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Car Maintenance 1930-40s (38019) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models ltd Cars were still really in their infancy during the 30s and 40s, and thankfully for their owners were quite simple compared to today’s standards, having mostly mechanical systems with only the lights and carburettors using electricity in general. They would frequently break down at the side of the road, where a well-prepared owner could often fix them, at least well enough to enable a dash to the nearest garage for a proper fix. If the repairs were more serious, a scheduled appointment at the garage would be in order anyway. This set depicts two repair scenarios on the box, and that’s what you get. Inside the shrink-wrapped box are five sprues, four containing the figures and one containing the accessories and tools, with some of the smaller flat tools to be found on a tiny Photo-Etch (PE) fret in a card envelope. There is a lady in a knee-length skirt pumping up a tyre using a foot-pump, a man in shirt-sleeves lying on his back under the car with PE tools around him, while the two other mechanic-types are cleaning the car with a cloth, and twiddling something under the bonnet whilst leaning over the fender or radiator. In addition, a track-style pump and an old-skool car jack with PE handle are included as staging for your diorama. As usual with MiniArt figures their sculpting is exceptional with crisp detail and sensible parts breakdown plus additional parts if you wish to use them in a diorama. Conclusion The cars featured on the box art are of course not included in the set, but if you were to aggregate one or more of these figures, plus a pack of the various garage forecourt sets released by MiniArt together with some of your own buildings either bought or scratched, a detail-packedd peacetime diorama could be put together. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Ukrainian Tank Crew at Rest (37067) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Unsurprisingly, Ukrainian tanks have Ukrainian tank crews in them, and like other humans they need to have a rest in between drills, exercises and actual combat, to stretch out, eat, relax and even sleep. This set provides four figures of such gentlemen relaxing on boxes beside their tank having a chat, a snack and a sneaky cigarette. The kit arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure box that has instructions on the rear, and inside are eight sprues in grey styrene. There are four for the figures, and four more identical sprues that carry ammunition boxes and even the shells within, the latter being surplus to requirements but always handy for a diorama. Three of the figures are in a seated position, two shooting the breeze, one cutting up some food for a snack, while the other is leaning/sitting on something like the side of the tank or a higher box. The food guy is bare headed with shaved sides to his head, while the other three have the padded helmets with comms that are typical of Soviet and formerly Eastern Bloc countries and their vehicles. A box can be made from each of the four sprues, and although the internals are there, they aren’t used because no-one’s going to want to sit on an open box. Sculpting is up to MiniArt’s usual high standard, with high levels of detail as well as realistic texture and drape of the clothing, topped off with naturalistic poses. The instructions on the rear giving painting guides as well as showing the part numbers, with swatches of camo for those of us brave enough to attempt it. Parts breakdown is also sensibly along natural seamlines, with separate heads, torso, arms and legs, plus flat-tops to the heads with hats and side panels moulded separately for better detail. The bread man has a number of small pieces that represent a loaf with a couple of slices already cut, and in one hand he has a block of something resembling cheese, which he is about to cut with the knife moulded into his other hand. Conclusion A great little set to add a human scale to any Ukrainian tank in a vignette or diorama. It also shows that soldiering in the field is mostly passing of time while waiting for your next orders, with some abject terror mixed in at times. Is it me, or does that chap on the left look like more than a bit like Mr Vladmir Putin? Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Agricultural Tractor D8500 Mod.1938 (38024) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The Lanz Bulldog was a peculiar early tractor, powered by a single-cylinder “hot bulb” diesel engine with a single piston, which although it was ahem… agricultural, was very effective and easy to repair, so it became very popular in Germany, manufactured at its base in Mannheim and built under license in other countries. The D8500 used a three-speed transmission plus one reverse gear, and the curious engine was upgraded over time with output eventually reaching over 50hp. The upgrades were evolutionary rather than revolutionary, and by 1938 they were still available with metal wheels that must have been horribly loud on any hard surface, but gave enough traction to carry it over rough or muddy ground so that it could carry out its job. Pneumatic tyres were often added later once they became commonplace, making farming a quieter endeavour. The last of them rolled off the production lines in the 60s, ending a hugely long run, although a number have survived to the present day. The Kit This is a brand new tooling from MiniArt, and a little out of the left field in terms of subject matter. They have clearly done their homework though, and in due course there will be variants with rubber tyres, so keep your eyes open if you aren’t ready for a tractor with metal “tyres”. It arrives in a medium-sized top-opening box, and inside are seven sprues in grey styrene, a small Photo-Etch (PE) fret, a sheet of decals and the instruction booklet with colour cover on glossy paper. The nippers have been active again on one long sprue, which has been cut into two to fit inside the box, while the PE is safely cocooned in a card envelope, however the tiny size of the fret is kind of jarring when you first open it. Construction begins with the big, bolt-riddled chassis, which is made from forward and aft sections that both mate to opposite sides of a central bulkhead and adding axles, accessible ancillaries and towing arm at the rear. The top cowling is made of separate panels that are mated under a curved top panel that has filler caps fixed into holes in the top. It is shaped to fit snugly onto the surface of the chassis, and is joined by a large tread-plated deck on which the driver will later sit. Pedals and other driver controls are attached, then a sprung seat with perforations to drain off water and allow the driver’s butt to breathe are placed off-centre to the right, plus some linkages to the important areas. A large bell-housing glues onto the right, and another teardrop fairing that protects the drive-belt is attached on the left side, then the large rear mudguards and rear bumper are fitted under the driver’s deck. The underside is finished off by making up the front axle with steering arms, then two stacks are constructed, the aft one a slightly tapered pipe with mushroom cap, while the larger hot one at the front has a bulged section near the top, and is prevented from swaying by a PE bracket wrapped around it, much like those on your downspout at home. The smaller front wheels are simple two-part assemblies that you make two of. The large toothed rear wheels are laminated from five sections to depict the various traction surfaces that are present on the real wheels. Again, you make two, and all four wheels are added to their respective axles, then the fifth wheel that the driver uses can be either fitted in place at the top of the steering column, or inserted into the bell-housing on the right flank of the machine, for purposes that remain a mystery to me. If you are fitting the wheel in the usual position, there is a cover with PE ring that fits over the socket, and that is shown hinged down when the wheel is inserted into the bell-housing, while the nub at the top of the steering column should be cut off for accuracy. That’s all there is to it, apart from the painting and weathering. Markings Anyone that has lived or even visited a farm will know that a tractor is a beast of burden, and as such there isn’t much care lavished on the cosmetics of the thing. The mechanical parts will be horribly oily, and over the years the paint will chip and rust, while the greasy parts will become caked in a mix of dust, oil and grease, with frequent spills and impact marks adding to the patina. We are only given one scheme on the back of the instruction booklet, but the world is your oyster if you want to depict other colours that you have either seen, or want to portray. The decals are small and simple, printed by Decograph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion While it’s hardly everyone’s cup of tea, it’s an interesting model and could even be built just to hone your weathering an distressing of the paintwork skills. The detail is excellent, and the sheer practical nature of the design is well depicted in miniature. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Road Signs Ardennes, Germanny 1945 (35609) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd During WWII German forces loved to signport their way around the countryside, and often when they retreated there wasn't time to "scorched earth" everything. This set is full of signs of this nature, and includes military signs to guide their troops, distance and direction of nearby towns and so forth as they didn't have the luxury of GPS and satnav back then, which is probably just as well. This is one of their range of sign sets, in the shape of German road signs from the Ardennes, most likely used during their long retreat during the Allies' D-Day offensive and the following Defence of the Reich. The set arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure box with a painting of the contents on the front and brief instructions on the rear. There are five sprues in grey styrene in the box or four if you ignore the fact that the large one has been cut to fit the box, plus a decal sheet on thick paper that contains all the painted descriptive fronts of the signs. As the box art implies, you also get a concrete telegraph pole alongside the signs, of which there are thirty-eight in total spread across two identical sprues. Each sign is either metal or moulded with a restrained wooden texture that will show through the decals if you use enough decal solution during drying. Some of the larger signs are also made from a few planks, so the joins will also show through the decal. There are 48 decals on the sheet, so plenty of options that could be spread over multiple dioramas. The telegraph post is made from two halves with lightening holes through the centre, and a pair of isolators on each side, for which you’ll need to add some wires either taut or cut and dangling from the post. Conclusion Dioramas rely on the minutiae of the background to give that "lived in" look to the terrain, and signage is essential for all but the straightest of roads. The addition of the telegraph pole gives extra depth to any road scene, and the painting guide helps with painting the plastic parts. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Werkstattkraftwagen Typ-03-30 (35359) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Ford’s AA light truck was license built in the Soviet Union from 1932 to 1950 by GAZ as their GAZ-AA, or GAZ-MM as it was sometimes known, with over 150,000 being built in various configurations including Anti-Aircraft, and buses based on the same chassis. Some of these were of course captured by the Nazis during the successful early stages of Operation Barbarossa in WWII, and as usual with their regime they were pressed into service, sometimes in their original form, but others were butchered around to suit different purposes. The Werkstattkraftwagen was based upon the Typ-03-30 bus, with the passenger seats stripped out to be replaced by benches and storage to become a mobile workshop for the repair of equipment and vehicles in the field. The Kit This is a substantial reboxing of MiniArt’s GAZ-03-30 bus (35149), containing the majority of the sprues therein, with the exception of the additional seat sprues that won’t be needed. Instead there are a raft of new sprues, some of which have been brought together from other sets and kits to provide a huge amount of detail that will result in a highly detailed kit once complete. The kit arrives in a standard top-opening box with fifty-eight sprues in grey styrene, two clear sprues, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass in a card envelope, a small decal sheet and the glossy instruction booklet with colour painting instructions to the rear. MiniArt’s standard is excellent, and this kit meets it, with the bus parts originally produced as recently as 2015, so up to date as far as detail is concerned. The quantity of accessories and tools included in the box almost doubles the volume of plastic in the box, and the nature of the kit will keep you busy for a long time if you treat all the sub-assemblies as separate little kits to do them the ultimate justice. It is a full interior kit, and this extends to the engine, cab and former passenger area, so it leaves the modeller with a wide palette to make this model their own. MiniArt have included four of each of the wheel frets, when only two are needed and documented in the instructions. Spare wheels will be the result. Construction begins with the engine, which is a four-cylinder license-built Ford unit that is built up around the four-part block with transmission and accessories bringing the part count to 20. The ladder chassis is made up from the two side rails with the inverted rear suspension springs fitted to the outside, and numerous cross-braces added to prepare it for the engine, drive-shaft and rear axle with differential housing, which is installed at the rear end of the springs. The wheels are built up at this time too, the tyres laminated from seven tread parts to form eight tyres for the eight hubs. It will be important to be careful with the amount of glue used here, as excess could ooze out and melt the tread pattern, spoiling MiniArt’s hard work. After that little jaunt, attention returns to the chassis, which is further detailed with brackets, front suspension and steering, plus rear anti-roll bars and linkages. The spare tyre is stowed under the rear of the chassis, and the brake hubs with their tyres (twin tyres at the rear) are slotted into place along with the radiator with a PE badge for the top, brackets for the front fenders, and front bumper. The exhaust is installed on the left, then the earlier stamped fenders with foot-plates are added to the front, and the driver’s foot plate is inserted between them aft of the engine with 3-speed gear shifter and hand brake in the centre. The foot pedals are inserted too, projecting through the plate and attaching to the transmission for complete realism. The large floor panel with anti-slip strips and rear fenders covers the rest of the chassis, with short 2nd steps over those on the front fenders, and after that, the crew cab is begun, starting with the instrument panel, which slots into the scuttle with filler cap in the centre and firewall at the front, joined by two small side panels. This, the steering wheel with stalks, and the driver’s seat on curved rails are inserted into the cab, and the front windscreen is glazed with a clear panel, with a solitary windscreen wiper on the driver’s side. The front of