, which was removed to improve ammo storage, and hasn't been seen on MBTs for decades now. The Czechs built their own versions of the T-54 and T-55, with quite an export market developing due to their being of better build quality than the Russian built alternative. Some of Iraq’s stocks of T-55s were upgraded before the Gulf War with a locally designed and produced set of Non-Explosive Reactive Armour (NERA), which consisted of a series of layers of aluminium, rubber and toughened steel that were extremely bulky and slowed down the top speed of the vehicle accordingly, whilst affording enhanced protection. Based upon combat experience, the armour upgrade was reasonably effective in tank-to-tank engagements where the armour was thickest, but in one particular engagement that was documented, a tank that had survived a number of impacts from ground-based Milan missiles was then taken out by a rotary-wing air asset from a higher angle where the tank was unprotected by the ENIGMA panels. The Kit Based upon MiniArt’s successful range of newly tooled T-55 kits, this boxing adding new sprues to depict the additional armour, and any changes that were made to the tank to accommodate these alterations. The kit arrives in a standard top-opening box with a painting of a camouflaged tank in action in a desert environment, and inside are thirty-one sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass in a card envelope, decal sheet and instruction booklet, which is printed in colour on glossy paper, with colour profiles on the rear pages for the markings options. Detail is excellent as per the other kits in the range, and the new parts are extensive and well-detailed to match the rest of the kit. Construction begins with the lower hull, which has cut-outs for the suspension mounts, hatches and access panels, all of which are supplied as separate parts. The suspension is torsion-link, so the bars are inserted with the axles at their ends, or shorter stubby versions can be installed if you want to freeze the suspension in the level position. Another layer of suspension fitments are installed on the sides of the hull floor, preparing the hull sides with a second layer at the front, and the final drive housings on the rear exterior, adding some small parts, and curved surrounds to the turret area, plus a PE grille laid flat on the top of the right side, joining these to the hull floor along with the rear bulkhead and the engine firewall that is there purely to add support to the structure. A short strip is added under the glacis plate, which is next to be fitted along with the deck with the turret ring, slotting a driver’s hatch in on a pivot, and two clear vision blocks at the panel break. A multi-part engine deck with individual slats fitted before installation is made up in three segments, adding PE mesh panels with raised covers with more PE louvres and mesh supplied as additional parts, plus dozens of small details for the engine deck and the rear bulkhead that includes PE and styrene. The fenders have additional structures moulded underneath, and more added to the top to support the extra weight of the armour, with PE bracing inside the sprung mudguard parts, exhaust on the port side, and several triangular cross-braces perpendicular to the upper surface of the fender and additional metalwork. Stowage boxes and extra fuel tanks are built and fitted to the rear portions of the fenders where there is no augmentation, adding a long narrow box to the right-hand fender over the bracing. The first sections of appliqué armour are built from upper boxes and lower surfaces, plus some mounting lugs (they’re heavy IRL), and the edge blocks have brackets with custom light fittings, adding springs and fitments to the front mudguards on both sides, the main lights that have clear lenses, fitting inside a multi-part cage to protect them from damage, which will take some care to glue together neatly, but they have pins and recesses to assist with location. At the relatively unaltered rear of the vehicle, an unditching log is lashed to the bulkhead with PE straps, and the extra fuel drums so often seen are also lashed to curved brackets that overhang the rear of the hull. the wheels are handled next, with five pairs per side with separate hubs, plus the idler wheel at the front, and drive sprocket at the rear. Tracks are then made from individual links, requiring 90 links per side, each of which have four sprue gates, but no ejection pin or sink marks to worry about. They are moulded in stunning detail, which includes the casting numbers inlaid into the hollows of each track link, and close-fitting lugs that should make building them an easier task. An eight-segment side-skirt of NERA blocks are made up from two parts each, and are attached to the sides of the strengthened fenders, mounting a set of strips in a box-shape on the engine deck, the use of which isn’t illustrated, but could be used for shallow stowage due to the extreme overhang of the bustle-armour that is built shortly. The turret on a standard T-55 is a busy assembly, but the Al Faw takes it up a notch, eschewing some small parts on the exterior for massive armour blocks. The kit is an exterior boxing, but still has the basics of the breech mechanism and coax machine gun made up and mated with the lower turret on two trunnion mounts at the front. The upper turret is attached to the lower, after which the two-part turret roof is fitted with hatches, vents and vision blocks. The commander’s cupola is raised above the armour, and has a periscope fitted to the front vision-block location, with two clear blocks to the sides, surrounded by grab-handle-like protectors. Externally a four-part blast-bag is slipped over the one-part barrel then it is surrounded by PE strips. A searchlight with a separate bulb in the reflector is made and fixed to a flat platform on the front of the commander’s cupola, surrounding it in a curved ‘hutch’ and a two-layer PE front door that you can fold down to depict it in use. An armature links the gun barrel and another searchlight together so they move in unison, and this too is surrounded by another hutch with two-layer PE door at the front. Apart from some tie-downs and brackets on the rear, much of the exterior detail to the turret isn’t required due to the presence of the armour blocks, with work commencing by making a block that can hinge up, sitting on the right side of the turret and acting as the locating point for the other blocks later. A pair of tapering arms are made from three main parts plus three triangular fillets for mounting on the rear of the turret, each one handed to close around a large flat stowage box and a vertical sheet of armour, which then has four NERA blocks mould as one to the rear, doubling as a counter-weight to the frontal armour. The frontal NERA quadrants are built from exterior panels with sides, back plates and undersides, the latter having spacing support bars moulded into them. A set of mounting brackets are fitted to the rear of the blocks and they are fixed to the right side, the same process carried out in mirror-image for the opposite quadrant, except the opening box is at the front with springs added to the top. The turret is dropped into the hull to complete the build, and you should bear in mind that there are no bayonet lugs that will hold it in situ if you invert the model, so be careful to support it if the need arises. Markings There are two colour schemes and no decals because these were highly customised T-55s and were only used for a relatively short period in the field. From the box you can build one of the following: Conclusion For a long time there were only resin options if you wanted to depict these oddities, but that changed 12 years ago, but this is the most well-detailed and modern kit of the type to reach the market in a long while. MiniArt make very good T-55s. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Sd.Kfz.234/1 Early Mod Interior Kit (35410) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Armoured cars and their derivatives were a dominant part of German military thinking after WWI, as they were prevented from having tanks or other types of heavy weaponry by the Versailles Treaty, at least until they unilaterally set its terms aside once Mr Hitler was firmly ensconced as the country’s mad dictator. Although it closely resembles the earlier Sd.Kfz.231, the 234 was based upon a more modern ARK chassis, while the 231 was built on the GS chassis. The 232 Schwerer Panzerspähwagen was available in 6- or 8-wheeled formats, with the number of wheels appended to the designation, and it was the 8-Rad that the basis for the 234, following on later in 1940 and learning from issues encountered with earlier designs. The new turret was designed by Daimler Benz, while the engine was a Tatra air-cooled diesel unit, powering all eight wheels that were also all steerable. To add to the ease with which the vehicle could be driven, there was an additional driver’s station at the rear of the crew cab, complete with a steering wheel that gave it the capability of reversing out of trouble with similar speed and dexterity as driving forward – a facility that came in very useful in the event of an ambush or stumbling into an enemy position. The 234/2 was the initial variant and the most prevalent, as well as being the best known, probably because of the (comparatively) large 50mm gun in the turret. Oddly, it was replaced less than a year later with an open-turreted /1 variant that mounted a smaller 20mm cannon, and concurrently another variant with a short-barrelled 75mm K51 gun under the /3 designation. This variant was also short-lived, increasing the fire-power substantially with an installation of the powerful Pak 40, although the extra weight caused extreme stress to the 234’s chassis and running gear. All the variants after the /2 were open-topped, leaving the crew exposed to the elements, incoming plunging fire and explosive charges or grenades lobbed in by the enemy, however the /1 was fitted with a clamshell of wire mesh to deflect such nuisances. To keep the enemy out of range however, a single MG42 was coaxially mounted with the main gun - a very capable machine gun against troops and lightly armoured targets. The armour built into the vehicle could deflect light-arms and smaller cannon rounds, with 30mm of sloped armour on the turret, and up to 100mm thickness on the mantlet, but at the rear the protection was only 10mm, as was the roof of the /2. Over 100 /2 vehicles were made before it was superseded, and despite being the most well-known, there were around 200 of the later /1 produced, with roughly 90 of each of the other two made before the war ended. The Kit This is a new boxing of a very recent tooling from those dynamos at MiniArt, a new Interior Kit boxing, and more than likely not the last. We’ve had other kits of the type in this scale previously, but not for some considerable time, and it’s fair to say that armour modellers with an interest in this genre are very pleased. The kit arrives in a standard-sized top-opening box with a painting of a 234/1 engaged in some desperate anti-aircraft action against Allied P-47D Thunderbolts, ably demonstrating the theme of the kit. Inside the box are twenty-three sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on the outer pages on glossy paper, with profiles of the decal options on the inner and outer covers. The detail is excellent, extending to the full interior for this boxing, following on from the initial exterior-only version we reviewed recently. The full gamut of hatches can be posed open or closed to expose the details, PE parts, and the surface is fully realised with weld seams and exterior structure well defined. Construction begins with the lower hull, starting with the narrow bottom section where the drive-shafts and suspensions are located, which is made from three faces, two internal bulkheads, and two steering actuators, one at each end. The hull floor has tread-plate moulded-in and a cut-out ready for the interior, sandwiching it between the two outward sloping sides, drilling out holes in the parts before assembling them, adding a rear bulkhead behind the engine compartment. The two assemblies are mated, fitting the first parts for the suspension to the sides, and a U-shaped stiffener in the centre of the lower portion. The interior starts with the two drivers’ positions, fitting the floor section after drilling out holes for the pedals, three for the rear driver and four for the main driver at the front, adding linkages down both sides of the engine compartment, and fairings on the left side of the hull, plus a battery compartment and fairing on the right that is built from five parts, fitting a shallow frame in front. The drivers have their steering columns and wheels attached in recesses, the main driver’s being a more comprehensive installation. A two-part seat is fixed to the rails moulded into the floor, with a linkage and gas mask canister to his left, and a two-part magazine stowage box fitted to the floor behind his station. The battery rack is wired into a distribution box on the right wall, using wire from your own stock, then inserting the two levers to the driver’s right, noting that the scrap diagram shows that the wires to the battery are braided and thick to cope with the level of current. The rear driver’s station has the same pair of levers fitted, mounting a seven-part two-box radio rack, another small equipment box to his right, and another ammo stowage box behind and to the right of the front driver. The rear driver also gets a two-part seat, a seven part dash panel, and a skeletal bulkhead is inserted into a groove on the inside of the hull. A folded MP40 on a bracket is fitted above the right-hand side door within easy reach of the rear driver. The engine is a substantial block, weighing in at 14,825cc, and is a V12 diesel manufactured by Czech manufacturer Tatra, and it is supplied in its entirety in this boxing. The piston banks are each made from four parts, held together by the end-caps, adding extra parts around the underside, and at both ends, utilising a lot of parts that includes the ancillaries, twin cooling fans, fan belt, dynamo, and if you feel brave enough, you can wire up the engine using the extra steps that are labelled for “advanced modellers” that run side-by-side with the main steps. The completed engine is an impressive size, and covered with detail, especially if you continue with the wiring that helps to integrate it with the chassis. A pair of four-part tanks are inserted to the sides of the engine, and another shell stowage box is made from six parts, with two extra parts for the doors either in the open or closed position, as you see fit. It is fixed in place at an angle on two rails over the rear differential, bracketed by a pair of contoured tanks, then the side doors and their locking mechanisms are installed in either open or closed position if you want to show off your work. The upper hull interior has several appliqué panels, gas mask canister, the driver’s instrument panel, another multi-part radio box and other inner structural parts, plus the vision ports applied, adding hinge-points for the driver’s hatch and building three vision ports for later installation, and an optional stowage box for some decal options. The upper hull’s exterior has the engine deck aperture filled with cooling vents that can be posed open or closed by using different parts, with two solid doors at the sides that can also be posed open, locating it in the cut-out in the back of the deck, then adding the rear bulkhead with hatch that has four “milk bottles” on the inner face if posing it open, mating the upper and lower hull assemblies, fitting the vision ports and a hatch with separate hinges and handles in the square cut-out in the glacis plate, again in either open or closed position, as you might have guessed. Suspension and steering parts are assembled on the underside of the hull, making up four axles and leaf-springs on each side, replacing left with right-handed hubs on the relevant side. Six triple-handled Jerry cans with PE central weld-flares and filler cap are made and wrapped in PE straps that secure them to the vehicle later, adding armoured panels to the ends of the hull, and spare wheel bracket on the rear. Both sides of the fenders/sponsons have the rear carcasses of the flush stowage boxes installed, adding the external parts such as the jack, mufflers for each of the rear fenders, and another long stowage box and a shorter box for two decal options, finishing the sponsons and their ends with additional parts. The doors can be fitted open or closed by using different parts, with a selection of stowage boxes made up and used for different decal options. The spare wheel is the first to be made, making it from either four centre laminations and two exterior faces to create a detailed tread pattern, or using a simpler two-part wheel structure if you prefer, fitting it to the bracket on the rear of the vehicle, in between the mufflers on either side of the sloped rear of the sponsons. More stowage boxes and Jerry cans are mounted on and around the engine deck, again for the decal options, plus pioneer tools and a fire extinguisher on the left sponson. Additional detail parts are dotted around the hull, including width-marker lollipops, rear-view mirrors for some markings, headlight, an antenna with PE star-shaped tip, then crushing it all while you fit the tyres (I hope I’m joking here), which are made from four laminations and exterior faces, one of the inner parts a tapering hub that will be seen once the wheels are installed on the four axles. Assembly of the turret is begun by adding a ring and three detail parts to the turret floor, then fitting manual rotation wheels, a central stack of equipment with two seats on either side at the bottom, the assembly made from eighteen parts in total. The 20mm cannon barrel can be made one of two ways, with either a moulded-in flash-hider, or a separate PE part that is rolled into a short cone and glued to the tip of the styrene barrel after clipping off the end. There are two breech options with different details, with a magazine well added on the left side, building the slide from an impressive six parts, and making the cradle with integrated dump bag from another seven. Sighting gear is made for the right side of the breech from a combination of PE and styrene parts, fitting a guide for the spent brass on the same side. A coaxial MG42 is fitted into the carrier, adding a breech cover, four-part support, and a small “snail” drum mag on the left of the breech before mounting it to the left of the main gun. The assembly is fitted into the turret base on a pair of trunnions with extra detail parts, an aerial in the rear of the floor on a wide C-bracket, fixing a cylinder and a PE bracket to the floor before mounting the individual turret sides with brackets at the top, the rear faces with stowage boxes that have PE clasps, and the mantlet with three slots to accommodate the MG42, the 20mm gun, and the optics from left to right as you view it from inside the turret. The protective mesh turret top is made from PE sheets that are folded into shape and detailed with brackets, PE stiffeners, and styrene C-brackets on the outside, with a choice of which direction they face, depending on whether you wish to pose the top open for action, or closed to protect the crew from incoming grenades or satchel charges. When closed, the brackets sit folded over the roof panels, but when open they are flipped out to the rear, with scrap diagrams showing how they should look for each option. The turret is dropped into the aperture on the hull, which doesn’t have a bayonet lock, so you’ll need to be careful when inverting the model once completed. Markings There are six decal options included on the sheet, all wearing a base coat of dunkelgelb (dark yellow) with a variety of camouflage schemes that expose more or less of the base coat. One option has a patchy coat of winter white distemper, and another has an almost complete overcoat of green. From the box you can build one of the following: Unidentified unit, Wehrmacht, Western Front, 1944 Unidentified unit, Liege, Belgium, August 1944 Unidentified unit, East Prussia, February 1945 Pz.Aufkl.Abt.116, 116. Panzer-Division, Germany, Spring 1945 Pz.Aufkl.Abt.8, 8. Panzer-Division, Czechoslovakia, Spring 1945 Unidentified unit, Wehrmacht, Germany, Spring 1945 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion A comprehensive kit of this eight-wheeler armoured car that goes forward just as well as in reverse, complete with an entire interior, and a hull full of detail that extends into the engine compartment, and includes enough PE to give it extra realism, particularly around the turret. It’s another of MiniArt’s output that deserves to go on to be the de facto standard in this scale. