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Checkpoint (35562) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Checkpoints. They’re useful to stop people going where they’re not supposed to, and also handy to stop everyone to catch-out naughty people trying to sneak through them with nefarious deeds in mind. It’s also a good place to dump squaddies that have misbehaved and are deserving of a boring, soul-crushing job for a few hours. The Kit This diorama set arrives in a small top-opening box, and inside are twelve sprues in grey styrene, a small clear sprue and a sheet of decals. This will allow the modeller to create a booth, barrier, signposts and an area of hessian bags to hide in case of enemy action, all of which goes to make a checkpoint. Also included is a set of glossy instructions to help you build and paint your model. Construction begins with a chair. Your guard has to be comfortable, right? This is an old-style wooden kitchen chair with a curved and slotted back and non-too-comfortable seat. Your guard also gets a choice of telephones. An old-skool 70s bakelite type with a blank dial pad and wind-up handle to make a call, or a field telephone in an ammo-can style enclosure. A choice of oil lamps are also included, which both have clear parts to complete them, then the guard hut itself is made up from four sides, the front one having a large cut-out door, and the two sides with portholes that have slide open/closed hatches to stop the wind whistling through your ears. The walls and base are all planked, and before you drop the walls into place, the chair and your choice of lamp/phone are put in place. The roof is peaked, and looks to be made from lead flashing or roofing felt with ribs perpendicular to the front. The barrier is a long pole that needs an alternative pivot point removing, after which it is pinned between the two halves of its support so that it can pivot once the two-part counter-weight is installed on the short end. A sign is provided for the centre of the pole for people waiting in cars to read while the guard saunters across, and there is a single part for the support of the long end, but it’s not mentioned in the instruction steps. The eight sprues of sand bags can be used to create a C-shaped barrier by following the instructions, or you can figure out how to make any other shapes you might figure out by trial and error. Finally, there is a small desk with three-drawer pedestal and knee space, which you can place somewhere nearby if you fancy it. Mentioned on the back page are instructions for the signs, which are a subset of one of the many signpost sets that MiniArt have released of late. Each sign has a decal with the same alpha-numeric code as its part, and there are two posts included to attach them to, or you can make your own with a lolly stick, coffee stirrer or toothpick. The instructions advise you to paint the sign white before applying the decal to give it better definition. The text on the decals is German, and the suggested colour scheme for the booth is red/black/white, which further enforces the Germanic nature of the set, even though it isn’t mentioned explicitly. Conclusion A nicely detailed German checkpoint for you to wait to have your papers seen and your bumps felt for weapons or other contraband. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

7.5cm PZGR. & GR. PATR. KW.K 40 Shells w/Ammo Boxes (35381) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Arriving in a shrink-wrapped figure box, this set contains eight sprues in grey styrene, allowing the modeller to make up twelve of each type of shell, with six used cartridges that have slide-moulded hollow openings, and six ammo crates that are capable of holding three shells of one type. Also included are decals for each type of shell, and stencils for the ammo boxes themselves, just to finish them off. The shells are all a single part each, but the boxes are made up from five or six sides (depending if opened) with supports for the rounds moulded into the bottom, and additional handles on each end. The end walls also have depressions moulded-in to prevent the shells from rattling round, and the optional lids also have more supports moulded-in, but it would be a waste to hide three shells inside a closed box, so don’t. Detail is excellent as you’d expect, and the shells will just need a little preparation to remove the two sprue gates and the unavoidable moulding seam before painting. The instructions are on the rear of the box, and show the correct location of the shell stencils for both types, plus a colour chart showing Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission, AMMO, Tamiya plus swatches and colour names that should provide more than enough information to make informed paint choices. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G Last/Ausf.H Early 2-in-1 (35333) Nibelungenwerk Prod. May-June 1943 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Unlike the later Tiger and Panther tanks, the Panzer IV had been designed in the years leading up to the outbreak of WWII, and was intended for a different role than it eventually played, which was as a form of infantry support with the mobile artillery function rolled into one. It was a heavier tank than the previous numbered types, and was well-designed, although it did suffer from the typical WWII German over-engineering that made them complex, expensive and slow to build, as well as difficult to maintain. The type went through a number of enhanced variants including a more powerful engine to give better performance, improved armour thickness for survivability, and latterly the provision of a larger gun with a longer high velocity barrel that was based upon the Pak.40, but with shortened recoil mechanism and an enlarged muzzle-brake that helped contain the powerful recoil from the 75mm gun. The new gun was in direct reaction to the first encounter with the T-34 in Soviet hands, an incident that put the wind up the German tankers and their superiors, as they knew very little of its existence until they had to fight it, and didn’t like the way their shots just bounced off that sloped glacis. The Ausf.G and H were the later mainstream variants of the Pz.IV, and were made from early 1942 until 1944 with over 4,000 made, some of which were manufactured at Vomag, Krupp-Gruson, and Nibelungenwerke, one of the largest factories in the German area of influence, based in St Valentin, Austria. By the war’s end Nibelungenwerk was the home of the Panzer IV, and as such was bombed heavily, strangling production of the last variant, the Ausf.J as the bombers took their toll. The Kit This is a new boxing of the newly tooled model of the Panzer IV from MiniArt, with a mixture of parts from other boxings plus some new sprues. It is an Interior kit, which extends to the full hull, with a great deal of detail included that should keep any modeller happy and beavering away at their hobby. The kit arrives in a heavily loaded top-opening box, and inside are seventy sprues in grey styrene of various sizes, a clear sprue, two sheets of Photo-Etch (PE) in a card envelope, a decal sheet and thick instruction booklet with colour profiles for the decal options on the inside covers. It has individual link tracks included that are made up on a jig (more about those later), and the level of detail is exceptional, which is something we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s output. Construction begins with the interior, which is made up on a main floor with bulkheads, ammo stores with individual rounds that have stencil decals for each one, then a complete Maybach HL 120 TRM engine in a cradle. The engine is begun by putting together the transmission and final drive units, which is at the front of the hull next to the driver, with a set of instruments fitted to the top that have their own decals. This is inserted into the interior with the drive-shaft, with the driver’s seat is assembled along with the foot and hand controls, plus a worrying amount (from his point of view) of shells behind his area, plus another three ready-round boxes layered on top of various positions around the turret base. A ring of tread-plate defines the location where the turret basket will sit, and various other components are arranged around a simple seat for the radio operator/bow gunner, then the engine is assembled from its various shaped elements, topped off with the rocker covers, decals and oil filler caps. A lot of ancillaries are added, including tons of drive-belts, engine bearers, exhaust manifolds, turbocharger between the cylinder banks, dynamo and pipework. It all fits snugly into the engine compartment section of the interior to await boxing in by the hull sides. The highly detailed brake-assembly for each drive sprocket is a drum-shaped affair that comprises a substantial number of parts, some of which are PE, and really does look the part, fitted to the inside of each hull wall flanking the two crew seats, with more small equipment boxes and a fire extinguisher fitted nearby, then the exterior face of each side is detailed with the final drive housing, suspension bump-stops, return roller bases and fuel filler caps before they are glued into place on the hull sides, with the lower glacis plate helping keep them perpendicular to the floor. Back in the engine compartment, the empty spaces around the Maybach engine are filled with airbox, fuel tank and large radiator panels that are set in the compartment at an angle, as demonstrated by the scrap diagram. The rear bulkhead closes-in the final side of the compartment, and this is festooned with detail including armoured covers for the track tensioner arms, stiffener plates and access hatches, including a manual starter slot. Under the tank a plethora of mine protection in the shape of armoured plates that wrap around the suspension exits and the edges of the hull are applied, and up front the upper glacis with access hatches and their details are glued in place open to show off the detail, or closed at your whim, and a choice of fenders are slotted into the sidewalls, depending on which decal option you intend to portray. More shells are stashed on trays to the sides of the turret, again with a painting guide and stencil decals, joined by a number of dump bags of ammo for the AA MG34 on the commander’s cupola. The big towing eye and its stiffeners are applied to the bottom of the bulkhead, and after fitting another full-width plate, the big muffler is attached to the rear, made from a combination of styrene and PE straps. The addition of a cross-brace between the two hull sides with oil can and fire extinguisher strapped on completes the lower hull for now. The upper hull is constructed in a similar manner to the lower, with the roof accepting side panels after making some small holes, the engine bay is fitted out with the side vents for the radiators and a flat rear panel that closes the area in. At the front the thick armour panel is glued in, the bow machine gun rear is created and set aside while the hatches and the barrel of the MG are fitted, mostly from the outside, together with the armoured covers for the radiator louvers, hatch levers and lifting hooks, along with the jack-block in its bracket, or the empty bracket if you choose. The driver’s armoured vision port cover and the ball-mount for the gun complete the exterior work for now, and the assembly is flipped over to detail the inside, which includes a highly detailed set of radio gear that has a painting guide next to it. The afore-mentioned bow gun’s breech and aiming mechanism are inserted into the back of the ball-mount, and the forward side sections of the upper hull are detailed with gas mask canisters, vision ports, stowage boxes and levers for the ports. Flipping the assembly again and it is time to add the hatch covers and interior louvers to the radiator exits, which are delicate parts and can be inserted in the open or closed positions, with a change in how they are fitted. A pair of fans that cool the radiators within the engine compartment using movable slatted panels to adjust cooling as necessary, and these two sub-assemblies are mated before the panels are glued in place with a choice of open or closed louvers. The twin tube air filtration system on the side of the fender is attached to the exterior along the way, plus a set of four towing cable eyes, but you’re responsible for providing the braided cable, which should be 152mm long and 0.75mm thick, times two. These are wrapped around two hooks on the rear in a figure-of-eight pattern. Spare track sections are made up for the two facets of the glacis, and are held in place with small brackets on the upper section, and a long pair of C-shaped rods on the lower. You’ll also need an 11mm length of 0.4mm diameter wire for the track pin at one end of the upper run for authenticity. Now it’s pioneer tool time, with barrel cleaning rods, shovel, the well-detailed jack, a massive spanner, plus a set of four spare road wheels in an open-topped box with spanners strapped to the sides, and yet more track-links in a cage on the opposite side. The rear mudguards and front splash-guards are applied now, and the prominent external fire extinguisher with PE frame (and alternative styrene one if you don’t feel up to wrangling the PE) is fitted to the fender with a pair of wire-cutters and a pry-bar, all of which have optional PE mounts. Just when you think you’ve finished the tools, there’s a crank for the engine, a choice of two types of track-spreaders, a choice of two axe installations, plus some styrene springs to allow you to show the front guards in the up position. We’re getting closer to the tracks now, but there’s still a lot of wheels that need to be made. They are mounted in pairs on twin bogeys with a leaf-spring slowing the rebound of the twin swing-arms. There are two types of outer casting with two axles (for working or fixed suspension) that the swing-arms slot onto, and are then closed in by a cover, which you also have a choice of two designs for. Finally, the twin wheels with their hubcap slide onto the axles, and a small oil reservoir is glued to the side of the assembly. You make four for the left side and a mirrored set of four for the right, plus two-part idler, a choice of two-part drive sprockets and eight paired return-rollers that fit onto the posts on the sides of the hull. The suspension units have slotted mounting points that strengthen their join, and once you’re done, you can begin the tracks. The tracks are individual links with separate track pins, but don’t freak out yet! Each link has three sprue gates that are small and easy to nip off and clean up. The included jig will hold eleven links, which are fitted with the guides uppermost. Then you cut off one complete set of 11 track pins off the sprue and slide them into the pin-holes in the sides of the connected links all at once. They are then nipped off their length of sprue and can be tidied up. I added a little glue to the tops of the pins to keep them in place which resulted in a length of track that is still flexible. Just minimise the amount of glue you use. There are 101 links per track run, so you’ll be busy for a while, but the result is fabulously detailed as you can see from the pic. I didn’t bother cleaning up the mould seams for expediency, but if you plan on modelling your Panzer with clean tracks, you can sand them away if you feel the need. Three decal options have schurzen fitted, which has by now dictated which fenders you glued to the hull sides, so it’s too late to change your mind now. First you must add the styrene brackets on each side, then the long supports for the hook-on schurzen panels, which consist of five mesh panels per side, with diagonal front and rear lower edges to reduce the likelihood of them digging into the ground and being ripped off. Bear in mind that these panels were subject to the rigors of battle so were often bent, damaged or even missing entirely. Use your references or imagination to decide whether you wish to depict a fresh set, or a set that have been in the field for a while. Finally, we get to the turret, which begins with the ring and minimalist “floor”, to which some equipment, a drop-seat and the hand-traverse system are fixed. The inside of the mantlet is fixed to the floor after having the pivot installed, with the newly assembled breech glued into the rear once it has its breech block and closure mechanism fixed in place. The breech is then surrounded by the protective tubular frame, and the stubs of the coax machine gun and sighting gear are slid in through holes in the inner mantlet. A basket for spent casings is attached under the breech, the sighting tube and adjustment mechanism are put in place along with the coax machine gun breech, then the basket is made up from the circular tread-plated floor with tubular suspension struts and other equipment, seats, immediate ready-rounds and spare dump-bags for the coax. It is glued into the turret base, which then has the other facets added to the roof panel, with an exhaust fan and outer armoured cover included. The side hatches are the clamshell type, and can be posed open, closed or anywhere in-between, with latches and handles added, and grab-handles over the top to ease exit. The commander’s cupola is a complex raised part with five clear vision ports around it, and a choice of open or closed outer parts holding the clear lenses in place, sliding into the ring like the real thing. A ring of cushioned pads cover the interstices, and stirrup-shaped parts are fixed under each lens, with a single circular hatch with latch and handle glued into the top ring in open or closed versions, hinging open rather than the earlier two-part clamshell hatch. A blade-sight from PE is sited at the front of the cupola with a machine-gun ring around the base, and the turret can now be closed up with the lifting hooks each made up of two parts, and basket with optional open lid on the rear. The gun has a flattened faceted sleeve made up, and the muzzle brake gives you a choice of four styles that differ slightly from each other if you look closely. Pick the one suitable for your decal choice, and you can begin to put the gun tube together. The outer mantlet section with the sleeve slotting into the front is applied along with a choice of two coax installations, and a single-part styrene barrel fitting into the front with a key ensuring correct orientation, with the muzzle-brake having the same feature. Another length of track is applied to the front of the roof for extra protection, which might explain why there are a lot more than 22 track sprues, this time however using the single sprue that is separately wrapped. The turret has curved metal sheets applied to the styrene brackets that glue to the roof and sides, that has a gap for the side hatches that are filled by a pair of hinged doors for more complete protection, and if you were wondering, you get open or closed variants with PE latches. The commander’s MG34 is made up last with a separate breech, tubular mount and cloth dump bag full of ammo suspended from the mount, then linked to the ring around the cupola by a bracket. Because of the complexity and realism of the turret and its ring, it drop-fits into position as the final act, as bayonet lugs aren’t present in the real thing. Markings A generous six decal options are included on the sheet, and they have a wide variety of schemes that are appropriate for late war tanks, from monotone vehicles to highly camouflaged vehicles over the standard base coat of dunkelgelb (dark yellow) the common element. From the box you can build one of the following: Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G Pa.Rgt.3, Pz.Div. Eastern Front, Operation Citadel, Summer 1943 Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G 16.Pz.Div. Italy, Aug-Sept 1943 Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G 16.Pz.Div. Italy, Aug-Sept 1943 Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.H 1.SS-Pz.Div, LSSAH (Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler ) Italy, Summer 1943 Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.H 26.Pz.Div. Italy, Autumn 1943 Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.H 1.SS-Pz.Div, LSSAH (Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler ) Italy, Autumn 1943 Decals are by MiniArt’s usual partner, 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 one well-detailed kit that should keep you occupied for a good number of hours. The complete interior is depicted with a splendid level of detail, which should allow all but the most detail-focused modeller to build it out of the box. Careful painting will bring it to life, and leaving some hatches open will show viewers just how claustrophobic going into war in these iron beasts would have been, and likely still is. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Maybach HL120 Engine w/Repair Crew (35331) For Panzer III/IV Family of Tanks 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Maybach gained the favour of the RLM and acquired the monopoly of producing all AFV power plants and spares for the Nazi war effort during WWII. As a company they were wedded to petrol for fuel and water for cooling, and instead of concentrating on a small number of designs that could be utilised in many vehicles, they obsessed with different variations on the theme, which often went into production after insufficient testing, resulting in unreliability that garnered them a reputation for producing poor motors. They were also pressured to manufacture more complete power packs instead of keeping those already in the field supplied with spares, which was another huge problem that led to some serious issues with servicing and availability of vehicles, which worsened the further the front-line was from the factories outside Berlin. Maybach had licensing agreements with other factories, and for the HL120 they worked with Nordbau in Berlin, MAN in Nurnberg and Maschinenfabrik Bahn Bedarf in Nordhausen, having to spread their subcontracting further afield after March 1944 when the Allied bombers were concentrating their efforts firmly (and successfully) on destroying Germany’s manufacturing capability. The HL120 was a high performance 12 Litre V-12 petrol engine that was used in the Panzer III and IV, but also other vehicles based upon those chassis, such as the StuG III & IV, Nashorn and Flak variants, with two units being used in each Ferdinand. In an unusual case of commonality of parts, the HL120 did share some components with the similar HL108, but this was a rarity, and it was this lack of interoperability that played a significant part in the problems of the WWII German supply train that continued to deteriorate as defeat loomed. The Kit The set arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure-sized box, and inside are five sprues in grey styrene, two each for the figures and engine, plus another for tools and accessories that are included. In addition, there is a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE) in a card envelope, a small decal sheet and instruction sheet in full colour. We’ve seen some of the sprues before in MiniArt’s engine and crane set, and the detail is excellent throughout. Construction begins with the toolboxes, one in the closed position, the other wide open with the tools on display. The tools are a combination of PE and styrene parts, some using both mediums for bladed tools with wooden handles, and there are plenty on hand, with painting instructions given on the rear of the box. The open box has PE outer lids, and the closed box has the hinge details enhanced with a PE strip on each end, and there are decals for the top of the box lids. The engine is started by building up the block from six elements, with a choice of first-motion parts, and an insert with two accompanying panels that fit into the V between the cylinder banks. The heads are topped off with curved covers and oil filler caps, and another choice of a fly-wheel or clutch housing fitted over the front of the engine. The ancillaries are added to the bottom of the engine along with the exhaust manifolds, with another layer of parts completing the lower side of the block, to be flipped over and have a similar process complete the topside, including the turbocharger in between the cylinder banks with a decal, and a choice of layers of pulleys and belts at the rear. The two repair crew figures are on their own sprues, and both are depicted leaning over the engine with their hands reaching in, tinkering with something. The gentleman in full uniform is almost straddling the engine like a jockey, while the chap in his vest is inclined to one side, leaning in from the engine deck to complete the job. Paint codes are supplied for Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission, AMMO, and Tamiya plus swatches and colour names that should provide more than enough information to make informed paint choices. Conclusion If you’ve bought an exterior only kit and begun to regret it, want to detail another manufacturer’s kit, or just want an engine to add to a diorama, this set provides lots of detail, with the two mechanics and their tool boxes adding an extra layer of interest. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Tractor D8506 with Trailer (38038) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Tractors were a boon to farmers when they were introduced soon after the reliability of the motor car became a thing, as they were especially useful for lugging around heavy equipment around the farm, as well as the typical ploughing, sowing and reaping of crops. They also had power take-off points that could be used to drive other stationary machinery, further expanding their usefulness. Lanz were the leading maker of farm machinery in Germany, and their Bulldog range were the “hoover” of the tractor world in their country for many years. They were good quality and reliable, which led to them being copied by a number of countries, and as the initial 1921 model was improved the model number was increased until well into the 9,000s. One of the primary selling points of the vehicle was the simple “hot-bulb” single-cylinder engine that could be run on a variety of fuels and had very few moving parts, which made it easy to repair and maintain. They started off as 6L and grew to 10L engines, and their slow turnover high-torque output suited the tractor’s work very well. In 1956 they were sold to John Deere, and the name slowly fell out of use. There are still many working examples to be seen at country fairs and historic events, kept in splendid condition by their loving (some may say obsessed) owners. The Kit This is another rebox of MiniArt’s D8500 range of kits, with this being the fifth that we know of. This boxing brings together one of the tractors with a large cargo trailer, plus a quantity of milk churns and barrels that you have probably seen elsewhere in their range before now if you’re either a reader of our reviews or owner of any MiniArt kits. Detail is excellent as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt, with a female driver figure is included to give it some human scale. It arrives in a standard top-opening box, and inside are twenty-eight sprues of various sizes in grey styrene plus two tread parts for the big wheels on their own sprues, a clear sprue, a small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) in a card envelope, decal sheet and the instruction booklet that has colour profiles of the decal options on the inside covers. Construction begins with the tractor, which has a large cast metal chassis that is made up from two halves each end around a centre-point, with lots of parts used to create its distinctive shape, plus a few PE parts on the forward end cap. The superstructure is roughly rectangular, having various filler caps on the top, radiator panels on the sides, and a PE name-plate and number plate on the front, which should be curved ever-so-slightly to match the shape of the cowling. The driver’s foot pedals are long curved linkages to the underside of the chassis, and with these in place the driver’s tread-plated floor is installed and a big handbrake is fitted to the deck, with a stowage box under the lip at the left rear. The driver’s seat is mounted on a sturdy spring, a couple of hand controls are inserted into depressions in the deck in front of her, then the large drive housing is mounted on the left side of the chassis, with a bell-housing on the opposite side, and two large fenders/sidewalls over where the rear wheels will be, plus a sturdy bumper-bar at the rear with some PE cross-braces. Two large exhausts are made up from various odd-shaped parts, and the front axle is built with a central leaf-spring and steering arms, then attached under the chassis in several places, with a pair of large clear-lensed headlamps on an oversized cross-member on the topside. The wheels on this tractor have heavy tread, which is built up by layering five parts together to make a tyre-sandwich at the front, and a three-part layer for the larger rear wheels. The tyres have their hubs moulded-in, while the rears have additional rear hub parts added between the wheels and rear axles. This edition has a rudimentary hood, with a flat windscreen in a frame at the front and two upstands sloping backwards at the rear that support a curved canopy that is the last thing to be fitted in the instructions, presumably after inserting the driver in her seat. The fifth wheel is the steering wheel, which can be fitted atop the steering column as you’d expect, or detached and used on a shaft to manually start the vehicle via the input shaft hidden behind a cover in the centre of the right-hand bell-housing. The flatbed for the trailer is next, made up on a ladder chassis with two sections of bed, which has fine engraved wood texture on both sides, as do the other wooden structures in the kit. The towing hitch to daisy-chain trailers together is attached to a cross-member at the rear, and in front of it are a pair of leaf-springs for the fixed rear axle. The front axle is similarly built, but on a frame that has a turntable between it and the bed to enable the axle to rotate freely for easier manoeuvring. The pneumatic tyred wheels are supplied as a five-part sandwich to achieve a realistic tread, and each one slots into the end of its axle when complete. A small bench seat is added to the front of the shallow headboard of the flatbed, with two long sides and rear tail-gate with tiny styrene clasps giving the impression of holding it in place. To model it with the sides and tail-gate down is simply a matter of gluing them in place folded down and fitting the clasps loosely against the sides accordingly. The cargo consists of eighteen barrels with separate ends, some of which have taps on the sprues, plus twelve churns in two sizes, and nine hessian bags of various shapes and sizes. As already mentioned, there is a driver, who is a young woman, and is seated for obvious reasons, wearing a simple shirt and trousers, tucked into the cuffs of her socks over a pair of sturdy boots. She is also wearing a headscarf to keep her hair in check, and is looking over her shoulder at the trailer behind her. Sculpting and parts breakdown is up to MiniArt’s usual excellent standard, and her head is broken down into front and rear halves, with two locating pins assisting with alignment. Markings There are two schemes available from the small decal sheet in civilian use, so quite colourful. From the box you can build one of the following: Regierungs Bezirk Leipzig, 30-40s British Occupation Zone, 40-50s Decals are by MiniArt’s usual partner 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 perfect complement to a country diorama, and could be juxtaposed with the brutality of war on the other side of a fence, or just on its own. Exceptional detail helps with its appeal of course, and the figure adds extra interest. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

M3 Lee Mid Prod. Sahara with Crew (35274) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd In the years before WWII America realised that they were lagging behind in respect of armour, a fact that became especially clear when Germany came out from under the Versailles treaty to show off and then use their new tanks and Blitzkrieg tactics. The M3 Lee was conceived in 1940 as a medium tank carrying a powerful 75mm gun, partly for manning by their own crews, but also because Britain had requested a large number of tanks to make good their losses from Dunkirk. The Lee was a decent tank but suffered from a high silhouette and limited traverse of the sponson-mounted 75mm gun, but was still widely used. In British service it was known as the Lee if it was fitted with the original American turret, or the Grant when using the lower-profiled British specification turrets. The Lee was used primarily in Africa and the Pacific theatres where the 2nd line equipment seemed to be fielded (for the most part) by the enemy, and against the Japanese who were far behind with their tank designs and tactics. It underwent some substantial changes including cast, welded and back to riveted hulls plus changes in the power pack and loss of the side doors to stiffen the hull. The riveted hulls suffered from rivets popping off and becoming projectiles when hit, which could be just as lethal as a penetrating round and was never fully eliminated. The Film Sahara was originally released in 1943 staring Humphrey Bogart. It tells the story of an M3 Called Lulubelle separated of its unit during the retreat from Tobruk collecting a rag tag bunch of soldiers on the way to finding water. There is then a stand off between the tank and its crew against a superior German force for the control of a well which the Germans dont know has actually dried up. It pretty good for the time frame being pumped up with war time feelings such as cinema was at the time. The film was remade in 1995 with Jim Belushi taking the lead role. The Kit MiniArt began 2019 with a new tooling of the M3 Lee and are expanded their range by adding new parts as they go along. We've come to expect great things from MiniArt's new kits and of course this one is no different with a ton of detail included. The box is standard MiniArt fare with an attractive picture from their usual artist, and inside are a huge number of sprues of varying sizes with in grey styrene, a single sprue in clear, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, decal sheet and the instruction booklet with painting guide at the front and rear completing the package. The extras here for the Sahara boxing are a set of figures produced by Masterbox, and some additional equipment sprues from various Minart British Soldier boxings. Thet ank can be built as the one form the original 1943 film or the later one, with some different parts in places to reflect this. Construction begins with the vehicle floor onto which the transmission and final drive assemblies are fixed. The rolled lower glacis part is also added, and the final drive bell housings that are incorporated into the sidewalls mate with these to complete the shape of that area. The side plates are added and then the top sponsors. To the rear the engine compartment is built up, the doors are fitted along with the exhausts. At the front additional plates over the drive shafts are added. The big 75mm gun and substantial casemate are built up next for fitting into the hull front and the curved splinter shield that allows 14o of traverse to either side to counter any errors in position from the driver or enemy movement. The breech is surrounded by a shield. The various hatches can be posed open or closed, however as there is no interior best close them up! The bow machine gun is actually a twin mount with two .30 cal M1919s firing through a hatch near the port sponson. The rest of the hull is then built up in much the same manner as the real thing, but with glue and the rivets only there for show. Two large bins for the rear are then built up. When we reach the engine deck there are two large panels, the smaller of them having PE grilles and more filler caps, with both of them covered in small PE tie-down lugs. The rear of the deck overhangs the hull and a small armoured "skirt" protects the tops of the exhausts from stray rounds where PE brackets are used to hang the aft lights. The completed deck is then covered with pioneer tools and their PE tie-downs, plus the towing cables that you need to source yourself to go with the plastic eyes at each end. A scrap diagram shows their location and how to