the cab receives the window in either closed or tilted positions for ventilation, using a pair of curved PE sliders from days of yore. A strip with clear lights and destination display slot are fitted above the screen, offering a clue to the vehicle’s original purpose. A pair of braces link the radiator housing to the firewall, while the windscreen surround is slid down over the dash, and a set of steps with retraction links are added to the rear. The cab is left for a while to concentrate on the main body of the “bus”, with the two sides glazed and the large multi-drawer bench made up along with a short bench and pillar drill that has a PE belt and base plate, the latter set to one side for later installation. The left body shell and the aforementioned benches are fitted to the floor panel, and roller-blinds are attached to the headers of the windows, then a large number of tools and benches are made up as follows: Double-end bench grinder Bench vice Bench vice with clamp Hacksaw Closed expanding toolbox Open expanding toolbox with PE tools Chair Stool Shallow bench with drawers Mobile compressor with receiver Wooden toolbox Anvil Blow torch large Blow torch small G-clamp Angle-poise light Coping saw Bucket with large wrench & axe Small cupboard The starboard body panel is similarly glazed and fitted out with roller-blinds, and the double rear doors have glass, roller-blinds and handles added before they are glued in open or closed positions, with the single cab door made up similarly and having a stay provided for the open option, and an alternative folded-step for the rear in the closed position. The roof is prepped with a central line of clear lenses, not to be confused with the raised ejector pin marks nearby, which you may want to deal with if you think they’ll be seen. The engine cowlings are the usual 30-40s style with louvered sides that fold up with the split top panels on hinges that are outfitted with brackets and PE handles on each side. The large headlights fit either side of the radiator on a curved bracket and a rod that fits between the fenders, with the horn attached on another bracket below the left headlight. The front number plate glues to the front bumper to complete the actual vehicle, but there’s more to come. There is a large roof rack that covers the majority of the top of the vehicle, which is folded up from PE and glued in place, with a pair of PE brackets for the port side ladder also fitted at the same time. Then a cornucopia of stowage etc. is made up to fill it, and fill it completely. The sub-assemblies are as follows: Wooden ladder Wooden boxes in three sizes 40gal drum with alternative tops Triangular-shaped can with PE handle Hand pump Axle-stand 2-man saw Heat-exchanger/radiator (not sure which) Oxy-Acetylene bottles with bases (2 of) Oxy-Acetylene trolley Box-plane Handsaw Hessian bags in three styles with various contents 6 x jerry cans with PE latches and centre ribs Large bin with tools inside Spare tyre with hub 11 x posters printed on the back cover of the instructions The figure that accompanies the set is only mentioned on the back page of the instructions, in much the same style as their figure sets. There is a painting of the completed figure with arrows pointing out the various parts and colour options. It is a Wehrmacht soldier in a side cap leaning against the vehicle with one hand in his pocket, the other nursing a cigarette. It is up to MiniArt’s usual standard of sculpting, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it in another of their boxes, but can’t quite place where. Markings There is only one option in the box, and that one is painted in German Panzer Grey, but its Russian heritage shows under the fenders, which remain Russian green. The decal sheet is small, and includes a few stencils, a pair of numberplates and some dials for the instrument panel. Decals are by DecoGraph, 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 great reboxing of this kit with a new purpose, and the sheer volume of sub-assemblies will keep you at your workbench for a long time. Treat each part as a separate model and you will end up with an excellent, highly detailed finished article that will have visual interest out the wazoo as our American chums say. Very highly recommended. Currently out of stock at Creative, but they're sure to order more in, so check back. Review sample courtesy of

Fokker Dr.1 Triplane 1:32 Meng Model via Creative Models Ltd Entering service in the latter few months of 1917, the Fokker DR.1 hardly needs any introduction, as it probably the most famous German aircraft of the Great War. Manfred Von Richthofens overall red machine is instantly recognisable and is probably the most famous pilot/aircraft combination ever. It achieved a fame out of all proportion to the number built (320) and length of service (c6 months). It wasn't particularly fast, but was highly maneuverable and had an impressive rate of climb.In the hands of a skilled pilot it could be highly effective, and became the favoured mount of many aces until the superior Fokker D.VII replaced it from April 1918. The kit was due to be released earlier this year by Wingnut Wings, and was thus developed to their uncompromising standards. Unfortunately they shut down without any warning in April and laid off all their staff. Mystery surrounds the reasons for this, but speculation abounds so I'll refrain from comment other than to say I was very saddened by the closure. They were producing kits to a standard not equaled by any other manufacturer, and will be sorely missed. The Fokker Dr.1 kit was in the final stages of approval, and I was one of many who eagerly examined the test sprues displayed at Telford 2019. It seems that Meng were contracted to produce the moulds, and with the demise of Wingnut Wings have rebranded and released the kit under their own name. Packaged in a sturdy top opening box, the artwork features Manfred von Richthofens well known all red 425/17, having shot down a Bristol F2.b fighter. Inside are five light grey sprue frames of varying sizes, one small clear frame, a sheet of decals, a small sheet of etched brass, and the instruction booklet. All are individually wrapped in their own clear plastic bags. It is immediately apparent that the mouldings are in Wingnut Wings style, from the layout of parts and their quality. The plastic is the same light grey type favoured by WnW, and the customary superb detailing is all there. It is obvious that this is all the work of the Wingnut Wings master designers. The instruction booklet is simpler than the superb examples that Wingnut Wings used to supply, but adequately and clearly shows the construction stages. Naturally enough this begins with the cockpit, most parts of which are found on sprue A. The mouldings are well defined, with sharp detail. The seat/bulkhead, floor, and ammunition tank are fitted between two side frames, which then accurately position the whole assembly inside each fuselage half by locating a circular cutout over a raised ring. This sprue also contains all the parts that were fitted to the main production DR.1, as opposed to the early pre-production F.1. Sprue B holds all three wings and the fuselage halves. The fabric effect and rib tapes are nicely done, but there are a couple of issues with the wings themselves. They are all solid single piece mouldings, and there is a slight upward curvature along the span of all three, which should not be there. I saw comment on this on various internet forums from people who managed to get hold of this kit early on, so it is not unique to this example. Apparently it is easily solved by immersing the parts in hot water, taking them out and gently bending straight between thumb and forefinger. Also reported by others is a breakage on the cockpit fairing moulded integrally with the middle wing, part B6. Again this is also present on the review kit, and again should be simple to rectify. Attaching it to the fuselage side when fitting the middle wing in stage 10 should ensure a strong joint. Two propellers are also provided, part 3 is an Axial, the classic fit for an Oberursel powered DR.1. Sprue C holds four clear parts, of which C3 and C4 are optional windscreens. Part C1 is an early reflector gun sight, and an interesting option to have been included. It is only for the all red Richthofen machine. Part C2 is not mentioned in the instructions and is thus not required. The axle wing, late type cowling, late type control column, and alternate propeller are on sprue D. The propeller is not named, but looks to me more like an allied one that would probably have been paired with the Clerget engine. Sprue E is the engine, which is provided with alternate front faces for the Le Rhone 9J (Part E1) and Oberursel UR.II (Part E7), The Oberursel being a licence built Le Rhone. Many German pilots considered the Oberursel to be inferior to the original French built engines and fitted captured examples to their aircraft. Identifying which powerplants were fitted to particular DR.1s is a bit of a minefield, as captured Clerget engines were also used. At least we have two choices here! Option B, Werner Voss's aircraft is a prototype F.1 rather than a production DR.1, and was fitted with a captured Le Rhone. Sprue F holds all the alternate parts for the F.1. These are ailerons with larger mass balances, different shape rudder, curve edged tailplane, smaller wheels, and different cowling. The F.1 also did not have the wingtip skids fitted, so the locating holes in the lower wing will need filling. The etched fret offers jackets for the LMG08/15 machine guns, which need to be rolled into a cylindrical shape and attached to the injection moulded bodies. If you do not feel confident doing this, then fully injection moulded alternatives are also offered. A four point harness is provided for the seat, along with round or square inspection panels for the front fuselage. These were field modifications, so check your references if not choosing one of the kit supplied markings. Decals are printed by Meng and look very sharp with minimal carrier film, and an overall matt finish. It consists mostly of various forms of black crosses, with instrument decals and various serial numbers. There are few individual markings needed for the options, but unfortunately the 'face' for the Voss option doesn't look particularly accurate, so it may be better to hand paint it. Four options are provided, one F.1 and three DR.1's. Of course one of them is Manfred von Richthofen's all red version, which is a good choice by Meng as it is so famous and the box art will attract interest from potential buyers. For those of us who like the less obvious, the other three provide good alternatives. It wouldn't be that difficult to make Richthofen's earlier machine with the Fokker 'streaky' finish, and a red top wing, rear fuselage, wheels and cowling. By cutting out some of the serial numbers from the other options, you can make up the '152/17' it needs. Option A. DR.1, 425/17. Manfred Von Richthofen, JG1, March 1918. Option B. F.1, 103/17. Werner Voss, Jasta 10, September 1917. Option C. DR.1 206/17. Herman Goering, Jasts 27, May 1918. Option D. RD.1, Walter Gottsch, Jasta 19, February 1918. Instructions. The instructions are supplied as a neat little 20 page booklet showing all assembly sequences clearly, and unambiguously pointing out which parts are appropriate for which of the finishing options. There is a parts map and colour reference at the end, but I am not familiar with any of the paint manufacturers quoted. Fortunately each colour is named so you can select from your own preferred range. It is not to the same exemplary standard that Wingnut Wings presented their instructions, but is still very good. There are also a set of A4 sized cards, mostly in Chinese, but with some English translation explaining the types history. Conclusion. The sudden closure of Wingnut Wings was a real shock to the modelling community, the Fokker DR.1 was right on the cusp of being released and suddenly it was gone. This eagerly awaited kit was due to be released in 'Early' and 'Late' versions, and it seemed unlikely we would ever be able to get hold of them. Fortunately Meng had been contracted to produce the moulds,and were able to release the kit under their own name with all the parts for the 'Early and 'Late' versions in one box. It is a lovely kit, despite the minor issues with the breakage on the wing/cockpit part and a slight wing warp. Both are easily solved and it seems that it may have been sorted out by now as other modellers are reporting that their kits are free of this issue. It is in any case the best kit of the DR.1 in any scale. Not surprisingly Wingnut Wings kits sold out everywhere and are now like gold dust, fetching silly prices. At least we now have the opportunity to purchase this kit with Wingnut Wings DNA running through it, and at a sensible price. The aftermarket decal producers are already offering alternate finishing options for it, including the Fokker 'streaky' camouflage if you don't want to paint it. Highly Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Cobblestone Section (36043) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Cobblestone roads have been around since before the Romans, and were prominent in Europe until after WWII because they have ease of maintenance and simple extraction and re-laying thanks to their modular nature. The downside is that they’re slippery when wet and modern vehicles with pneumatic rubber tyres struggle for grip under some circumstances. I first encountered MiniArt when I bought one of their vacformed diorama bases, before I became aware of their wider product range. This set is one of those diorama kits, and arrives in a smallish top-opening box, with two sheets of vacformed cobblestone section measuring 252mm x 173mm per sheet with a depth or "plinth height" of 5mm. Also included are two sprues of injection moulded grey plastic that provides a heap of street furniture, including bench seats, bollards, wrought iron fencing, manhole covers and grids. Construction is simple, consisting mostly of prepping the vacformed sheets, which are produced on female moulds so are dotted with small raised “pips” where the air has been drawn through the negative mould to ensure a faithful copy. These will need slicing or sanding away and any gaps filled, which shouldn’t take long. The bases are quite flexible, so will need some bracing from behind, and I have backed mine with sheet balsa wood glued in with epoxy in the past, but other materials would be similarly useful. If you intend to use the street furniture, most of it can be planted on top, and stiffened with pegs if you desire, but the manhole cover and grid will need sections cutting out of the base before they can be used. Careful marking and cutting will be the watchword, and I hope don't need to warn you not to do this on your lap. Markings After a priming, you can paint the cobbles in shades of grey or brown, accenting them with other shades, and using pigments in dry or liquid form to fill the interstices, wiping the excess off the faces of the cobbles to obtain a realistic finish as illustrated below. Conclusion Diorama bases can be a dark art if you’re unaware as to how they’re created, but these sets are able to short-cut some of the production process, having excellent detail and grounding your model in the real world rather than just floating on a shelf. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Russian K-4386 Typhoon-VDV (VS-014) 1:35 Meng via Creative Models Ltd The buzzword MRAP, or Mine Resistant Ambush Protected is a key feature of modern Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC), with the Allies learning hard lessons from their operations in the Gulf, where HUMVEEs and even Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) were ripped apart by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) left by insurgents, killing and injuring many in the process. The lessons haven’t been lost on any major army, and since 2010 the Russians have been developing the Typhoon project to produce a line of MRAPs to protect their troops during transit, using common components such as engine, suspension and electronics to make a range of vehicles for specific operations. The KamAZ-53949 is a 4-wheeled armoured patrol carrier on which the K-4386 is based, which shares the modern design, angled undersides, protective seats and use of composite components, adding a large Remote Control Weapons Station (RCWS) that mounts a 30mm auto-cannon along with a coaxial machine gun on one side and grenade launchers on either side of the main weapon. As well as the mine protection, the windows are all bullet-proof, with seating for five in the passenger compartment, and three crew, capable of 80mph on metalled surfaces, with adjustable height suspension allowing a relatively high speed over rougher terrain, assisting with infil. and exfil. operations immensely. This variant is for the Russian airborne forces, the VDV (Vozdushno-Desantnye Rossii), they of the stripy tshirts, so is also air-deployable to maximise its capability. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling from our friends at Meng, only trailing behind the real vehicle’s deployment by a short while. As usual with Meng, the kit arrives in a compact box with their traditional satin finish and a nice painting of the type on the front. Inside are five sprues and two separate hull parts in a light grey styrene, a clear sprue, four flexible black tyres, four small springs, a short run of 8 poly-caps (not pictured), a fret of nickel-plated Photo-Etch (PE) brass containing just the radiator grille, a small decal sheet, and the instruction booklet with colour profiles in the rear, all bagged separately to resist chaffing in transit. One word of caution is that the springs are loose within the turret shell bag, and these small items could be easily lost if you open the bag incautiously, so I have put them in a ziplok bag with the PE to keep them safe. Meng have produced partial interior for the crew and passenger areas, with a lot of detail moulded-in, and sensible use of sliding moulds to improve detail and reduce unnecessary parts, which sometimes elicit cries of “over-engineering” from some quarters. The clear parts are especially clear, although I miss the days when you would receive them with a tint of blue/green that gave the impression of the thickness of a piece of laminated bullet-proof glass. It’s not a major issue, but I really liked the look of them and wish they’d bring it back. Construction begins with the angled boat-style lower hull, onto which the suspension and drive-shafts are fitted over a number of steps, resulting in the suspension able to move by leaving the arms unglued. The axles stubs are snapped into place at the ends of the swing-arms, with armoured covers fitted over the central section, with the front bumper/fender, steering linkage, rear cross-brace and the braking system fitted next. The struts have the working springs slid over them and are then slotted into the lower hull floor, with a quarter turn locking them into place in the receivers and the big mudflaps fitted while the hull is upside down - this gives the suspension some realistic bounce. The tapered lower hull with the axles is attached to the underside of the floor, and the four wheels with two-part hubs trapping a poly-cap have the tyres pushed over the lips, then are pushed into place on the ends of the axles. Attention turns to the interior, with the drivers and co-driver’s seats first to be built from three parts each including the long protective supports that prevent spinal injury from intense explosions under the hull. These are glued to the floor of the crew cab, then a near-vertical steering column with central gear-selector between the seats are both added, to be joined by the dashboard with instrument binnacle that has decals that give it plenty of visual interest and realism. The two pedals attach behind, then the trim panel is added to provide the attachment to the floor. That sub-assembly is installed behind the engine compartment and it is joined by the five wall-mounted three-part passenger seats in the rear. The uneven number of seats is due to the remote turret’s “basket”, which sprouts from the floor in a tapering enclosure that has a monitor screen and control box on its side, with decals for both the screen and the side of the equipment box, the former having a silhouette of a trio of 'Tangos' about to be blown to bits, plus another decal for the buttons around the MFD (Multi-Function Display). This is inserted into the floor in preparation for the turret fitting later. The lower hull has a set of tanks on the sloped sides, with handed duplicates on the opposite side, but the numbering on the instructions is a little unclear here, only noting one part number per tank, although as the parts are next to each other on the sprue it’s not difficult to resolve. The interior of the upper hull is painted white, and the two-layer bullet-proof glazing is glued carefully into the windscreen frames, the outer part giving it the bulky look that typifies the MRAP breed. The front grille has vertical slots, which are backed by the single PE part that has fine mesh where needed and solid sections for gluing to the rear of the plastic part. Clear lenses are inserted into the depressions on each side of the grille, with the LEDs depicted by a ring of small recesses around a larger centrral one, ready for highlighting with a little careful painting. The two-layer doors are essentially a very similar shape, but the rear one has the window almost totally closed over by armour panels, with just the smallest of observation windows and a thick chunk of bullet-proof glass behind them, plus pull-handles and locking mechanism added below. The crew doors have larger glazing panels and more standard handles and latches, plus a four-part door mirror for each of them, for which you’ll need to source some shiny surface, using a Molotow chrome pen, or the new Liquid Mirror from Stuart Semple which I’ll be trying out soon. The back door is fitted to the rear bulkhead, and along with an internal equipment box slides onto guides on the upper hull together with the front grille. The back door is flanked by a pair of panniers that act as passenger protection for them as they leave the bus, for a few steps at least, which can be crucial if you’re loaded down with gear. They are both made up from a number of parts including rear light clusters that need painting, and they then slide into the rear of the hull, butting up against the rear bulkhead. The deep-wading muffler runs up the starboard A-pillar with a quartet of windscreen wipers added in a fairing over the top of the screen and a pair of stop-ends finishing them off. A pair of bullet-proof observation windows are glued into place on the sides of the main compartment, which can then be dropped onto the chassis with no glue applied to the turret ring base. More accessories are added in the shape of a towing bar, aerial base, grab rails on the diagonal roof edges, stowage rails along the waist, crew steps at the rear and sides, then a turret ring adapter on the roof. Turrets are fun in my estimation, with this one having an almost complete outer, that has four lift-eyes on the roof and six grenade launchers on the mantlet face. Inside is the pivot point for the 7.62mm coax MG attached to the side with a poly-cap inside for later. The main gun has a semi-cylindrical mantlet with two axles on the opposing flat sides, attached to the turret base by a pair of pivot-points that again have poly-caps inside them to allow the gun to elevate. The turret is closed up and the 30mm 2A42 autocannon barrel is shrouded and has a TV box on top, with the same process except for the top box, for the 7.62mm PKTM machine gun. The MG slips into its slot and is retained by the poly-cap, while the main gun is glued in place in the mantlet, completing the build, save for twisting the turret into place on its bayonet fitting. Markings There are two decal options in the box, which is fair because it has barely seen service. One is Russian green, while the other has a tri-tonal faceted camouflage scheme, which is the more exciting of the two. From the box you can build one of the following: Army 2017 International Forum, Kubinka, Moscow, 2017 Russian Generic Tri-colour Camouflage Decals are printed in China with good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion After their Gaz Tiger, this is a welcome addition to their Meng Russian/Soviet product line, with lots of detail moulded-in that is everything we have come to expect from them. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Soldiers with Jerry Cans (35286) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Tanks and other military vehicles are thirsty creatures, and you can’t just pull up to the pump in wartime to refill if you’ve misjudged your intake at the last fuel stop. Vehicles usually carry some form of spare fuel either in bespoke containers strapped to their hulls, or in racks of jerry cans, named after the excellent German design, a name that is still in use today. They are also used to carry water and other fluids, as both humans and vehicles can be thirsty too. This set depicts a pair of German Wehrmacht soldiers refuelling their vehicles or topping off the radiator in the field, together with a number of jerry cans and the less famous prism-shaped “Toblerone” tanks that sometimes carry oil, but these have “Kraftstoff” embossed on the side. Inside the shrink-wrapped box are eight sprues and a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, two sprues containing the figures and the remaining six full of parts for the cans. The PE fret contains centreline parts for the jerry cans and clasps for the filler caps. The two figures are both standing, one in a peaked cap bending at the waist to offer the can up to a low receptacle, while the other is standing up straight in a greatcoat, pouring at roughly shoulder height. Their construction is shown on the rear of the box, which also shows the building of the two types of can. There are six jerry cans, which are made up on a central PE flange with styrene shells to each side. The triple handle is glued to the top, as is the cap, with the choice of a complete styrene version, or a more detailed styrene cap with PE clasp that allows the modeller to pose the cap off for filling or emptying. The Toblerone cans are two parts and have a PE handle attached to the top edge, with moulded-in handles on each endcap. Various painting options for the cans are given on the rear, with the water containers bearing a white cross to prevent accidental contamination with the wrong fluids. A key to the letter codes is printed below with Vallejo, Mr.Color, AK Real Color, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, a colour swatch and the name of the colour in English to assist you with picking suitable shades from your own stocks. As usual with MiniArt figures their sculpting is exceptional with crisp detail and sensible parts breakdown plus spare jerry cans if you use them in a diorama, as you can see above. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

T-34/85 Czechoslovak Prod. Early Type 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The T-34 was Stalin's mainstay medium tank that was produced in incredible volume by sometimes crude methods, and thrown into the fray against the numerically inferior German tanks on the Eastern Front. The designers combined a number of important advances in design such as sloped frontal armour, wide tracks to spread the load, and the ability to cope with the harsh Russian winters without grinding to a halt, which was a problem that affected the Germans badly after the successes in the summer of Operation Barbarossa. The part count and cost of the tank was continuously reduced during production, with plants turning out up to 1,300 per month at the height of WWII. The initial welded turret was replaced by a cast turret with more room, and later the 76mm gun was replaced by a more powerful 85mm main gun in the T-34/85 with an enlarged turret, giving even the Tiger pause for thought. Czechoslovakia was subsumed by the Nazi war machine in a two-stage operation just prior to the outbreak of WWII that began with the Sudetenland, and it stayed under the Nazi jackboot until the beginning of 1945 as the Soviet juggernaut rolled back the Germans to their old borders and beyond. The incoming Soviet influence provided the Czechs with T-34/85s to jump-start the Czech army, and once they themselves had completed their integration of the area within the Soviet Bloc, Czech factories began making their own under license, with over 1,800 made, some of which were exported abroad to Soviet friendly allies in either new or used condition. The tank itself was a kind of Frankenstein made using moulds and specifications from different factories, and occasionally adding in a soupçon of other people’s technology, such as some knock-off German Notek convoy lights in the very early issue. They stayed in Czech service a lot longer that they perhaps otherwise would, had the Czech soldiers in exile not been already familiar with them, but by 1954 production was ceased and geared up for license building of the T-54 to replace it. The tanks sold abroad often had very short, violent lives, passing through the hands of various Middle Eastern and South African nations, with losses heavy when they were faced with a more modern enemy. The Kit This is a boxing of MiniArt’s new T-34 line, and as well as being of an early type with the larger gun and turret, it is also a full interior kit, so the box is loaded with sprues of all shapes and sizes. In total there are seventy eight sprues in grey styrene, two in clear, a good-sized Photo-Etch (PE) brass fret, a decal sheet and instruction booklet with colour profiles inside each of the front and back covers. Many of the sprues will be seen in various other boxings of the T-34, which is the reason for their use of smaller sprues that make their kits so eminently modular. It makes the process easier and cheaper for them, and makes the likelihood of receiving many different options to choose from very much more promising for us. As always with MiniArt, the design, detail and crispness of moulding is excellent, and the inclusion of Photo-Etch (PE) brass in the box is one less thing you need to fork out for. Unsurprisingly, construction begins with the lower hull and suspension. The floor is fitted with four tubular fittings for the suspension on each side and a lower escape hatch, then the engine firewall near the rear, and many of the interior parts are fitted into the front of the floor, joined by ammo stowage below the turret location, plus ammo cans for the bow machine gun, driver controls that include foot pedals and linkages, with the driver’s and machine gunner’s seat completing his area, each of which have generous side bolsters to prevent them from being tipped out of their seats on rough ground. The lower hull walls are next, with their Christie-style suspension springs contained in channels up the inside wall, and numerous equipment attached in between, including fire extinguishers, ready-rounds and some small PE parts. These are joined to the floor and the engine is begun, complete with the whole block, twin banks of pistons and rocker covers, exhaust manifolds, ancillaries and