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Sd.Kfz.234/3 with 2cm Schwebelafette 38 (35431) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Armoured cars and their derivatives were a dominant part of German military thinking after WWII, as they were prevented from having tanks or other types of heavy weaponry by the Versailles Treaty, at least until they unilaterally set its terms aside once Mr Hitler was firmly ensconced as the country’s mad dictator. Although it closely resembles the earlier Sd.Kfz.231, the 234 was based upon a more modern ARK chassis, while the 231 was built on the GS chassis. The 232 Schwerer Panzerspähwagen was available in 6- or 8-wheeled formats, with the number of wheels appended to the designation, and it was the 8-Rad that the basis for the 234, following on later in 1940 and learning from issues encountered with earlier designs. The new turret was designed by Daimler Benz, while the engine was a Tatra air-cooled diesel unit, powering all eight wheels that were also all steerable. To add to the ease with which the vehicle could be driven, there was an additional driver’s station at the rear, complete with a steering wheel that gave it the capability of reversing out of trouble with similar speed and dexterity as driving forward – a facility that came in very useful in the event of an ambush or stumbling into an enemy position. The 234/2 was the initial variant and the most prevalent, as well as being the best known, probably because of the (comparatively) big 50mm gun in the turret. Oddly, it was replaced less than a year later with an open-turreted /1 variant that mounted a smaller 20mm cannon, and concurrently another variant with a short-barrelled 75mm K51 gun under the /3 designation. This variant was also short-lived, increasing the fire-power substantially with an installation of the powerful Pak 40, although the extra weight caused extreme stress to the 234’s chassis and running gear. All the variants after the /2 were open-topped, leaving the crew exposed to the elements, incoming plunging fire and explosive charges lobbed in by the enemy. To keep them out of range however, a single MG42 was coaxial with the main gun - a very capable machine gun against troops and lightly armoured targets. The armour built into the vehicle could deflect light-arms and smaller cannon rounds, with 30mm of sloped armour on the turret, and up to 100mm thickness on the mantlet, but at the rear the protection was only 10mm, as was the roof of the /2. Over 100 /2 vehicles were made before it was superseded, and despite being the most well-known, there were around 200 of the later /1 produced, with roughly 90 of each of the other two made before the war ended. The Kit This is a new boxing of a recent tooling from MiniArt, the fifth (IIRC) in a line of boxing that includes Interior Kits, and now has a unique sub-variant such as this /3 with a 2cm Schwebelafette 38, a 20mm autocannon that was also installed in an Sd.Kfz.251 half-track in the same mount. We’ve had other kits of the type in this scale previously, but not for some considerable time, and it’s fair to say that armour modellers with an interest in this genre are very pleased. The kit arrives in a standard-sized top-opening box with a painting of this unique vehicle on the battlefield, passing some German troops that are making good use of cover. Inside the box are twenty-three sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on the outer pages on glossy paper, with profiles of the decal options on both sides of the rear cover. The detail is excellent, as usual, restricted mostly to the exterior for this boxing, but the hatches can be posed open or closed, although with limited appeal for this boxing, PE details, and the surface detail is fully realised with weld seams and exterior structure well defined. Construction begins with the lower hull, starting with the narrow bottom section where the drive-shafts and suspensions are located, which is made from three faces, two internal bulkheads, and two steering actuators, one at each end. The hull floor has tread-plate moulded-in and a cut-out that’s ready for the interior kits, which is sandwiched between the two outward sloping sides, adding a rear bulkhead behind the engine compartment. The two assemblies are mated, fitting the first parts for the suspension to the sides, and a U-shaped stiffener in the centre of the lower portion. Despite the exterior-only nature of the kit, various internal parts are installed in the lower hull, with side doors and their locking mechanisms, and an inner bow-tie stiffener in the centre of the crew space. The upper hull has inner structure of the vision ports applied, radio gear, an instrument panel, gas mask canister on an appliqué panel, plus hinge-points for the driver’s hatch and building two vision ports for later installation, and a pair of inserts fixed proud of the edge of the lower portion of the engine bay. The upper hull has the engine deck filled with cooling vents that can be posed with the louvres open or closed by using different parts, with two solid doors at the sides, locating it in the cut-out in the back of the deck, joining the rear bulkhead with hatch, mating the upper and lower hull assemblies, fitting the vision ports and a hatch with separate hinges and handles in the square cut-out in the glacis plate. Suspension and steering parts are assembled on the underside of the hull, making up four axles on each side, replacing left with right-handed hubs on the relevant side, and applying leaf-springs between each wheel pair. Either four or six triple-handled Jerry cans with PE central weld-flares and cap are made and wrapped in PE straps that secure them to the vehicle later, making up both sides of the sponsons and installing the rear carcasses of the flush stowage boxes, plus making a start on the external parts such as the jack, two mufflers and another stowage box, then going on to fit steering linkages and other detail parts before the sponson sides are glued in place, finishing the ends with additional parts. The doors can be fitted open or closed by using different parts, with a set of width-indicator lollipops used for some decal options. The spare wheel is the first to be made, making it from either four centre laminations and two exterior faces to create a highly detailed tread pattern, or using a simpler two-part wheel structure if you prefer, fitting it to the bracket on the rear of the vehicle, with a muffler on either side of the sloped rear of the sponsons with feeders on the sides. Stowage boxes and the two twin-packs of Jerry cans are mounted on the fenders to the side of the engine deck, plus pioneer tools and a fire extinguisher on the left sponson. More detail parts are dotted around the hull, including a headlight and horn, pioneer tools, an antenna, fitting the tyres that are made from four laminations and exterior faces, one of the inner parts a tapering hub that will be seen once the wheels are installed on the eight axles. This exterior kit includes the entirety of the 20mm autocannon, and starts with the application of the vertical protective shroud for the crew, which consists of four outer components and two inner sections on each side. The gun has a flared muzzle, which involves cutting the stub tip of the barrel off, and rolling a small PE part into a tapering cylinder and gluing it position, or you can use an alternative part that has a styrene rendition of the muzzle moulded-in. Your choice is fitted to the breech, adding a combined magazine and its well to the left side, encasing it with a three-part frame, a rectangular armour panel sited vertically on the breech, sighting gear with a PE insert and bracket on the top, and a four-part trigger assembly that is attached to the frame without glue. A back-up sight is attached on the left along with an adjustment lever, making the pedestal from five parts, plus a rear damper that attaches between the base of the pedestal and rear of the gun mount, made from four parts. A pair of bicycle-style seats and two three-part ready mag assemblies are fixed to the pedestal to complete the gun, leaving just the armoured surround with a pair of grab-handles to finish off the assembly, locating on two arms at the sides of the gun. A two-part pintle-mount is fixed at the rear of the crew compartment and a rest is mounted on the left side with an MG42 that has a separate drum mag, breech cover and cocking handle, plus a simple mounting plate on the underside, resting the stock in the PE bracket. The cannon assembly is installed in the lower hull on the support on the floor to complete the build. Markings There are two decal options included on the sheet, both of which have a base-coat of dunkelgelb (dark yellow), with a green and red camouflage on the real choice, and another with a hypothetical winter distemper over the top of it, possibly the same vehicle. From the box you can build one of the following: Stabskp.Pz.Aufkl.Abt.20, 20. Panzer-Division, Czechoslovakia, Spring 1945 Hypothetical winter camouflage Stabskp.Pz.Aufkl.Abt.20, 20. Panzer-Division Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The 8-rad armoured car is an appealing subject to a lot of modellers, and the Sd.Kfz.234/3 with a unique gun mount is quite appealling. The detail is excellent, and I can’t wait to see what’s next. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Raupenschlepper Ost RSO/01 Early Prod. (35478) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd During the first Autumn of operation Barbarossa during WWII, German forces struggled to a virtual standstill due to the muddy, then icy conditions that occurred on the rudimentary road systems they found in Russia, or the Eastern Front, as they called it. The Raupenschlepper Ost was the response by Steyr, or ‘Caterpillar Tractor East’ in English was available in two main variants – the cargo version and the self-propelled version with a PaK40 mounted onboard. Shortened to RSO, the initial /01 cargo variant had a pressed steel cab and a shallow-sided load area, plus a canvas tilt over the load-bed. This was simplified later to a straight-sided cab to streamline construction and in-the-field repair, retaining the main underpinnings, which consisted of a Steyr 3.5L petrol V8, followed by a substantially lower-powered Deutz diesel engine for those vehicles manufactured by Magirus, reducing fuel consumption and flammability, but increasing available torque that’s typical of diesel engines. The engine was mounted in the front of the vehicle beneath the crew cab for all variants, which must have been a boon during the cold winter months, powering the drive-sprockets initially with a differential similar to those used in wheeled vehicles, which was later replaced by a final-drive system more typical of an AFV. The driver effected steering via a pair of levers akin to those used in many AFVs of the era, with four gears plus reverse available for motion, and a standard single-plate clutch for power delivery. Suspension was simple elliptical leaf springs on two double-wheel bogeys per side, which took some of the lumps out of the terrible Russian roads, most of which were nothing more than packed dirt tracks in the summer, turning to muddy bogs in the period between summer and winter, at which point the ruts solidified, creating their own problems. The simple wheels and slack-track with no return-rollers gave the RSO enhanced capability during the change of seasons and during winter-time, with no complex interleaved wheels or ‘live’ tracks for mud to accumulate in and/or freeze. Its primary drawback was its relatively small load capacity, as it was based on a 1.5 ton truck, requiring multiple RSOs to replace their 3.5 ton wheeled equivalents once the weather deteriorated beyond the usefulness of wheels. The Kit This is a new tooling from MiniArt of this small bad-weather capable truck, and is already the first of three boxing, the third carrying a PaK40, as mentioned above. This first early variant arrives in a top-opening box with a painting of a camouflaged RSO on the front, and profiles of the four decal options on one side of the lid. Inside the box are sixteen sprues of grey styrene, one of clear parts, a small Photo-Etch (PE) fret, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on glossy white paper, with full profiles of the decal options on the front and rear covers. Detail is excellent, as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt, including a full chassis, engine, interior and load area with canvas tilt or bare framework in the back. Construction begins with the chassis, starting with the bottom plate and four cross-members, sliding two sections of the drive-shaft through holes in the centres, then adding the rails to the sides after removing several tabs from the upper edge, and adding triangular stubs that encroach into the centre. A platform with tubing is fitted to the front, adding actuator rods front and rear, plus a K-shaped rear bumper iron, and a pair of flag-like rods that appear to be scrapers that remove mud accumulations from the drive-sprockets. In the front of the soon-to-be engine compartment, a bench-like fixture is applied, adding a four-part blow-torch/engine pre-heater for the open bonnet option, with the front axle, bumper bar and a small box in a cut-out under the chassis, covering it with a panel that has an access hatch moulded-in. The rear axle with differential bulge is built from five parts, and is fixed to the flat rear of the chassis under the bumper, pushing up against the aft end of the drive-shaft, then mounting two brake-housings to the ends of the axle. The engine is a complex assembly, making the V8 block from six parts, and nestling the four-part transmission and sump in between the banks, adding exhaust manifolds, serpentine belt, plus a substantial pair of intake fans, dynamo, and other ancillaries, joining the two intakes via an air-box and filters, then installing the motor in the chassis, linking the radiator hoses, making a fuel tank with cut-out for the drive-shaft and feeder pipe that drops into the centre of the frame, and fitting a three-part exhaust with muffler under the rear of the chassis. Righting the chassis sees the installation of a choice of two towing hitches, one with a further sub-variant using different parts, slipping your chosen assembly into a hole in the rearmost cross-member. Although the suspension consists of a pair of two-wheel bogeys, the entire length of the tracks pivots around a centre axle that fits in a slot under the chassis, with a pair of leaf-springs at the ends of rails that have bearings for the bogeys, one fitted to each side of the vehicle, with a PE strip wrapped around the front axle that is linked to the assembly via piston that allows the system to stretch and rotate as the main suspension bar pivots. The idler and drive-sprockets look broadly similar, although they use different parts, fixing them carefully to the correct end. Four bogeys are made from tubes with a pivot strengthened by another layer, again, paying attention to where each one is fitted, then mounting the road wheels to each stub axle. The included tracks are link-and-length, achieving the look of individual links without the most of the tedium. The straight runs top and bottom are moulded as one part each, with short lengths on the diagonals, then six individual links around the highly curved ends, plus an extra link between the diagonals and the horizontal runs. The moulded links have several sensibly placed sprue gates per section, while the individual links have three each, while the designers have managed to avoid any ejector-pin marks on the links that is a blessing, especially if you plan to build your model clean. The cab is a small area, the floor built in halves from four parts each with a choice of two styles of footwell. A fuel filler is pushed through a hole in the side, adding a section of tread-plate at an angle on the opposite side, with a small bracket under the floor. The rear bulkhead has a shaped bar fitted to the bottom edge, a fire extinguisher, two canvas rolls and a bottle between the crew, and is set aside while the halves are joined and levers mounted in recesses, after which it is joined to the bulkhead, fixing a window in the central cut-out, and installing the crew controls, consisting of a set of foot pedals and two track control levers in a housing on the left side. An engine cover joins the two halves of the cab, followed by a pair of tubular framed canvas seats for the crew, with a choice of two styles. The cab front has a two-panel windscreen inserted, two wiper motor casings, and a choice of two dashboards under the screen, gluing the assembly to the front of the cab, spaced apart by the roof. The crew doors can be made with open or closed windows by using different clear parts, adding winder handles inside and a door handle to the outside, plus a PE hinge strap if you intend to pose the doors open. You also have a choice of a thickly louvred hood or one with a fine grille, both having a locking-handle on the lower frame, and an optional PE horse-shoe for luck on the grilled option, using a PE strut to hold it open if you intend to display the engine deep within. A choice of PE or styrene windscreen wiper blades, a two-part convoy light, and two reflectors/side lights are added to the front of the cab, mating it with the chassis, and adding a long wire from your own stock between the back of the cab and the chassis if you feel the urge. A set of pioneer tools are fixed to the rear bulkhead, with a choice of styrene tools with moulded-in brackets, or PE replacement clips after you have cut the chunky styrene brackets away from the two shovels and pick-axe. A couple of PE L-brackets are fixed to the rear of the cab roof to finish work on that aspect of the model. The load bed is constructed from a single planked floor that is supported by three cross-members and two ribs, with a choice of open or closed bed sides, which is achieved by using the same side parts but changing the location of the clasps that hold them in position at the corners, cutting a lug off for the closed option, or omitting the parts if you intend to use the canvas tilt that is included. The tail-gate has a rear light on a PE bracket that can be fixed open or closed, while the headboard is a single part that is glued on three pegs. To omit the tilt, four C-frames are installed along the sides of the bed, mounting it behind the cab on the chassis. The tilt is made from two sides, a solid front, a rear with entryway cut out, and the roof, all with creases and folds realistically depicted, plus a rolled-up and tied door panel that is glued to the top of the rear cut-out. Markings There are four decal options on the small sheet in a variety of schemes, two of which have additional camouflage overpainted in the field. From the box you can build one of the following: Unidentified Unit, Eastern Front, Autumn 1942 21. Luftwaffen-Felddivision, Eastern Front, Winter 1942/3 21. Luftwaffen-Felddivision, Eastern Front, Spring 1943 Unidentified Wehrmacht Tower Anti-Tank Gun Company, Eastern Front, Autumn 1943 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The RSO is a diminutive vehicle with short wheelbase that gives it a hunched, almost comical appearance. Detail is excellent, and extends inside and out, using link-and-length tracks to simplify the process without losing detail. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

RMS Titanic (83420) 1:700 Hobby Boss via Creative Models Ltd There can’t be many people that haven’t heard of the appalling and unnecessary loss of life that happened when the Titanic’s maiden voyage route intersected with an iceberg, causing huge gaps down the ship’s side due to blown rivets, overwhelming the safety measures that led many to believe that she was unsinkable. At the end of the day on 14th April 1912 she hit that fateful iceberg and began taking on substantial quantities of water. The ship’s waterproof bulkheads only extended to a level below the main deck, and one-by-one they overflowed, causing the Titanic to settle lower and lower in the water. Less than three hours later she broke into two and slipped beneath the surface with many of the passengers still aboard, and many more forced to jump into the almost freezing water, where most died from hypothermia or drowning. Over 1,500 souls were lost that day thanks to the hubris of the designers and impatience of the supervising crew, but many lessons were learned from this tragedy that are still applicable today, and many lives have subsequently been saved as a result. The 1997 blockbuster release of the film The Titanic brought the story to the public consciousness again after the wreck had been found over 13 miles from her expected location some years earlier. She was found lying upright and in two major parts, both of which had hit the sea bed at a considerable speed, badly buckling the underside. She has since been thoroughly inspected, and some of the knowledge gleaned from those expeditions was incorporated into the fictionalised plot of the James Cameron helmed film, which itself has become part of modern vernacular, with phrases such as “paint me like one of your French girls” raising the occasional titter. The Kit This is a new tooling from Hobby Boss, and represents the Titanic on her fateful voyage, although we understand another boxing will be forthcoming soon that depicts her sister ship Olympic in Dazzle camouflage livery, as she appeared during WWI as HMT Olympic, performing troop ship duties. The kit arrives in a rectangular top-opening box with a painting of the Titanic on the front, and two cardboard dividers inside that keeps the various aspects of the kit separately. There are ten sprues in grey styrene, plus the hull and six deck parts of varying sizes, a black styrene stand, a small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, decal sheet and black & white instruction booklet with separate colour painting guide slipped inside the pages. It’s immediately evident that this kit is intended to be a more “serious” kit than the recent offering from another company that came with a basic lighting kit, as the higher number of parts and monotone grey styrene suggest. When you remove the sprues from their individual bags, the detail is very finely engraved, showing delicate planking to the decks, window frames, doors and other fixtures, found all around on the visible surfaces thanks to a substantial use of slide-moulds that improve the model without increasing the part count unduly. The inclusion of PE parts is welcome, however this is a small sheet, and doesn’t include railings or other fine fittings that would be outwith the scope of most kits, and would cause frustration and extra expense to many modellers, who would see it as unnecessary complexity. They’d be entitled to think so, but the aftermarket producers are able to assist if the urge takes you to super-detail your kit. Hopefully, the research that Hobby Boss have put in is as good as the detail present. Construction begins predictably with the hull, which has hundreds of portholes, fittings and the distinctive banding around the hull moulded into it, plus the tapered stern where the rudder and screws will be placed later. The initial deck part covers the majority of the top surface, leaving the stern and bow to be added later, turning the hull over to fit the port and starboard prop-shaft fairings into grooves in the underside, with three props, one in the centre, which was the only screw with strong rudder authority, making her slow to turn, and could well have contributed to the collision with the iceberg once it was eventually spotted by the lookouts, who weren’t issued with binoculars, amazingly. With the hull righted again, the bow and stern deck parts are installed, and various deck fittings are applied over the next several steps. The superstructure is built from two deck parts, adding sidewalls to the lower layer, and building up the ends to prepare for the next deck, and includes the bridge. Two more deck parts are placed on the raised guides, adding a few detail parts to the smaller section to cover a blank space that couldn’t be dealt with by sliding moulds. The gap between the two superstructure parts is filled by a pair of walls, adding more inserts around the forward area near the flying bridges so that the deck above can be laid on top, detailing the open areas with more deck furnishings. The smaller upper deck areas are each detailed with dozens of parts, including life boats, davits, and a PE compass platform, resulting in seven sub-assemblies that are also placed in situ with guidance from the raised shapes all around the promenade, which is then covered with dozens of benches. The ostensibly complete superstructure is mated with the hull, taking care to align the bridge with the bow end, which shouldn’t be hard thanks to the raised guides that are used to assist throughout. A small forest of deck cranes are mounted on turret-like bases at the bow and stern, adding a couple of PE doors to the sides of the hull near the stern, which are likely either particular to the titanic, or were left off the mould by mistake and added later. Who knows? The Titanic had four large oval funnels, one of which was fake and was used to vent the heat and fumes from the kitchen so that the First-Class passengers didn’t have to smell the cooking odours. The three active funnels are made from halves with nicely engraved and raised details, adding an inner ring near the top, and covering it over with a PE grille. Painting the interior of the funnel tops a deep black should prevent anyone seeing the shallow base, and while the exterior of the aft funnel is identical to the others, the insert has a tube projecting up the centre, plus a pair of holes should be drilled in the floor. The PE grille is also different, with a solid forward section setting it apart from the others. The completed funnels are installed on the decks with their raised oval base plates assisting with placement, and taking care to glue the correct aft funnel at the stern end. Dozens of davits for the life boats are arranged around the sides of the main upper deck, with a few having a different design, and these are pointed out in the instruction steps. The lifeboats are suspended from each pair on the deck, which is best done after the glue on the davits is totally cured, fitting the two masts as the final act. The foremast has a small crow’s nest for the lookouts and an angled jib, while the stern mast has a single level jib facing forward. Both masts will have copious rigging, but there are no diagrams showing where it should be fitted, however the box art should assist with this, as the Titanic is almost directly side-on to the viewer. Markings The Titanic didn’t last long after it embarked on its first and final voyage, floundering without completing a single crossing with huge loss of life. You can build her as she left Southampton below: Decals are printed by Hobby Boss’s usual printers, and are fit for purpose, although under magnification the blue seems very slightly out of register on our sample, but unless someone is very sharp-eyed, it probably won’t be noticed, especially if you don’t use the US flag that’s supplied. Conclusion This is a very nicely detailed kit of the Titanic, particularly at this relatively small scale, with deck, windows and portholes finely engraved. It’s not a gimmicky kit that lends itself to a quick build with lighting, it’s for the modeller that wishes to build a well-detailed model as a little part of maritime history, as an homage to those that lost their lives. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Officers & Drivers (53030) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd It’s a well-known fact that Officers are far too good to drive themselves around, so generally get someone from the lower ranks to do it for them, leaving them to relax in the back of the car, sleep, work, plot or otherwise entertain themselves, arriving (hopefully) refreshed at their destination. The Nazis were no different, possibly more conceited and obsessed with their own status, so any officer worth his riding crop and calf-length boots would ensure he wouldn’t have to steer his own vehicle, even up until the very end of WWII. This new set from MiniArt arrives in a figure-sized box with a painting of the four figures on the front, and the same artwork cut-down and separated to act as the paint and assembly instruction, with a panel of colour profiles of the accessories underneath, and a paint chart beneath that, giving codes for Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, plus colour swatches and generic names for completeness. There are five sprues of grey styrene in total, three containing parts for the figures, the other two full of accessories for you to detail them or the surroundings in which you place them. The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprues for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model. There are two drivers, one actively driving, or at least adopting the pose ready to go, while the other is opening the driver’s door from inside and leaning slightly out as he does so. Two offices complete the set, one sat cross-legged in the back of a car with his hand folded, while the other is a more practical-looking gentleman, standing by the car as if he has just been investigating something interesting, an MP40 machine gun held loosely in his right hand. Both drivers are wearing side caps at an angle on their heads, while the officers have peaked caps suitable to their rank, both with riding trousers and long leather boots as is typical of Nazi officers of the era. There are two sprues that are devoted completely to a substantial quantity of accessories that include Small Arms, pistols in and out of holsters, ammo pouches, and map cases, bayonets in and out of scabbards. The weapons range from MP40s, an STG44, an FG42, Karabiner 98ks, MP28, Erma EMP-35, Gewehr 41, Walther P38, and of course a Luger P-08. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

US Radio Set SCR-299 (35455) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Since its invention, radio has become a crucial communication technology for military operations, as it allows distant units and squads to keep in touch, share intelligence, and update each other about changing circumstances on and off the battlefield. During WWI it was a nascent technology that was bulky and unreliable, but by the time WWII came around the technology had matured, and although the size of equipment was still relatively large due to the necessary use of electro-mechanical and valve-driven components, the range and reliability had improved, making portable short-range devices a possibility in the shape of backpack or large hand-held ‘walkie-talkies’, and longer range communications were at least portable in a trailer or the back of a light to medium truck. The SCR-299 radio set was a long-range communications unit that was used from 1942 by the Americans as their primary radio set. It was credited as being a key component in several strategic victories by the Allies in its various guises, either towed behind a wagon in a K-51 trailer, truck-mounted as the SCR-399, or air-portable under the guise of the… you guessed it, SCR-499, using the same core components. A 2000W power supply gave it a broadcast strength of 350W and a frequency range between 2 and 8mhz in its standard form, with frequency conversion kits available to adapt the output for other uses. Various lengths of antennae were used, depending on the operator’s requirements and frequency range. The Kit Parts of this set have been seen before in a K-51 ‘Ben Hur’ trailer kit from MiniArt, but it is now available individually, deployed on a custom table with ancillary equipment and power management unit also provided. The kit arrives in a shallow top-opening box with profiles on the cover, and inside are three sprues of grey styrene, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, decal sheet, and a two-sided instruction sheet that is printed on glossy paper in colour, with the profiles recreated along with a colour chart that gives codes for Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, plus colour swatches and generic names for completeness. Construction begins with the desk that will hold the operator equipment, making it from four structural parts and four more ancillaries, adding a pull-out drawer under the separate top, and a diagonally mounted rack for an equipment box on the right. Two reels are built from two-part rolls of cable with separate end-caps, then the various radio boxes are built from copious parts, adding PE to some of them, a work-light, and a telephone handset on the transmitter box that is mounted on the left side of the table. There are six boxes mounted on and around the table’s surfaces, and a large power unit is made from six sides that have dials moulded-in, with another box fitted to the top, a stand-alone fire extinguisher for those occasional overheating moments, a separate box that sits under the table, plus a four cushion stowage box and seat for the operator(s) to sit at, and another stowage box that has a PE chain diagonally across the ends. A wiring diagram isn’t given per se, but many details can be gleaned from the profiles, especially the frontal drawing of the main bench. Combined PE and styrene antennae mounts are provided in the box to assist with creating a more realistic scenario, making a 2.7m receiver antenna and a 4.6m transmitter antenna from your own stocks of wire or carbon fibre rod. A 6.4m aerial could optionally be fitted for a stationary mounting, to which this kit is suited. Markings The small decal sheet contains stencils and legends for the equipment boxes, while the colour scheme is going to be predominantly olive green. Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion A well-detailed model of this crucial piece of Allied communications equipment that was used extensively during WWII, just needing some wire, antennae, and possibly some figures to give it life. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Japanese M3 Stuart with Crew (35454) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The M3 Stuart was designed before the US went to war, based upon the experiences of the British, which led to the US top brass deciding that their M2 light tank was obsolete. While the radial engine M3 was an improvement over the M2, it suffered from an underpowered M6 main gun at only 37mm, which although it was improved later in the war, the crews had to suffer with it for some considerable time. The British troops in Africa used it first against the superior tanks of the Afrika Korps, but fared badly in combat, suffering from the lack of range of the Stuart in the wide-open spaces of the African desert. It was fast and manoeuvrable however, and a British driver’s comment that she was a "honey" to drive led to one of its nicknames during the war. The M3A1 was an improved version that deleted the sponson mounted machine guns of the initial production, and some of these used more conventional diesel engines instead of the bulky radials, which gave the crew more room for other equipment. It also had a new turret with a basket for the turret crew to stand in, and no cupola for the commander that gave the tank a lower profile, and added a gun stabilisation system that helped with vertical alignment of targets while the tank was on the move, ironing out the bumps for the gunners. In British service it was known as the Stuart III and with the diesel engine version was designated the IV. It was hopelessly outclassed by Axis armour in Europe for tank-on-tank engagements, and was soon relegated to infantry support and recce roles, where it performed well. It was more successful in the Pacific theatre against the lightly armoured Japanese tanks in the jungle, where medium and heavy tanks could soon flounder in the mud and jungles. It continued to be used to the end of the war by the Allies in the Pacific area, although Russia, another user of the Stuart disliked it intensely and refused to take the upgraded M5 design that followed the M3A3. Variants were used well into the 60s, and Brazil even built their own version with redesigned upper hull and carrying a 90mm gun. Paraguay still had a few of its ancient original stock of 12 beyond the turn of the millennium, which is astonishing, considering the age of the machine. The Kit This is a new boxing of a brand-new tooling from our friends at MiniArt, and arrives in a top-opening box with a painting of a captured early production Stuart on the front, clearly illustrating the prominent machine guns on the sponsons, and that the crew are Japanese Army. Inside the box are fourteen sprues in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass in a card envelope, a decal sheet, and the instruction booklet, which is printed in colour on glossy paper, with profiles of the decal options and the figures on the rearmost pages. Detail is excellent as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt, and as this is an exterior kit, the interior isn’t provided, but the exterior and running gear are well-defined, and the tracks are supplied as link-and-length, taking the benefits of individual links and making the job a lot less labour intensive without much loss of detail. The absence of the interior will be blocked by the inclusion of the figures, who can be posed stood in hatches around the vehicle. Construction begins with the vehicle’s floor with a choice of two styles of floor hatch, then making curved transmission armour at the front of the tank, which is detailed with various towing eyes, additional bolt heads that are cut from the sprue runner, and a central frame that can be folded from PE or replaced by a single styrene part. Now the hull sides can be fitted, but not before they are detailed with various external parts, adding final drive housings to the front ends, using the bogie axle ends to locate the parts on the sides of the floor. The aft bulkhead is built from two parts with a hatch space in the upper half, gluing it to the rear of the vehicle. The rear hatch is in two sections, one of which has a PE clapping plate, both having handles, posing them closed to hide the lack of engine. Above the hatch is an overhang with a PE mesh floor insert and styrene rear, with a couple of towing eyes and shackles mounted on the lower edge of the bulkhead. The next assembly is a machine gun, which has a vertical magazine moulded into the breech, finished with a circular mount that is slotted through the glacis plate from the inside, plus a strengthening strap under the driver’s hatch. It is glued into position on the front of the tank, fitting the transmission inspection hatch with handle to the centre, and adding a pair of towing shackles to the front. The driver’s hatch is in two parts, and can be posed closed for battle, or with both parts folded open to allow the driver to see the full vista, which would of course expose the lack of interior. A two-layer T-shaped cross-member is located over the upper glacis, adding a bracket that supports the headlamp, and a pair of bearing spacers to the final drive housings. As already mentioned, the earliest Stuarts had sponson-mounted machine guns, which extend from the main hull out over the tracks, roughly along the middle third of the vehicle’s length. The two sponson floors are glued into position, and two .30cal machine guns are trapped between two-part mounts, one fitted to each sponson, sliding through the front armour. The sides of the sponsons can then be built around the guns, with a short wall to the rear, a long panel along the side. Two hatches are fixed to the front of the upper hull after adding an extra layer behind, a clear vision port, and openers to the sides. If you intend to pose the hatches up, you have the option of leaving the inclement weather inner hatches in position, which have large panes of glass and windscreen wipers to save filling the tank with precipitation. The open outer hatches are propped up with a pair of short stays from their top hinges, but the caveat about the lack of interior still applies. The hull roof is next, starting with the panel that has the turret ring moulded-in, adding additional nuts on the top ring from the sprue runners, and a pair of filler caps on the deck behind it, shaving away clasp details around them. The completed part is lowered into place on the hull, turning to the engine deck next, placing the panel after fitting handles, gluing it in position and fitting a pair of rear lights on brackets to the sides, adding a little connecting wire if you wish. The main deck panel has a PE shroud to the forward edge to deflect incoming rounds or debris, plus another PE bracket for one of the aerials is attached to the right, with another L-bracket mounted on the side wall slightly lower and further to the side than the other. The aerial bases are each made from two parts for one decal option, left in place despite the lack of aerials that were likely incompatible with Japanese radio equipment. A pair of dome-topped cylindrical air-boxes are built from four parts each and are attached to the rear of the sponson on brackets on both sides. We finally get some wheels for the tank, starting with the two-part drive sprockets and a pair of over-size idler wheels, which are trapped between two halves of their swing-arms, adding a PE rim to both sides. The road wheels are mounted in two-wheel bogies, each one made from ten parts, building four in total, handed for each side. The road wheels flex-fit into position between the arms of the bogies, so that they can be mounted on the sides of the vehicle in shallow recesses along with the idlers and drive sprockets, with three return rollers on short axles above the main run. As discussed earlier, the tracks are link-and-length, using long single-part lengths under the wheels, individual links around sharp curves, and short diagonal lengths where the tracks are relatively straight. The various sections are attached to the sprues at the edges, and each short portion has a unique tab and slot format to ensure that parts can only be put together in the correct manner. There are a few ejector-pin marks on the inside of the longer track link sections, but these are raised and on flat surfaces, so shouldn’t be difficult to remove with a sanding stick or sharp blade, and won’t slow you don’t too much. When the track runs are suitably cured, fenders are added over the open areas, the rear straight sections fitted with a curved end to deflect kicked up mud, while the front section have triangular inner side skirts to prevent mud ingress, which is improved further by gluing a PE web between it and the leading edge of the glacis plate, along with a PE stiffening strap further back. Before we start festooning the vehicle with pioneer tools, a pair of headlamps with clear lenses are placed, one on each fender protected by a PE cage, and both with a short length of wire leading back to hole in the glacis plate. The pioneer tools are full styrene tools that have their clasps moulded-in, and are dotted all over the horizontal surfaces of the vehicle, including an axe, pickaxe shaft and head, and a shovel. More tools are located on the forward sponsons, adding PE tie-downs around the deck for securing stowage or camouflage. The single towing rope requires the modeller to provide either a 157mm length of braided wire or thread, fitting a pair of styrene eyes to the ends, and clamping it in place with PE brackets along the left sponson and fender. Now for the turret, starting with the main 37 mm M6 gun, the gun tube formed by a single part with hollow muzzle that is surrounded by a two-part frame, and has the halves of the breech closed around the rear, adding extra detail on the right, and a breech protector to the left side, followed by a four-part pivot that are fixed around the gun without glue, then the coaxial machine gun is attached to the right side of the breech, and its ammo box is located on the left side, fed by a ‘bridge’ of link over the main gun in a guide to the breech of the smaller gun, dumping spent rounds in a box-like bag underneath. The barrel is pushed through the mantlet and inserted into the front of the turret, which has been made from a well-detailed ring, with the faceted turret sides arranged around it after being detailed with vision blocks themselves. The roof has a yoke inserted on its underside in stowed or combat positions, and is glued in place, sliding the mantlet armour over the main and coax guns from in front. The commander’s cupola is similarly faceted, and each side is prepared by fitting a vision block in the slot, creating an asymmetrical hexagonal shape, and deciding whether to pose the turret crew’s vision ports open or closed. The commander's hatch is a choice of two styles of flat panel with a lock on the upper edge, and hinges on the lower, which can be fitted open or closed, with more vision ports on the turret sides posed open or closed around the rest of the perimeter. An empty .30cal machine gun mount with adjuster handle is fixed to a short column that is secured to the rear left side of the turret on curved brackets moulded into the surface. With that, the turret can be dropped into position after installing a few small linkages to the underside of the ring. To complete the model, a three-part rack is made up and attached to the rear of the tank for three decal options. Figures Japanese tankers tended to either dress like their army colleagues, or wore an overall with fabric-wrapped puttees over their boots, the officers wearing knee-high leather boots and carrying a Samurai sword, although how they managed to get that inside in a hurry is debatable. They wore close-fitting helmets with chin-straps and googles when inside the tank, their usual peaked caps with neck covering at the rear were more comfortable under the hot sun. This set was originally tooled in 2012, and includes five figures on a single linked sprue. The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprue for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent for the time, as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model. Accessories include a sword, goggles, pouches, holsters and bayonets to personalise the figures, and flat-tops to the heads to accommodate the headwear. Four of the crew are standing, two with their arms raised as if resting on the lip of their hatches, one standing staring wistfully into the distance with one leg raised, while the officer stands pointing into the distance, probably directing the attention of Mr Wistful, his free hand resting on the scabbard of his sword. The final crewman is sitting cross-legged in shirt-sleeves with a cap protecting his neck from the sun while he examines or sharpens his bayonet. Their wrapped puttees are well-detailed, although the cross-banding visible on the drawings isn’t present on the figures, but other details such as the flag wrapped around the torso of one crewman is present, as is the detail of the officer’s sword, with a tassel on the grip, which is wrapped in the typical diamond pattern. Markings There are four decal options included on the small sheet, and you’d be right to guess that they have all been repainted by their new owners in a variety of schemes that have a green base. From the box you can build one of the following: 3rd Company, 7th Tank Regiment, Manila, Philippines, May 1942 3rd Company, 7th Tank Regiment, Manila, Philippines, May 1942 7th Tank Regiment, Manila, Philippines, January 1945 Unidentified Unit, Philippines, Tuguegarao, Luzon, 1945 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It’s great to have this much detail present in a newly tooled kit of the diminutive Stuart, or Honey as the Brits called it, and it deserves to become the de facto standard for the scale. This captured variant will confuse a few viewers, but should start a few conversations about Beutepanzers and their origin in WWI, or the hardships endured by the Allied soldiers and locals in the Philippines during WWII. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Marston Mat Landing Strip w/Barrels (49019) 1:48 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd During WWII, temporary airfields were quickly created near the battlefront on flat ground by the linking together of stamped steel planking that had their transport weight reduced by punching out holes in the centres where it wouldn’t weaken the structure. These were known as Perforated Steel Planking (PSP) or Pierced Steel Planking, and were used commonly in all theatres of war, reducing mud and slurry build-ups, and providing a flat and tough surface for aircraft to land, take-off and taxy, plus a roadway for other vehicles to avoid creating ruts in the surface. The holes however led to an element of dust and debris being kicked up, which is known in aviation as Foreign Object Debris or FOD, so the design was later changed to reduce the possibility of rocks, dust and soil penetrating the planking. By the time of the Vietnam War, the M8A1 design had been formalised and was used to great effect. It was lightened by the use of corrugations to provide more strength using less material, and was capable of supporting the larger, heavier jet aircraft that were more prevalent by then. The Kit This rebox of MiniArt’s recent backdrop kit with added 55 gallon drums arrives in a top-opening box with a painting of the subject and a greyscale P-47 on the top, and inside is a large styrene Marston Mat textured base, plus three sprues of barrels and a small decal sheet. The base is 316mm x 227mm x 9mm deep, and the barrels are of two styles, one with two ribs either side of the centreline, the other with many more ribs in the top and bottom areas. You can build six of each type, and parts are included to create a hand-cranked pump that consists of a dip-tube with winding handle, and the applicator, which you should join with some wire from your own stock to reproduce the tubing. There are three of these, one per sprue. The barrels are formed into a cylinder from two halves, then have the end caps inserted, and if you intend to use the pumps, you should drill out the caps that are moulded into the top to admit the dip-tube. Markings The mat was stamped from sheet metal, and then dipped in an anti-corrosion coating to protect it from short-term rusting, which it usually achieved, save for areas that became exposed due to wear, impact or other damage, with the majority reached the job site with an oily steel colour over the majority of its surface. In action it was seldom used for long enough to become seriously corroded, but if used for extended lengths of time beyond the original intention, it took on a dense rust colour after many years exposed to the elements. Most of the time during WWII it was usually seen as either its original colour or would take on the colour of the substrate on which it was laid, as the lightening holes would allow some material to pass through, which was addressed in later variants. The barrels are shown on the instructions in various shades of olive drab, and the included decals will give you the opportunity to depict oil or fuel drums, as you see fit. The paint chart gives codes for Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, plus colour swatches and generic names for completeness to assist you. Conclusion A quick, easy base with accessories for your model, and it’s clear that MiniArt had their own brand-new P-47 Thunderbolt kit in 1:48 in mind during the design phase and judging by the box art, so if you haven’t got one yet, you really should correct that. That said, you could display any WWII Allied fighter-sized model on the base just as easily. Highly recommended. Currently available with a handsome discount at time of writing Review sample courtesy of