fix the PE straps to the tie-downs and eyes, with a length of 145mm suggested. At this stage the majority of the hull is built, but it is likely to fill with rain until the roof is fitted. The stiffening plates to the lower glacis are also glued to the hull and then the roof is made up from a large main part that is stiffened with a number of ribs, and an extra section is attached to the side with a small periscope in the middle. The three square access doors for the crew can all be posed open or closed with latches and small viewing hatches within that can also be posed open. After fitting the armoured cover to the main gun's periscope and a few grab handles, you get to build up the running gear. Aren't you lucky? The Lee's suspension is very similar to the Sherman's with two fat wheels on a bogie with a return roller at the top, and there are three of these assemblies per side. The wheels with their moulded-in tyres are attached to the bogies via swing-arms that pivot inside the cast bogie with an additional arm linked to the compressible rubber towers. Before the front of the bogie is fitted the return-roller is installed so it is trapped between its two bearings. Repeat that six times and then make up the idler wheels, which have PE edges and separate hub caps. The bogies are attached to the sides of the hull on their mounting plates, and two stiffeners are added to the top of each one, while the idler wheels are attached to their axles on the adjustable tensioners. At the front the drive sprockets are made up from two parts with an internal collar allowing them to remain mobile if you're sparing with the glue. Tracks. Love 'em or loathe 'em, they're a necessary part of most tanks and you have to do them eventually. There are 79 track links per side, and each link is made up from four parts. The pads are split to accommodate the links between them, and this is a little fiddly. I built a test section up with the earlier interior kit, and each link is good looking with fine detail at the ends, flexing well as per the real thing. It'll take some time to complete them, but they will be excellent as long as you're careful with preparation and the glue. With the tracks in place, the side skirts can be installed and the additional stowage boxes can be fabricated from their parts and attached to the hull with PE brackets, their shape conforming to the surfaces that they are placed on. The side skirts are finished off with mudguards at the rear by boxing in the tops of the track runs. The rest of the pioneer tools are bracketed to the hull along with the front headlights and their PE protective cages, the former having PE tie-downs and brackets holding them down. You will need to find some thin wire to link the headlamps to the gland that takes the cable inside the hull, then the single-part main gun barrel is nipped from the sprues, has its seamlines removed and is joined to the optional two-part blast-bag that has excellent realistic-looking canvas wrinkle and sag moulded in. We're still not quite ready for the turret though, as there are a number of PE parts stretching the length of the side-skirts which are used to hang additional stowage in the real thing. These fit onto small depressions on the sides of the hull, and scrap diagrams show the correct way to fold the perpendicular front sections. Now you can start the turret, most of which is held within the upper part, and that has some very nice casting texture moulded into it that should look great under a few coats of paint. The frames for the small hatches are first to be added, then the hatches themselves are fitted in the open or closed position with small stays holding them at the correct angle for the former. The breech is started by joining the two main parts together, adding the surround, the coax machine gun, then setting it aside while the mantlet and elevation mechanisms are made up. The barrel fits to the mantlet and the turret halves joined, the aerials are then added. The commander's .30cal weapon is mounted on a curved fitting on the front of the turret and is fitted with a drum magazine that has moulded-in bullets plus a separate short length that feeds into the breech, sandwiched between the two end-caps with built in mounting frame. A studded bezel is installed in the top rim along with the hatches. The turret can then be fitted. Figures The figures here are a Masterbox Set 3594 originally released in 2011, done to represent the characters from the 1995 film without actually saying so, probably to avoid licensing issues. The set features a Senegalese infantryman, and Australian soldier (with a Bren Gun), and British young soldier, a Free French soldier and the American commander. As with all Mastbox sets the as well sculpted and should pose no issues. Miniart have also included three sprues of equipment, these can be seen in different British sets. On one of these sets one of the Sten guns was missing and the other broken, though they are not used in this set so no real issues there. Markings The decal sheet is quite small and features markings for Lulubelle from the original 1943 film, or the later 1995 film. The decals are printed by DecoGraph as usual for MiniArt, and have good register, colour density and sharpness, with thin matt carrier film cut closely to the printed areas. Conclusion The parts count is large thanks to the inclusion of the figures and equipment. This is a good opportunity to make the tank for either film. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Traffic Signs – Syria 2010s, Israel (35648 & 35653) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Before GPS or Satnav became common, sign posts were an absolute necessity and remain a useful confirmatory backup even when you are using GPS, but soon become more useful if your satnav konks out or isn’t up-to-date. These two sets from MiniArt offer signage for the adjacent countries above, and are based upon the same sprues with just the decals and larger paper signs differing between boxes. The sets arrive in a shrink-wrapped figure-sized box, and contain six sprues, two that contain a large rectangular sign plus one each square, octagonal and small rectangular, giving eight signs in total. The four smaller sprues have two round, two small rectangular, a square, triangle and long rectangle sign, twenty-eight signs in total, with a grand total of thirty-six between all the sprues. There are also eleven poles to put your signs on, and as you can see from the photos, the rear of the signs have brackets to hang them, as well as a representation of their stamped and formed construction. The paper sheets with large signs are in addition to the decals, and some on the Syrian set are larger than the provided sizes, so you would have to make up your own backing for those two. Decals are printed by MiniArt’s usual partners DecoGraph, and have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. A white painted background for the decals will give them a higher brightness, although signs are often old, dilapidated weathered and damaged – even shot at in war zones or areas where guns are commonplace. People just don’t seem to be able to help themselves! Traffic Signs Syria 2010s (35648) Decal Signs Paper Signs Traffic Signs Israel(35653) Decal Signs Paper Signs Conclusion Signposts are a useful background item in any diorama or vignette, so having pre-printed signs available is just the ticket to add interest and realism to your work quickly and easily. Don’t forget the bullet holes! Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Sd.Kfz.171 Panther Ausf.A Early Zimmerit Decal (SPS-077) 1:35 Meng via Creative Models Ltd If you're not sure what Zimmerit was, it was an anti-magnetic coating applied to the exterior of German AFVs from the end of 1943 to the 9th September 1944 in the factories and a little later in the field. It took the form of a thick fibrous paste with a greyish hue, and the application was usually ridged to give it a larger effective thickness without adding too much weight. It was water-based and applied to all vertical or near vertical surfaces over primer with a comb-like tool or stamp, and drying was then accelerated by using blow-torches over the application. There were a number of patterns used at certain factories, so it can be a minefield debating whether the vehicle had Zimmerit, which pattern it was, and how you would apply your own rendition to your model. Originally you were left to your own devices to use putty and a screw-driver tip, or later-on Photo-Etch (PE) sheets, which was a little regimented and inflexible. Now with the advances in decal technology, Meng and a few others have begun creating 3D decals that when applied give the appearance of this rough coating. The sheet arrives in thick plastic bag with a card header, a sheet of visual instructions and a sheet of Zimmerit decal protected by a thick piece of waxy paper. The instructions are simple diagrams showing where each part fits on the hull and turret, including such niceties as shaped parts for the mantlet, kugelblende and even the area under the side-skirts where a brave (foolhardy) man could slap a magnetic shaped-charge. A small note at the bottom in three languages indicates that if any edges begin to peel away from your model, you can re-glue them with super-glue (CA) or modelling glue. The decals are even printed in a similar grey shade to the real thing, so chipping a little paint could be used to depict exposed Zimmerit. This set is patterned for their newly released kit that you can see our review of here, which will be of use for any of the four decal options included with the kit, sold separately to give the modeller the option of either not bothering, doing it yourself, or adding these decals to your shopping cart. The pattern for this set is reminiscent of an oversized waffle-pattern, consisting of large roughly applied squares with small gaps between each one, and the distinct impression that they have been applied by hand, possibly by someone in a rush or who didn’t care about it being too tidy. That’s likely to be the case, as slave labour was commonly used in German WWII factories, particularly during the period that Zimmerit was being applied, and if they weren’t slaves they would have been employees under the cosh from management to keep the production-line moving quickly, as these tanks already took far too long to complete when compared to Shermans or T-34s. Conclusion You can of course apply Zimmerit yourself using whichever of the other techniques that you prefer, but this is likely to be the quickest and easiest method that should also be the most realistic once painted and weathered. It will also be easy to chip and abrade away to give the impression of a careworn coating. It also helps that it’s quite reasonably priced. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Sd.Kfz.171 Panther Ausf.A Early (TS-046) 1:35 Meng via Creative Models Ltd The Panther was Nazi Germany's answer to the surprise appearance of the Russian T-34 after the Soviet behemoth finally reacted to Operation Barbarossa, when Hitler unexpectedly broke their non-aggression pact, much to Stalin’s surprise. Although the project had been in gestation some time before, they took some design cues from the T-34 in the shape of the sloped armour, resulting in the Panther that was intended to fill the gap between the Panzer.IV and the (then) new Panzer VI Tiger. It was eventually supposed to replace both the Pz.IV and the earlier Pz.III that was really showing its age, but in reality it often fought alongside the Panzer IV, which was upgraded to be more resilient. It was planned as a lighter, more manoeuvrable tank than the Tiger, and was fitted with a high velocity gun from the outset, which gave it enormous penetrating power that was only equalled by the British 17-pounder fitted to the Sherman that became known as the Firefly. The sloped frontal armour gave it an increased effective armour thickness, but this was not so true of the side armour, which was comparatively weak, and this area became the preferred target of allied tank commanders, especially in urban combat where this was a telling issue. Like most German WWII tanks it was complex to manufacture, so suffered in terms of volume produced, and this led to it being rushed into service with quite a to-do list of issues still to resolve. Later production solved most of these initial gremlins, but loses in the interim were high with many being abandoned after failing mechanically during combat. Curiously, the Ausf.D was the first to enter production, with the Ausf.A following later in 1943, replacing attrition of the less reliable Ausf.Ds until they themselves were superseded by the Ausf.G, which became the final major variant with increased ammo storage, simplified design to ease production, and further improvements to reliability, although this was never fully remedied with a high rate of attrition due to mechanical issues, some of which resulted in catastrophic fires. The Early Ausf.As had a number of overly complex aspects of the design that were later altered or removed entirely, such as the commander’s cupola that was redesigned for better protection, as was the shell ejection port, which was reduced in size. A Panther II was planned, which retained much of the look of the original Panther, while improving armour and suspension. They got as far as creating a pair of prototypes before the war ended, and a destroyed but still substantial chunk of the Schmallturm (smaller turret) can be seen at Bovington. The Kit This is a reboxing of the initial tooling from our friends at Meng, now with two additional sprues to depict early variant parts, and moulded in a more neutral grey styrene instead of the sand or red-brown of the earlier releases. The box is typical Meng, with an attractive painting of a Zimmerit encrusted Panther on the front, with profiles, colour codes and information on the sides. Inside are individually bagged sprues to minimise chaffing during transport, and plenty of parts. There are thirteen sprues in light grey styrene, one in clear, plus three frets of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, two of which are nickel plated, a decal sheet, two lengths of braided wire for the tow ropes, two strips of poly-caps, instruction booklet, and a pair of thick card information sheets in Russian, English and Japanese (I think?), which has become common with Meng releases of late. First impressions are excellent. The parts breakdown is sensible, the detail is superb, and the casting texture on parts like the mantlet (of which there are four in this boxing) is well done, while the wooden texture on the unditching block also worth a look. The instructions are typical Meng, offering crisp isometric views of the build with an uncluttered style that still manages to get the point across. You are informed that there are four decal options at the beginning, and advised that this will affect your choice of parts, so you should choose now. Construction begins with the road wheels, all of which are moulded with early rubber tyres before its scarcity forced the change to all-metal wheels, and they have a poly-cap fitted between the two dished wheels. The three-part drive sprockets and four-part idler wheels also have poly-caps at their heart, so that wheels can be added and removed as needed throughout the build. The lower hull is made up from two sides and one floor part, with two bracing double-crossed T shaped parts holding everything rigid inside, and two small holes drilled in the floor. The rear bulkhead, final drive housing and the many suspension arms are inserted into the hull sides, and the towing shackles are also clipped onto the torch-cut ends of the side plates at this stage. The pre-prepared road wheels, idlers and drive sprockets are all slid into place on the stub-axles, and an optional tow hook can be fitted under the rear of the vehicle directly below the jack, which is also installed now between the armoured single-tube exhausts. Either side of these the distinctive stowage boxes are added, with separate tops in case you wanted to leave them open or ajar. The tracks are individual parts that are glued into track runs and draped around the wheels until they set up, and here Meng have helpfully included a jig that will allow you to make up a length of tracks at the correct slope and sag for the return run from the drive sprocket to the second road wheel, which forms a gentle curve and would be tricky to achieve without help from the jig. Each track link is free from ejector-pin marks, and has a pair of guide-horns that you will need to glue into place. This is a manual job, so prepare your tweezers and a good playlist to listen to or documentary to watch whilst you plough through this necessarily tedious part, building up 87 links per side. Each track link has three sprue gate, but the guide-horns only have one on their base, so it's swings and roundabouts. Given the level of detail visible on the external side of each link though, it is worth having those sprue gates to ensure there is no under-shoot on the detail. The upper hull has a number of rectangular holes in the front, sides and top, with only some of them making sense initially, until you realise that the glacis and side walls are added separately to give you all the detail. The circular radiator vents are separate too, as is the engine hatch and the two crew hatches at the front of the tank. The crew get clear periscope blocks, while the perforated engine deck vents are covered from the inside by inserts that well-represent the radiator baths and the fan in the centre. The small wedge-shaped skirt at the rear of the sponsons are also added from separate parts layered over the moulded-in sections, and the underside of the sponsons are closed in by two plates that sit on turrets moulded into the upper hull, and holds them in place while you add all the brackets for the Schürzen parts later, which were fitted to pre-detonate shaped charges. These nickel-plated parts are fitted later, and if scraped gently after painting should reveal some of their bright metal underneath. The upper hull is detailed with all the usual parts you would expect, such as the armoured periscope covers; mesh screens on the engine deck; stowage bracketing; spare track links; pioneer