a sturdy trestle mount on which the engine rests. Radiator panels, first-motion shaft and clutch are fitted next as the block is inserted into the rear hull along with the radiators, fuel tank on the sponson, then another bulkhead behind the engine, with a cut-out that surrounds the clutch that in turn mates to the transfer box and brake drums that fit up against the final drive housing at the very rear of the vehicle. Various brake and transfer linkages are added on top with the generator for the electrics and two air intake boxes and hoses, one on each side of the bay. The exhausts pass over the top and are later covered with external armoured tail pipes, but in the meantime the upper hull is begun. The upper hull begins with the ball-mount and DT Machine gun for the bow, complete with light-weight sliding stock for the gunner’s comfort. The gun is left to swivel inside the port, so be sparing with the glue when you complete this assembly. The glacis plate accepts the gun from inside after fitting of the armoured protection, hinge for the driver’s door, convoy light with cable, and a set of five spare track links attached to the lower area. Inside a small instrument panel with decals for the dials is installed below the lip of the hatch. A light interlude of making the additional fuel tanks for the sides of the hull, complete with carry-handles on each end then takes us to the upper hull. The top and sides are moulded as one, and the sides have a myriad of holes drilled out before they are applied to the hull, with a few nubs cut from the exterior on the way, and this is then joined by the glacis plate with PE stiffener plates at the sides. At the rear the engine is still exposed, which is next to be addressed, by adding a frame around the rear bulkhead before attaching this large panel that can be fitted closed or hinged down for maintenance, and has a number of holes drilled out, depending on which decal option you are building. The bulkhead has a circular inspection panel in the centre that can also be open or closed, with a pair of armoured exhaust covers to the sides. The engine deck is covered with vents and louvers that are added with a central inspection hatch, then dropped over the engine bay. Additional armoured covers are fitted over the basic louvers, then the suspension swing-arms and stub axles are installed under the sponsons, and the mudguards with PE detail parts are glued into place at the front, with more simplified flaps to the rear, again with the PE details. Small parts and various pioneer tools or stowage boxes are made up and fitted onto the sloped sides of the hull, with racks of winter track grousers attached to the flat portions of the side and fuel tank supports behind them. At this stage the driver’s hatch is also built with twin clear periscopes, hatch closures and external armoured cowls for the ‘scopes and hinges. By installing a gas-strut part inside the hatch rim earlier, you can set the hatch open to expose some of the interior, and fitting the bow-wave deflector half way up the glacis you can ensure his knees don’t get wet. For the fifth decal variant an additional pair of tanks are installed on the rear bulkhead by using two curved brackets and four-piece tanks with PE shackles holding them in place. Going back to main construction, ten pairs of wheels with separate hub caps are built with two drive sprockets and idler wheels to complete the rolling part of the tracks. At the same time the main towing cables are made from styrene towing eyes, but you will need to supply three lengths of 100mm braided cord or wire, so make sure you have some on hand when you begin. The side tanks are fitted to their frames with PE shackles on both sides with the short, ribbed containers having a styrene fitting that hooks to the frame with a PE hook. The headlight fits to the join between the sloped glacis and sides on a mixed styrene/PE bracket with styrene rear housing and clear lens at the front, which is protected by a complex sloped cage. Clever folks that they are, MiniArt have tooled a jig to help you accomplish this easily, so you take the delicate PE part and bend it to shape around the jig, attaching it to a PE ring that you have pre-rolled, and fitting it onto the bracket on two pins for ease. Now for the tracks. The T-34’s wide tracks were simple and easy to produce, as well as great at spreading the tank’s weight and helping prevent freezing of the drivetrain in cold weather, of which Russia has more than its fair share. There are two track parts, one flat, the other with a guide horn in the centre, and both have exquisite casting details that includes the ID numbers on both parts and indeed both faces. They have four sprue gates on each link, attached on the curved hinge-points, making them easy to cut back flush and then sand smooth with a sanding stick, to ease assembly and gluing. I made up a short length as a test, and was finished in a few minutes with a little liquid glue thanks to their close tolerances that keep them together while you glue. Each side needs 72 links, which equates to 36 of each piece, and once you get into a rhythm, it won’t take too long to complete the task, wrapping the still flexible links around the curved sections and holding them in place with tape and other clamps etc. to obtain the correct sag on the top run once the glue has cured. The detail is so good it’s almost a shame to weather them once painted. The turret starts as a C-shaped part with three sides moulded into it, which has inserts within for the interior skin, with ready-rounds, radio gear, spare periscope glass and other equipment needed for fighting. The roof is separate and has a large cupola with clear vision blocks and binoculars built into the bi-fold hatch, plus a more simple hatch for the gunner, both of which can be fitted open or closed. The roof also has two more periscopes under armoured shrouds, and two vents on the rear, which are covered by a linked armoured mushroom cover. A few small nubs are removed from the turret sides again, as they won’t be needed for this variant. The gun breech is made up from a substantial number of parts with another 7.62mm DT machine gun mounted coaxially in the mantlet, before it is set to one side while the busy turret floor is completed. The floor part first has a lip inserted within the ring, then is detailed with seats, traversing equipment, plus a stack of sixteen accessible rounds in a frame that is mounted in the rear of the bustle for easy access. The inner mantlet is prepared with the main gun’s mount, plus elevation hardware and sight, which is glued to the turret floor and has the breech slid in from behind and joined by the coax DT with its mount. Another seat with PE leather strap suspension is strung between the turret side and the breech, then the turret top is fitted over it and joined by the gun tube, which is a single part, and has an outer mantlet slid over it once inserted. An aerial, some grab handles, stowage loops and lugs are dotted around the turret and a folded canvas sheet (of your own making) can be lashed to the bustle with some PE straps that are included on the fret. Dropping the turret into place in the hull completes the build. Markings There are six decal options in the box, and due to the length of service of the Czech produced T-34s, there are a number of more attractive camouflage schemes, rather than just green or winter distemper white. From the box you can build one of the following: Czechoslovak People’s Army, late 1950s Czechoslovak People’s Army on winter manoeuvres, late 1950s Czechoslovak People’s Army, late 1950s National People’s Army (NVA) German Democratic Republic (DDR), late 1950s Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Tank Platoon, Lebanon, early 1980s Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Tank Platoon, Lebanon, early 1980s The decal sheet isn’t huge because this is a tank, but the sheet is printed by DecoGraph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The markings and decals have been developed with assistance from Samer Kassis Archive, a prolific photographer of Soviet armour. Conclusion The T-34 played a huge part in the Soviet response to Operation Barbarossa, albeit after a substantial delay caused by Stalin’s apparent indecision. It was a stalwart of their defence then offense, sweeping the Germans aside thanks to its sloped armour and weight of numbers. This kit shows the internal workings of the vehicle in extreme detail, and gives a good idea of just how cramped and claustrophobia-inducing it was. If interiors aren’t your thing though, hold on and an exterior kit will no doubt be along shortly. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Sd.Kfz.173 Ausf.G2 Jagdpanther (TS-047) 1:35 Meng via Creative Models Ltd After the Nazis encountered the formidable Russian T-34, their medium tank project took a new turn to become the Panther, which proved to be one of their more successful designs and is still admired today for its technical prowess and abilities. The need for tank killer “ambush predators” took the chassis of the Panther, removed the turret and superstructure, replacing it with a casemate and powerful high-velocity gun in a new mount with elevation and limited side to side movement that was used for fine-tuning targeting. The heavily sloped glacis extended to the roofline, giving the vehicle a sleek look that was echoed at the sides, with a step down from the roof at the rear onto the engine deck. The G1 variant used the Panther A as a base, while the later models designated G2 were based up on the Panther G chassis. The same Pak 43 88mm gun was mounted, in an internally fixed mantlet initially, and later externally bolted in the G2. As with all WWII German tanks, the design was complex by comparison with the enemy's, so production was slower, which was probably just as well as it was a capable tank, just like is turreted progenitor. The gun was almost unstoppable by armour at the time, the engine had enough power for the task in hand, and it wasn't overweight, so the transmission could handle the power easily. If there had been more of them, they could well have had an impact, certainly slowing down the Allied advances (providing they could have fuelled them), and making gains more costly in men and materiel. Its “misuse” as infantry support and as a standard tank also helped the Allies with attrition, as tanks were destroyed or abandoned due to relatively minor breakdowns, then scuttled if the crews were able to do so. The Kit Meng have tooled a couple of Panthers in 1:35, and it made sense for them to add a Jagdpanther to their line due to the overlap in parts and research. We reviewed their Ausf.A and the later Ausf.D, with the Jagdpanther G1 here and after a couple of years (has it really been that long?) we now have the Jagdpanther G2. Meng have a well-earned reputation for producing good, well-detailed models, mainly because that's what they keep on doing. I'm a fan of Meng, and I also love the Jagdpanther for no reason that I can divine, so I apologise in advance (again) if I come across a bit giddy at times. The kit arrives in a standard Meng box with attractive artwork and that satin finish I like so much. Inside are ten sprues in sand coloured styrene, a small clear sprue, two sheets of Photo-Etch (PE) in varying thicknesses, a run of polycaps, two lengths of braided metal wire, a tiny decal sheet, turned aluminium barrel, length of brass chain, instruction booklet with colour painting guide on the rear pages, all printed on glossy paper in a narrow sub-A4 portrait format. In addition to the booklet there are four pages of information about the type on thick stock in several languages, which has a row of three ring-binder holes along the top edge. First impressions are excellent as usual, and there are common sprues between both their Panther G and the Jagdpanther G1, with a few new parts on two additional sprues, plus a redesigned PE brass sheet, and that short length of chain. Detail is excellent throughout, and the inclusion of things such as a turned barrel and realistic braided wire for the towing cables is good news, as it's just one less thing to have to add to your model, and keeps costs down, which will doubtless be appreciated by many. New Parts Construction begins in the same manner as the Panther with the paired road wheels with a polycap between each one, plus the idler and drive sprockets. The lower hull is built from floor and two side panels, with two t-shaped braces holding them to the correct angles, so that when you fit the rear bulkhead it should slide perfectly in place. Various bits of suspension and drive train are added to the sides, as are the stub axles through the holes in the hull sides. These have a small additional peg at the end of the swing arm to allow the modeller to set them at the correct (neutral) ride height, and before installation the small holes in the back of the arms that are there to prevent sink marks are filled with small inserts, even though they probably won't be seen. The upper hull with the engine deck and radiator bath sections are then made up and glued on the lower hull, with the overhang above the tracks closed in by additional panels. The road wheels are interleaved in a similar manner as the Tiger to reduce ground pressure, so must be put in place in the correct order to prevent complications, so take care here to put types A and B in the appropriate places, after which the tracks are needed. The links are individual, with twin guide-horns that are supplied as separate parts that must be added into the small square holes in the links before you can glue them together. The position of the sprue gates on the links are on curved surfaces, which makes removing that last fraction of a millimetre that much harder, requiring a circular diamond file or similar to do a good job. This slows the task down quite a bit initially, although as with all things you'll probably speed up near the end, which is exactly what I did on my short test run, electing to add the horns dry to the links, and glue them in place. The links fit together snuggly, and hide all the seamlines as well as any less-than-perfect sprue gate removal, so it's not the end of the world, but the task will be a fairly long one, and as the guide-horns are small and tapered, they love to ping out of your tweezers at the slightest variance in pressure. Once all the links have their horns in place, a relatively swift gluing of links should leave them flexible enough to drape around the wheels, and taping or chocking them in place will give you the realistic sag behind the drive wheels that you need on the top run. The upper hull that was installed earlier is merely the liner, but the front panel is exterior armoured surface, and this needs a hole drilled in the side of the plate, and a port removed from the glacis with a sharp blade. The side armour panels are in need of holes for the tools, and after they are fixed in place you have a vehicle that looks more like a tank. Small PE parts are added to the exterior along with other fixtures such as the lights, towing shackles and pioneer tools that are a must for any AFV. The rear bulkhead is fitted with armoured access panels and two tubular exhausts, which have welded armoured lowers and are surrounded by the angular stowage boxes that usually fare badly in reversing incidents. The later tubular Notek convoy light is hidden away on the left lower exhaust, with a scrap diagram showing the correct colours and its location on a bracket attached to the left exhaust, which is another new one on me. The engine deck has three louvers, two of which are rectangular and have PE mesh covers, the other a raised circular cast unit that has its