Italian Tank Crew with Resin Heads (35500) 1: 35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd WWII Italian tankers were by necessity a tough breed, as their vehicles were notoriously poorly armed and armoured, without reliability to make up for those deficiencies, but they did have more forward gears than reverse, contrary to the propaganda of the day. Their dress was simple, consisting of overalls and boots for the crew, while the commander and supervisory crew members often wore three-quarter length leather jackets, leather puttees, and an optional leather helmet to preserve their cranium from harm in the cramped spaces of their tanks. The set arrives in a figure-sized end-opening box with a painting of the crew on the front, and the same artwork reproduced on the back, separated for use as the painting and assembly guide. Letters and numbers are used to point out parts and suggest colours that correspond to the table below that gives codes for Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, plus colour swatches and generic names for completeness. Inside the box are two sprues of grey styrene, a Ziploc bag containing five resin heads on a single casting block, and a small sheet of paper that has a sprue diagram printed on one side. Three of the figures are standing, including two wearing the afore mentioned leather jackets, the commander wearing a forage cap, while his assistant wears a leather helmet with a protective collar around the rear. The other standing figure is a crew member with his hands on hips, a bandolier of ammo over his shoulder, and a cap with goggles on his head. The two seated figures lend themselves to being outside the tank due to their open poses, both wearing overalls, bandoliers, and leather helmets with goggles, the collar around the rear flipped up and out, giving a comedic look. All but one of the crew have facial hair of some type, predominantly moustaches that were popular at the time, and the fidelity of the new resin heads far exceeds that of the styrene originals that are still found on the sprues. The crew that are wearing helmets have flat tops to their heads to accommodate the styrene helmets and collars, and there are a few accessories to personalise the crew, such as pistol holsters, goggles, folded gloves, and various pouches. Note that the photo above shows the figures with styrene heads The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprues for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or other natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. There is a little flash evident on some of the parts, but as they are along moulding seams, there’s barely any additional work as the seams will need cleaning anyway. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model. The resin heads will be a drop-in replacement once cut from their base with a razor saw, although you will need to use Super Glue (CA) to glue the heads to the bodies and helmets, as standard styrene glue won’t adhere. Conclusion Adding figures to Italian WWII armour will likely give the viewer a better impression of the diminutive size of the vehicles, which were usually substantially smaller than their Allied or Nazi counterparts, poorly designed, and lacking in almost every other metric. Detail is good, and the resin heads make them better still. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

M1A2 SEP Abrams Tusk II US Main Battle Tank (72-003) Meng via Creative Models Ltd The Abrams Main Battle Tank is the direct replacement to the M60, when it was realised that the venerable design was ill-suited to further modification to cope with emerging threats that were entering the battlespace. The new design entered limited service in 1980 and went on to become the main heavy tank in the Army and Marines branches of the American armed forces. It saw extensive action in the two Gulf Wars, where it fared extremely well against older Soviet designs with minimal damage inflicted in a tank-on-tank fight due to its composite armour and accuracy at extended range. It was developed further with the AIM programme, which upgraded the battle management systems and returned the vehicles to factory fresh condition. The A2 was improved again, giving the commander his own sighting system as well as other system changes. The SEP received additional changes to its armour and systems, with a remote weapons station added later. With the involvement of the Abrams in urban combat during the Afghanistan campaign, it became clear that the tank was vulnerable in close-quarters combat, where the top of the tank was open to attack from small arms fire, and RPGs could be used with relative safety of the firing team, who could pop up and disappear in between shots, giving the tank crews little indication of where the shot originated. The problems of IEDs buried under roads or in buildings also disabled several tanks in action, all of which led to the TUSK and improved TUSK II upgrade packages, which stands for Tank Urban Survival Kit. To counter IEDs a shallow V-shaped keel was added to the underside to deflect blast away from the hull, reactive armour blocks were added to the side skirts and turret, and bullet-resistant glass and metal cages were mounted around the crew hatches on the turret to provide protection for the crew during urban operations, or if they were called upon to use their weapons in combat. A combat telephone was also installed on the rear of the tank to allow better communication between accompanying troops and the tanks, as well as slat armour at the rear to protect the exhaust grilles of the gas turbine engine, the blast from which was directed upwards by a deflector panel that could be attached to the grille to avoid cooking the troops behind. The TUSK II kit improved on the original TUSK with shaped charges incorporated into the ERA blocks on the sides of the tank, and additional shields for the crew when exposed. Both kits were field-installable, which reduced the cost and time the vehicles spent out of commission. The A3 variant is intended to incorporate many weight-saving changes, such as internal fibre-optic data transmission, lightness of armour and gun, amongst many other improvements. This is still distant and far from guaranteed, given the changes already seen in planning that have included a totally new platform, so it looks like the A2 will be around for some time yet, possibly until 2050 while the politicians make up their minds. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling from Meng from their new 1:72 scale AFV range, and it arrives in a sturdy end-opening box that should be as hard to crush as any top-opener. Attractive box art is found on top, while painting details are on the back of the box, and inside are six sprues of light grey styrene, a clear sprue, a small decal sheet, and a black and white instruction booklet in portrait A5, with a sprue diagram on the rear page. Detail is good, with link-and-length tracks, separate ERA blocks, raised weld-lines, and detailed road wheels that are moulded individually, rather than in a long run as with earlier kits from other manufacturers. In terms of detail, this could well become the de facto standard in this scale, based on what we have seen. Construction begins with sixteen paired road wheels and two drive sprockets, all of which are made from two halves, and are set to one side while the lower hull is made up from floor and two side panels that slot into the back of the suspension mounts moulded into the floor for a strong bond. The swing arms are moulded into the floor, save for the two forward wheel stations, which are linked together by a damper, and are formed from a separate part that is slotted into holes in the side walls along with two return rollers per side. The TUSK keel, front idler wheel and rear drive sprocket are then installed so that the tracks can be made up, built from two long runs top and bottom, two diagonal lengths under the ends, and a curved section of three links to fit around the ends of the road wheels. The Abrams doesn’t have much in the way of sag in the top track run, but these won’t be seen, so it’s a little accuracy hidden away, and it’s possible the top run could be omitted to save modelling time if you feel the urge. The upper hull has headlight clusters and the driver’s hatch fitted before the lower hull it given a rear bulkhead, which also has light clusters moulded into the rear in cylindrical projections, adding a field telephone box, towing hook and eye, plus the afore mentioned blast deflector for the hot exhaust. The two hull halves can then be mated, and the side-skirts installed, followed by the curved ERA panels over the top, locating them on four lugs in the surface of the skirts. The majority of the turret is moulded as a single part, with just the rear bulkhead a separate part with the crosswind sensor pole moulded-in, adding the gunner’s hatch, the binocular FLIR box on top with optional open doors to display the clear lenses, a spare ammo box for the pintle-mounted crew weapons, and the drum-shaped gunner’s primary sight to the roof. The gun is moulded as one part with the fume extractor hump and a separate muzzle with velocity sensor, after which it is plugged into the mantlet, with coax machine gun moulded-in, held in position by gluing the top and bottom turret halves together, taking care to keep the glue away from the pivots. Each side of the turret has a set of stowage boxes with IFF placards moulded-in, topped with a lid and separate ammo can, fitted in place with the smoke discharger packages at the front on their mounts. Armour plates and ERA blocks are applied over the front portions on both sides, leaving the IFF boards exposed, and installing the top of the mantlet on a tab, again being careful with the glue. The aircon unit is fixed to the floor of the stowage area at the rear of the turret, mounting the tubular frame, IED disruptor aerials, another tubular rack for more storage that includes a couple of jerry cans, and a separate IFF board hung on the rear. Crew protection is begun by installing a protective shroud around the left of the gunner’s hatch, creating the machine gun emplacement on a ring around which the heavily modified LMG is rotated, protected at the sides by two window panels that have clear panes in the centre, and for once the thickness of the glazing is suitable for the scale. A third glass panel is fitted to the right, with another without a window on the left, which usually faces the commander’s more complex cupola. An eight-block vision-block ring is inserted from under the cupola, which has a two-part hatch inserted into the centre, then the M2 .50cal with ammo box is slipped through the front splinter guard, which has two clear panes installed, adding a three-facet fixed set with individual windows on the right, and another two-part pair of windowed panels on the left, all of which fit into the top of the cupola on slots. As if there weren’t enough guns available, the remote .50cal mount over the mantlet is attached with an ammo box on a separate bracket. To finish the build, the turret is lowered onto the hull and twisted into position, locking on a pair of bayonet lugs moulded into the turret ring that correspond with notches in the hull ring. Markings There is only one decal option supplied in this boxing, the details of which are found on the rear of the box. It’s a desert vehicle from Iraq, painted a desert tan. From the box you can build the following: The decals are printed in China, and beyond that we don’t have any more information. Under magnification they are a little hazy, but once applied they should look fine to the Mk.1 eyeball, especially after a little weathering to the finished model. Don’t let it put you off, as everything looks worse under 3x magnification. Conclusion A well-detailed new tooling of the almost ubiquitous Abrams in smaller scale, which should put some of the older tools out to grass, and allow modellers to build a more detailed, modern US MBT out of the box, and at a pretty reasonable price in our inflation-soaked world. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Kharkiv 1943 Big Set (36067) Tramway, StuG.III Ausf.G with Crew & Panzergrenadiers 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The Battle of Kharkiv during WWII was known as the Donets campaign by the Germans, and was fought in three phases, the third taking place in early 1943 after the encirclement of Stalingrad. It was a hard-fought battle with heavy casualties on both sides, the Germans eventually taking control of the city by the middle of March, and is generally considered by historians to be the last great victory of the Nazi operation Barbarossa, that led to the battle of Kursk and the rout of the German forces that saw them go into an almost endless retreat until Berlin. The set consists of several kits that we’ve seen released by MiniArt on at least one occasion, including their excellent StuG.III kit, the X-Series Soviet Tram, plus three figure sets that total thirteen characters in all, a set of signs on a post, and tons of accessories for them. The last part is an injection-moulded version of their original tramway base that was seen at the time of the tram’s original releases in 2022, retooled for a more sturdy design. There are eighty-one sprues plus the base in mid-grey styrene, eleven in clear, a good-sized Photo-Etch (PE) fret of brass parts, decal sheet and glossy-covered instruction booklet with colour profiles on the front cover, and combined instructions and painting guide on the rearmost pages. Detail is excellent throughout, which is just what we’ve come to expect from modern toolings by MiniArt, with so much detail crammed into every part of the model, which includes individual track links, a highly detailed base, crystal clear parts, and sufficient accessories to detail the diorama. StuG.III Ausf.G The StuG is a popular German WWII AFV, and the more you learn about it, the more obvious it becomes why. The SturmGeschutz III was based upon the chassis of the Panzer III, but removed the turret and front deck, replacing it with an armoured casemate with a lower profile that mounted a fixed gun with limited traverse. It was originally intended to be used as infantry support, using its (then) superior armour to advance on the enemy as a mobile blockhouse, but it soon found other uses as an ambush predator, and was employed as a tank destroyer, hiding in wait for Allied forces to stumble haplessly into its path, where it could be deadly. With the advances in sloped armour employed by the Soviets, the original low velocity 75mm StuK 37 L/24 cannon was replaced by higher velocity unit that was also used in the Panzer IV for tank-on-tank combat, extending the type’s viable career to the end of WWII. The earliest prototypes were made of mild steel and based on Panzer III Ausf.B chassis, and while equipped with guns were unsuitable for combat due to the relative softness of the steel that would have led to a swift demise on the battlefield, being withdrawn in '41-42. By this time the StuG III had progressed to the Ausf.G, which was based on the later Panzer III Ausf.M, with a widened upper hull and improvements in armour to increase survivability prospects for the crew. Many of the complicated aspects of the earlier models that made them time-consuming and expensive to produce were removed and simplified by that time, which led to a number of specific differences in some of the external fitments around the gun, such as the Saukopf mantlet protector. The Ausf.G was the last and most numerous version, and was used until the end of the war with additional armour plates often welded or bolted to the surface to give it enhanced protection from the Allied tanks and artillery. x2 Construction begins with the floor panel, which receives the torsion suspension bars with their fittings, a pair of runners to support the engine that isn’t included in this boxing, and the support structure for the gun, which is made up from some substantial beams that have a traverse shoe placed on top to give the gun its limited 15° travel for fine-tuning lateral aim. The rear bulkhead is set against the engine mounts and the hull sides are mated to the floor, with the bases for the final drive housing glued to the front next to the two-layer front bulkhead. The glacis plate with transmission inspection hatches are given a similar treatment, plus another appliqué panel, and the usual exhausts, towing lugs and idler protection are added to the bottom section of the rear, and a radiator exhaust panel with PE grille is made up and applied above it, adding some deflecting tin-work to the hull. Narrow bolted panels are added to the sides of the hull in preparation for the upper hull parts that are added next. Some of the gun breech detail is represented, and a large trunnion is fitted onto the two pins on the sides of the assembly. Before the gun can be fitted, the walls of the casemate must be made up, and these are well-detailed externally, including vision slots, smoke grenade dispensers and lifting eyes. The shape of the casemate is completed with the addition of the front wall, which has a large cut-out to receive the gun in due course. The front of the casemate is built out forward with a sloped front and some appliqué armour, dropped over the front of the lower hull and joined by the breech assembly, which is covered by an armoured panel after armoured protectors to the mounting bolts have been glued over them. A two-layer bridge over the top of the insert encloses the breech, then it’s time to prepare the roof with some details before covering up the interior, then making a choice of how to finish the commander’s cupola in either open or closed pose. It has PE latches and a set of V-shaped binocular sighting glasses in the separate front section of the cupola that can be open or closed independently to the main hatch. The gunner’s hatch is a simpler affair consisting of a clamshell pair of doors, with the machine gun shield just in front of it and a well-detailed MG34 machine gun with drum mag slotted through the centre. This hatch can also be posed open or closed, and the MG shield can be posed flat for travel. The engine deck is built up with short sides and armoured intake louvres on the sides, which are covered with PE meshes as the deck is glued down onto the engine bay. An appliqué panel is added to the slope at the rear of the deck, then armoured cover to the fume extraction fan is added to the back of the casemate, although it appears to be missed in the instructions. A rail of spare track links is fixed across the rear of the casemate by a bar, with the barrel cleaning rods underneath, lashed to the deck with PE and styrene parts, then the four deck hatches are made with armoured vents. A pair of road wheels are carried on the deck with long pins through their holes that attach them to the rearmost pair of hatches, drilling the holes in the covers from inside beforehand. A field modification of a large stowage box is mounted on the centre of the rear deck, made from six sides with PE latches. To mount the paired wheels, the swing-arms with stub axles are applied to the sides of the hull, adding the final drive housings under the front, plus additional suspension parts that improves damping further. The idler adjuster is covered with armoured shrouds, and a group of pioneer tools are dotted around the sides of the engine deck, after which the paired wheels are fixed to the axles, with drive-sprockets at the front and idler wheels at the rear, plus a trio of return rollers on short axles near the top of the hull sides. The barrel of the gun has a bulky Saukopf mantlet cover, which is made up from three parts with a barrel sleeve moulded into the front, which the barrel slots into, tipped with a detailed three-part muzzle brake to give it the correct hollow muzzle. It slides over the recoil tubes of the breech later in the build, closing up the interior. The tracks are individual links that are held together by pins, using 94 links per side, and each link has three sprue gates to clean up, plus a little flash on the highly detailed sides, which will need scraping away with a sharp blade. I created a short length in short order for a previous review, coupling them together, and the result is a very well detailed track with flexibility to adjust them around the running gear of your model, and as they are a tight fit, they shouldn’t need glue, but I’d probably set them in position with liquid glue once I had them how I wanted them on the vehicle. Once they’re in place, the fenders are attached to the hull sides, with integrated mudguards and tiny fittings added to the inner faces. More pioneer tools and stowage are added to these, as space was a premium on these vehicles, and every flat surface ended up with equipment on it. This includes a convoy light and either a highly detailed PE fire extinguisher or a simplified styrene alternative if you prefer. Shovels, pry bars, jack blocks and the jack are also found on the fenders, as are the two towing cables, which have styrene eyes and you’ll need to supply the 111mm cable material yourself, with a set of PE tie-downs holding them in place on each side, and some PE brackets strengthening the front of the fenders. The last parts of the kit are two whip antennae on the