tools; gun cleaning kit; towing cables with plastic eyes and wire ropes; the aforementioned skirt plates with separate PE clips; mudguards with PE brackets and width lollipops; lifting lugs and so forth, that are added to the hull after joining. The turret is constructed on a skeleton framework using individual panels that are detailed up during the build. The rear has a hatch added that can be posed open or closed with the pistol-port cut out and fitted with a hatch, the sides have small ports in the sides cut out for three decal options, while the roof is initially fitted with a mushroom vent, vision block and aerial base. The gun's breech is depicted in three parts, with a pair of poly-caps linking it to the two pivot points that bracket either end of the inner mantlet, which is then hidden by one of the two new cast mantlets that are included. The styrene barrel fits snugly into a keyed slot in the mantlet, and has a three-part flash-suppressor added to the front in styrene, plus the very tip of the coaxial machine gun fitted through from the inside of the mantlet. The Anti-Aircraft (AA) machine gun that fits to the commander's cupola is an MG34 on a simple ring-mount with a belt-feed of ammo from a cloth bag, and that is glued onto the ring after it is fitted to the top of the cupola once the clear vision blocks and hatch cover have been put in place. The completed cupola fits into the roof of the turret with a key ensuring correct alignment, then the mantlet with surround are added to the front. The turret is a drop-fit, but the gun can be locked in place by using the supplied travel lock, which has a length of simulated chain wrapping over the top. Markings Four markings options are included with this kit, all of which will require you to either purchase the Zimmerit decals I’ll be reviewing shortly, or to apply your own the old-fashioned (and sometimes messy) way. From the box you can build one of the following: No.1102 HQ 2nd Battalion, 23rd Panzer Regiment, Wehrmacht, Eastern Front, Winter 1943 No.221 1st Battalion, 15th Panzer Regiment, 11th Panzer Division, Wehrmacht, Eastern Front, Autumn 1943 No.613 2nd Battalion, 5th Panzer Regiment, Waffen-SS, Kowel, Poland, Spring 1944 No.102 Command Vehicle, HQ 1st Battalion, 4th Panzer Regiment, Wehrmacht, Florence, Italy, Summer 1944 Decals are printed in China, with good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. You can see our review of the Zimmerit decals (SPS-077) that will simplify the whole process here. Conclusion This is an excellent representation of an early Panther Ausf.A from the box, but add the previously release suspension and track sets and some Zimmerit decals that are available separately, and it will make up into an even more stunning model. Detail is exceptional, and the build should provide plenty of pleasure due to the fit and finish usually associated with Meng kits. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

High Performance Flexible Sandpaper (MTS-042) (Extra Fine Set) Meng Model/DSPIAE via Creative Models Ltd We originally got this set in from Creative a month or so ago, but they looked so cool and useful that by the time we got round to reviewing them, they’d gone out of stock. Now they’re back, and we’re rushing to let you know about them. Meng’s range of modelling tools has been expanding, and since their tie-up with DSPIAE it has included metal tools, and lots of other useful bits & bobs that are enticing, as well as handy. This set of flexible sponge-backed sanding sheets arrive in a card box, with an attractive smoke-coloured translucent plastic box in a poly-bag. It is divided up into five individual sections, each of which has its own lid with snap-down closure and hinge. Inside are a five sections full of sandpaper of various grades, each on different thicknesses of coloured sponge, which corresponds with the grade of grit that it holds. The box lids have the grade engraved on the top, and each sponge back is over-printed with both the grade and the Meng brand name so you don’t forget who makes them. In the box you get the following: #1000 2 x thick, 2 x medium, 2 x thin #1200 2 x thick, 2 x medium, 2 x thin #1500 2 x thick, 2 x medium, 2 x thin #2000 2 x thick, 2 x medium, 2 x thin #2500 2 x thick, 2 x medium, 2 x thin That’s a total of 30 sheets, each one measuring approximately 70mm x 20mm. The sandpaper is 0.3mm thick, and the sponges are 2mm, 3mm and 5mm for thin, medium & thick respectively. They’re a useful size, with not too much “middle” that’s not quite as easy to use in precision applications, and with high quality sandpaper well-adhered to the foam that should lead to a long service-life, with refills of individual grits available for a reasonable price. You should remember that they are intended to sand shapes, and shouldn’t be relied on to create flat surfaces, as they have a tendency to round off flat surfaces when used extensively or carelessly. They are great for smoothing off shapes that you want to diminish or minimise, reducing flat-spots, and for gently sanding detailed areas where you don’t want to obliterate the detail. There is also a Fine set, which has more aggressive grits of 150, 250, 400, 600, and 800 in the same style box, with additional bright foam colours to tell them all apart, providing your memory is up to the task. Very highly recommended. Extra Fine Set (MTS-042) Fine Set (MTS-041) Review sample courtesy of

Ford GT40 Mk.II ’66 (CS-004) 1:24 Meng via Creative Models Ltd Ford began taking an interest in endurance racing in the 60s after a falling-out with Enzo Ferrari during a potential take-over by Ford, and to improve their brand name awareness, which started in the UK in Slough with a Lola chassis, lacking in success initially. It was taken back in-house so to speak and carried on in the USA, using the genius behind the Lola GT6 that had shown promise, despite it failing to finish the race. They created the GT40, with the 40 stemming from the minimum height in inches at the time, using some of the Lola’s chassis and a Mustang engine in the Mk.I, which was far too rough and not at all ready for racing at that point. This led to another change in personnel, putting the famous and rebellious Carrol Shelby in charge, who with input from driver/mechanic Ken Miles undertook a series of significant modifications that gave it a great deal of power and success. The Mk.II was fitted with a larger 7.0L V8 engine that turned it into a beast that was mated with a four-speed gearbox, to be used by three racing teams to stunning effect. Those teams took 1,2,3 at Le Mans in 1966, leaving the previously successful Ferraris in their dust, which they continued to do for the next two years. As is usual with racing, improvements were made to the bodyshell, the carbs and other parts, although they were not without their problems. A technical failure took out every GT40 at Daytona in 1967, causing a brief return to prominence of the Ferraris, but they were back to their winning ways again for a total of three years, which is a long time in racing. Its successor began life as the J-Car, but after killing driver Ken Miles in a testing accident due to materials deficiencies and aerodynamic issues, it was redeveloped as the Mk.IV, but was often left in the garage at race-time while the Mk.II was still winning, as the older car was a more reliable platform. By 1968 the Mk.II was no-longer competitive, and the Mk.IV was fielded, but success was elusive. An attempt was made to continue the name with the Mk.V but this was more of a sports car than a racing car. A few kit cars carried on the look over the years, but in 2002 a new model was released by Ford as a sports car using the name GT, but it was negatively affected by Jeremy Clarkson’s unfortunate experience of persistent unreliability of his example, bought with his own money. 2015 saw a second generation launched as a street car, with an endurance racing team beginning in 2016 and carrying on until 2019 with a healthy number of victories. The Kit This is Meng’s second kit of the famous GT40, the first being the double-size 1:12 uber kit that was released in 2020 and re-released in a pre-coloured moulding this year. Taking advantage of their research, Meng have now downscaled the kit to 1:24, which was probably a lot more complex than putting it on a photocopier and choosing 50%. It arrives in a compact Meng style box, as it isn’t actually a very large car, and inside are three large and one small sprue plus two bodyshell halves in pale grey styrene, a clear sprue, four flexible black tyres, a quartet of poly-caps, a small Photo-Etch (PE) sheet, a sheet of sticky-backed flock material, a sheet of windscreen masks, and the instruction booklet with colour profiles on the rear pages. The detail is typical Meng, with a complete engine, transmission and suspension included, as well as the interior, which will be seen through some crystal-clear transparencies, although it doesn’t have the opening doors of its larger sibling. The decals are crisp too, and include instrument and tyre stencils into the bargain. Construction begins by choosing which of the three team vehicles you wish to build. You have the choice of the iconic pale blue Gulf No.1 (Ken Miles & Denny Hulme in 2nd place), black No.2 (Bruce McLaren & Chris Amon in 1st place) and gold No.5 (Ronnie Bucknum & Dick Hutcherson in 3rd place), as this makes a difference to the details of the model. The front hubs are the first to be made, trapping poly-caps between the two halves, then putting them to one side while the passenger “tub” has the pedal box, gear shifter and fire extinguisher added, and the upper front suspension framework inserted above the moulded-in lowers, with a sprung damper between them and the hubs slotted in place at the outer end of the frames. An overhead diagram shows the painting of the tub for each of the decal options, with another for the floor pan, which glues to the underside of the tub, while you also attach a linkage between the two front hubs so the wheels point in the same direction. Two inner arch inserts are installed around the front axles, and the radiator assembly is dropped into the front with two side supports over the front lip. The engine is built in top and bottom halves, beginning with the block, transmission and the ancillaries running from the timing belt, with the hoses for cooling extending forwards. The transmission has the drive-shaft boots moulded in, and this assembly is then dropped into the floor pan along with the lower suspension wishbones. More suspension trickery is inserted over the top of the transmission with a pair of crisply moulded springs and a filler hose included. At the rear, a “bike rack” slips over the two rectangular forms either side of the transmission, top suspension framework and twin oil-coolers fixed to their bases at the front of the engine bay. The top of the engine has the cylinder heads and rocker covers, air intake and distributor fitted, then the complex 8-port exhaust manifold is installed from four sinuous parts that join to create the two exhausts that project from the rear of the car. The rear hubs are made up from two halves and a poly-cap, linked to the transmission by a short drive-shaft that slots into the boots, one per side of course. The GT40 has two seats, with one just for show, while the other has set of four-point belts that are made from the pre-cut flock material, which is slid over the buckles and adjusters, then attached to the seat. The GT40 seats were perforated initially to save weight and keep the driver cooler, with holes through the padding and metal eyelets keeping things from fraying. While these seats aren’t perforated due to the scale making it impractical, the eyelets are moulded into the fabric and can be painted silver as long as you didn’t drink too much last night. The texture and deformation of the surface of the material part of the seat is also excellent, and gives a very realistic impression that will be accentuated by some careful painting. The engine firewall has some nice moulding present too, and has a few ancillaries attached to the rear face along with the glazing before it is dropped into the tub. At the other end of the tub, the dashboard is made up of a vertical panel with the dials inlaid, which all have decals, the horizontal coaming with moulded-in grille, and the steering wheel on a short column set to the right side, which also has a boss decal. The thick door card panels are also inserted into the tub at this stage, boxing in the sides of the cab. The GT40’s wheels were larger at the rear to get the power down more efficiently, and this is replicated faithfully in the kit, using two pairs of beautifully moulded hubs with separate knock-off wheel nuts, and flexible black tyres with a subtle tread on the contact surfaces, and pin-stripe decals in a pale blue that go around the circumference of the tyre rim, plus some undocumented curved Good Year logos should you want them or your references require it. The completed wheels push-fit into the hubs and are held in place by the poly-caps, which will come in useful during the rest of construction. Attention turns to the bodyshell, and the front cab and bonnet section is prepped with inner arch inserts and a couple of clear lenses pushed in from the inside. There are a number of ejector-pin marks on the roof that will need hiding if you feel they’ll be seen, which is best done before adding the rear-view mirror and the other external parts. Externally, there are three small raised button-fairings on the left door, some of which should be removed and smoothed over for the various options, and from the inside a pair of holes are drilled for two of the options to add a raised fairing on the roof of the right-hand door, which I suspect was there to accommodate taller drivers. A filler cap is inserted into the right wing, and clear lenses for the headlights and side lights are also glued into their recesses in the front. The rest of the glazing is next, starting with the large windscreen, the two aerodynamic clear lenses on the headlights, sidelights, and the fixed side-windows with their tiny sliding hatches moulded-in. Masks are included for the glazing, and they are pre-cut from a white kabuki tape style of material. The bonnet hatch is an insert with a sculpted exhaust slot to extract hot air from the radiator, supported by a central strake, which was absent from golden number 5, so will need to be removed if you are modelling that option. That completes the front of the bodyshell, and it is attached to the floor pan while the rear section is made. The rear bodyshell has a liner that is a convoluted shape that has a pair of intakes added to the sides, and an extended Y-shaped hose inserted through holes in the sides, which is then painted before it is inserted into the outer skin after putting the clear rear lights in the rear from the inside. Externally, the rear window with its mask is put into the frame, and an intake with clear cover just behind it, which also has a mask to keep it that way too. Two intake “horn” scoops are set on their bases either side of the clear intake, and the PE mesh panel that makes up a good proportion of the rear of the vehicle is added to the frame, leaving a rectangular gap in the centre for the exhausts to exit once it is in place, pivoting on a pair of hinges at the rear. Thanks to the liner, the bland interior of the skin is hidden, which would otherwise have been visible when the back was opened up. Markings As previously mentioned, there are three options from the 1966 Le Mans 24 hours race, where they took first, second and third place in a stage-managed echelon that went over the line together, sneakily robbing Ken Miles of his number one spot (yes, I’ve seen Ford Vs Ferrari/Le Mans 66). From the box you can build one of the following: 2nd Place, 24 hours of Le Mans, France, 1966 Champion, 24 hours of Le Mans, France, 1966 3rd Place, 24 hours of Le Mans, France, 1966 The decals are printed anonymously and have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The GT40 is truly an iconic racing car, and dominated endurance racing for three whole years, leaving a legacy that lasts to today. This is a well-detailed model of the Le Mans winners from ’66, and should appeal to a great many, even non-car modellers. I’m off to watch Steve McQueen in Le Mans now – similar but different. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Steel Trash Bins (35636) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Old tyres not included We’re sometimes a tidy bunch of highly developed apes, and like to throw things away in nice neat places to be collected by more of our kind, who throw them in big holes in the ground out of sight and out of mind, or more recently, recycle some elements, while leaving little representative piles in the middle of our streets so that even the stone deaf know they’ve been. That’s a quip for us British readers, but probably applies worldwide. The Kit This diorama accessory set arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure-sized end-opening box, and has a painting of the contents on the front, plus instructions and painting guide on the rear. Inside the box are four sprues, two of each type, allowing the modeller to create two traditional pressed steel bins, and two more larger wheeled “dumpsters” that you see out back of shops and factories where more capacity is required. The bins are a piece of cake, moulded in two halves and a separate lid that has a moulded-in handle lying flat against the top of the lid. The dumpsters are created from four sides that also incorporate the base, and have a pair of handles at each end and on the front, plus a set of four castor wheels on the bottom, mounted on short outrigger brackets to make it more stable. The lid is of the swing-open type that rotates over to the back on a pair of angled pivot arms, and has a handle added to the front for easy operation. The paint codes are called out in Vallejo, Mr Color, AK Real Color, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, the colour name, and a swatch for good measure. The suggested shade is aluminium, which is a good match for the galvanised material often used, with some tyre black for the rubber tyres on the castor wheels. Conclusion The key to finishing these useful diorama tools will be the painting and weathering, so check your references for some inspiration. You can of course paint them any colour you like if you’re minded. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