own PE insert, while on the sides a run of narrow PE fenders are fitted with styrene brackets, which later also act as hangers for the schurtzen side skirts. The crew heater unit fits over the left circular aperture, and has a fan, PE mesh grille and wedge-shaped PE adjustment covers that fit inside the top lip. A rack of spare track links and tools are added above on the right, with more tools on the left, plus a tube containing barrel cleaning rods on the left side of the hull attacxhed by a bracket. The central lift-off cover to the engine deck was a source for some variance, so flashed over holes are drilled out as needed for this version. The jack block was omitted on this version, but the jack is stowed between the exhausts, then the rear is finished off with the crew hatch, spent shell-ejection port, and aerial base, with an antenna base on the right of the crew door, and one towing cable on each side of the hull, made up from the supplied braided cable and styrene eye parts. The roof of the fighting compartment has a simple flat mushroom vent, as well as crew hatches that can be left open or closed, and clear periscope parts around the surface. The rotating sighting periscope is made up and dropped into the roof, then secured by a ring to allow it to rotate if you wish, and a choice of flat or curved central vents to finish off. The roof is then glued in place. The bow mounted machine gun was surrounded by a domed armour panel called a Kugelblende, which came in two flavours with a stepped aperture and a smooth one. The machine gun barrel is fitted to the ball mount and trapped in place by the installation of this part, or it can be left off and covered by a plug with styrene lanyard that was fitted during deep wading for example. The gun breech is surprisingly detailed considering this is a "no interior" kit, and this is built up over a number of steps before being pushed through the riveted mantlet. The Saukopf (literally "pig head" due to how it looks) that protects the vulnerable gap between mantlet and breech is slid on next, then the completed assembly slides into the glacis and can be glued in place to accept the turned barrel once it has been topped & tailed with the three-piece flash hider, and four part gun sleeve. The barrel is keyed, so there's little change of it going in upside down unless you are very determined and prone to violence. With the barrel glued in and the nickel-plated Schurzen put in place, that's main construction over with. This boxing includes a crane arm that could be fitted above the rear deck to accomplish heavy lifting tasks during maintenance. It is made up of a vertical pole with two bracing struts that attach half way along the roof, then a jib that is supported by a length of cable and a chain that sets the angle of the jib. A pair of lifting pulleys are made up and laced with PE chain according to a scrap diagram, then the completed assembly is fitted to the roof as shown in the final step. Markings There are three markings options in the box, and a tiny decal sheet covers them all, with six crosses being the only content. Each option is heavily camouflaged, as the Germans were at this point in the war running scared of the Allied fighters such as the Typhoon, Tempest and Thunderbolt who could roam at will due to the almost total lack of Luftwaffe by then. Unit Unknown, German Military, Germany, Spring 1945 Unit Unknown, German Military, France, Late 1944 sPzJgAbt 654, Alsace France, late 1944 Decals are printed in China in black and white plus a red Meng logo, and have adequate registration, sharpness and colour density for the task, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion I said the same thing about the G1 kit, and again will put up with the slightly fiddly tracks for the sake of the rest of it. Superb detail and moulding, relatively simple construction (ignoring the track), and it's another Meng Jagdpanther. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

MB Military Vehicle (VS-011) 1:35 Meng via Creative Models Ltd The Willy’s Jeep is a WWII legend that shows no sign of diminishing, beginning in the 30s with a need for a four-wheeled drive light vehicle to transport small numbers of troops and officers in a rugged chassis that became more urgent when hostilities began. The Bantam was a competitor, and some of the design cues leaked from one competitor to another, but the ultimate winner was from Willys-Overland and was manufactured in huge quantities by various factories in the US and elsewhere. As well as being almost ubiquitous in the European Theatre, they were sent almost everywhere else too, and continued in service to the end of the war and beyond. Many fans of the type still collect and renovate them, with a huge market for second-hand parts, and some serious in-depth knowledge out there that makes us modellers look like amateurs. As well as their Officer transport role, they were used for reconnaissance where speed of exit was sometimes more important than infiltration if the Nazis caught you snooping about. It had leaf-spring suspension with four-wheel drive capable of ploughing over the roughest territory thanks to its 60hp engine and three-speed gearbox with high and low ratio drive modes. Over half a million were made during the war with more made after, and the design evolved into a civilian vehicle, whilst the brand Jeep became a household name that continues today. The Kit This is a rebox of a brand new 2019 tool from Meng that was originally released as a Wasp Flamethrower Jeep under the code (VS-012), which seems to have passed me by at the very least, and has a higher product code, which possibly means a change in release dates? Ok, I’m confused now. Anyway, this kit is a vanilla Jeep with a .50cal Browning M2 on a post in the rear, so it’s just what the doctor ordered. It arrives in a small top-opening box with Meng’s usual high-grade box art, and inside are three sprues of sand-coloured styrene, plus the Jeep bodyshell and the Browning breech separately, plus a small clear sprue, a decal sheet, and of course a glossy-covered instruction booklet with colour front and painting guide inside the rear. Detail is everything you would ask of a Meng kit, with a complex moulding of the majority of the bodyshell, and lots of lovely detail added along the way. This is a full interior kit, so construction begins with the little 4-cylinder L134 "Go Devil" engine with a two-part block, sump, ancillaries and fan at the front, plus transmission at the rear and the front section of the exhaust on the left side of the engine. This is then mated with the ladder chassis, with an engine support fitted underneath. The front and rear axles are then built up with their leaf-springs on each side, plus the drive-shafts leading into the differential housings that are offset from the centre. The front axle has the steering equipment added, then the exhaust/muffler are strapped to the chassis moulded into a protective shield for the transmission box. Before the bodyshell is fitted out, the steering column is slid into place through the engine bay, and a number of small holes are drilled from underneath the transmission tunnel and the left front mudguard for later use. With the shell flipped back over, the firewall with ancillary equipment is put in, and the tailgate section is glued into place, with the various lights picked out in red or amber paint as you go. There are also some holes that need filling in the outer skin of the tailgate, so have a little filler at the ready, preferably before you get too far down the line with integrating it into the shell. Inside the centre section of the crew area the 15-gallon fuel tank is positioned along with a fire extinguisher, gear stick and 4WD levers. In the front of the engine compartment the radiator assembly with the hidden headlamp housings within are assembled and slid into place, then the body is dropped onto the chassis in much the same way as the real thing. The wheel wells are empty, but that’s about to change by the making up of the four wheels from two halves each with moulded hubs in each one, and a simple chunky tread that lends itself well to injection moulding imprinted on the rolling surface. Each one attaches to the axle and should be glued in place for security, and if you feel the urge, you can add a small flat-spot to all four to imply weight. The battery and radiator header are installed within the engine bay, then the bumper-bar and coaming with instrument panel (with decals) are glued in between the two bays, with the air box and bonnet/hood added in the down position, or flipped open by the use of a hinge bracket that fits to the bulkhead. The windshield consists of frame and clear glazing panel with a groove in the centre to accommodate the frame, and a rifle stowed across the lower panel in a rain cover for easy access, and the two window-control grooves are fixed to recesses in the side frames. A little first aid kit is added to the transmission hump along with a decal, then it’s time to make up the seats. The seats in a Jeep are framework with pads on the back and seat, and here the back pad is moulded into the frame along with some pretty realistic-looking creasing that also extend to the separate cushions. A pack is fitted to the underside of the passenger seat, but bear in mind that on the back of the uprights of both these seats are ejector pins between two lateral supports, so deal with those before you do anything else. In the rear is a two-part bench seat, and around the passenger compartment the framework for the tilt is stowed away in three sections. The various accessories are yet to do, so the front light and its protective hoop are added to the left front wing with a couple of pioneer tools on the body behind it, the wing mirror on a long stalk attaches to nub on the left side of the shell, then the “accessory” steering wheel (ok, it’s fairly important) is glued to the top of its column, two corner grab-handles are attached at the rear, another larger fire extinguisher is put on the holes you drilled through the right fender, two ammo boxes are made for the rear and the back of the vehicle is dressed with a spare jerry can and a spare wheel on a bracket. The big machine gun is optional, but why not include it? The column has three additional props to support it, and with the height of the mount added, it’s high enough to fire over the heads of the crew although it might make them a teensy-bit deaf. The breech is a single slide-moulded part that is separate in one of the bags, and it takes one of the hollow-muzzled barrels from the sprue, a breech-top, cocking handle and the twin grips at the rear, which is fed by the ammo box with moulded-in link on a bracket to the side. Alternately, you can mount a .30 cal with a slight change in the mount and a smaller ammo can. The gun is glued into the floor of the jeep and a wire-cutter is attached to the front bumper-bar, finishing off the model. Markings There are three decal options included on the sheet and they’re all olive green – aren’t they all? Almost at least. From the box you can build one of the following: Company A, 70th Amour Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, Normandy, France, 1944 36th Cavalry Reconnaissance Regiment, 9th Army, US Army, Northern France, 1944 21st Army Group, British Army, Normandy, France, 1944 <ul style="list-style-type:upper-alpha"> The decals are printed in China, with good register and colour density, but the small stencils are just blocks of colour rather than text, which might upset the purists a little, but at less than a few millimetres across, they won’t really be seen. Conclusion Everyone loves a jeep, and this one has a lot of detail packed into its tiny frame. They’re great in the background as well as the foreground of any diorama, or just as a new addition to your shelves. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Soviet Infantry Tank Riders Set 2 (35310) 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 lift came under fire from an enemy tank. Sometimes they’d ride into battle on the back of a tank, using the turret as cover until it came time to dismount. This set arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure box with a painting on the front and instructions on the rear, and inside are seven sprues of grey styrene with parts for four figures on the two large sprues and accessories on the others. Three of the figures are kneeling on the tank's deck, while the fourth is sitting with his legs over the side clutching his PPS sub-machine gun. One of the other figures is carrying a PPS, the third is aiming down the barrel of a PPSh-41, and the remaining figure has a Mosin-Nagant Type 38 carbine resting across his lap as he hangs onto a grab-handle to steady himself. Moulding is excellent as usual with MiniArt, with sensible parts breakdown of separate heads, torso, arms and legs, plus individual helmets, weapons and various ammo pouches and bags, water bottles, grenades and entrenching tools. There are 2 each of the PPS and PPSh-41s, plus three of the carbines, with a choice of sniper scope, bayonets and even a clip of ammunition. The PPS has spare mags, and the PPSh has a choice of curved stick mags and drum mags, with all of them having mag-pouches moulded on the same sprues. The instructions on the rear show the figures complete, and have parts pointed out with sprues letters and part numbers, while the paint codes are in pale blue boxes that correspond with a table underneath in swatches, Vallejo, Mr Color, AK Real Color, Mission Models, AMMO codes and the colour names. Conclusion Four realistic figures with natural poses and plenty of additional accessories that will give any Soviet tank a human scale, and with sensitive painting will bring your model up a new level of realism. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Wooden Pallets (35627) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd You may have seen our review of the recent Hand Pallet Truck Set, well now we bring you the subset of that set, which like Sand People are back but in larger numbers, as Obi Wan predicted. This set arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure box with a painting on the front and brief instructions on the rear, and contains twelve sprues of pallets, with one pallet per sprue, plus a small decal sheet for the stamps found on the sides of the pallets. The construction is simple, but clever. The top surface is moulded as a single part, while the lower section is moulded as three parts joined together with three spacer bars that are cut off after the two sections are joined together. Each rod narrows at the end so that clean-up will be minimal, although you have to be careful with them as the joins are necessarily quite weak. Holding one plank while gluing them one at a time over the little guide markings on the upper part seems to work, leaving clean-up of the sprue gates and spacers until after the glue has set. The wood grain moulded into the parts is typical of the rough but tough wood used to make pallets, and the small decals for the ends can represent the heat branding easily thanks to their small size. For the pallet nerds amongst us here, the pallets scale out to 800mm x 1200mm, which is the equivalent to EUR1 in the Euro Pallet table, and ISO1 in the ISO pallet table. Isn’t that nice? The decals are correct for the type, and they are shown in the correct places too, which shows some serious attention to detail that must have been acquired with the aid of copious cups of coffee to avoid nodding off! Whether the nail holes are moulded in the correct manner, and if there are 75 of them is for you to research, as I’ve had enough and need a snooze. Conclusion A dozen pallets for your post WWII diorama. Not very exciting, but necessary if you’re depicting any kind of storage, shipping or factory type sceen. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