rear of the casemate. Soviet X-Series Tram This part of the kit is based upon the passenger X-Series tram and is a mid-production variant that has been release separately before now. Construction begins with the floor and suspension leaf-springs, plus control chains and air-receiver for the braking system. Next is the sub-frame bogie, with two electric motors and axles sandwiched between the brake actuators and wheels, slotting it inside the long frame along with leaf-spring suspension mounts and cross-braces. The two axles are then integrated in the frame by adding end-plates and more cross-braces to stiffen up the assembly. The brake actuators are joined to the rest of the armature by a small cage and long rod that is connected to the driver’s cab later, with boxed-in steps at each end of the floor and a cow (pedestrian) catcher on a frame at each end too. These trams were fitted with dual controls, one at each end to avoid having to physically turn them around at the end of each run, so the driver’s controls are doubled up on a pair of lectern-like bases on the left, a set of controls on a tubular base in the centre, and another smaller upright on the right with the brake-wheel facing the driver. The driver’s seat is a simple wind-up stool on a tubular base, with everything mounted into sockets on the floor at each end. The passenger floor is applied in sections, and the front/back windows are installed at each end, with handed door frames assembled alongside the passenger seats, which have separate backs and legs, plus grab-handles on the outer corner of the fore/aft seats, which also have slatted backs. The completed seats are attached to the side walls and each window is made up of two panes, then supports are added at each end, notionally separating the seating area from the entrance vestibules. The sides fix to the floor, and the doorway parts are filled out with double-doors that are glazed with clear parts and have a triple push-bar across the top pane. To add strength to the sides, two cross-members are added between the passenger compartment and the vestibules. The big soviet star with integrated headlight that includes a representation of a bulb in the centre is placed front and centre in the nose at each end – unless you’ve opted for the simpler and less ostentatious headlamp of course. The roof is made of two mirror image sections with panelling moulded into each cab end and curved sections where adverts would be placed in view of the passengers, with a pair of lighting bars running along the rest of the length next to roof-mounted handrails. Uprights are glued to each side of the flat section of the roof and have a nicely detailed heat-exchanger unit fitted front and rear. Lights, two types of placards for route numbers and the big pantograph loop are assembled then fitted in the centre of the roof, angled toward the direction it has come from. The base is injection-moulded, and has criss-cross supports moulded underneath to prevent it from sagging under the weight of the models, but you may wish to increase support if you feel it warrants the extra effort. The two catenary posts have a four-part base and single riser part, with a choice of a simple or decorative arm for each one. They are held taut by wires that you will need to supply yourself, and you will need to do a little research to correctly wire in the rest of the cables to your tram’s pantograph, but the kit provides the tensioner screws that are adjusted by engineers during installation and maintenance. Figures 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 gunners or other armoured crew. If they weren't riding on a tank, they would travel to battle in trucks, or if they were really lucky, a half-track such as an Sd.kfz.251. This set of figures from MiniArt contains a squad of Panzer Grenadiers sat in various poses on the vehicle, culled from two sets previously released individually, and the StuG crew that are a German SPG Crew that were also an earlier release, all in a sympathetic array of relaxed pose with the exception of the driver, who is at work. The painting and main construction diagrams are printed on the rear of the instruction booklet, with colours and part numbers indicated with arrows, and the codes called out in a chart that covers Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya colours, plus swatches of colour and generic names for completeness. From the box you can build eight Panzergrenadiers and five StuG crew members, each having separate arms, legs, head and torso, plus all the usual accessories common to the period and their role. The grenadiers are all seated in differing poses, with most of them nursing Kar98s rifles or MP40s, while one holds an MG34 across his lap and wears a length of link ammo around his neck. 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. The vehicle’s crew wear tanker uniforms with peaked forage caps and double-breasted jackets, with a pistol holstered on their belts for self-defence. Three crew are stood in hatches in various poses with their arms resting on the deck, while the driver is working on controlling the tank with his hands and feet, the final crew member sitting relaxed on the deck with one leg straight out in front of him and the other folded under, one arm draped over the superstructure of the StuG. There are two weapons and two accessory sprues, each of the weapon sprues providing two Kar98s and MP40s, bayonets, a pistol and flare pistol, plus open and closed holsters, along with first aid kit, map case, binoculars and ammo pouches to personalise the crew or diorama with. The MG34 is on its own sprue, with a separate breech cover, drum mags, a bipod in folded and extended poses, a length of link, and an ammo box. The end of the ammo box and the muzzle of the weapon are slide-moulded with hollow ends for realism, and the length of ammo can be heated to better drape around the neck of the gunner or one of his colleagues if you intend to use it. Signposts A single sprue contains all the parts necessary to create a simple post that is adorned with ten signposts that have corresponding decals appropriate for the region on the accompanying decal sheet. The instructions show the post uprooted and propped in the doorway of the tram, but its location is entirely up to you, but you may wish to mimic the angles of the signs in case they are accurately oriented, and if not you can blame the instructions for misleading you. Markings As this is a special edition Big Set from MiniArt, there is only one colour option illustrated for the StuG and tram, plus a set of decals for the front of the signs on the post that are included. From the box you can build the following: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This box is stacked to the brim with plastic, and the quality of the contents is first rate, as are the accessories and generous quantity of figures. It is a simple method of creating a believable diorama of an important battle on the Eastern front during WWII, needing little more than paint, glue and some of your modelling time to complete. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

L701 German 3T Cargo Truck (35450) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Opel was Germany’s largest truck producer during the 1930s, and their Blitz line of trucks played a large part in transporting Germany and their military around Europe, with over 130,000 of all variants made before the end of WWII. The name Blitz was given to the vehicle after a competition to find its new name, with a stylised S logo that resembled half of the SS badge, but also became the Opel logo that remains today. By the mid-30s there was a growing range of body-styles and load capacities available, replacing the locally produced engines with General Motors units nearer the outbreak of war, after GM bought Opel. This led to a 3.6T load-carrying option, which became almost ubiquitous in Wehrmacht service, but the new engines made it easier for the Allies to press captured Blitzes into service with a few tweaks, thanks to some familiarity with the motor. Unfortunately, due to its common usage, the Opel brand and its trucks were somewhat tainted by the War Crimes carried out by the Nazis and the SS, building them at the factories using forced labour, transporting prisoners to death camps, and even as a ‘gas van’ to carry out the heinous act itself. The rest of the Wehrmacht used the type for more typical roles of transport and carriage of men and matériel to, around and from the battlefield, with Daimler Benz producing over 2,000 examples with a square cab before the end of the war under the L701 designation. They were typically painted in the colours of their operators, but the wooden load bed was sometimes seen in green. Following WWII production restarted, and it wasn’t until 1952 that a completely new design was used instead of the old pre-war Blitz. The Kit This is a new boxing of a recent tooling from MiniArt, and the first of a line of square-cabbed variants, covering a shallow flatbed with a canvas tilt over the top. The kit arrives in a standard top-opening MiniArt box, and inside are twenty-seven sprues in grey styrene of differing sizes, a clear sprue, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass in a card envelope, a decal sheet, and an A4 instruction booklet that is printed on glossy paper in colour, with profiles for the decal options on the front and rearmost pages. MiniArt have a habit of creating highly detailed kits that include interiors to the cab, engine and under the chassis, that are augmented by the sensible addition of PE parts where scale thickness will benefit. This is common practice for them now, and we’ve no reason to expect anything else. Construction begins with the ladder chassis, which has some small areas removed from the main rails, spacing them apart by adding three cross-braces between them, with another three more and a fuel tank in the second fit, applying a spare tyre that is made of three layers including hub, trapped in place beneath a T-frame, and fitting a towing shackle at the rear on an A-frame with PE fittings behind the rear leaf-springs, next to a pair of hooks. An interlude sees the engine built from a four-part block, covering it with ancillaries, intake and exhaust manifold, the transmission housing that is built from eight parts and mated to the rear of the block, serpentine belt and fan to the front on a bell-housing, dropping it into the front of the chassis, and mounting a two-part exhaust that stretches from the end of the manifold to the rear of the vehicle, turning left and exiting to the side, using a long muffler with a circumferential strap to hide the joint between the two parts. A scrap diagram shows where the downpipe should fit in relation to the engine manifold and chassis. A substantial beam axle with fittings is mounted under the front leaf-springs, extending a drive-shaft between the rear of the transmission and the rear axle with moulded-in differential bulge, making it from two halves. A couple of small parts are added to the sides of the chassis near the front, and the radiator is built from three layers plus feeder hoses, mounting it in front on two pegs, and noting the location of both feeder hoses that supply hot and cooled water to and from the radiator. Building the cab starts with the dash, adding instrument backs and other small parts to the rear, plus a dash-pot, battery on a shelf bracket, and the steering column, flipping it over to install the steering-wheel and a lever, applying three dial decals after detail painting. The floor has the kick-board moulded-in, applying the foot pedals, handbrake and gear levers into position arranged around the left seat and brackets to the rear, creating the two crew seat cushions, each from two parts that fit over a raised hole in the floor, after which the dash can be located at the front. Two cowling side panels that have the lowest end of the A-pillar moulded-in are attached to the sides, the cab rear having the back cushion glued to it along with a pair of document pockets, mating it to the growing cab assembly along with the windscreen panel that has two panes and a choice of PE or styrene wiper blades, and roof panel that has a warning triangle mounted on a PE bracket in the centre front. The boxy cab sides are made from frames that have bunny-ear indicators applied on PE brackets, fitting them to the sides of the cab along with the doors that are made with twin sliding window panes, handles and latches, adding a wing mirror to the driver’s door. A tapering centre panel is fixed between the windscreen and radiator, then the chassis is inverted to attach the front hubs, steering linkage and brake actuator parts, fixing the cab and engine compartment over the forward part of the chassis, plus a pair of two-part double-width hubs for the rear axle. The engine cowlings have louvres moulded into the sides, and can be posed open or closed, adding a convoy light to the left side of the radiator housing with a PE bracket, and a pair of wire supports for the cowling if you intend to prop them open, which you must provide from your own stocks, locating the bottom of the stays in small PE mounts that were fitted to the firewall earlier. The front right arch is detailed with pioneer tools that have PE shackles that are accurately located by fine raised lines moulded into the surface of the arches, although some options have a different complement of tools found there, adding a raised bracket to the left arch for later use, joined by a shovel with PE brackets or a full-styrene option, a slit-lensed headlight on both sides, clasps for the bonnet sides that differ depending on whether you intend to pose it open or closed. A pair of crew steps are fitted under the doors of the cab, with a bumper and number plate at the front, plus a pair of overhanging brackets to the rear of the chassis, followed by installation of the wheels, which consist of a pair of three-part wheels in front, and two paired wheels at the rear that have different hubs because they are fitted in pairs on the specially adapted hubs. A framework is created from four parts that is placed within the outer frame of the load bed under the floor panel, which has planking and wood texture detail moulded-in, adding two-part stowage boxes under three corners, and mounting PE light brackets and number plate under the rear, with Notek convoy light, rear lights and an L-shaped PE bracket on one side. Three Jerry cans are made with PE weld-flanges between the two halves, plus triple handles and a filler cap, one suspended in a PE cage under the left front, and two in the right front under the load bed. The bed sides have separate uppers that fix to the solid planked lowers if the tilt is not to be used, with PE fittings and optional PE tie-downs that replace the moulded-in styrene replicas with more detail for the “advanced modeller” that isn’t using the canvas tilt. The headboard has a section removed from the centre, and optional PE or styrene tie-downs that have the same caveats, while the tail-gate is furnished with a planked upper that is left off when the rear of the tilt is modelled in the closed position. The sides and tail-gate are fitted first, followed by the headboard, which has stowed tilt frames secured by PE strapping if the tilt is not used, otherwise leaving the frames off the model. Similarly, if you intend to depict your model with the tilt frame deployed, four frames are attached with PE brackets to the sides of the bed, adding a pair of toggles to the sides of the tail-gate to secure it. The tilt is well-moulded with realistic folds, sags and creases moulded-in, creating the main part from top, sides and front parts that are then joined by a choice of open or closed rears. Some options have viewing/ventilation flaps in the sides, for which you must drill out a trio of flashed-over holes in each side before applying them, and you will note that the upper portions of the load bed frames are moulded into the sides for convenience. The closed rear is a single part, while the open option consists of a C-shaped section with the access flap rolled up and secured by three ties at the top of the opening. Your choice of canvas is then mated with the load bed, and the bed is fitted to the chassis behind the cab in turn to complete the model. Markings There are five decal options on the sheet, all wearing differing schemes from winter distemper to late war scribble or cloud camouflage, all over a dunkelgelb (dark yellow) base coat. From the box you can build one of the following: Unidentified Unit, Italy 1944 25.Pz.Gren. Div., Netherlands, Autumn 1944 Unidentified Medical Unit, Italy, Spring 1945 11. Panzer Division, Germany, Spring 1945 le.Flak.Abt.81(Sf) I. Flak-Korps., Praga, Spring 1945 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The squared cab of this variant has a more Soviet feel than its rounded sibling, but the detail is just as good, and the drape of the canvas tilt adds realism if you intend to use it. A great choice of decal options completes the package, for which you’ll just need is some glue, paint and modelling time to create a creditable replica of this workhorse. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

British Stuart Mk.I ‘Honey’ Early Prod. Interior Kit (35421) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The M3 Stuart was designed before the US went to war, based upon the experiences of the British, which led to the US top brass deciding that their M2 light tank was obsolete. While the radial engine M3 was an improvement over the M2, it suffered from an underpowered M6 main gun at only 37mm, which although it was improved later in the war, the crews had to suffer with it for some considerable time. The British troops in Africa used it first against the superior tanks of the Afrika Korps, but fared badly in combat, suffering from the lack of range of the Stuart in the wide-open spaces of the African desert. It was fast and manoeuvrable however, and a British driver’s comment that she was a "honey" to drive led to one of its nicknames during the war. The M3A1 was an improved version that deleted the sponson mounted machine guns of the initial production, and some of these used more conventional diesel engines instead of the bulky radials, which gave the crew more room for other equipment. It also had a new turret with a basket for the turret crew to stand in, and no cupola for the commander that gave the tank a lower profile, and added a gun stabilisation system that helped with vertical alignment of targets while the tank was on the move, ironing out the bumps for the gunners. In British service it was known as the Stuart III and with the diesel engine version was designated the IV. It was hopelessly outclassed by Axis armour in Europe for tank-on-tank engagements, and was soon relegated to infantry support and recce roles, where it performed well. It was more successful in the Pacific theatre against the lightly armoured Japanese tanks in the jungle, where medium and heavy tanks could soon flounder in the mud and jungles. It continued to be used to the end of the war by the Allies in the Pacific area, although Russia, another user of the Stuart disliked it intensely and refused to take the upgraded M5 design that followed the M3A3. Variants were used well into the 60s, and Brazil even built their own version with redesigned upper hull and carrying a 90mm gun. Paraguay still had a few of its ancient original stock of 12 beyond the turn of the millennium, which is astonishing, considering the age of the machine. The Kit This is a reboxing of a brand-new tooling from our friends at MiniArt, who are producing an amazing output of new kits and partial re-tools in recent years, which is doubly-impressive given the situation in their native Ukraine over the last few years. This kit arrives in a top-opening box with a painting of a Stuart in Caunter camouflage scheme on the front, clearly illustrating the scheme. Inside the box are twenty-one sprues in grey styrene, although your box might be a variance from the sprue map and be linked together by runners. There is also a clear sprue, a long fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass in a card envelope, a decal sheet, and the instruction booklet, which is printed in colour on glossy paper, with profiles of the decal options on the front and rear of the booklet. Detail is excellent as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt, and as this is an Interior Kit, you also get the complete engine and the entire crew compartment, for which the hull panels are detailed on both sides, although the interior has a few unavoidable ejector-pin marks, as they must go somewhere, or they wouldn’t be able to remove the still-hot sprues from the moulds. The running gear is similarly well-defined, and the tracks are supplied as link-and-length, taking the benefits of individual links and rubber-band simplicity and making the job a lot less labour intensive. Construction begins with the vehicle’s floor, laying out driver controls, foot pedals and other equipment, plus a choice of two styles of rectangular floor hatch, just in case you have a preference. The transmission and front axle assembly is made up from five sculpted and cooling-finned parts, which is then detailed with pivots, end-caps and linkages before it is installed on the floor, adding a short length of wire to link the assembly to a nearby conduit if you feel adventurous, then building up a box with a padded top, and two crew seats from base frame, cushion and back cushion, with a pair of PE lap belts wrapped around from the rear. The curved transmission armour on the front of the tank is detailed with various towing eyes, additional bolt heads that are cut from the sprue runner, and a central frame that can be folded from PE or replaced by a single styrene part. When it is complete, the interior face should be painted so that it can be installed on the front of the floor, locating on several ledges with the floor inverted. The sloping drive-shaft tunnel is made from three main parts, adding a bottle to one side, a decal nearby, a small grab-handle, and a pouch on the opposite side. This is lowered into position in the centre of the floor, with a small cut-out allowing it to fit over a transverse suspension bar moulded into the floor. A very busy engine firewall is based upon a rectangular panel with cut-outs, onto which a fire extinguisher and other equipment are installed, followed by a pair of radiator cores and associated hoses, radio gear with a protective cage over the front. The completed assembly is slotted vertically across the floor, which will later have the radial engine mounted behind it, but first there is much more space to take up with equipment. A square(ish) stowage box with cushioned top is built and installed in front of the firewall on the left with a canteen strapped to one side, a two-part instrument panel is attached to the transmission housing, applying three dial decals into the circular faces, making another diagonal panel from three-parts, with a PE dial in the centre, which then has a decal applied over it. The driver’s seat is emplaced behind his controls, fixing another box into position on the right side behind the bow-gunner’s seat, with another smaller box nestled behind that with another canteen, and a long ammo box in front of the gunner for his immediate use in battle. Working on the engine bay now, the two fuel tanks are situated in the front corners of this area, with caps on top that can be