T-44 Soviet Medium Tank (35356) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd As soon as the T-34 began production, the Soviet engineers were designing its replacement, in an effort to make a more technologically advanced tank that was lighter, better armoured and faster across rough terrain than its already formidable forebear. That may sound like an impossible task, but the engineers managed it, just a little late. The resulting design looked like a T-34 and a Panther tank had a baby, and in fact it was compared directly in trials with a Panther, where it performed extremely well. By rotating the engine 90o so that it was mounted transversely, they managed to enlarge the crew compartment, giving more room for shells and other equipment, and allowing the turret to be moved aft. The change from christie-style suspension to torsion-bar allowed the hull to sit lower, giving yet more room for shells, and the use of thick sloping armour made it impenetrable to the German 88mm shells from the front, and the larger octagonal turret with an 88mm main gun gave it exceptional hitting power. It sounds like a winner, and it was ready for production in 1944, but the higher-ups were sceptical of the concept of mounting an engine transversely, and incorrectly thought that it would result in a massive increase in repair and maintenance of the vehicle. The technology of the T-34 was also evolving, and the fitting of the larger turret with the 85mm gun to the older tank gave less impetus for change, as the upper-echelon weren’t all that concerned about survivability or crew comfort that the T-44 would offer. It did suffer from some teething troubles of course, which is still true today of any military project, and various changes to the armour thickness were implemented, which curiously still didn’t increase its overall weight, thanks to other weight savings. They attempted to put a 122mm gun in the turret, but it was unsuccessful, so was shelved. The T-44A was signed-off for production, but initial production was painfully slow, and took time to pick up, partially thanks to the move of the whole factory back to the west from Factory 183 in the east. In total, around 2,000 vehicles were made, but the T-44B that was to have an interim 100mm gun fitted and some other changes but was also subject to the vagaries of the changing situation after the end of WWII. A new tank was requested post-war, and the T-44B was used as the basis for the T-54, which evolved into the T-55, a tank that has the distinction of being the most produced tank in the world, so while we may not have heard much about the T-44, it played an important part in Soviet tank development at the end of WWII and during the Cold War. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling from MiniArt, and it is also an Interior Kit, so is jam-packed with detail. The kit as depicted here represents the third stage prototype and production variant that became known as the T-44A, with the driver’s hatch moved aft so that it was completely on the hull roof, rather than the earlier prototypes that were partly on the glacis plate. It arrives in a standard MiniArt top-opening box, with 72 sprues in grey styrene, two clear sprues, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass in a card envelope, decal sheet and the instruction booklet in full-colour on glossy paper, with painting and decaling profiles on the inside covers, again in full colour. The detail included in this kit is astronomical and can appear a little overwhelming on first looks, but if you are familiar with the recent output of MiniArt, you’ll realise just how impressive this model is. Construction begins with the torsion bar suspension, which are set up on four sets of frames with two bars per unit that operate two opposing swing-arms each. These are laid into the hull floor, with a slightly different fifth suspension unit placed at the front. Over these are placed a section of tread-plate under the turret location, a large shell stowage box on the right of the front hull, and the right side of the driver’s station butts up against it with decals added for the instruments that are installed there. The driver’s seat is made in two steps with controls fixed to the front frames and to a small panel on his right, then the bow-mounted machine gun is installed on the ledge to the driver’s right along with a stash of plate-style magazines for the bow gun, a toolbox and a set of foot pedals in the floor, with the seat fitted last. The hull sides have two layers, and need a number of holes drilling in the outer skin, a small tab is cut off the larger inner skin part, and the smaller inner part butting up to it at the rear. The left side also has a rectangular section inserted into the cut-out near the rear behind the firewall, which is detailed with fire extinguishers and ammo before it is glued to the floor, and the side walls are mated along the sides along with the rear bulkhead. The rear bulkhead has an internal skin added too, but this is first detailed with a large fan unit that sits within curved ductwork, and slides in from above after the final drive inner housings are glued into the sides. A set of engine support frames are made and put into slots in the hull floor, with a number of other parts added around the engine bay, before the transmission housing is fabricated from a large number of parts, plus the cylindrical brake units on the outer faces and a number of linkages to the rest of the vehicle, which includes a driveshaft take-off for the fan in the rear. More supports, linkages and engine ancillaries are scattered around the bay, then the 12-cylinder diesel engine is made, again with excellent detail throughout that includes all the hoses, ducts and exhaust manifolds almost filling the bay when the engine is dropped into place on the cross-braces installed earlier. In the fighting compartment two rows of shells are strapped in place horizontally, and two large stacks of plate magazines with PE slots and straps are installed, with more attached elsewhere. The crew area is then ready for closing, beginning with the roof panel, which has the turret ring and driver hatch moulded-in, the latter needing its hatch and vision block adding before it can be glued in place. The glacis plate is simplified from the third prototype onwards, having just a vision slot visible from the outside, and a couple of holes drilled in the edges to mount the bow-wave deflector later on. The two panels are glued down, and additional bump-stops plus final drive bell housings are fixed to the sides at the same time, adding a radiator-like box in the engine bay. In order to enjoy the hard work you’ve done in the engine bay, you can leave the three hatches on the front engine deck panel open, or close them up if you prefer, then the fenders and idler axles are fixed to each side of the hull on slots. There’s still some space in the engine bay, which is taken up by a large radiator bath that is made from individual faces, feeder hoses and a pair of brackets at each end. It slips in beside the small box inserted earlier, and can be posed in the open or closed position for access to the engine underneath. The hatch above it has a framework with four PE meshes that slot in place over a louvered exit, and it too can be posed open or closed, with the closed option only viable if the inner radiator is closed too. If the radiator is open, an alternative hose is included to link it to the engine as per the real thing. At this point there is still a small section of the engine deck missing at the rear, which has a full-width hatch, and two half-width hatches that can be fitted open or closed just forward of it, with PE meshes in their centres. More detail is then applied to the fenders, including pioneer tools, long stowage boxes, and supports for the four cylindrical external fuel tanks added with PE carry-handles and tie-downs, plus the fenders front and rear with stiffening brackets on the aft. Additional track links with PE tie-downs, towing hooks on the glacis, and two towing cables are fixed to the fenders to finish them off, having the choice of using the moulded cables, or cutting free the eyes and drilling holes to accept your own braided cable for better detail and flexibility. Two twin idler wheels with their axles are prepared along with ten paired road wheels and their pins are made up, then the drive sprockets with five circular spacers between the faces, and a long pin for attachment to the hull, which is of course next. With the running gear in place, you can make up the tracks, which are created from 35 pairs of two different sections, one of which is flat, the other having a guide horn, interleaved to create two runs of 70 parts each. These are individual links, with small pegs and recesses to give an element of flexibility to them, although you shouldn’t rely on the pins too much, as they are easily damaged. It’s best to use them during construction of the sections, and then set them in place using liquid glue once you have the correct shape and sag of the track run. I put a run of six parts together quickly, with each link having four sprue gates to remove from the curved edges. Once cut off, the roundness can be sanded back into the links, and those areas will be hidden to a great extent between the links, so they don’t have to be picture perfect. The turret exterior joints are another aspect that doesn’t have to be perfect, but first you have to make up the breech for the main gun, add pivots and a seat for the gunner, then mount it in the lower turret part where another seat is also fitted. Seat backs, sighting gear, coaxial machine gun with PE stock and other ancillaries, then adding a massive store of sixteen shells in a framework box, with all the shells having stencil decals and a detailed painting guide. The turret sides have a really nice rough cast texture moulded into the outer skin, which extends onto the underside and mantlet, offering some great visual interest to the finished model, even including the protruding weld beads that close it up. The sidewalls are prepared with radio gear, traverse mechanism, additional shells and ammo magazines, plus various other bits & bobs. The roof is also prepared with vision blocks with handles, lights, fume extraction fan, as well as the external aspects of the turret, such as an open or closed gunner’s hatch and the commander’s cupola, which has five narrow vision blocks around its circumference and a fold-up hatch with periscope in the front section. The gun barrel is slide-moulded and inserts into the base of the breech with the outer armoured mantlet slid into place over it, then closed at the top with a PE cover. At the rear of the bustle is a grab-handle and a folded-up tarp lashed to the back. More grab-handles and tie-down lugs are added to the sides as a final act, then the turret is dropped into the hull, and that’s it finished. Markings There are eight options included on the decal sheet, with colour profiles in the front and rear covers, although one only has front and rear profiles, mainly because that’s where all the decals are. From the box you can build one of the following green monsters: Red Army, Summer 1945 29th Armoured Division, 5th Guards Mechanised Army, Slonim, Belarus, 1946-7 Red Army, Summer 1945 Red Army, 1945-6 Soviet Army, late 40s 8th Mechanised Army, Operation Whirlwind, Budapest, Hungary, November 1956 8th Mechanised Army, Operation Whirlwind, Budapest, Hungary, November 1956 Soviet Army, presumably Belarusian Military District, 1950s 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 an impressive-looking vehicle that bears more than a passing resemblance to both its progenitor the T-34, and the German Panther that it was intended to blow to pieces in short order. The huge amount of detail will appeal to anyone wanting to get maximum modelling time from their purchase, which this kit will supply in spades. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Plastic Barrier Set (35634) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Road works. Gotta love ‘em! Modern road works are often full to the brim of traffic cones and colourful plastic barriers to separate traffic that are usually filled with sand or water to stop them from blowing away. Where the alleged workers are is usually a mystery however, but that’s another story all together. This set arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure-sized end-opening box, and inside are six identical sprues, each of which carries two single-part cones, two plastic bollards, and two two-part barriers. You don’t need anything else really, as the real things are just injection-moulded in their thousands, only on a larger scale and using a different type of plastic from styrene. The instructions are found on the rear of the box, and they are painfully simple for obvious reasons. Another painting shows the finished articles with suggested colours, but if you are depicting those unusual green cones, paint them green. The colour is really down to you and your references. Hazard Tape not included Conclusion Cones, bollards and barriers aren’t just used when there are roadworks, so these parts should find uses in dioramas of all sorts, from check-points to roadside debris left behind after work, or thrown in the back of a wagon for use later. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Syrian T-34/85 (37075) 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 and expedient methods, to be thrown into the fray against the numerically inferior German tanks on the Eastern Front. The engineers 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 freezing to a halt, which was a problem that affected the Germans badly after the initial 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 units 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 the enlarged turret, giving even the Tiger pause for thought before an engagement. The T-34/85 served until after WWII in Soviet service, but once it became obsolete, they were exported aggressively to Soviet friendly nations, who could always find uses for them, sometimes for a long period of service. Syria took on charge a total of 100 of the type that had been upgraded by the Czechs to include a heavy DShK anti-aircraft machine-gun on a prominent mount on the turret. These vehicles were used by Syria in the 60s and 70s, most notably the 6-Day War in 1967, where they didn’t fare well against the more modern Israeli armour. Some were later gutted and turned into border pillboxes by the victors, facing the opposite direction of course. The Kit This is another boxing of MiniArt’s recent T-34 line, and is not an interior kit, but the box is still loaded with sprues of all sizes, including the huge DShK and its impressive mount. In total there are sixty-five sprues in grey styrene, two in clear, a good-sized Photo-Etch (PE) brass fret, a reasonable-sized 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, notably the Czech production that we reviewed earlier, 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 much more promising for us, which with the rate we’re still receiving them for review seems to be the case. 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. The floor is decked out with four tubular fittings for the suspension on each side and has a lower escape hatch, then the engine firewall near the rear that performs the task of upper hull support in this boxing. The lower hull walls are next, with their Christie-style suspension springs contained in channels up the inside face. The upper hull begins with the ball-mount and DT Machine gun for the bow, without a stock for the gunner’s (dis)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, and has an armoured external cover to protect the majority of the barrel from incoming rounds. The driver’s hatch is hinged at the top, and the armoured cover is applied to the top edge of the aperture, and a pair of raised marks are cut away and made good for this edition, with a length of track-links running across the lower section of the glacis on two rows of raised pips, adding the lower glacis plate at the front of the hull first. The upper hull top and sides are moulded as one, and the sides have a substantial number of holes drilled out before they are used, with a few nubs cut from the exterior on the way, then the glacis plate it fitted to the front and glued to the lower hull. A pair of slim styrene parts are glued to the hull sides next to the turret ring, with two stiffener plates in PE where the front fenders will be later. At the rear the engine bay is still exposed, which is next to be addressed by adding a frame around the rear bulkhead then attaching this large rear panel with exhausts and filling the circular inspection hatch in the centre, with a pair of armoured exhaust covers for the exhausts and two cylindrical fuel tanks on brackets at the top corners. The engine deck is covered with vents and louvers that are added with a central inspection hatch, then fixed over the engine bay. Additional armoured covers with PE grilles are fitted over the basic louvers, then the suspension swing-arms and stub axles are installed under the sponsons, with final drive housing and idler wheel axles at front and rear. 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. Mudguards are assembled with PE strips for the front fenders, with bow-wave deflector passing over the track links on the glacis, and at the rear a pair of curved racks for additional fuel tanks are installed to the rear of the hull sides, with many short tie-down loops and a few longer ones in the mid-section, plus some stowage boxes made up with PE clasps that mount on the narrow horizontal fenders running down the side of the vehicle. Small parts including various pioneer tools and stowage boxes are made up and fitted onto the sloped sides of the hull, and interlinked towing cables are glued just forward of them. A trio of smooth-surfaced cylindrical fuel tanks are installed on the sides later by using curved brackets and five-piece tanks with PE and styrene shackles holding them in place, the cables taking up the space where the fourth tank would be. The headlight is a detailed assembly made up from PE and styrene parts, with an angled cage folded around a jig to obtain the correct shape. 