French Petrol Station 1930-40 (35616) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd With the proliferation of the internal combustion engine in the early 20th century, petroleum/petrol or gasoline/gas stations began popping up over most of the developed world to meet the demand of the newly mobile populous. France was one such nation, and the now familiar sight of a building with branded petrol pumps and equipment on the forecourt have become the standard indicator of a gas station. The Kit This set contains the likely accessories and equipment found on the forecourt of many European gas station in the 30-40s, and leaves you to source or create the buildings yourself. It is a reboxing of their recent German Gas Station kit, just adding different barrels and a new set of decals. The kit arrives in a shrink-wrapped small top-opening box (a little larger than a figure box), and inside are ten sprues in grey styrene, two in clear, a small fret of Photo-Etch brass, and a decal sheet. The package is completed with an instruction booklet, and all the sprues are closely packed in a heat-sealed bag, but the majority of the elastic bands had snapped in transit again, so perhaps MiniArt still need to source some more durable bands? Four sprues hold parts for two fuel barrels, with a hand-pump included and some small cans of varying shapes and sizes that you may have seen in other sets so far, plus a five-shelf storage unit to stash tools and the cans on. The major parts are used to create two pumps that stand on pillars, with the mechanicals hidden away in a cylindrical housing that can be posed open for business or closed, thanks to the two clamshell doors and PE clapping-plate that fits to the inside lip of one of them. Two clear halves of the brand sign are added either side of a circular frame and fitted to the top, and as these were often a semi-translucent white with a logo painted or etched on the front and back, there is an opportunity to put in lighting if you're adept with those types of thing. You'll need to provide a little wire to represent the hose from the body to the nozzle, so make sure you have some to hand. The remaining parts are used to create a stand-alone petrol or diesel compressor with a large receiver tanks underneath that has wheels at one end to allow repositioning wheel-barrow style. A set of handles and a spray gun are included, the latter needing more wire to act as the air hose of whatever length you choose. Markings The decals are printed by DecoGraph on a small sheet with good registration, colour density and sharpness, plus a part of the colour instruction sheet is devoted to printed replicas of typical signage, posters and so forth that would be found on the walls of stations at the time. No, the posters don't really look like that - I blurred them a little to make them unusable. Fair's fair. Conclusion Building a fuel station is a fair task, but not as difficult as making the hardware to go with it. This set takes all the hard parts out of the finishing touches, then it's up to you to hunt down a suitable building or build your own using your diorama skills if you have them. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Propane/Butane Cylinders (35619) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Hand-portable bottles of gas have many uses from patio heaters (think of the environment!) BBQs, heaters and even modern fork-lift trucks. They come in various sizes and a confusing array of connections, usually with a protective collar around the top and another at the bottom to stand them upright with ease. You’ll find them all over the place from garages, to caravans, at the back of houses and even lurking around after being tipped by people who can’t be bothered to dispose of them correctly. This set arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure box with a painting on the front and instructions on the rear. Inside are five sprues of grey styrene in a heat-sealed bag, plus a small decal sheet. The instructions are very simple, with each bottle made from two halves, a single bottom-ring, and a one- or two-part top collar. The regulator is moulded into one side of the cylinder, and each collar has a corresponding pit on the top of the cylinder for correct registration. You can paint them in any colour you like, with some options shown on the instructions, plus placement of the decals that are included in the box. The sheet includes a number of standard Flammable Gas warning diamonds in red, the words propane and butane in white and red, plus patio gas for your BBQ and patio-heater (damn you!) needs, which are repeated in white only in Cyrillic text for MiniArt’s local market and those modelling Eastern European subject matter. The painting guide consists of arrows and numbers that correspond to a table at the bottom that show colour swatches, Vallejo, Mr.Color, AK Real Color, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya and colour names for our ease. Conclusion The background of any modern diorama is a great place for one of these cylinders, tossed in the bushes, or leaning against a back wall somewhere. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hand Pallet Truck Set (35606) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Pallets are a great way to store and move goods in modular chunks, and the pallets are cheap, made from ugly but strong wood stapled together so they're almost disposable and frequently find their way onto bonfires. To move them around they have slots for forklift trucks to slide into, but for small lifting jobs there is the pallet truck, which is a hand operated device with a pull-lever that you also use to pump up or release the hydraulics that lift the forks and allows you to move the heavy pallet with relative ease. This set arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure box, with a painting of the subject on the front and instructions on the rear with painting guide. Inside are seven sprue of grey styrene and a small decal sheet, the locations for which are given on the back of the box in the painting guide panel. Construction is simple, attaching the two sides of the four pallets together, then snipping off the spacers for the lower part once the glue is dry, as these hold the parts in the correct orientation during assembly. The pallet truck is more complex, having a set of wheels at the tips and two pads at the rear. The attachment at the rear of the forks is made up to form a triangular assembly where the hydraulics are housed, then the wheels are added at the bottom of the steering axle, with the handle fitted above, which has a moulded-in lever to set the forks up or down when the handle is pumped. As a taster, a sprue of large plastic drums are included to begin loading up your four pallets. These are moulded in halves with separate lids and clip-down handles on the larger of the two. The are the same as those found in the Plastic Barrels & Cans set we reviewed here, so you know where to go if you need more. Markings The decals consist of stencils for the pallet-ends, the pallet truck itself with some warnings and guides, plus a few markings for the barrels with a choice of four on the sheet. Obviously, you can paint the parts any colour you like within reason, but the instructions show a yellow or red truck, while most pallets are left in bare wood, occasionally daubed with a blob of paint for identification. Your references will serve you well in your final choice of colours. The decals are probably printed by DecoGraph, although there isn’t any room on the sheet for their logo. They have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The painting guide provides swatches, Vallejo, Mr Color, AK Real Color, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya and colour names to make finding a match easy. Conclusion Good for your more recent diorama, adding extra realism where needed, even as a background item. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Auto Travellers 1930-40s (38017) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Folks just love to drive ever since the first car hit the roads, but when the motor car became more affordable to the mildly affluent, its use began that steady spiral to mass adoption that is causing us some issues today. MiniArt have released some new vehicle kits lately, amongst them the Mercedes L170 cabrio that we reviewed here recently. If you check out the cover of that box, you might spot a few familiar-looking folks. This set is here to fill up your civilian vehicles with passengers, and arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure box with a painting of the four figures on the front, and instructions on the rear along with colour guide table at the bottom. There are five sub-sprues, four of which are still attached to their feeder sprue, and it is this group that contains all the figures. There is a gentleman leaning absent-mindedly against the sill of the car door, a lady in the driver’s seat about to drive off without him (maybe they had a row?), plus another couple who seem to be still talking whilst loading the car with a hat box and possibly her overcoat. In addition, there are three pieces of luggage on the separate sprue, a briefcase, trunk and the aforementioned hat box. All the figures are broken down sensibly into heads, torso, arms and legs, with the skirted ladies benefiting from clever moulding to give them realistic-looking draping skirts, without the horrible “legs stop at this bulkhead” effect seen in older figures. It's MiniArt, which means that the sculpting is excellent, the drape of clothing realistic, and parts breakdown and seams sensibly placed to minimise clean-up. The luggage pieces are similarly well-designed and fit together with ease so that seams are hidden well, and they also have separate handles for added detail. Conclusion Another great set of figures from the masters. You can probably stretch the set to three vehicles if you feel like it, or put them all in the one car for fuel efficiency - who doesn't appreciate company when driving? Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

French Civilians 30-40s (38037) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The French lived for years under the jackboot of Nazi domination, with their harsh treatment of the French civilians costing many lives, even those uninvolved with the brave Resistance fighters. Life had to go on though, and people did the best they could under the circumstances. Fashion didn’t change much during the 30s and 40s, partly because of the lack of materials, designers etc., so people made do with what they had and much clothing from the two decades was almost interchangeable. This set arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure box with a painting on the front and separate instructions on the rear. Worthy of note on the front of the box is the small "Resin Heads" badge in the top right, which as far as I know is a first for MiniArt. Inside the box are two sprues of grey styrene, a separately bagged casting block with five disembodied heads attached in a line, plus a small sheet of paper with a parts numbering diagram. From the two sprues you can build five figures, all of which have styrene heads as well as the resin heads, although there’s no comparison in the quality there, so even if you’re phobic about resin, cutting those heads off the block will result in a much better finished head. There is a priest in a cassock with hat, a police officer (Gendarmerie) with cape and pill-box kepi, a businessman in a suit and Homberg hat, a store man carrying a basket of bread with his cap jauntily on the back of his head, and an older gentleman with one hand raised in excitement. All of the figures are sensibly broken down with separate heads, legs arms and torsos, with the exception of the priest who has a base under his cassock to which his legs are fixed. The Gendarme has a separate cape that necessitates his shoulders being shrunk down to accommodate the thickness of the cape fronts, which are also separate parts. Sculpting is excellent as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt, and the resin heads are well-formed, with none of the seams that afflict the styrene parts they replace. There is a little flash on the sprues here and there, but that should be the work of moments with the edge of a blade or a dedicated seam scraper. The clothing has realistic drape and texture, as do the tassels and brocade on the priest’s cassock, and a perfect rendition of the wicker of the bread basket, plus of course some realistic looking bread of various sizes and styles. The colours are called out in swatches, Vallejo, Mr Color, AK Real Color, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, and English, which should be enough for anyone to find some colours from their stash. Whether you’ll be able to imitate the pinstriped suits worn by two of the characters is another matter. Does anyone do stripy paint? Conclusion Another finely moulded set of figures, and the addition of the resin heads gives extra realism under some sympathetic painting. They are of such differing poses that they could fit many scenes, although the old guy in the beret is clearly pleased to have been liberated. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Typ 170V Lieferwagen (38040) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The Mercedes 170 was based upon their W15 chassis, which was their first with all-round independent suspension, and was available as a bare chassis for coachbuilders, as a saloon, cabriolet or as a light van, debuting in the early 30s with sales affected by the worldwide depression that started in Wall Street. Sales picked up after the recession eased, and later versions had internal boot/trunk-space and sleeker lines, moving with the times. As well as sharing a chassis with the saloon, the van was essentially identical in the forward section and inside the crew cab. The bodywork from the doors backward were designed with the same ethos but different due to the boxy load area behind the drivers. The Kit This is a partial re-tool of the original 2012 saloon and subsequent Beer Delivery vehicle (reviewed here), with the same new sprues and parts added to create the necessary changes for the wagon. The original kit is highly detailed, and this one is no different, showing just how far MiniArt have come in their design and moulding technology. There is superb detail throughout, with slender racks, realistic-looking fabric door pockets as well as a full engine and interior to the cab. Inside the shrink-wrapped box are twelve sprues of grey styrene, one in clear, a decal sheet and a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass for finer details, protected in a card envelope. Construction begins with the 1700cc engine and transmission, which is made up from a substantial number of parts that just need a little wiring to do it full justice, and in fact the brake hoses are shown in diagrams to ensure that you obtain the correct bends, but you’ll need to find your own 0.2mm wire to begin with. The X-shaped chassis is prepped with a few mounts and a PE brackets, then the rear axle, differential and driveshafts are fitted on a pair of very realistic styrene springs that have hollow centres and individual coils thanks to some clever sliding moulds. Drum brakes, straps and brackets finish off the rear axle assembly, then the completed engine and drive-shaft are installed in the front to be joined by a pair of full-width leaf-springs from above and below with a stub-axle and drum brake at each end. The exhaust is made up with an impressively neatly designed four-part muffler, a pair of PE mounts, straight exit pipe and a curved length leading forward to the engine. With the addition of the bumper-irons at the front, the lower body can be fixed to the chassis after drilling a single hole in one of the front wings. The front firewall is next to be made up, and the pedal box is installed one side, with a set of tools and another neatly designed cylinder, this time the fuel tank, which is curiously situated in the rear of the engine bay. This fits over the transmission tunnel that is moulded into the floor, with more driver controls such as the gear lever, hand brake and steering column with PE horn-ring added at this time. The dashboard is integrated into the windscreen frame after being fitted with decals within the instrument housings, then covered over with clear faces for realism. There is also a nicely clear curved windscreen inserted before this is dropped over the firewall, joined by a rear cab panel that has a small rear window and the back of the bench seat applied before fitting. The base of the bench seat is also fitted on a riser moulded into the floor. Vehicles need wheels, and this one runs on four with a spare one lurking under a false floor in the back. Each wheel is made up from a layer-cake of three central sections to create the tread around the circumference, and two outer faces that depict the sidewalls of the tyres, with maker’s mark and data panel moulded into the sides. The hubs are inserted into the centres of the tyres, with a cap finishing off the assemblies. They are built up in handed pairs, and the spare has a different hub and no cap to differentiate it. The flat floor for the load area is a single piece with the pocket for the spare tyre to fit inside, and this sits over the rear arches and is supported at the front by a lip on the rear of the cab. The load area is then finished by adding the slab-sides and roof to the body, with a few ejector-pin marks that will need filling if you plan on leaving the door open. Speaking of doors, there are two options for open and closed, with moulded-in hinges and separate door handle, plus the number-plate holder above the door in the centre. The front doors are handed of course, and have separate door cards with handle and window winders added, and a piece of clear styrene playing the part of the window, which is first fitted to the door card before it is added to the door skin. Both doors can be posed open or closed as you wish, and are of the rearward opening "suicide door" type. At this stage the front of the van needs finishing, a job that begins with the radiator with a PE grille and three-pointed star added to a surround, then the radiator core and rear slam-panel with filler cap at the rear. This is put in place at the front of the body at an angle, with two cross-braces reducing body flex along with a central rod that forms the hinge-point for the side folding hood. Small PE fittings are fixed first on the louvered side panels, then added to the top parts in either the open or closed position. A pair of PE and styrene windscreen wipers are added to the windscreen sweeping from the top, a pair of clear-lensed headlamps, wing mirrors and indicator stalks on the A-pillars finish off the build of the van. To differentiate this from the previous kit, MiniArt have included a PE roof rack that is folded up and fitted to the exterior drip-rails around the roof, with a whole page of the instructions devoted to a set of card boxes that are folded up and glued together to give the truck something to carry. In addition, there is also a sack-truck on a separate sprue with a choice of short or long scoop-rail at the front, a pair of small wheels and rests near the top handles. This too can be loaded with boxes if you are planning a delivery diorama. Markings Get your sunglasses out again folks! These were commercial vehicles during peacetime, so they were designed to attract attention. There are three options depicted in the instructions, with plenty of decals devoted to the branding on the sides. From the box you can build one of the following: Chocolate delivery, Berlin 30-40s Delivery of ink & poster paints Food delivery, Westphalia, Germany 30-40s Deutsche Post, German 50s Decals are by DecoGraph, 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 is another well-detailed kit of an old Merc van, and even if you’re not a vehicle modeller it would make for great background fodder for a diorama, either intact or in a semi-demolished state thanks to urban combat. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Russian Imperial Railway Covered Wagon (39002) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd In war transport of men, munitions and supplies takes on a new level of importance, and during The Great War the Russian Imperial army benefitted from the creation of many routes that had been ordered into existence by the Czar, who had a liking for them. This benefit turned to a disadvantage to the Czar during the revolution, as some workers’ unions became Soviets that were part in the bloody take-over of the country that dethroned the Royal Family, to be replaced by the Soviet Union which led to their exit from WWI. Covered wagons keep the weather out but are more costly to produce, so are used for certain types of goods and not others, especially humans, who don’t react well to the extreme cold of winter or any kind of precipitation. The Kit This kit arrives in a sturdy shrink-wrapped top-opening box, and inside are thirty-seven sprues of grey styrene, two small frets of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a decal sheet and the instruction booklet with decal and painting options adorning the covers. Four of those sprues make up a length of track, which is the standard moulding that MiniArt use for their railway kits, so if you have more of the type they will mesh together to give a longer length of track. We’re well aware by now of the quality of their work, with excellent detail, engraved wooden texture and sensible parts layout that allows maximum value to be extracted from the sprues, and gives us plenty of options. The kit shares some sprues with the earlier Railway Gondola kit that we reviewed here, such as the majority of the underlying chassis and bogeys, although the wheels are of one type only. Construction begins with the central cross-member of the chassis which has hollow two-part timbers and the coupling "root" pinned between the H-frame. This is paired up with four more cross-braces that hold the two C-section chassis rails in place, with braced U-mounts hanging from the rails to accept the axles later on. Diagonal bracing rails are added under the bed with the end bars and side brackets, then the bed itself and two side rails are fitted before the assembly is flipped over to add the leaf-spring suspension then finally the axles and spoked wheels, which are a spring-fitted between the bearers in much the same manner as those of a traditional model train. Each wagon has a total of four buffers front and rear and two hitches, the latter being well-detailed due to the part count, and the eyelets on either side of the hitches have hooks hung on short lengths of chain, which you'll need to source yourself. The truck walls are simple panels with horizontal planking engraved upon them, to which you add a number of stiffening braces that line up on little lugs at the top and bottom of the panels. There are also small windows with hinged flaps and PE brackets at the end of each side wall that can be posed in two directions for open and closed positions. Each end is assembled from wall and end panels, then fitted with two large shelves with cross-braces, plus a narrower angled shelf nearer the ceiling. Support rails for the roof are added on the sides, joining the two sections together and leaving the door area open. Additional braces are attached on the corners of the two end panels, and a bracketed timber stretches across the door area, with a PE rail glued into the top to complete detailing of the door rails top and bottom. The doors have wheels on small t-shaped brackets fitted to the bottom edge that are set aside while the roof is made up. The roof is a simple lightly curved structure made of two panels with cross-braces that follow the contour of the inside on their top edge, and if you intend to fit the included stove/heater, a hole can be drilled in one of the two marked positions for the chimney to fit through later. The well-detailed stove is mounted on a PE plate if used, and the long chimney is threaded through the roof with a small weather-deflector on top, then the roof is glued in place. The sliding doors are then inserted in much the same way as the real ones, head first then lifted so that the wheels rest on the lower rail, which have upturned ends that double as buffers. A PE bracket for the padlock is glued to the left side of the door, with the staple glued to the frame and lock slipped into place. The kit includes enough track to place your gondola on with a few inches either side that will come in useful if you are integrating it into a larger diorama. It is made up from five different types of sleeper with varying grain and ties moulded in and the clamp that holds the rail in place is a separate part for each of the 20 sleepers with two per sleeper. The rails are in two parts each with jointing strips on each side of the rail to turn the joint into a feature, rather than something to hide. You'll need to put the groundwork in yourself, but that gives you a lot of leeway to choose something suitable for your purposes and you can choose larger scale ballast from those available for railway modellers or make your own. Markings There are a generous nine marking options included on the sheet, with most of them in the form of white stencils, a little black and one option with Japanese flag painted on the doors. From the box you can build one of the following: Southwest Railway, Autumn 1915 Southern Railway, Summer 1916 Northwest Railways, Psov, 1917 Moscow-Vindavo-Rybinsk Railway, Summer 1916 Siberian Railway, 1916 Nikolaev Railway, 1917 Ukrainian State Railway, 1918 Libavo-Romny Railway, Vladivostok, 1918 Captured by Japanese Army, Far East of Russia, 1919-20 Decals are by DecoGraph, which is a guarantee of good registration (where it happens), sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This is an unusual kit from WWI era Russia, but it’s good to see and will doubtless come in useful in dioramas and such like. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Focke Wulf Triebflügel Jet Fighter (40009) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Toward the end of WWII the Nazis were desperately casting around for wunderwaffe, or Wonder Weapons that would turn the ever-increasing tide against their attempt to take over Europe and probably the world. This resulted in some possibly more left-field designs being considered, when under normal circumstances they would more likely have been dismissed out of hand. One such project that has since gained traction in the minds of the Luft'46 community and beyond is the concept of the Triebflügel from Focke-Wulf, which was little more than a rocket-shaped body with a rotating set of arms with ramjet engines at their tips providing the motive power. This arrangement was to enable it to take off vertically, which was of greater interest as the front lines got closer and air bases became bombed-out rubble, as was the use of the simple ramjet that was propelled up to speed by single-use rockets, all of which used little in the way of strategic materials or complex technology. It went nowhere in terms of production of course, and had some critical issues that would have needed to be addressed if it had gone further, such as the counter-rotation required to offset the torque of the motors was supposed to be supplied by the cruciform tail pressing against the air, it would have to land vertically with the pilot facing forward and the rear view obscured by the still rotating aerofoils and engines to name but two. As usual with WWII German designs, they would have wanted to make it a jack of all trades, so a Nachtjäger variant and fighter variant were bound to have happened if it had gone into production. Post war the Convair Pogo was to attempt a broadly similar flight profile with similar issues raising their heads and helping ensure its eventual demise. If you've been following the Marvel Avengers film franchise (MCU), you'll have seen Red Skull absconding in a very Triebflügel-esque aircraft at one point, which although undoubtedly CGI could actually be attempted now with our computers and other technologies. We just need to find someone with too much money and who is just daft enough now… The Kit Until fairly recently there hasn't been a modern injection moulded kit in larger scales, and now we have two in different scales, and in 1:35 we now have several variants, which is great news. This new boxing includes a frangible clear nose cone with a stack of 24 unguided rockets under the dome that can be fired into bomber streams in much the same as was proposed for the diminutive Natter, plus more what-if decal options, including one that has some British roundels with a yellow underside, and others in US and Soviet service. The spoils of war! The kit arrives in a shrink-wrapped standard sized top opening box and inside are thirteen sprues in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) in a small card envelope, a good sized decal sheet and the instruction booklet with a colour cover that includes all the painting and decaling profiles on three of the four sides. I have one of the smaller models as well as the MiniArt Nachtjäger kit (reviewed here, Boarding ladder equipped variant here and interceptor reviewed here), and this is a simple update to the Interceptor with new parts added to include the rocket-equipped nose cone and utilising the clear tip that has been on the sprues from day one – I feel vindicated! Detail is excellent, with lots of rivets and panel lines visible on the exterior, a nicely appointed cockpit and the cannon armament included in bays either side of the cockpit. There is also extra detail in the wingtip motors and the landing gear is substantial, partially from the increase in size, but also because of the design of the main leg. Construction is almost identical to the other boxings and begins with the cockpit with a floor part forming the basis and having rudder pedals, control column and bulkhead added, then the seat, pilot armour and a full set of PE seatbelts. The side consoles are attached to the upper section of the cockpit that is added from above and also forms part of the gun bays. To the consoles are added a number of PE levers to busy the area up, after which the instrument panel is fitted across them with decals provided for the instrument dials. The guns aren’t used for this variant due to the space taken up (in reality) by the rocket pack, so as well as the plates to cover the upper bay openings, there are new parts to fair over the lower bays too, giving the aircraft a sleek form. The cockpit can then be surrounded by the nose, which is in two halves and has a short tubular section that helps support the spinning wing section. A rear deck is dropped in behind the pilot's station and the rocket nose and clear cone are added to the front, with careful alignment key to obtain the best join. The canopy is a three-part unit with fixed windscreen and rear plus opening central section that hinges sideways if you're going to open it. The wings spin perpendicular to the direction of flight on a short section of the fuselage, which is built up with three