accessed from the engine deck by removing two large armoured covers. Another tank is installed in the rear left of the compartment, adding various manifolds and hoses once they are in position before the curved engine support is slotted into the bay near the front. The Continental W-670 engine is next, with all seven cylinders moulded in this boxing, all of which have separate head parts, three pairs of which are linked by a narrow curved lead. A conical fairing is arranged around the forward end to duct the cool air from the large cooling fan, with a cross-brace and circular boss across the open space at the forward end. The fan is mounted on this boss, with a stub-axle on the outer face, with all the blades moulded into this well-detailed part. The tinwork is substantially different from an aviation variant of this motor, but the push-rods, intake hoses and ancillaries are similar, while the exhaust take-off doesn’t have the same constraints on it. The two exhaust manifolds carry the fumes from three and four pistons each, reducing to two larger pipes that end with a stepped joint to strengthen the join between it and the exhaust pipes. The intake manifold at the bottom of the engine is fed by two pipes that head up the sides of the engine, covered by a substantial engine carrier beam that also holds additional ancillaries, with the hole in the centre allowing more to protrude. More ancillaries including distributor and belt are layered over the carrier, with two tubular mufflers attached to the tops of the exhaust pipes, after which it is fitted into the engine bay, adding a cover to the top portion between the fuel tanks. Only now can the hull sides be fitted, but not before they are detailed with various parts, including electrical junction boxes, ammo boxes, a Thompson machine gun, and other small parts, adding final drive housings to the front ends, using the bogie axle ends to locate the parts on the sides of the floor. The rear bulkhead is built with a hatch space in the upper half, with a dash-pot and hose on the inside and a beam across the top edge, gluing it to the rear of the vehicle with the assistance of a scrap view from below. The rear hatch is in two sections, one of which has a PE clapping plate, both having handles, while the left door has a strange pot with a short hose fixed to the inner face, and both doors can be posed open or closed as you wish. Above the hatch is an overhang with a PE mesh horizontal insert and styrene rear, with a couple of towing eyes mounted on the lower edge of the bulkhead. The next assembly is a thirty-cal machine gun, which has a cloth dump bag half moulded-in, finished by an additional part, and with an ammo box with a short length of link under the breech with a two-part mount. This is slotted through the glacis plate in a ball-mount from the inside, adding a two-part instrument panel with five dial decals in front of the driver, plus a riveted strengthening strap under the driver’s hatch, and a sub-panel with decal on its solitary dial. It is glued into position on the front of the tank, fitting the transmission inspection hatch with handle to the centre, and adding a pair of towing shackles to the front. The driver’s hatch is in two parts, and can be posed closed for battle, or with both parts folded open to allow the driver to view a broader vista. A two-layer T-shaped cross-member is located over the upper glacis, adding a PE bracket that supports the open driver’s hatch, and a pair of bearing spacers to the final drive housings. Unlike the earliest Stuarts that had sponson-mounted machine guns, which extend from the main hull out over the tracks, roughly along the middle third of the vehicle’s length, the British variants had space for stowage instead. The two sponson floors are glued into position, adding boxes of ammo cans, leaving sufficient space for the battery box with separate handles and a divider in the right sponson, filling the remaining space with a large stowage box. The sides of the sponsons can then be built around the equipment, painting the interior faces as you go, consisting of a short wall to the rear, a long panel along the side, and an angled panel with covered exit for the missing machine gun barrel at the front. This is repeated for both sides, fitting two hatches to the front of the upper hull after adding an extra layer behind, a clear vision port, and supports to the sides. If you intend to pose the hatches up, you have the option of leaving the inclement weather inner hatches in position, which have large panes of glass and windscreen wipers to save filling the tank with precipitation. The open outer hatches are propped up with a pair of short stays from their top hinges. The hull roof is next, starting with the panel that has the turret ring moulded-in, adding rollers in housings to the underside, additional nuts on the top ring, and a pair of filler caps on the deck behind it, shaving away clasp details around them, and fitting a grab handle to one side. The completed part is lowered into place on the hull, adding a horn to the glacis next to the bow gun, including a small length of wire between it and the nearby bracket. Turning to the engine deck, four holes are drilled out on the diagonal deck panel to fit handles, gluing it in position and fitting a pair of rear lights on brackets to the sides, adding a little connecting wire if you wish. The main deck panel has a jack block added to the underside before it too is placed over the engine, adding a PE shroud to the forward edge to deflect incoming rounds or debris. Another PE bracket for one of the aerials is attached to the right, with another mounted on the side wall slightly lower and further to the side than the other. The aerial bases are each made from two parts, adding 73mm of stretched sprue, wire, or carbon fibre rod to represent the aerials themselves. A pair of dome-topped cylindrical air-boxes are built from four parts each and attached to the rear of the sponson on brackets on both sides. We finally get some wheels for the Honey, starting with the over-size idler wheels, which have PE rim-faces glued in, and are trapped between two halves of the swing-arm, building two of these assemblies, plus two more drive sprockets for the other end of the track run. The road wheels are mounted in two-wheeled bogies, each one made from eleven parts, building four in total, handed for each side. The road wheels flex-fit into position between the arms of the bogies, so that they can be mounted on the sides of the vehicle in shallow recesses along with the idlers and drive sprockets, plus three return rollers on short axles above the main run. As discussed earlier, the tracks are link-and-length, using long single-part lengths under the wheels, individual links around sharp curves, and shorter lengths where the tracks are relatively straight. The various sections are attached to the sprues at the edges, and each short portion has a unique tab and slot format to ensure that parts can only be put together in the correct manner. There are a few ejector-pin marks on the inside of the longer track link sections, but these are raised and on flat surfaces, so shouldn’t be difficult to remove with a sanding stick or sharp blade, and won’t slow you don’t too much. When the track runs are suitably cured, fenders are added over the open areas, the rear straight sections fitted with a curved end to reduce kicked up mud, while the front sections have inner side skirts to prevent mud ingress, which is improved further by gluing a PE web between it and the leading edge of the glacis plate, along with a PE stiffening strap further back. Before we start festooning the vehicle with pioneer tools, a pair of headlamps with clear lenses are placed, one on each fender protected by a PE cage, and both with a short length of wire leading back to hole in the glacis plate. To apply the pioneer tools you have two choices, the first and easiest method is to use fully styrene tools that have their clasps moulded-in, although detail will be less impressive. You can fit the same variety of tools to the rear of the vehicle removing the slightly raised location points from the styrene panel, and replacing them with PE clasps around separate tools that have no clasps moulded-in. An axe, pickaxe shaft and separate head, plus a shovel are included, with a scrap diagram showing the finished area with PE clasps. More tools are located on the forward sponsons, with the same choice of moulded-in styrene clasps or separate PE fittings, which again have the raised marks removed first, with a completed diagram showing their locations once in place. The same process can be carried out for the single towing rope that the modeller must provide from either a 165mm length of braided wire or thread, fitting a pair of styrene eyes to the ends, and clamping it in place with PE brackets along the left sponson and fender. A shallow box is made in one of two styles depending on which markings option you are building, laying it across the flat rear of the engine deck, adding another square box on twin PE brackets on the left rear fender, and a rack of three water cans on the right rear fender. The fenders are fitted with side skirts that have a PE rail down most of their length, plus a series of five C-brackets folded from PE applied along the length of the rail where indicated. The turret starts with the main 37 mm M6 gun, the gun tube formed by a single part with hollow muzzle that is surrounded by a two-part frame, and has the halves of the breech closed around the rear, adding extra detail on the right, and a breech protector to the left side, followed by three-part pivots that are fixed around the gun without glue, then the coaxial machine gun is attached to the right side of the breech, and its ammo box is located on the left side, fed by a ‘bridge’ of link over the main gun in a guide to the breech of the smaller gun. The sighting tube is installed on the left with an adjustment wheel and eye-piece, pushing the barrel through the mantlet and inserting it into the front of the turret, which has been made from a well-detailed ring, with the faceted turret sides arranged around it after being detailed themselves. The roof has a yoke inserted on its underside in stowed or combat positions, and is glued in place, sliding the mantlet armour over the main and coax guns from the front. The commander’s cupola is similarly faceted, and each side is prepared by fitting a vision block in the slot, creating an asymmetrical hexagonal shape, and deciding whether to pose the turret crew’s vision ports open or closed. The commander's hatch is a flat panel with a handle on the upper edge, and hinges on the lower, which can be fitted open or closed, with more vision ports on the turret sides posed open or closed around the rest of the perimeter, and a choice of a frame over the top of the gun for some decal options, using PE parts to create the pivots. Some decal variants have twin smoke grenade launchers applied to the sides of the turret with PE brackets, while all variants have a triangular aerial mount glued to the rear facet of the turret. Another .30cal machine gun is trapped between a two-part mount with adjuster handle, and fixed to a short column that is secured to the left side of the turret on curved brackets moulded into the surface. An optional two-part ammo box with a length of link can be fixed to the side of the gun, or if you wish to leave it off, an alternative stub part is supplied in its place. Before putting the turret into position, a few small parts are added under the gun near the hand-winding wheel for the turret. With that, the turret can be dropped into position to complete the model, adding an optional 20mm aerial to the bracket near the grenade launchers for some options. Markings There are five decal options included on the sheet, and three are wearing the Caunter scheme, while two are in a desert sand scheme, one a captured example. From the box you can build one of the following: 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, 4th Armoured Brigade, 7th Armoured Division, Operation ‘Crusader’, Autumn 1941 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, 4th Armoured Brigade, 7th Armoured Division, Operation ‘Crusader’, Autumn 1941 10th Armoured Division, Alam el-Khalfa, August 1942 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, 4th Armoured Brigade, 7th Armoured Division, Libya, November 1941 Guard, Rommel’s Headquarters, Afrika Korps, Winter 1942 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It’s great to have this much detail present in a modern tooling of the diminutive Stuart, or Honey as the Brits called it, and it deserves to become the de facto standard for the scale. If interiors aren’t your thing however, there are a growing number of exterior kits available from MiniArt now. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Junkers F13 Float Plane Early Prod. (48004) 1:48 MinIArt via Creative Models Ltd The design process that led to the Junkers F13 was begun while WWI was still raging, and it was an unconventional and advanced design for the time, when most aircraft were still wood and canvas biplanes that were strengthened by the use of copious rigging wires that created excess drag, making them slow and delicate. The J13 as it was initially called first flew in 1919, and reached maturity during a time that Germany was prevented from having an air-force, and the market was flooded with military surplus aircraft that could be quickly and cheaply converted into rudimentary airliners or transports. It had a few cards up its sleeve however, such as its all-metal monoplane construction that was far easier to protect from the deleterious effects of weather, especially in humid or damp climates. Through careful design and extensive testing, it had a clean aerodynamic profile that meant a lower power output engine could be utilised to achieve desired speeds, meaning that it could be fitted with different engines from many manufacturers, rather than being saddled with a single high-output and therefore temperamental power-plant. It was crewed by one pilot with a spare seat to his side with a control column, and a further four passenger seats in the rear compartment, utilising the cockpit seat for an extra passenger should the need arise. Its stressed, corrugated duralumin skin and internal bracing made it both light and strong, with the fuselage attached to the top of the wing, which gave the crew and passengers an extra layer of protection in the event of a rough landing that compromised the gear legs. It also had an unusual trimming system that utilised fuel that was pumped between header tanks in the fore and aft of the fuselage to adjust for centre of gravity changes of the aircraft, and its fixed gear was simple to replace with skis or floats if the need arose. Germany was prevented from building any aircraft until 1921, which resulted in initial sales going overseas, even selling to England and America, Germany’s former enemies. It became so popular thanks to its many appealing qualities that within a few years it constituted around 40% of the world’s civilian air-traffic, and was a familiar sight in the skies of many countries around the world. Production continued until 1932, and included license-built examples that were manufactured in Russia and America, with airframes around the world continuing commercial service until the early 50s, whilst civilian operators were less inclined to give up flying them. The type’s development was mostly centred on the engine type that was mounted in the nose, having several options during its life-time, but there was also a stretched-fuselage variant that could carry more load, and the afore-mentioned float or ski options. More unusual variants were created by users, including a light bomber in China, a bizarre ground-attack aircraft in the US that mounted thirty downward-firing machine guns to pepper enemy troops below, and Soviet forces pressed some of their aircraft into military service with the Red Army. The aircraft remained popular despite its age, and in the new millennium, a Swiss-German company decided to create a series of replica airframes in the noughties, utilising as much of the original design as possible, but substituting a more modern Pratt & Whitney engine and modern precision instruments where the improvement would be worth the change. The design was based upon original blueprints and a laser-scan of an original airframe to confirm their accuracy, but at $2.5m per example, there won’t be too many gracing the skies any time soon. The Kit This is a new boxing of a recent tooling from MiniArt of this grandfather of the Ju.52 that utilised many of the same technologies and engineering techniques that were pioneered in this small aircraft. The kit arrives in a standard MiniArt top-opening box with a painting of the subject-matter on the top, and the decal option profiles on one of the sides. Inside the box are eleven sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a large decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that has a cover printed in colour, with a full set of profiles on the front and rear pages, also in colour. Detail is up to MiniArt’s current standards, and examining the sprues reveals a huge quantity of detail that extends across the entire exterior, covering the model with finely rendered corrugations, and where appropriate, these corrugations also extend to the interior. The cockpit is well-rendered, and sits behind a replica of the BMW IIIa six-cylinder engine, with a radiator at the front, while the passenger compartment has a humped floor just like the real thing to accommodate the wing spars under the floor. This edition also sports extended span wings, and the floats necessary to operate from water, with changes to the airframe commensurate with this use. Construction begins with the starboard rear fuselage, which has a window and two bulkheads fitted, setting it aside whilst building the cockpit on its contoured floor. The two control columns are detailed with a lamination of two PE layers that represent the cables, fitting a bow-tie wheel at the top of each one, and setting them in place through rectangular holes in the floor, mounting rudder pedals in front, and making up two seats from two styrene parts and PE lap-belts, setting those aside while the unusually-shaped instrument panel is further detailed with levers and controls, plus a few PE parts, adding another PE lever between the columns along with a styrene part. The panel is decaled extensively after painting, and is fitted to a bulkhead via a C-shaped stand-off bracket that locates on two recesses. This too is put aside, mounting the starboard fuselage half to the cruciform fuselage floor after drilling out a few holes, and fitting two optional boxes in place if you plan on building your model with the wings mounted for flight. The forward section of the fuselage has three window panes added and is fixed to the rear part, using raised guides in the floor to ensure the assembly is straight and true. The cockpit is fitted next, and will be useful to help align the side, fixing the two seats in place, then adding the instrument panel on its bulkhead. Another bulkhead is made to separate the cockpit from the passengers, adding a window and two tied-back curtains, plus a pair of wedge-shaped strengtheners into slots at the sides. Two more individual seats with lap-belts are made and inserted in the floor as the front row, building a four-part bench seat/sofa that also has PE seatbelts added, gluing it to a stepped bulkhead, and fitting that into the rear of the passenger compartment, using the guides to ensure it is correctly aligned. A handle is inserted into a hole in the side door, fixing another to the opening door on the opposite side later. The six-cylinder in-line BMW engine is based upon a two-part block, into which the individual cylinders are slotted, adding a prop-axle and generator, then completing the tops of the cylinder heads, cooling tubing, wiring loom, air-intake and exhaust manifold to the sides, ending the manifold with a vertical horn if you plan on leaving the cowling open. Engine mounts are installed on both sides of the bay, lowering the completed engine into position between them, fitting the radiator after gluing the rear and a PE cross-brace to it, and a choice of two fixed aft cowling panels that have differing features, depending on which decal option you have chosen. The opposite side of the fuselage is made from two almost identical (but handed) parts, although a separate door is included, fitting the windows, a door handle and rail, and drilling two small holes in the rear section close to the wing root. The completed parts are then brought in and glued to the floor, creating a cowling for the engine bay from a choice of two styles of top parts, and common side cowlings, with a further option of a PE strap around the cowling if you wish. The cowling open option isn’t discussed any further in the instructions, which is unusual. A folded PE part is available to replace a styrene grab-handle part if you prefer, mounting it on the forward section of the cowling, fitting the roof on the fuselage after adding a circular light to the inside and drilling a small hole nearby. Another styrene or PE grab-handle is fixed to the side cowling on both sides, and a pair of clear windscreens are installed in front of the cockpit, as this early production variant didn’t have an enclosed cockpit. At the rear, the elevator is made from upper and lower halves, the upper half having the entire flying surfaces moulded-in to achieve a slim trailing edge, mounting it on the open rear of the fuselage behind the roof panel. The tail fin is slotted into the top of the elevator, fixing the separate rudder later to complete the empennage. There are two short C-beams provided for the inner wing upper panels, which are only utilised if the wings are to be built ready for flight, fitting into a recess under the short inner wing panels, then gluing them into place either side of the fuselage. At this stage the decision must be made whether to mount the wings, or leave them off for transport, using either three parts to create the joint for the mounted option, or an open rib with a socket glued behind it that will be seen in the wingless option, depending on your choice. Your preferred insert is glued into the ends of the inner panels, adding a pair of intakes under the belly, fitting a PE crew step under the port trailing-edge, the redundant tail-skid under the rear, and a PE actuator tab in a recess on the rudder. More PE or styrene grab-handles are fitted to the rear fuselage for ground-handling, and around the square back windows to ease access to the door over the wing. The extended outer wing panels are stiffened by adding two ribs to the grooves moulded into the inner surfaces, and slotting a three-quarter span spar lengthways into the grooves in the ribs, cutting the inner ends off if you are leaving the wings off the airframe. The wing underside is glued over the spar, and once the glue is cured, the ailerons can be fitted into the cut-outs in the trailing edges. They are put to the side for a while so that the float gear can be made. Two floats are made from two lower halves and a single upper portion that is highly detailed with ribs and other details, supported under the fuselage by a pair of V-shaped struts that form a W-shape on each side of the float, the forward port V having cross-braces to act as a crew and passenger ladder to climb onto the wing root. The floats are spaced apart by two K-braces, and the linked pair are inserted under the belly, locating in the holes drilled throughout the rest of the build process. The wings are completed by fitting PE actuators at the inner ends of the ailerons, after which the completed assemblies can either be slipped into their slots in the inner wing panels and glued, or depicted stowed nearby in whatever fashion you choose. An aerial mast is slotted into the roof behind the cockpit, and a choice of two propellers with or without spinner is supplied for you to complete the build. Markings There are three decal options on the large sheet, all of which are in a similar silver uppers with black accent and underside scheme. From the box you can build one of the following: Aero Express Ungarn, Hungary, Early 1920s Junkers South American Promotional Tour, Early 1920s Spanish Red Cross, Rif War, Mid 1920s Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It’s a stunning model of this unusual variant of this aircraft that was so popular in the interwar period, and the float-plane version is the one for me. Detail is superb, and the construction process should be straight forward. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