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 two lengths of 100mm braided cord or wire, so make sure you have some on hand when you begin. 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, but their ruggedness also applied to desert conditions. There are two different 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 apply the adhesive. Each side uses 72 links, which equates to 36 of each part, 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, wedges 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. This is not an interior kit, so the basic gun breech is made up from a few parts with another 7.62mm DT machine gun mounted coaxially in the mantlet, before it is set to one side while the turret floor is completed. The floor part first has a lip inserted within the ring, then the inner mantlet support is prepared with the main gun’s mount, which is glued to the turret floor and has the breech slid in from behind to be joined by the coax DT with its mount. The turret upper starts as an almost complete shell with three sides moulded into it, which has some holes drilled into the skin and the roof added, which has a large cupola with clear vision blocks and binoculars built into the front of the hatch, plus a simpler hatch for the gunner, both of which are shown fitted 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. The single-part slide-moulded gun tube is inserted into the inner mantlet and covered by the outer, has a hollow muzzle for extra detail. A top mantlet cover, plus a self-made canvas tarp (using your own stock) can be fitted to the rear with PE straps, or you can depict the straps hanging loose if you choose. The DShK 12.7mm anti-air machine gun is made up of many parts with a large ammo can and a section of link joining it to the breech, then mounted on a substantial oval cantilever mount on the cupola top with hinges and a large piston in the centre, affixing to the turret around the commander’s cupola, with the hatch cover built-in. The turret is finally dropped into place in the hull to complete the build, with no bayonet lugs to hold it in place, so take care if you decide to inspect the underside one day. Markings The decal sheet is relatively large even though this is a tank, which is handy (sorry), and 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. From the box you can build one of the following: Syrian Armed Forces, Syria, Damascus, Early 1960s Syrian Armed Forces, Six-Day War, Summer 1967 Syrian Armed Forces, Six-Day War, Summer 1967 Syrian Armed Forces, presumably Yom Kippur War, Golan Heights, October 1973 Conclusion We’ve been treated to many, many variants of this doughty and long-lived medium tank that saw service in almost as many places as the AK47 until the 1970s at least. The Syrians used them extensively, although unsuccessfully, mainly because they were by then outdated, under-armoured and under-armed. It’s a great kit, and the handprint covered option is very tempting. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Austin Armoured Car 3rd Series (39010) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Armour became an important part of WWI, seeing the first fielding of the Tank by the British, and numerous types of armoured car that saw various uses. At the beginning of WWI Austin’s armoured car was built on their civilian chassis, with light armour and two Maxim machine guns in separate turrets, one firing to each side, front and rear. Many were destined for Russia, but after the Russian Revolution in 1917 some of the later variants were used in British service. Of course, during missions some would fall into enemy hands due to abandonment or breakdown, just as the tanks did, so they were occasionally found with big crosses on them after some re-branding by the Germans. The third series of armoured cars had some alterations made to improve their usage, including deleting windows, putting bullet-resistant glass in the front vision ports, and small armoured sheets to the sides of the machine guns to prevent their cooling jackets from being holed by incoming rounds. A few of the 3rd series were sent to the Russians before they bailed out of the war due to the revolution, and they in turn gave a couple to the Finnish Red Army, but they were captured and used by the Finnish Army instead. Later, a batch of 1918 Pattern vehicles were manufactured for Russia, but were never delivered, with a batch handed to the newly formed Tank Corps, to be utilised in battle using a novel method of deployment. Tanks would tow them across the battlefield through no-man’s land, after which they would peel off and roam freely along and even behind enemy lines. They caused chaos and were almost too effective, ranging miles behind enemy lines at times, occasionally breaking down or getting otherwise captured, but they set the scene for the Armoured Car and Infantry Fighting Vehicle of wars yet to come. At the end of the Great War some were returned to the UK and repurposed, but many that were formerly in Russian possession found their way into the inventory of other Eastern European countries, and a small batch were even used by the Japanese, who were British Allies in WWI. Some of those were still in service up until just before WWII, and the Finnish used their few into the 20s. The Kit This is another reboxing of MiniArt’s recently tooled base kit, with new parts to accurately portray the third series included, including the new side panels, vision ports and wheels. It arrives in standard-sized top-opening box with a painting of the vehicle on the front, and inside are nineteen sprues in grey styrene, a sprue of clear parts, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE) in a card envelope, a decal sheet and the instruction booklet that has colour profiles inside the front and rear covers. It’s an Interior kit, so some of the sprues are small, but you get a lot of detail moulded-in, thanks to MiniArt’s diligent designers that make full use of techniques such as slide-moulding, which helps improve detail without creating too many additional parts in achieving this goal. Construction begins with the ladder chassis, which is built up from two longitudinal rails held apart by various cross-members, some of which have mounting points and pass-throughs for other parts such as drive-shafts for the rear wheels. The engine has its own bearer rails, and it is built up on the sump with a good number of parts, resulting in a nice replica. The transmission fits to the rear of the rails behind the engine, then they are dropped into the chassis as a unit, and joined by a number of ancillary parts, controls and a chunky radiator that mates with its feeder pipes. Exhaust and leaf-spring suspension along with bumper irons are glued to the inverted chassis, and the rest of the driver controls are attached to the topside, even before the cab is started. The rods that turn control movements into actions are threaded through the chassis rails, or can be replaced by 0.3mm wires of your own stock, with PE tensioning mechanisms supplied if you choose this option. The big rear axle with drum brakes and the front axle with steering arms are fabricated and attached to their relevant suspension mounts, with more control linkages for the handbrake and steering joining things together. Finally, a little bodywork is attached, initially at the sides of the engine compartments in preparation for the gluing of the swooping front arches, then each axle gets a wheel at both ends, made up from single-part hubs at the front, and rear which also gets a circular PE ring, onto which the four radial-treaded tyres are fitted, each one having a seam in the centre of the tread, which should be removed carefully to preserve tread detail. Now standing on her own four wheels, the floor of the fighting compartment and the crew cab plus the firewall and various small fittings are placed on the top of the chassis, with another insert providing the bases for the two turrets that have pivot-points in the centre for the machine gun mounts. Various stowage boxes are made up and sat next to the rear steering wheel assembly that was added for this variant, and also has a simple seat for the new crew member who would get them out of hot water and dead-ends just that little bit easier. Two similar crew seats are attached to the front along with steps at the sides, then the somewhat complex upper hull is built sensibly in a step-by-step fashion that stops the modeller from becoming over-faced. Several raised features should be removed from parts before fitting, and additional rivets are shown being added in various other locations, which you can slice from the flat section of the two Ck sprues, unless you’ve got a set of Archer raised rivet transfers. The crew flap can be posed open to give a wider view of the battlefield for the drivers by using two lengths of rod, and when in battle it can be closed down, restricting the driver to a letterbox view of the world, which although frustrating is infinitely better than being shot in the face. Plenty of scrap diagrams show the correct orientations of all the parts, so there’s little room for error unless you rush at it and don’t plan ahead. The hull has a number of doors that can be posed open and closed too, with vision flaps for additional situational awareness, and again there is a lot of hand-holding to get things in the right place, and a number of PE parts to add more detail. A single headlight is fitted to the front, and a searchlight that flips up from inside the turrets on a flap to protect them from incoming bullets, both with clear lenses for realism. Even the radiator has a remotely operated armoured cover, as an engine overheating on the battlefield could become troublesome if the flap stays closed too long. The side-cowlings for the engine compartment can also be posed open or closed, and have small PE straps holding them closed. With the addition of the rear fenders, the hull/body is lowered over the chassis. To begin the turrets, you build up a mount for the either a Maxim, Schwarzlose or MG-08 machine gun, including a tractor-style perforated seat for the operator and a large ammo can to feed the gun, which is fitted into a cradle mount that is inserted inside the turret later on. A few more of those slice-off rivets are glued to the sides of the two turret halves, mainly for detail purposes, as adding moulded-in rivets to a curved part is very difficult, and results in a poor results due to the way the parts are removed from the inflexible metal moulds. A pair of armoured plates are installed on either side of the gun port to protect it from harm, with PE brackets holding them square to the barrels. The roof is detailed with latches, the pop-up searchlights on PE brackets and other small fittings can be fitted open or closed as you see fit. The machine gun mount is inserted from below, taking care to slip the barrel through its port first, then gluing the two ends of the lateral cradle supports onto the inner wall of the turret. There are two turrets included that are handed so that the searchlight flap is on the outer side, and these drop into the circular cut-outs in the roof of the fighting compartment, held in place by gravity unless you fix them into position with a little glue. Markings There are a generous five decal options on the decal sheet, with their four-view profiles printed in full colour on the glossy pages of the booklet, and they are all either green or grey, depending on operator and time of service. From the box you can build one of the following: Armoured Car Platoon 1, Royal Prussian Army, Kyiv, Ukraine, Spring 1918 Armoured Car Platoon 3, Royal Prussian Army, France, Autumn 1918 Austro-Hungarian Army, Italy, Summer 1918 Finnish Red Guard, Battle for Helsinki, Finland, April 1918 Finnish White Guard, Finland, Helsinki, 1919 Decals are by MiniArt's usual partners 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 Another cool-looking WWI Austin Armoured Car, which saw service with many different armies in a relatively short period. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Tractor D8506 w/Cargo Trailer (35317) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The German military had a habit of pressganging anything they needed into service during WWII, and they weren’t averse to pinching civilian machinery to use for any task they were struggling with. Tractors were especially useful for lugging around heavy equipment, as that was their original job around the farm, so it made sense to press a few of those into service as transports over rough ground and to lug aircraft and other heavy equipment around their airfields. The Kit This is another rebox of MiniArt’s D8500 range of kits, with this being the fourth and not the last. This boxing brings together one of the tractors with a large cargo trailer, plus a quantity of oil drums and large boxes that you have probably seen elsewhere in their range before now if you’re either a reader of our reviews or owner of any MiniArt kits. Detail is excellent as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt, with a pair of figures included to give it some human scale. It arrives in a standard top-opening box, and inside are twenty-five sprues of various sizes in grey styrene including two tread parts for the big wheels on their own sprues, a clear sprue, a small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) in a card envelope, decal sheet and the instruction booklet that has colour profiles of the decal options on the inside and one of the outside covers. Construction begins with the tractor, which has a large cast metal chassis that is made up from two halves each end around a centre-point, with lots of parts used to create its distinctive shape, plus a few PE parts on the forward end cap. The superstructure is roughly rectangular, having various filler caps on the top, radiator panels on the sides, and a choice of two styles of PE name-plates on the front, which should be curved ever-so-slightly to match the shape of the cowling. The driver’s foot pedals are long curved linkages to the underside of the chassis, and with these in place the driver’s tread-plated floor is installed and a big handbrake is fitted to the deck, with a stowage box under the lip at the left rear. The driver’s seat is mounted on a sturdy spring, a couple of hand controls are inserted into depressions in the deck in front of him, then the large drive housing is mounted on the left side of the chassis, with a bell-housing on the opposite side, and two large fenders/sidewalls over where the rear wheels will be, plus a sturdy bumper-bar at the rear. Two large exhausts are made up from various odd-shaped parts, and the front axle is built with a central leaf-spring and steering arms, then attached under the chassis in several places, with a pair of large clear-lensed headlamps on an oversized cross-member on the topside. The wheels on this tractor have heavy tread, which is built up by layering five parts together to make a tyre-sandwich at the front, and a three-part layer for the larger rear wheels. The tyres have their hubs moulded-in, while the rears have additional rear hub parts added between the wheels and rear axles. The fifth wheel is the steering wheel, which can be fitted atop the steering column as you’d expect, or detached and used on a shaft to manually start the vehicle via the input shaft hidden behind a cover in the centre of the right-hand bell-housing. The flatbed for the trailer is next, made up on a ladder chassis with two sections of bed, which has fine engraved wood texture on both sides, as do the other wooden structures in the kit. The towing hitch to daisy-chain trailers together is attached to a cross-member at the rear, and in front of it are a pair of leaf-springs for the fixed rear axle. The front axle is similarly built, but on a frame that has a turntable between it and the bed to enable the axle to turn for easier manoeuvring. The solid rubber tyred wheels are supplied as two halves with moulded-in hubs, and each one slots into the end of its axle when complete. A small bench seat is added to the front of the shallow front upstand of the flatbed, with two long sides and rear tail-gate with tiny styrene clasps giving the impression of holding it in place. To model it with the sides and tail-gate down is simply a matter of gluing them in place folded down and fitting the clasps loosely against the sides accordingly. The cargo consists of four barrels with separate ends and stiffening ribs, which also come with some hand pumps on the sprues. The wooden crates are of various sizes, with three in total to place in the bed of the trailer. As already mentioned, there are two crew, consisting of a driver and officer. The driver is seated for obvious reasons, while the officer is carrying an MP40 loosely by his side in his right hand, and is wearing typical officer-style riding trousers and knee boots, plus a flat-topped officer’s cap. Sculpting and parts breakdown is up to MiniArt’s usual excellent standard, and there is a map case, pistol holster and a pair of binoculars on the sprues next to the figures. Markings There are two schemes available from the small decal sheet, one in Wehrmacht service, the other in Luftwaffe. Although they’re both panzer grey, the Wehrmacht machine is covered in dunkelgelb squiggles. From the box you can build one of the following: Unidentified Luftwaffe Unit, 1940-95 Wehrmacht, Eastern Front, 1942-44 Decals are by MiniArt’s usual partner 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 peculiar assemblage, but that’s one of the things that makes it appealing. Exceptional detail helps in that regard of course, and the figures add extra interest. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Market Cart with Vegetables (35623) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Although the roadside stall is something of a blast from the past, only really seen as Starsky and Hutch plough through it in a car chase, these small businesses used to be commonplace in most towns and villages. This set includes a hand-portable cart that is finely balanced so that a single person can walk with it in front or behind them. Inside the shrink-wrapped box are four sprues, one containing the cart, two fruit boxes, and another is filled with plastic fruit and veg. The instructions on the rear of the box cover the construction of the cart, the two upstands that allow the boxes to be displayed, and the eight shallow veg boxes themselves. They also helpfully tell you what is what, and show the two-part pumpkins being glued together. In the bottom right an example drawing of the completed cart with produce is given, showing which veg go where in case you really can’t decide yourself. You even get told which colours to use on which fruit and veg, just in case you’re not familiar with the colour of any of them. Here’s a list of all the produce you’ll find on the sprue: Potato Eggplant Bell Pepper Cucumber Onion Carrot Tomato Beet(root) Pumpkin (two types) Some of the carrots look suspiciously like parsnips, but all you have the power to paint them a yellowish shade if you agree with me. As usual with MiniArt sets their sculpting is exceptional with crisp wood detail and sensible parts breakdown, plus loads of vegetables of differing shapes from their brethren to add realistic randomness. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