sockets for the wings on a toroidal base, over which the rest of that section is installed and left to one side until later when the assemblies are brought together. The simple engines are built up on a pair of stator vanes and have multiple fuel injectors moulded into their rear with a rounded cap in the centre. These are installed inside the cowlings that are moulded into each wing half so it would be wise to paint this and the interior of the engine pods a suitably sooty colour before you join each wing. There are three and all are identical. The final main assembly is the aft of the aircraft, and the four retractable castor wheels are first to be built. Each single-part wheel sits in a single piece yoke, which in turn slides inside a two-part aerodynamic fairing. One half of this is moulded to a strut, which slides into the trough within the fins in one of two places to depict the wheels retracted or deployed. If showing them retracted you ignore the wheel and yoke and install the clamshell doors, turning the assembly into a teardrop shape, but if using the wheels, you glue the fairings folded back exposing the wheel. The main wheel is in two halves, as is the yoke, and should be capable of taking the weight of the model when finished unless you intend to load it up with motors or other silliness (go on, you know someone will!). The aft fuselage parts are brought together with two of the castor assemblies trapped between the moulded-in fins, and the other two trapped within the separate fins that fit perpendicular to the seamline. The main wheel then slides into its bay if you are going wheels down and has the clamshell doors fitted open, or you use just the doors for an in-flight pose. It's good to see that some detail has been moulded into the interior of the doors, as they are quite visible on a landed display. The three sections are brought together at the end by placing the wing-bearing part onto the upstand on the aft fuselage then adding the nose, with its upstand sliding inside the lower one. This traps the rotating portion in place, and hopefully allows the aforementioned rotation to continue after the glue has dried. All that remains is to plug the three wings into their sockets, add the PE D/F loop and add the aerial on the spine. Markings There are six decal options provided on the sheet, and they vary from each other and from previous releases quite substantially with some plausible and just plain fun options given for your entertainment. From the box you can build one of the following: Jagdgeschwader 52. Defence of Berlin, 1946 Captured Triebflügel in service of USSR Air Force, Nov 1946 Air Group “Regenschirm” Air Defence of the Reich, 1947 Captured Triebflügel in service of US Air Force, 1947 Reich Air Defence, 1946-7 Captured Triebflügel in service of RAF, 1947 Decals are printed by DecoGraph and have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The instrument decals have just the dials to place within the painted panel, outlined on the sheet for your ease, and there are split Swastikas there if you want to use them and your locality doesn't have laws about such things. Conclusion This is a really nice rendition of this weird aircraft design with some interesting decal options and a reasonable method for entry and exit. We already have winners in the Interceptor, the boarding ladder equipped variant and Nachtjager with this one joining the team as number 4. The rocket pack in the nose is a fun addition unless you’re on the receiving end. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Railroad Staff 1930-40s (38012) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Any railway diorama looks better with some human scale, whether it’s a massive Dora railgun or a simple BR-52 loco. We had the German Rail Staff set a while back that we reviewed here, and now we have a new set from MiniArt depicting the guys that shifted the ballast and made good the holes the Allies kept making in the railways of Germany during WWII. The set arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure box with six sprues in a heat-sealed bag with parts for four figures and a collection of tools and accessories pertinent to their trades. There’s a man bending with a full shovel, another oiling something (hopefully not the other fellow’s crotch), and chap holding a bunch of tools, then a more officially dressed gentleman who is either their boss, or the lookout, or both. He’s holding a small trumpet to his lips as if to blow a warning note to get the crew off the lines. Sculpting is up to MiniArt’s usual high standard with parts breakdown giving each figure separate legs, arms torso and head, plus a flat-top to their heads that accept various styles of caps, some military in nature. The two accessories sprues carry a tool bag and box, folio case, a large shovel, oil-can, lamp, lollipop, handheld torch, and something that looks like a folded flag for the gang boss to wear on his hip. Sorry for the "Charlies Angels" pose, but it was that or have the guy on the left oiling the guy on the right's ear! The painting guide on the rear of the box doubles as the construction guide, and if you look carefully you’ll see that you need to supply a length of wire for the small lamp that one of the figures is holding. You’ll also need to make up whatever it is that the shovelling man is moving, but as you’re likely to be putting him into a backdrop with your own choice of groundworks, that shouldn’t present a problem. Paint colours are given as swatches, Vallejo, Mr Color, AK Real Color, Mission Models, AMMO and the colour name in English, so finding a suitable shade from your own stocks will be a doddle. Conclusion Some workers beavering away in the background oblivious to the main thrust of your diorama will add more realism to it, and if you take the time to paint them sympathetically and integrate them well into the scenery, they should look great. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Afghan Civilians (38034) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Since well before the 80s, a lot of conflict has gone on in the Middle East, with the recent focus having been Afghanistan and Iraq, where there have been huge Western presences during the last few decades. The Afghan civilians have been there throughout all of this, and many have lost their lives, which is immensely saddening. This boxing depicts a group of Afghanis in their typical day-to-day wear, with a broad spread of age ranges often seen in their multi-generational families, where the elders are afforded more respect and their input is valued. It arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure-sized box, with the instructions/painting guide on the rear in full colour. Inside are five sprues, three on one runner that I cut up to make photography easier. There are 4.5 figures on the sprues, the 0.5 being a small child in the arms of the mother, who is wearing a full chadaree as is their custom when out in public in Afghanistan, even though it is no longer an official requirement by the democratic regime in power. She is stood with the little girl on her hip, while a young teenage boy is stood with his hands by his side, book in hand, and (presumably) his father stands with his arms folded. An elder gentleman is sitting with his feet together in front of him on top of a tied sack, a feat that I can’t manage even now! He wears a Perahan Tunban, while the father wears a flat-topped Pakul hat, and the son wears a brimless kufi cap. Finally, the little girl has a scarf loosely draped over her head. The sculpting is first rate as you would expect from MiniArt, and parts breakdown has been carefully considered due to the presence of draped clothing on all of the figures, with additional overflow sprue tabs on some parts to prevent short-shot parts, with intelligent placement of sprue gates and seamlines to minimise clean-up. The painting suggestions are just that, with regional variations in colours used, such as the chadaree with the light blue example seen in the Kabul area, brown and green in Kandahar in the south, and white in the north in Mazar-i-Sharif. Conclusion The background to any diorama or vignette is key, so having a group of bystanders to add to your model will bring additional authenticity to the finished product. Very useful. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Tiran 4 Sharir Early Type w/Dozer Blade (37044) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd During the fighting with Syria and Egypt that plagued the Middle East in the 50s and 60s, including the 6-Day War and Yom Kippur, the Israelis had captured many T-54s and T-55s that had been supplied to their opposition by Soviet Russia. Many were taken intact or very nearly so, and with little work they could be pressed into service in Israeli tank battalions, where they were given the name Tiran 1 for the T-54, and Tiran 2 for the more mature T-55. Initially they were used almost unaltered from the original Soviet specification, but as time went on changes were made to the T-54s, which became the Tiran 4. The next upgrade replaced the original smooth-bore 100mm gun with a rifled 105mm gun with fume extractor fitted roughly in the middle of the gun tube, which makes identifying them a little easier. It was given the name suffix “Sharir” after the name given to the gun, which had an amended breech that allowed the loader easier access to complete the task. A number of other upgrades were made including improved sights from their own stock of Sherman tanks, and western auxiliary weapons systems in the coax and crew-served weapons. The new shells also demanded amended stowage, as did the ammo for the machine guns, and the communications equipment was upgraded too. Infra-red was all the rage at the time, so an infrared searchlight with sight at the commander’s position, plus many other improvements to better integrate with the rest of the IDF’s forces. The Kit This is a partial new tool of the base T-54 kit that MiniArt recently tooled, and part of a long line of brand new and highly detailed T-54 and T-55 kits that they are producing on a regular basis over the last year or so. The kit is an exterior kit, so inside the box we find sixty nine sprues in grey styrene, three in clear, an enlarged fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, and a decal sheet, with the instruction booklet having a colour cover that also includes the painting guide for the five decal options. Many of the sprues are from the base T-54 kit, but some have been culled from the recent SLA APC T-54 with dozer blade, which shares the same rear part of the dozer in that kit. Construction begins with the lower hull, which will be familiar to anyone with another T-54 kit, beginning with the lower portion of the hull, which has the axle mounts inserted into the curved sides, then has the torsion bars inserted and the swing-arms attached around them. Armoured covers are fixed around the axles, then the side portions of the hull are made up and added to the sides one at a time, with final drive housings inserted into the holes at the ends. The engine firewall is used to brace the sides, then the glacis plate is prepared, with different parts used depending on whether you are fitting the dozer or not. A choice of bow deflectors is given, and a full set of light cages are made from PE, with the clear lensed lights hiding within, then the assembly is attached to the lower hull along with a small section of the rear bulkhead, then the upper section is detailed with parts and covered by a stowage “bucket” that overhangs the rear of the vehicle. The top surface of the tank is then assembled with turret ring, engine deck with access panels and PE grilles, and a group of straps that stretch across the aforementioned stowage bin. About this time the twin road wheels are made up with caps and attachment pins, plus the drive sprockets and idler wheels, the latter right at the forward edge of the sides of the hull. The fenders that run along the sides of the tank are both detailed with fuel tanks, stowage boxes and fuel lines, plus a number of PE parts that detail the forward mudguards and create cages for fuel cans that are also mounted on the fenders. There are a lot of parts added, including the exhaust, after which they are slotted into the sides of the hull on their tabs. The track links need to be assembled and fitted, with 90 links per side and each link having four sprue gates to clean up, but no ejector pins or sink marks – just excellent detail. They are glue-fit, so are best assembled with liquid glue and wrapped around the wheels while the glue is still “damp” and malleable, then taped, clamped and braced in place to preserve the correct amount of sag where necessary. At the rear of the hull an infantry telephone is installed on a PE bracket, which was one of the extras added to the Tiran 4 to facilitate easier communications between troops and their supporting armour. The turret is next, and there are some spare parts that won’t be used, so take care to clip the correct ones off the sprues. The ring is built first, then slotted inside the lower turret and joined by some small parts of the operating mechanism. The basics of the breech are then made into a sub-assembly and glued in place on the turret lower by two upstands with a pivot point moulded into it that allows the gun to elevate. The upper turret is prepped with track links, hatches on an insert with vision blocks, vents and emergency self-defence Uzi sub-machine guns clipped into place inside the roof. A pair of machine guns are made up on pintle-mounts with ammo boxes and lengths of link connected to the breech, with the larger M2 variant in front of the commander's hatch. The gun tube is a single part that slides into the mantlet inner during the assembly of the two turret halves, and other small parts including aerial bases, the blast bag around the gun (with PE clips), more spare fuel cans and stowage are all added before attention shifts to the dozer blade if you are using it. The dozer blade is a Heath-Robinson affair, with the first job to build up the attachment assembly, which has a large number of parts for its size. It has rams to adjust the angle and deployment of the blade, which is next to be made. The straight rear is firstly glued together with stiffeners and attachment points for the rams created, then mated with the base using three pins at the lower edge, and a small control rod at the top that prevents movement during transport. In addition to the blade, there is also a projection at the centre of the main blade surface, which attaches via two brackets and has a single “foot” at the end, then the whole assembly is glued onto the glacis and the turret is twisted into place on its bayonet fitting. Markings There are five markings options in the box, with scope for creating other vehicle number plates by using the additional digits on the decal sheet. From the box you can build one of the following: Military parade for Israel’s Independence Day, Tel Aviv, 1973 274th Tank Brigade of the IDF, “Yom Kippur War”, the Sinai Peninsula, October 1973 IDF military manoeuvres in the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, August 1973 IDF, 1973-74 IDF 1970s Options C & D don’t have their serial numbers recorded, which explains the extra digits for you to use as you see fit. Decals are by DecoGraph, 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 Israeli Defence Force (IDF) have a long history of re-engineering less than optimum equipment, and the Tiran series is a good example of this. A dozer on a tank is also an attractive option, so this early version will doubtless be popular amongst IDF modellers. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of