StuH.42 Ausf.G Mid Production (72115) 1:72 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Following WWI the German military had identified a weakness in their forces, in that their advancing troops often left behind the support of their artillery as they moved forward, leading to a call for the creation of Sturmartillerie, which was effectively a mobile artillery piece that could travel alongside their forces, providing valuable protection. By the time the Nazis were gearing up their economy and military for war more openly, a requirement for just such a vehicle was made official, mating the chassis of the then current Panzer III with a short-barrelled 75mm gun in a fixed armoured casemate with limited traverse, which gave the type a distinctive howitzer-style look. In the later variants a longer high-velocity gun, the 7.5 cm StuK 40 L/48 replaced the shorter gun to give it an improved penetrating power that was more in alignment with the Tank Killer job that it had become used for. These vehicles were designated Ausf.F or G, and were amongst the most produced version of this almost ubiquitous WWII German tank. A project to up-gun the StuG was instigated using an Ausf.F chassis and a 10.5cm leFH 18 howitzer, taking the name Sturmhaubitze 42 or StuH 42 for short. The rounds were electrically fired, and it was to be fitted with a muzzle-brake to bleed off some of the recoil, and a dozen of this type were made from repaired Ausf.F examples, then almost 1,300 were built as infantry support that were based on the Ausf.G, some without their muzzle-brakes due to the limited availability of certain metals as the war continued to turn against the Nazis, thanks to the Allied bomber force bombing their industrial base into rubble on a 24/7 schedule. The Kit This is a re-boxing with new parts of a recent tooling from MiniArt in their new 1:72 armour line, which is bringing high levels of detail to this smaller scale, with MiniArt’s engineers and tool designers applying their skills to a scale that has been neglected to a certain extent for many years, certainly at this level of detail. The kit arrives in a small top-opening box, and inside are ten sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a small clear sprue with decals in a shared bag along with a Photo-Etch (PE) brass fret, and the instruction booklet, printed in full colour in portrait A5 format. Detail is excellent, including weld-lines and tread-plate moulded into the exterior of the hull, with plenty of options for personalisation, and link-and-length tracks to provide good detail without making the building of the tracks too time consuming or complex. Construction begins with the lower hull, which is put together with five parts creating the ‘tub’, then adding the glacis plate at the front, and the exhaust assembly at the rear, accompanied by duct-work and overhanging vents with a PE mesh panel underneath. Various suspension parts are applied to the hull sides that have the highly detailed swing arms and axles already moulded-in. Six paired return rollers are made up, along with twelve pairs of road wheels, plus two-part idler wheels and drive sprockets, the latter having an alternative front sprocket face for you to choose from. Once all the wheels are installed on their axles, the tracks can be built, utilising the long lengths on the top and bottom, adding shorter lengths to the diagonal risers, and individual links around the sharper curved sections toward the ends of the runs. There are eight individual links at the rear, and seven at the front, each link having three sprue gates in sensibly placed locations. The gun mounting block (it’s not a detailed breech) is built from four parts and is mounted on a carrier between a pair of trunnions, which is then fitted to a pivot plate and set aside while the casemate front is made from two main sections. First however, the fenders are glued to the sides of the hull, locating on lugs moulded into the sides, with a couple of vertical PE plates on the rear. The gun mounting block is slotted into the front of the casemate, with a mantlet slid over the front, after which the heavily armoured and bolted lower front has a vision slot and armour cover applied before it is glued to the bottom of the casemate, along with the sides and rear bulkhead, attaching it to the lower hull while the glue cures to ensure everything lines up. A convoy light is glued into the centre of the glacis, then the engine deck is made, fitting two-part sides with separate baffles, and a single rear panel that is aligned when the deck is installed on the rear of the hull, fixing a narrow rear facet on the rear round-down. Two PE grilles are glued over the outer cooling intakes, and a length of spare track is fitted over the rear bulkhead of the casemate, adding armoured covers over the five vents on the engine deck, with a choice of cast or bolted vents on the two at the very rear of the deck. A choice of three styles of cupola can be made, each one made from a differing set of parts, based around the commander’s vision blocks and central hatch, adding wire grab handles from your own stock where indicated, then inserting the completed assembly in the cut-out on the roof, adding a periscope to the front of the cupola for one option. A shallow stowage box in the middle of the engine deck, plus more pioneer tools on the engine deck, and PE tie-downs on the sides of the casemate. The barrel is moulded as a single tubular section with a hollow muzzle and brake moulded into the business end, while its sleeve is moulded into the front of the saukopf, which is an inverted trapezoid that is made from another two parts. Pioneer tools are built up and fitted wherever there is space as the build progresses, including muzzle cleaning rods, jack, fire extinguisher, and track tools. The gunner’s hatch can be posed closed, or replaced by two separate parts in the open position, adding another scratch-built grab handle from wire, then fitting a ‘snail’ drum magazine to the supplied MG34, sliding it through the frontal splinter shield with PE support and another DIY grab handle before putting it in place in front of the gunner’s hatch. Towing eyes are supplied for the tow cables, but you must provide the braided thread or wire to make the cables themselves, attaching one to each fender, and two stacks of wheels that are mounted on long pins on the rear of the engine deck on the aft vents, the pins made from your own wire stock. Two aerials and an additional spare track length is fitted to the diagonal rear of the engine deck, plus additional lengths on the cheeks of the casemate either side of the barrel for one decal option. Mounts for schürzen skirts are built from four parts each side, designed to protect the vehicle from incoming shaped charge warheads, pre-detonating them to disperse the energy of the weapon. Once the glue is fully cured on the mounts, the four PE main panels are hung individually from the hooks, with two smaller supplementary panels added to the centre section. Bear in mind that these panels were often lost or damage during combat and manoeuvring in the field, so think about adding some wear if you want to achieve a more realistic look, annealing the brass first to enable easier bending. One decal option has another run of spare tracks across the lower glacis, attached between the towing eyes at the front. Markings There are four decal options on the small sheet, with various schemes all with a base coat of dunkelgeb, and various camouflage styles over the top. From the box you can build one of the following: Unidentified unit, Eastern Front, Autumn 1943 Unidentified unit, Eastern Front, Autumn 1943 StuG.Abt.237, Eastern Front, Elnya, Autumn 1943 StuG.Abt.276, Eastern Front, Autumn 1943 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion MiniArt have only recently brought their prodigious talents to bear on 1:72 scale armour, releasing a subject they have already researched for their extensive 1:35 scale StuG and StuH ranges, resulting in a highly detailed series of models with plenty of options for personalisation, and further expansion of the range to come. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Tank Riders Set 1 & 2 with Resin heads (53022 & 53024) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Getting a lift on a tank was a treat for the foot-soldier that occasionally turned sour if their ride came under fire from an enemy tank, especially if the turret starts to rotate and the crew begins using the main gun. Sometimes they’d ride into battle on the back of a tank, using the turret as temporary cover until it came time to dismount, usually off the rear avoiding the exhausts, other times it was a case of sitting somewhere flat on the hull of the tank for a well-earned rest, and saving some boot-leather whilst getting from A to Battle. During winter periods, especially in the freezing cold of the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge and on the Eastern Front, a seat on the warm engine deck would be prime real-estate, helping to defend against the biting cold that required heavy uniforms and great-coats, of which the Nazi invaders were woefully short. In later war years, the German troops adopted a variety of camouflage patterns for their uniforms that included several different patterns for the seasons of the year, although it’s unlikely that they would have sufficient wardrobe space to store them at all times, so it could be luck of the draw whether a squad was dressed the same, particularly as the war situation deteriorated for the Nazis and supplies became harder to obtain. These two figure sets have been upgraded with separate resin heads that offer a greater level of detail due to the nature of resin casting in flexible moulds, plus a level of difference in facial expression thanks again to the moulds, with subtle differences in physical shape for each one. Each set arrives in an end-opening figure-sized box with a painting of the figures, striking the same poses as their plastic counterparts, which also gives some hints about painting and camouflage design, with diagrams on the back of the box that give the full picture. Inside each box are seven sprues in grey styrene, plus a Ziploc bag that contains the new resin heads on a single casting block, all four heads having a flat-top to accommodate the stahlhelm helmets so typical of German WWII soldiers. There are four figures per set, the parts for each figure are found on separate sprues for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the different parts of the model. Riding on a tank will entail plenty of sitting down, so the poses consist of seated soldiers without looking like the figures have all been made from the same mould. This variation in pose will give a more natural look to them when they are in situ on your chosen AFV model, and many will look equally at home perched on a building, makeshift seat or on the ground if you see fit. Set 1 (53022) All four figures are seated, three with their lower legs near vertical, and one soldier with his legs out in front of him, one leg folded under the other. They are all wearing camouflaged overalls and helmet covers, with a complement of accessories typical of the individual soldier, which will be found on the three accessory sprues. One of the accessory sprues will allow an MG42 to be made for one of the squad members to cradle with the buttstock on the ground, complete with a small snail-mag and a length of link that could be warmed and draped around the neck of the gunner or his colleague. Bedrolls, water bottles, ammo pouches, pistols and their holsters, plus sundry other items and weapons are also to be found on those sprues, such as uncovered helmets, gas mask cylinders more typical of early war load-outs, entrenching tools and bayonets for the rifles, or in their scabbards. Set 2 (53024) Two of the figures are sat with their lower legs near vertical, while one kneels on a flat area, and the final figure crouches with his MP40 lowered in front of him, but ready for action in case he spots enemy movement. The accessory sprues include many of the same items as the other set, but the third sprue has some more unusual weapons for the soldiers to carry, such as the late-war MP44, the grandfather of the AK-47, an FG42, MP38, Lugers and a rifle with a sniper scope, with appropriate pouches for these weapons. Conclusion Figures make a statement when pressed into action in conjunction with AFV models, and these two sets offer four in each box for you to choose from. Careful painting will bring a human scale to your model that’s impossible to achieve without them. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

7.3cm Kw.K Stu.G Shells with Ammo Boxes (35457) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Arriving in a shrink-wrapped figure box, this set contains four sprues in grey styrene, allowing the modeller to make up twelve of each type of shell, and eight ammo crates that are capable of holding three shells. Four additional stamped metal crates that hold two shells are also included, although these must be depicted closed, while the wooden crates can be open or closed. Also included are decals for each type of shell, and stencils for the ammo boxes themselves, just to finish them off. The shells are all a single part each, but the boxes are made up from five or six sides (depending if opened) with supports for the rounds moulded into the bottom, and additional handles on each end. The metal cases are built from four parts each, and have moulded-in wire handles at the opening end, plus the latch moulded into the top of the case. Detail is excellent as you’d expect, and the shells will just need a little preparation to remove the sprue gates and the unavoidable moulding seam before painting. The instructions are on the rear of the box, and show the correct location of the shell stencils for both types, plus a colour chart showing Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission, AMMO, Tamiya plus swatches and colour names that should provide more than enough information to make informed paint choices. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Type 82 German Pkw.K1 Kübelwagen - Eastern Front (SS-020) 1:35 MENG via Creative Models Ltd Hitler and Nazi Germany have a strong connection to the Volkswagen Beetle, as it was their wish (read: demand) to have a “people’s car” that could be bought cheaply and run affordably by the workers to mobilise the masses. Volkswagen literally means people’s car, and the design of the vehicle was carried out by Ferdinand Porsche of post war sports car fame. The original Beetle was very similar to the one we all know from the 50s onward, although there were some differences that become quite obvious when viewed side-by-side. The design-work of the Beetle was used largely in the creation of the militarised light transport, which started as the Typ.62, and morphed into the Typ.82 after the kinks were ironed out following testing during the invasion of Poland. The minimum speed was reduced to match the 4mph pace of marching soldiers, the already adequate off-road performance of this two-wheel drive car was improved further by the installation of a limited-slip differential, changes to hub gearing and the suspension, which coupled with the light weight of the vehicle itself gave it excellent off-road characteristics comparable with a 4x4 of the time. The design went into full-scale production almost unchanged from the revised specification, and stayed that way throughout the war, with only small changes such as a more powerful 1.3L engine and a larger dash to set the post 1943 vehicles apart from the earlier production cars. It was well-liked, reliable and capable, with over 50,000 made during the war. The amphibious Schwimmwagen was developed from the Typ.82, using much of the running gear of the 4x4 Command Car, but very little of the bodywork, as its shape was unsuited to travelling through water. After the war, the basics of the Kübelwagen were recycled as the angular Typ.181 in military service, known as the Trekker in the UK, and The Thing in the US. The Kit This is a new tool from MENG in 2024, and has expanded to three boxings based on the same base sprues. The kit arrives in a small top-opening box with a satin finish and a painting of the Kübelwagen in front of a snowy backdrop “somewhere on the Eastern Front”. Inside are three sprues in light grey styrene, two clear sprues wrapped in self-cling plastic, a bag of five flexible black tyres, decal sheet, and instruction booklet printed in colour, with painting profiles on the rearmost pages. Detail is excellent, and although it isn’t a full chassis model, the undersides of the engine and axles are depicted, and parts for a soft-top roof are also included for cold-weather situations. Construction begins with the floorpan, which superbly detailed, and is fitted with rear chassis rails, axle and transmission, adding four more structures to the area before installing the rear floor and arches over the top of the rear axle. The sump of the engine is mated with twin exhausts and mufflers, locating it on a raised box at the rear of the vehicle between the arches. The front axle is assembled with a steering linkage under the front floorpan with arches moulded-in, mating it with the main floorpan, then fitting a chassis protector along with a transmission-tunnel cover underneath. Righting the floor, a set of duckboards are installed in the foot wells after painting them a wooden colour, followed by the gear lever, handbrake, foot pedals and the steering column that locks into position through the firewall. Although the engine isn’t included, the boot is made from a firewall and two sloped sides that are mounted on the arches and are then joined by the body sides, which have extra thickness and detail added to the sills before installation. The sloped bonnet has a fuel tank applied to the underside before it is glued to the front of the vehicle, adding rear body panels and the boot flap with moulded-in handle to the rear. The rear is detailed with a chunky bumper, rear lights, convoy light and number plate holder, adding a stand-off bar with supports to the bumper. The instrument binnacle is suspended between a pair of dash bars with a single dial applied as a decal, flexing it into position over the steering column fitted earlier. A pair of crew seats are made with separate lower frames, siting them within reach of the dash, installing a bench seat in the rear for passengers, flexing a tyre over a hub and mounting it on the bonnet on a recessed cone, with a filler nozzle next to it in another depression. The front wheel hubs are unique and made from two parts, as they are handed to match their axles, but both have a flexible tyre push-fitted over the flanges around the edges. The rear wheels are interchangeable and are also formed from two parts plus a flexible tyre, mounting each one in its appropriate arch, and adding a sump-protector under the engine. Righting the model allows fitting of the headlights with a choice of slotted lenses, or covered alternatives, both with different rear housings, and joined by a convoy light with separate base on the left side of the bonnet. There are four sockets moulded into the floor to accept the buttstock of a Kar98 rifle, which are inserted in a gaggle between and behind the front seats, adding a cover over the rear of the vehicle. The barrels of the rifles are held in place by a tubular cross-brace that has four loops moulded in, and is mounted on the B-pillars between the front and rear door cut-outs. Another bumper bar with brackets is attached to the front, and four simple square doors with moulded-in handles fill the spaces down the side of the body, slipping a clear windscreen into its frame and adding two wiper-motor covers before attaching it to brackets at either end of the scuttle panel, cutting off a pair of pegs on the top edge of the frame. The soft top is moulded with creases and folds in a complete part that is detailed on all exterior sides thanks to slide-moulding. The interior is smooth, but once the side and rear windows are installed, little will be seen within, so a coat of the same colour as the exterior should hide that fact away. A pair of clamps are mounted in recesses on the bonnet, sited higher on the slope than the spare tyre, gluing a pair of rabbit-ear indicator stalks to the A-pillars, the left bracket also holding a circular wing mirror for the driver. The driver’s side also has a shovel mounted behind the arch, with an option to shave away the bracket that holds the blade in place, replacing it with a separate bracket to add a little realism. A Jerry can with moulded-in bracket is made from two halves, adding the three-handles to the top, and painting a white cross on the body that indicates that it carries water. This is attached to the left over the rear arch to complete the model. Markings There are three decal options included on the small sheet, all wearing different schemes, one of which is under new management in Olive Drab with American markings. From the box you can build one of the following: Communications Unti, 7th Panzer Division, Kursk, 1943 12th SS Panzer Division, Hitlerjugend, France, 1944 Vehicle captured and used by US Forces, Italy, 1943 Decals are by Meng’s usual partners in China, with good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Kübelwagen was almost ubiquitous in German use during WWII, and is certainly a staple of WWII movie light transport vehicles. This new boxing of the latest tooling is well-detailed, available at a pocket-friendly price, and should be a straight-forward build, allowing the modeller to allocate time to the painting and weathering of the kit. Highly recommended. Currently out of stock at Creative Models Ltd, but check back soon Review sample courtesy of

Dune Spice Harvester (SS-020) 1:500(?) Meng via Creative Models Ltd Dune’s legacy began in the 1960s as a long-running series of books by Frank Herbert, and several attempts have been made to realise the initial book in movie form, with varying levels of success. David Lynch made a decent, if simplified attempt at it in the 1980s, although it was a flawed movie with irritating voice-overs (from my point of view, at least), while a three-part TV movie in 2000 was considered a reasonable adaptation, but I haven’t seen that one. This latest expedition into the deserts of Arrakis benefits from the availability of realistic Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) that can be used to enhance the scope and scale of the saga as it deserves, without looking false. It also benefitted from a massive budget and an acclaimed director, not to mention a cast of many famous actors, although David Lynch’s version also had some famous faces, including a young Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck before his Star Trek days. The new film has been split into two episodes to portray as much of the book’s content as possible in an effort to retain the important aspects of the original story, and part 2 has been out now for a couple of months, rounding off the original story, allegedly, with the possibility of more to come if it has made enough money for the studio, which I expect it has by now. I haven’t seen the second part yet, so no spoilers please! The Spice Harvester is an essential part of the mining of the spice Melange from the deserts of Arrakis, and they are essentially factories on tracks that are dropped by their carriers onto parts of the desert where spice has been detected, in order to extract it. The noise of the Spice Harvesting attracts the giants worms that are native to Arrakis, as they are drawn toward repetitive vibrations, and when they get there, woe betide anyone or anything that remains on the sand. Each harvester is protected by a group of spotters in Ornithopters that keep an eye out for incoming worms, as their appearance is almost inevitable. When one is spotted, the carrier craft swoops in, picks up the factory and airlifts it to safety. In theory. We see what happens to a Spice Harvester when the carrier arrives too late in the first film, although all the crew survive thanks to Duke Leto Atreides happening by with a flight of Ornithopters. The Kit We reviewed the box-scale kit of this unusual vehicle some months ago, and as part of the conclusion I recall stating that a larger scale kit of this would be more unlikely than larger scale models of the more exciting and dynamic Ornithopters. Let it not be said that won’t acknowledge being wrong, because I was, and happy to be so if I’m honest. The scale is rumoured to be 1:500, but don’t quote me on that, but the kit builds up to 200x133x57mm. It arrives in a sleek top-opening box in the black-themed Dune colours, and inside are six sprues and two hull halves in olive drab styrene, plus three bags of tracked treads that total sixty-four in all. There is a small decal sheet on this larger edition with three decals, and a colour instruction booklet with profiles for the single official colour scheme on the rear interior cover. Detail is excellent, as is normal with MENG, and has been increased with the increase in size of the kit, although looking back at the smaller kit, that too is quite well-detailed. Construction begins with the lower hull, which has the four side wall detail panels installed along with dozens of detail parts. The roof is a separate part that is also detailed with equipment before it is lowered into position over the lower hull along with two recessed axles that mount the bogies later. The mining mechanism is built from eight cranked trunks that are linked by a pivot at the centre of a long fairing so that they can conform to the ground below. The completed mining appendage is inserted into a recess under the belly, detailing the fairing and surrounding area with additional parts, followed by four bogies that fit to each end of the axles within the hull. The tracks are built in pairs of four that are suspended on a long axle with a bobbin in the centre that snap-fits onto the ends of the bogies, making up eight sets of tracks in all. At the rear of the factory vehicle are a series of five mechanisms in a row that resemble two-part heat-exchangers, all clipped into the rear of the roof or aft bulkhead in line. At the front are a trio of antennae on the roof of what appears to be the command deck that is sited in the right half of the front of the vehicle in a raised area. Markings The Spice Harvester as it appears in the film is a drab brown that is referred to as Sand Yellow in the MENG/AK and Acrysion codes, but is akin to RAF Dark Earth on this reviewer’s screen, which has been calibrated recently, although it is old. From the box you can build the following: The decals are printed in China in a single colour, and are perfectly adequate for the task in hand. Conclusion If you wanted to be cruel, you could liken the design to a tracked tissue box, but as Sci-Fi modellers, we’ll ignore those cruel people. Detail is excellent, the size is sufficient to make it worthwhile to add some weathering to your project, and it won’t get overlooked in the cabinet for being too small. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

3T Cargo Truck 3.6-36S Early Prod PmQ-Type (35445) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Opel was Germany’s largest truck producer during the 1930s, and their Blitz line of trucks played a large part in transporting Germany and their military around Europe, with over 130,000 of all variants made before the end of WWII. The name Blitz was given to the vehicle after a competition to find its new name, with a stylised S logo that resembled half of the SS badge, but also became the Opel logo that remains today. By the mid-30s there was a growing range of body-styles and load capacities available, replacing the locally produced engines with General Motors units nearer the outbreak of war, after GM bought Opel. This led to a 3.6T load-carrying option, which became almost ubiquitous in Wehrmacht service, but the new engines made it easier for the Allies to press captured Blitzes into service with a few tweaks, thanks to some familiarity with the motor. Unfortunately, due to its common usage, the Opel brand and its trucks were somewhat tainted by the War Crimes carried out by the Nazis and the SS, building them at the factories using forced labour, transporting prisoners to death camps, and even as a ‘gas van’ to carry out the heinous act itself. The rest of the Wehrmacht used the type for more typical roles of transport and carriage of men and matériel to, around and from the battlefield. They were typically painted in the colours of their operators, but the wooden load bed was sometimes seen in green. Following WWII production restarted, and it wasn’t until 1952 that a complete new design was used instead of the old pre-war Blitz. The Kit This is a new boxing of a recent tooling from MiniArt, and just part of a growing line of variants. The kit arrives in a standard top-opening MiniArt box, and inside are twenty-five sprues in grey styrene of differing sizes, a clear sprue, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass in a card envelope, a decal sheet, and instruction booklet that is printed on glossy paper in colour, with profiles for the decal options on the front and rearmost pages. MiniArt have a habit of creating highly detailed kits that include interiors to the cab, engine and under the chassis, that are augmented by the sensible addition of PE parts where scale thickness will benefit. This is common practice for them now, and there’s no reason to expect anything else. Construction begins with the ladder chassis, drilling four holes for later use, and spacing them apart by adding four cross-braces between them, with another three and a two-part fuel tank in the second fit, applying two spare tyres that are made of two halves, attached via the separate hub by a wedge-shaped bracket that is locked in place by a large wingnut, and a fitting a towing shackle at the rear. Flipping the chassis over, a protective cowling is fixed between the moulded-in front leaf-springs, adding two L-shaped brackets on each of the chassis sides, a pair of leaf-springs on the rear, and two hooks at the ends of the chassis rails. An interlude sees the engine built from a four-part block, festooning it with ancillaries, intake and exhaust manifold, the transmission housing that is built from seven parts and mated to the rear of the block, serpentine belt and fan to the front, dropping it into the front of the chassis, and mounting a stowage box on the left rail near the spare tyre. On the opposite side, a pair of Jerry cans is made from two halves with a PE seamline trapped in the centre, adding triple handles and a filler cap on top, then securing it in a three-part frame, held in place by two PE straps. Two more hooks are fixed to the front of the chassis, with a horn between them, and a two-part exhaust that stretches from the end of the manifold to the rear of the vehicle, turning left and exiting to one side, with a long muffler that hides the joint between the two parts. A scrap diagram shows where the downpipe should fit in relation to the engine and chassis. A substantial axle is mounted under the front leaf-springs, stretching a drive-shaft between the rear of the transmission and the rear axle with differential bulge, making it from two halves. A couple of small parts are added to the sides of the chassis near the front, and the radiator is built from three layers, plus feeder hoses, mounting it in the front on two pegs, a small PE bracket in the centre, and noting the location of both feeder hoses that supply hot water to and colder water from the radiator. Building the cab starts with the dash, adding instrument backs and other small parts to the rear, plus a dash-pot, an oil-can, and the steering column, flipping it over to install the steering-wheel and a lever, applying four dial decals after detail painting. The floor has eight small tab removed around the sides, turning it over the apply the foot pedals, handbrake and gear levers into position arranged around the left seat, then making two engine cowling side panels that have the lowest end of the A-pillar moulded-in, using alternate parts for one decal option, then gluing them to the floor, trapping the dash and the radiator cowling with separate logos between them, and placing a bench cushion over the hole in the floor. The cab rear has the back cushion glued to it along with a pair of vents, and a small rear window in the centre, mating it to the growing cab assembly along with the roof panel that has the windscreen frame moulded into it, slipping a clear screen in from outside. Four decal options have a warning triangle mounted on a PE bracket in the centre front of the roof, while one has a fairing behind it, the rest removing two small rivet marks from further back. Turning the assembly over, the front arches with moulded-in running boards are fitted after drilling out some holes and removing raised location marks on the curved top-sides. PE brackets for the headlamps, adding more within the engine bay, and windscreen wipers are created either from PE parts, or styrene alternatives if you prefer, making a pair of headlamps from styrene backs and clear lenses, plus optional PE slit covers for wartime use, attaching to the arches on the PE brackets fitted earlier. The cab doors have open or closed window options plus a choice of open or closed quarter-lights installed in the frame, adding a door card, handle, winder and lever to the insides, plus handle, drip-guard from PE, and a long-stemmed wing mirror for the driver’s side. Before they are put in position, a three-part jack is fixed to the co-driver’s step, and of course they can be posed in open, closed or any position in between. The bonnet can be posed open or closed too, starting with the tapering fixed centre section, leaving the rest until later in the build. The cab is dropped into place over the engine, mounting a pair of supports in the rear of the chassis. The closed engine cowling is made from two L-shaped segments with louvres moulded-in, plus separate clasps at the bottom edge, or the same cowling parts can be used tilted up along the centreline, utilising different open versions of the clasps, and supplying a support rod from wire of your own stock on either or both sides, depending on whether you decide to prop both sides open. A framework is created from three parts that is placed within the outer frame of the load bed under the floor panel, which has copious planking and wood texture detail moulded-in, as does the header board, adding PE tie-downs after cutting off the moulded-in styrene versions. The bed sides have strengthening ribs added into recesses down the sides, fitting horizontal batons on the inner sides, and building the tail-gate for open or closed fitting as you prefer. A set of six cross-members are laid on the batons to create benches for passengers, one at each end of the bed, and doubles in the central section, meaning that passengers would have to clamber over the others to get further into the bay. The rear arches have short supports inserted into recesses that lock them in position under the bed, adding a pair of stowage boxes that are made and glued under the rear of the bed, mounting a PE bracket and number plate holder upon it, and fixing a light further up. A Notek convoy light is fitted to the rear lip of the bed, with another bracket on the opposite corner that has just a styrene light glued to it. Additional parts are fitted to the bed sides, fitting the locking mechanism appropriate to your choice of open or closed tailgate. A set of stacked tilt-supports are gathered up and strapped together with four PE brackets, attaching them to locations on the front of the bed, leaning on the headboard. Two pairs of wheels are required next, making the single front pair from two tyre halves around the hub, and the rear tyres are each made from two tyre halves each, but have different hub parts, and a three-part jointing lamination between them. The wheels are installed on their axles, and a bumper with number plate is fixed to the front of the chassis, returning to the front axle to add a steering linkage and bar with the aid of a scrap diagram. Two decal options have a small search lamp attached on a PE bracket on the left A pillar, and one option has a pair of PE straps mounted on pips on the roof to receive a rolled-up tarpaulin that you must make from your own supplies. Two more decal options have a convoy lamp fitted to the bumper, while some have standard poles made from your own wire with PE frames at the top, and three option has width-indicator lollipops that are fitted to the front arches on two types of PE base in slightly different locations. The model is completed by fitting the load bed to the chassis by aligning the pins and holes one the two surfaces. Markings There are six decal options included on the small sheet, with a variety of schemes, some of which are camouflages. From the box you can build one of the following: Unidentified Luftwaffe Unit, Probably France, 1940 Nachtjagdgeschwader 1, Luftwaffe, Summer 1940 15. infanterie-Division, Coastal Defence Sector A1, Netherlands, Summer 1942 4. Panzer Division, Eastern Front, Winter 1941 2. Panzer Division, Eastern Front, Summer 1943 Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503, Normandy, France, Summer 1944 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Open Blitz played an important role in transporting the German Reich around, and this kit is of excellent quality and detail that should be an out-of-the-box build for most modellers due to the high standard. Review sample courtesy of

StuG.III Ausf.G Feb 1943 Prod. With Winter Tracks (72103) 1:72 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The StuG is a popular German WWII AFV, and the more you learn about it, the more obvious it becomes why. The SturmGeschütz III was based upon the chassis of the Panzer III, but removed the turret and front deck, replacing it with an armoured casemate with a lower profile that mounted a fixed gun with limited traverse. It was originally intended to be used as infantry support, using its (then) superior armour to advance on the enemy as a mobile blockhouse, but it soon found other uses as an ambush predator, and was employed as a tank destroyer, lurking in wait for Allied forces to stumble haplessly into its path, where it could be deadly. With the advances in sloped armour employed by the Soviets, the original low velocity 75mm StuK 37 L/24 cannon was replaced by a higher velocity unit that was also used in the Panzer IV for tank-on-tank combat, extending the type’s viable career to the end of WWII. The earliest prototypes were made of mild steel and based on Panzer III Ausf.B chassis, and whilst they were equipped with guns, they were unsuitable for combat due to the relative softness of the steel that would have led to a swift demise on the battlefield, being withdrawn in '41-42. By this time the StuG III had progressed to the Ausf.G, which was based on the later Panzer III Ausf.M, with a widened upper hull and improvements in armour to increase survivability prospects for the crew. Many of the complicated aspects of the earlier models that made them time-consuming and expensive to produce were removed and simplified by that time, which led to several specific differences in some of the external fitments around the gun, such as the Saukopf mantlet protector. The Ausf.G was the last and most numerous version, and was used until the end of the war with additional armour plates often welded or bolted to the surface to give it enhanced protection from Allied tanks and artillery. The Kit This is a new boxing of a recent tooling from MiniArt in their nascent 1:72 armour line, which is bringing high levels of detail to this smaller scale, with MiniArt’s engineers and tool designers applying their skills to a scale that has been neglected to an extent for many years. It represents an example fighting during wintertime, when even tracked vehicles struggle with snow and ice, fitting specialist winter tracks to their road wheels to give them any advantage possible. The kit arrives in a small top-opening box, and inside are eleven sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a small clear sprue with decals and a Photo-Etch (PE) brass fret in another heat-sealed bag, and the instruction booklet in full colour in portrait A5 format. Detail is excellent, including weld-lines and tread-plate moulded into the exterior of the hull, with plenty of options for personalisation, and new winterised link-and-length tracks to provide good detail without making the building of the tracks too time consuming. Construction begins with the lower hull, which is put together from five parts to create the ‘tub’, then adding a three-part glacis plate at the front, and the exhaust assembly at the rear, accompanied by duct-work and overhanging vents with a PE mesh panel underneath. Various suspension parts are applied to the sides that have the swing arms and axles already moulded-in, followed by six paired return rollers, along with twelve pairs of road wheels, plus two-part idler wheels and drive sprockets, which have an alternative front sprocket face for you to choose from. Once all the wheels are installed on their axles, the tracks can be built, utilising the new tracks, with long lengths on the top and bottom, adding shorter lengths to the diagonal risers, and individual links around the sharper curved sections toward the ends of the runs. There are eight individual links at the rear, and six at the front, plus another between the lower run and its diagonal, each link having three sprue gates in sensibly placed locations. The gun shroud is built from four parts and mounted on a carrier between a pair of trunnions, which is then fitted to a pivot plate and set aside while the casemate front is made from two sections. First however, the fenders are glued to the sides of the hull, locating on three lugs moulded into the sides, drilling holes in the rear for one decal option. The gun shroud is slotted into the casemate, with a mantlet cover slid over the front, after which the lower heavily armoured and bolted lower casemate front has a vision slot and armour cover applied before it is glued to the bottom of the casemate, along with the sides and rear bulkhead, attaching it to the lower hull while the glue cures to ensure everything lines up. A convoy light is glued into the centre of the glacis, then the engine deck is made, fitting two-part sides, and a choice of rear panel that is aligned when the deck is installed on the rear of the hull. Two PE grilles are glued over the outer cooling intakes, and a length of either winter or standard spare track is fitted over the rear bulkhead of the casemate, adding armoured covers over the five vents on the engine deck, with a choice of cast or bolted vents on those at the rear of the deck. A choice of three styles of cupola can be made, each one made from a differing set of parts, based around the commander’s vision blocks and central hatch, adding wire grab handles from your own stock where indicated, then inserting the completed assembly in the cut-out on the roof, adding a periscope forward of the cupola from within the roof. The barrel is moulded as a single tubular section with a hollow muzzle glued to the business end, and sleeve moulded into the front of the saukopf, which is an inverted trapezoid and an optional stowage box on the engine deck for some decal options. PE brackets are added around the vehicle, with pioneer tools built up and fitted where there is space as the build progresses. The gunner’s hatch can be posed closed, or replaced by two separate parts in the open position, adding another scratch-built grab handle from wire, then fitting a drum magazine to the supplied MG34, sliding it through the frontal bullet shield with PE support and another DIY grab handle before putting it in place in front of the gunner’s hatch. Towing eyes are supplied for the tow cable, but you must provide the braided thread or wire to make the cable itself, attaching one to each fender, fixing fire extinguisher, jack block, multi-part jack, barrel cleaning rods etc. to various places, and for some decal variants, two stacks of wheels are mounted on long pins on the rear bulkhead, making the pins from more of your own wire. Two options have a PE railing around the engine deck, which has two more stacks of spare wheels pinned to the rear of the deck. Two options have two PE racks welded to the sides of the casemate, one holding lengths of track, while the other option carries another four pairs of road wheels, more likely as additional armour, as how many spare wheels does a single tank need? Two aerials of 30mm each are also needed to complete the model, fixing a sloped or rectangular stowage box to the rear deck along with more winter track for two options. Markings There are four decal options on the small sheet, all with a base coat of dunkelgelb and a coat of winter white distemper over the top. From the box you can build one of the following: SturmGeschütz-Abteilung 189, Eastern Front, Spring 1943 SturmGeschütz-Abteilung 189, Eastern Front, Spring 1943 SturmGeschütz-Abteilung 270 (ex. StuG.Abt.904), Eastern Front, Spring 1943 SturmGeschütz-Abteilung 270 (ex. StuG.Abt.904), Eastern Front, Spring 1943 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion MiniArt brought their talents to bear on 1:72 scale, releasing a subject they have already researched for their 1:35 scale range, resulting in a highly detailed model with plenty of options for personalisation as part of a broadening range that offers a growing range of variants. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of