British Tank Crew (35332) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models The British tank crews in WWII generally wore custom overalls and either a black beret with the tank regiment badge on the front, or a potty-style helmet without brim, so that they wouldn’t get hung up on the scenery inside their vehicles. This set depicts a crew of five in and around a tank wearing just such items of clothing, suitable for all but the hottest and coldest of weather. Inside the shrink-wrapped box are four sprues, two containing the figures and two their helmets, weapons and accessories, plus a small paper sprue map to show where all the parts are. The commander is wearing a leather tabard over his overalls, while the rest of the crew aren’t, but some of them are wearing drop-leg holsters for their side-arms, which look surprisingly modern. The commander is stood with hands on hips, two other crew are stood, one resting a hand and foot against something, while the other inspects some charts against his compass. The two seated characters could be half in or out of their hatches, one with a foot up level on the edge of the hatch, the other leaning forward talking into a microphone. Most of them also have comms headsets on under their helmets or over their berets. As usual with MiniArt figures their sculpting is exceptional with crisp detail and sensible parts breakdown plus extras to add some detail to their vicinity if you use them in a diorama. The helmets have their internal webbing moulded-in, and a set of goggles and holster is supplied for all, with a few ammo pouches, map case, unholstered pistols and even a sniper rifle with scope can be found on the sprues. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Glass File (Long MTS-048a Short MTS-048b) Meng Model via Creative Models Ltd Meng have a growing range of tools thanks to their collaboration with high quality tools expert DSPIAE. These new files arrive in a card box with a header hanger, and inside you will find a flexible plastic box that protects the tempered glass file within. The box is printed with instructions, which advise you to avoid dropping the files, or storing them outside their packet – all common sense if you’ve ever experienced the explosive disassembly of a piece of tempered glass before. The recent concept of etching an abrasive pattern onto glass files has been around in the nail salon world for a while now, but they have been rustic, insofar as the pattern is random to cut in every direction. The engineers behind this more technologically advanced variant on the theme have etched a unidirectional “tread” onto tempered glass that will give an incredibly accurate result on an unerringly flat surface. The files have a mirrored finish on their abrasive side, with the logo in negative and again in positive on the opposite side. The short version has abrasive etched along its full-length of 90mm, across the 12.7mm width, while the long version has an average of 67mm of abrasive (it’s cut at an angle), with a total length of 110mm, and the same width as the shorter version. Apologies if looking at this photo makes your eyes go "gozzy". It really affected mine in a quite unpleasant manner, so you've been warned. No staring! In use they are strange when initially rubbed against plastic, but the result is shiny thanks to the fine abrasive. This doesn’t affect the speed at which the material is abraded away however, but you have to be careful not to dig one edge of the file into the surface, as this can result in a groove. With a little practice, flat, smooth surfaces can be obtained, thanks in part to the inflexibility of the file, unlike those rounded-off surfaces that can plague users of files with soft, flexible surfaces. The fact that these files produce such a smooth result also saves time, and to illustrate that, I have just taken a few seconds to remove a large blocky sprue gate with the file very quickly and to the exact height of the surrounding plastic, leaving no residual work left to do. When using it to remove material, you will notice that small shavings are thrown out of the path of the file, as the tiny shapes are performing a task somewhat akin to a wood plane, only on a minute scale. The phrase "nano-technology" is used on the outer box, so it must be modern! The instructions also advise not to use the files on anything harder than plastic, as it will damage the nano-blades on the surface, and shorten the life of the tool, possibly also ruining the smoothness of the results into the bargain. It’s best not to find out, so store them in their boxes and use them as advised on the out box. Conclusion A highly useful tool that will become a part of your toolkit to see frequent action in your modelling time. You might not use it daily, but when you do, you’ll be glad you have it. Highly recommended. Currently out of stock with Creative due to popularity, but keep checking back for new stock. Long (MTS-048a) Short (MTS-048b) Review sample courtesy of

British Infantry Weapons & Equipment (35368) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd This set from MiniArt brings s a whole host of British Army Infantry Equipment. There are Mk.III & MK.IV Lee Enfield rifles along with a Sniper Version. What look to be Both Enfield & Webley Service revolvers along with a US Colt 45. There are bayonets for both types of rifle and various parts of 37 pattern webbing. There are MK.II Helmets with and without netting and the newer Mk.III Helmets, Other parts include Hand Grenades, Holstered Pistos, Binoculars, and even a camera. You can never have enough equipment at times for any troop scene or diorama, Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.H Vomag Early Prod. June 1943 (35302) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Unlike the later Tigers and Panther tanks, the Panzer IV had been designed in the years leading up to the outbreak of WWII, and was intended for a different role than it eventually played, which was as a form of infantry support with the mobile artillery function rolled into one. It was a heavier tank than the previous numbered types, and was well-designed, although it did suffer from the typical WWII German over-engineering that made them complex, expensive and slow to build. The type went through a number of enhanced variants including a more powerful engine to give better performance, improved armour thickness for survivability, and latterly the provision of a larger gun with a longer, high velocity barrel that was based upon the Pak-40, but with shortened recoil mechanism and an enlarged muzzle-brake that helped contain the ferocious recoil from the 75mm gun. The new gun was in direct reaction to their first encounter with the T-34 in Soviet hands, an incident that put the wind up the German tankers and their superiors, as they knew very little of its existence until they met it in battle. The Ausf.H was the penultimate mainstream variant of the Pz.IV, and was made from mid ’43 until early 1944 with over 2,300 made, some of which were manufactured at the Nibelungenwerk, one of the largest factories in the German area of influence, based in St Valentin, Austria. The Vomag factory was producing more along with Krupp, but by the war’s end Nibelungenwerk was the home of the Panzer IV in its final Ausf.J form, and all factories were bombed heavily, choking off production as the war drew to a close. The Kit This is a new boxing of the recently tooled brand new model of the Panzer IV from MiniArt, and depicts a short period of H production in June 1943 when vehicles of this early specification were being turned-out. It isn’t an Interior kit, but some parts of the interior are still included regardless, especially in the turret. The kit arrives in a top-opening box, and inside are fifty-two sprues in grey styrene of various sizes, a clear sprue, two sheets of Photo-Etch (PE) in a card envelope, a decal sheet and thick instruction booklet with colour profiles for the decal options on the inside covers. It has individual link tracks included that are made up on a jig (more about those later), and the level of detail is excellent, which is something we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s output over the last several years. Construction begins with the shell of the lower hull , which is made up on a main floor with cross-braces, sidewalls and bulkheads, then the lower glacis over where the transmission and final drive are situated, doors being fitted into the apertures before installation. The final drive housing, towing eyes, suspension bump-stops, return roller bases and fuel filler caps are glued into place on the hull sides, and two lengths of track made up to be attached to the glacis plates, held in place by clamps on the top side, and a double rod on the front. The rear bulkhead is detailed with armoured covers for the track tensioner arms, stiffener plates and access hatches, including a manual starter slot. The fenders can now be slotted into position at the top of the hull sides, both of which are covered in a delicate tread-plate pattern where appropriate. The big towing eye and its stiffeners are applied to the bottom of the bulkhead, and after fitting another full-width plate, the big exhaust muffler is attached to the rear, made from a combination of shaped styrene parts then braced to the bulkhead by PE straps. The sides of the hull have a series of armoured panels fixed to the underside to protect the suspension mechanism, then the fenders can be slotted into position at the top of the hull sides, both covered in a delicate tread-plate pattern where appropriate. The rest of the lower glacis plate with hatches for final drive and transmission access is made up with detail on the exterior, plus hatches for the central transmission unit and final drive. The upper hull is created in a similar manner to the lower, with the roof accepting side panels after making some small holes, the engine bay is fitted out with the side vents for the radiators and a flat rear panel that closes the area in. At the front there is a choice of welded or riveted armour panel for different decal options, then the bow machine gun barrel is inserted from the outside, together with the armoured shutters for the radiator louvers, PE covers, front hatches, along with the jack-block in its bracket, or the empty bracket if you choose. The hull halves can be joined now, which involves adding the cooling louvers and side-mounted air filters that are attached to the hull sides with input trunk disappearing within the engine compartment, not to be confused with the exhaust round the back. The kit supplies a set of four towing cable eyes, but you’re responsible for providing the braided cable, which should be 152mm long and 0.75mm thick, times two. These are wrapped around two hooks on the rear in a figure-of-eight pattern. Now it’s pioneer tool time, with barrel cleaning rods, spanner, shovel, the jack, plus a set of four spare road wheels in an open-topped box with spanners strapped to the sides. The rear mudguards and front splash-guards are applied now, and the prominent external fire extinguisher with PE frame (and alternative styrene one if you don’t feel up to wrangling the PE) is fitted to the fender with a pair of wire-cutters and a pry-bar, all of which have optional empty mounts for missing tools. Just when you think you’ve finished the tools, there’s a crank for the engine, a pair of track-spreaders, a choice of two fittings for the axe, plus some styrene springs to allow you to show the front guards in the up position. We’re getting closer to the tracks now, but there are still a lot of wheels that need to be made. They are mounted in pairs on twin bogeys with a leaf-spring slowing the rebound of the twin swing-arms. The outer casting with two axles that the swing-arms slot onto are then closed in by a cover. Finally, the twin wheels with their hubcaps slide onto the axles, and a small oiler reservoir is glued to the side of the assembly. You make four for the left side and a mirrored set of four for the right, plus two-part idler, two-part drive sprockets and eight pairs of return-rollers that fit onto the posts on the sides of the hull. The suspension units have slotted mounting points that strengthen their join, and then you can begin the tracks. The tracks are individual links with separate track pins, but don’t freak out yet! Each link has three sprue gates that are small and easy to nip off and clean up. The included jig will hold eleven links, which are fitted with the guide horns uppermost. Then you cut one complete set of 11 track pins off the sprue and slide them into the pin-holes in the sides of the connected links all at once. They are then nipped off their length of sprue and can be tidied up. I added a little glue to the tops of the pins to keep them in place, and have a length of track that is still flexible. Just minimise the amount of glue you use to avoid prematurely freezing them in a shape you may not want. There are 101 links per track run, so you’ll be busy for a while, but the result is fabulously detailed as you can see from the pic. I didn’t bother cleaning up the mould seams for expediency, but if you plan on modelling your Panzer with clean tracks, you can sand them away if you feel the need. With the track-runs done you can relax to an extent now, but there’s a bit of PE folding ahead if you are using the PE solid schurzen (side skirts) on your model. First you must add the styrene brackets on each side, then the long supports for the hook-on schurzen panels, and an aerial slot with PE end-caps. There are five panels per side, with angled front and rear lower edges to reduce the likelihood of them digging in over rough ground. Bear in mind that these panels were subject to the rigors of battle so were often bent, punctured by shells, damaged or even missing entirely, so use your references or imagination to decide whether you wish to depict a fresh set, or a set that have been in the field for a while. Finally, we get to the turret, which begins with the ring and minimalist “floor”, to which a drop-seat is fixed. The inside of the mantlet is fixed to the floor after having the pivot installed, with the newly assembled breech is glued into the rear once it has its breech block and closure mechanism fixed in place. The breech is then surrounded by the protective tubular frame, and the stubs of the coax machine gun and sighting gear are slid in through holes in the inner mantlet. A basket for spent casings is attached under the breech, the sighting tube and adjustment mechanism are put in place along with the coax machine gun breech. The roof and sides are all joined to together, and side hatches are the clamshell type that can be posed open, closed or anywhere in-between, with latches and handles added, and grab-handles over the top to ease exit. The commander’s cupola is a complex raised part with five clear vision ports around it, and a choice of open or closed outer parts holding the clear lenses in place, sliding into the ring like the real thing. A ring of pads cover the interstices to reduce injuries, and stirrup-shaped parts are fixed under each lens, with a single circular hatch with latch and handle glued into the top ring in open or closed versions, lifting and rotating round the pivot to open, rather than the earlier and more complex two-part clamshell hatch. The turret can now be closed up with the lifting hooks each made up of two parts, rain gutters over the hatches and grab handles on the edge of the roof. The gun has a flattened faceted sleeve made up from a three-sided lower section with separate top, and the muzzle brake is fabricated from three parts, with the gun tube in the middle, and a choice of two coax MG surrounds all fixing to the outer mantlet cover. A machine gun ring, machine gun with mount and dump bag, and PE blade sight are fitted around the exterior of the turret along with support framing for the upper schurzen, and the bustle stowage box is formed from a hollow body and separate lid. The turret schurzen are curved metal sheets applied to the styrene brackets that are by now glued to the roof and sides, that has a gap for the side hatches that are filled by a pair of hinged doors for more complete protection, and if you were wondering, you get open or closed variants with PE latches, and a group of additional PE parts such as latches dotted around the panels. Because of the complexity and realism of the turret and its ring, it drop-fits into position as the final act, as bayonet lugs aren’t present in the real thing. Markings Five decal options are included on the sheet, and they have a variety of schemes that are appropriate for later war tanks, from winter distemper and field camouflaged vehicles with a base coat of dunkelgelb (dark yellow) the common element. From the box you can build one of the following: Undefined Unit, before Operation Citadel, Summer 1943 Undefined Unit, Italy 1943 Pz.Rgt.35, 4.Pz.Div. Ukraine, Kovel District, Spring 1944 Undefined Unit, Ukraine, Kovel District, 1944 Pz.Rgt.24, 24 Pz.Div, Poland, late Summer 1944 Decals are by MiniArt’s usual partner, 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 one on many newly tooled and well-detailed panzer IV kits from MiniArt that should keep you occupied for a good quantity of modelling time. Careful painting will bring it to life, and there is plenty of detail that will be visible even after weathering. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Soviet ZIS-2/ZIS-3 2 in1 kit (35369) With limber & crew 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The ZIS-2 was a Soviet 57mm Anti Tank Gun. The gun was able to penetrate 90mm of RHA armour. The 57mm calibre was chosen as the lighter carriage would still be light, mobile, and easy to conceal. Production of the gun was halted in 1941 on the spurious reason that the shells fired were going right through German Armour, but the more plausible able reason was that the guns were the cost of the guns, and problems with the production of the ammunition. The ZIS-3 was a 76mm Artillery gun which used the barrel from the existing F-22USV and the light carriage from the ZIS-2. A muzzle brake and recoil system enabled the lighter carriage to be used. The ZIS03 could be manufactured in a third of the time, and for two thirds the cost of an F-22USV. This 2 in 1 kit from Miniart allows both a ZIS-2 and ZIS-3 to be built. As well as the guns the set contains one gun limber, a set of ammunition boxes, and 5 man gun crew. Both gun kits are on one main sprure with the wheels for both guns and the limber being on two additional sprues. The split trail carriage is first made up legs being able to be made up in the transport or deployed positions., The wheels are made up from 8 parts each, with individual slices making up the type patterns. The barrel for each gun then gets assembled and added to the carriage before the gun shield goes on. Sights and control wheels are then added. Care will be needed when building the kits as the instructions label the kits A Field Gun, or B Anti tank gun but then on the layout both sprues get called A Anti-tank gun. In addition the marking illustrations have the two labelled the wrong way around! ZIS-2 ZIS-3 The limber is then built up, again the wheels feature the same multi-layer style as the guns, The sides build up around the base plate with leaf spring suspension going on underneath. The central bar to attach the gun to, and to attach to the towing vehicle is added. On the top a seat frame is added for the crew who would ride up there. The kit provided four ammunition boxes for use with both guns. They can be configured to 76mm HE-fragmentation shells, 57mm AP Shells, or 76mm AP shells should the modeller wish to build the boxes open. Minart provide 5 crew figures for the gun. A commander searching out targets, a gun layer, a loader, one feeding ammunition up to the loader, and one poor guy who is schlepping more ammuntion upto the gun. The figures are upto Miniart's usual excellent standards and and are provided with personal equipment and individual weapons. This is an overall excellent package from Miniart which will build up into a good looking gun diorama, Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

British Soldiers Tank Riders (35299) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd It has been said its better to ride than walk, and as infantry carrying equipment thats certainly the case. Inside the shrink-wrapped box are seven sprues, two containing the figures, the others containing their equipment (there will be some spares here). This new figure set from Miniart brings us 5 figures in dessert uniform which can be placed on a tank or other vehicle as needed. There is one standing figure with headphones and a microphone and 4 other figures in different seated poses carrying rifles or a Bren gun. As usual with MiniArt figures their sculpting is exceptional with crisp detail and sensible parts breakdown plus the there are many extras to add some detail to their vicinity if you’re using them in a diorama; or to put in the spare box. Its good to see figures being provided like this instead of the more favoured action poses. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Panzer IV Ausf.H Vomag Early Prod. May 1943 (35298) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Unlike the later Tigers and Panther tanks, the Panzer IV had been designed in the years leading up to the outbreak of WWII, and was intended for a different role than it eventually played, which was as a form of infantry support with the mobile artillery function rolled into one. It was a heavier tank than the previous numbered types, and was well-designed, although it did suffer from the typical WWII German over-engineering that made them complex, expensive and slow to build. The type went through a number of enhanced variants including a more powerful engine to give better performance, improved armour thickness for survivability, and latterly the provision of a larger gun with a longer high velocity barrel that was based upon the Pak-40, but with shortened recoil mechanism and an enlarged muzzle-brake that helped contain the ferocious recoil from the 75mm gun. The new gun was in direct reaction to their first encounter with the T-34 in Soviet hands, an incident that put the wind up the German tankers and their superiors, as they knew very little of its existence until they met it in battle. The Ausf.H was the penultimate mainstream variant of the Pz.IV, and was made from mid ’43 until early 1944 with over 2,300 made, some of which were manufactured at the Nibelungenwerk, one of the largest factories in the German area of influence, based in St Valentin, Austria. The Vomag factory was producing more along with Krupp, but by the war’s end Nibelungenwerk was the home of the Panzer IV in its final Ausf.J form, and all factories were bombed heavily, strangling production as the war drew to a close. The Kit This is a new boxing of the recently tooled brand new model of the Panzer IV from MiniArt, and depicts a short period of H production in May 1943 when vehicles of this initial specification were being turned-out. It is an Interior kit, which extends to the full hull, with a great deal of detail included that should keep any modeller happy, beavering away at their hobby. The kit arrives in a heavily loaded top-opening box, and inside are sixty-six sprues in grey styrene of various sizes, a clear sprue, two sheets of Photo-Etch (PE) in a card envelope, a decal sheet and thick instruction booklet with colour profiles for the decal options on the inside covers. It has individual link tracks included that are made up on a jig (more about those later), and the level of detail is exceptional, which is something we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s output. Construction begins with the interior, which is made up on a main floor with bulkheads, ammo stores with individual shells (and stencil decals) and optional covers, then a complete Maybach HL 120 TRM engine. The engine is begun by putting together the transmission and final drive units, which is at the front of the hull next to the driver, with a set of instruments fitted to the top. This is inserted into the interior with the drive-shaft, the driver’s seat is assembled along with the foot and hand controls, plus a worrying amount (from his point of view) of shells behind his area, again with decals, plus another three ready-round boxes layered on top of various positions around the turret base. A ring of tread-plate defines the location where the turret basket will sit, and various other components are arranged around a simple seat for the radio operator/bow gunner, then the engine is assembled from its various shaped segments, topped off with the rocker covers and oil filler caps. A lot of ancillaries are added, including tons of drive-belts, engine bearers, exhaust manifolds, dynamo and pipework. It all fits snugly into the engine compartment section of the interior to await boxing in by the hull sides. The highly detailed brake-assembly for each drive sprocket is a drum-shaped affair that comprises a substantial number of parts with some exceptional detail, some of which are PE, and it really does look the part, fitted to the inside of each hull wall flanking the two crew seats, with more small equipment boxes and a fire extinguisher fitted nearby, then the exterior face of each side is detailed with the final drive housing, suspension bump-stops, return roller bases and fuel filler caps before they are glued into place on the hull sides, with the lower glacis plate helping keep them perpendicular to the floor. Back in the engine compartment, the empty spaces around the Maybach engine are filled with airbox, fuel tank and large radiator panels that are set in the compartment at an angle, as demonstrated by the scrap diagram. The rear bulkhead closes-in the final side of the compartment, and this is festooned with detail with armoured covers for the track tensioner arms, stiffener plates and access hatches, including a manual starter slot with PE chain keeping the cover captive to the vehicle. The big towing eye and its stiffeners are applied to the bottom of the bulkhead, and after fitting another full-width plate, the big exhaust muffler is attached to the rear, made from a combination of shaped styrene parts then braced to the bulkhead by PE straps. The sides of the hull have a series of armoured panels fixed to the underside to protect the suspension mechanism, then the fenders can be slotted into position at the top of the hull sides, including an optional one for the first decal option, with all covered in a delicate tread-plate pattern where appropriate. The rest of the lower glacis plate with hatches for final drive and transmission access is made up with detail inside and out, plus a choice of hatch style for the central transmission unit. The final drive hatches can be posed open if you wish to expose those attractive assemblies within, of use in a maintenance diorama scenario. The upper hull is created in a similar manner to the lower, with the roof accepting side panels after making some small holes, the engine bay is fitted out with the side vents for the radiators and a flat rear panel that closes the area in. At the front the thick armour panel is adjusted by removing some location markers for certain decal options, the bow machine gun installation is created as a sub-assembly, and set aside while the hatches and the barrel of the MG are fitted, mostly from the outside, together with the armoured shutters for the radiator louvers, hatch levers and lifting hooks, along with the jack-block in its bracket, or the empty bracket if you choose. The driver’s armoured vision port cover and the ball-mount for the gun complete the exterior work for now, and the assembly is flipped over to detail the inside, which includes a highly detailed set of radio gear that has a painting guide next to it. The bow gun’s breech and aiming mechanism are inserted into the back of the ball-mount, and the clear interior section of the driver’s port is also inserted along with the operating cams for the armoured cover. Another fire extinguisher is attached to the wall by the driver’s position too. The hull halves can be joined now, which involves making up the pair of twin fans that cool the radiators within the engine compartment using movable slatted panels to adjust cooling as necessary, and these two sub-assemblies are mated before the panels are glued in place with a choice of open or closed louvers. An additional set of air filters are attached to the hull sides with an input trunk disappearing within the engine compartment, not to be confused with the exhaust round the back. The kit supplies a set of four towing cable eyes, but you’re responsible for providing the braided cable, which should be 152mm long and 0.75mm thick, times two. These are wrapped around two hooks on the rear in a figure-of-eight pattern. Two lengths of spare track are made up to install on the glacis and lower glacis plates, the construction of which is discussed below. Now it’s pioneer tool time, with barrel cleaning rods, shovel, the jack, plus a set of four spare road wheels in an open-topped box with spanners strapped to the sides. The rear mudguards and front splash-guards are applied now, and the prominent external fire extinguisher with PE frame (and alternative styrene one if you don’t feel up to wrangling the PE) is fitted to the fender with a pair of wire-cutters and a pry-bar, all of which have optional PE mounts. Just when you think you’ve finished the tools, there’s a crank for the engine, a pair of track-spreaders, a choice of three axes, plus some styrene springs to allow you to show the front guards in the up position. We’re getting closer to the tracks now, but there are still a lot of wheels that need to be made. They are mounted in pairs on twin bogeys with a leaf-spring slowing the rebound of the twin swing-arms. There are two types of outer casting with two axles (for working or fixed suspension) that the swing-arms slot onto, and are then closed in by a cover, which you also have a choice of two designs for. Finally, the twin wheels with their hubcap slide onto the axles, and a small oil reservoir is glued to the side of the assembly. You make four for the left side and a mirrored set of four for the right, plus two-part idler, two-part drive sprockets and pairs of return-rollers that fit onto the posts on the sides of the hull. The suspension units have slotted mounting points that strengthen their join, and then you can begin the tracks. The tracks are individual links with separate track pins, but don’t freak out yet! Each link has three sprue gates that are small and easy to nip off and clean up. The included jig will hold eleven links, which are fitted with the guide horns uppermost. Then you cut one complete set of 11 track pins off the sprue and slide them into the pin-holes in the sides of the connected links all at once. They are then nipped off their length of sprue and can be tidied up. I added a little glue to the tops of the pins to keep them in place, and have a length of track that is still flexible. Just minimise the amount of glue you use to avoid prematurely freezing them in a shape you may not want. There are 101 links per track run, so you’ll be busy for a while, but the result is fabulously detailed as you can see from the pic. I didn’t bother cleaning up the mould seams for expediency, but if you plan on modelling your Panzer with clean tracks, you can sand them away if you feel the need. With the track-runs done you can relax to an extent now, but there’s a bit of PE folding ahead if you are using the PE solid schurzen (side skirts) on your model. First you must add the styrene brackets on each side, then the long supports for the hook-on schurzen panels, with PE end-caps. There are five panels per side, with angled front and rear lower edges to reduce the likelihood of them digging in over rough ground. Bear in mind that these panels were subject to the rigors of battle so were often bent, punctured by shells, damaged or even missing entirely, so use your references or imagination to decide whether you wish to depict a fresh set, or a set that have been in the field for a while. Finally, we get to the turret, which begins with the ring and minimalist “floor”, to which some equipment, a drop-seat and the hand-traverse system are fixed. The inside of the mantlet is fixed to the floor after having the pivot installed, with the newly assembled breech glued into the rear once it has its breech block and closure mechanism fixed in place. The breech is then surrounded by the protective tubular frame, and the stubs of the coax machine gun and sighting gear are slid in through holes in the inner mantlet. A basket for spent casings is attached under the breech, the sighting tube and adjustment mechanism are put in place along with the coax machine gun breech, then the basket is made up from the circular tread-plated floor with tubular suspension struts and other equipment, seats, gas mask canisters, and spare dump-bags for the coax. It is glued into the turret base, which then has the other facets added to the roof panel, with exhaust fans and outer armoured cover included. The side hatches are the clamshell type, and can be posed open, closed or anywhere in-between, with latches and handles added, and grab-handles over the top to ease exit. The commander’s cupola is a complex raised part with five clear vision ports around it, and a choice of open or closed outer parts holding the clear lenses in place, sliding into the ring like the real thing. A ring of pads cover the interstices to reduce injuries, and stirrup-shaped parts are fixed under each lens, with a single circular hatch with latch and handle glued into the top ring in open or closed versions, lifting and rotating round the pivot to open, rather than the earlier and more complex two-part clamshell hatch. The turret can now be closed up with the lifting hooks each made up of two parts, rain gutters over the hatches and grab handles on the edge of the roof. The gun has a flattened faceted sleeve made up from a three-sided lower section with separate top, and the muzzle brake is fabricated from three parts, with the gun tube in the middle, and a choice of two coax MG surrounds all fixing to the outer mantlet cover. A machine gun ring, PE blade sight and smoke dischargers are fitted around the exterior of the turret, and the bustle stowage box is formed from a hollow body with a choice of open or closed lid - the open variant having stiffening ribs moulded-in for detail. The turret schurzen are curved metal sheets applied to the styrene brackets that glue to the roof and sides, that has a gap for the side hatches that are filled by a pair of hinged doors for more complete protection, and if you were wondering, you get open or closed variants with PE latches, and a group of additional PE parts such as latches dotted around the panels. Because of the complexity and realism of the turret and its ring, it drop-fits into position as the final act, as bayonet lugs aren’t present in the real thing. Markings Three decal options are included on the sheet, and they have a variety of schemes that are appropriate for late war tanks, from winter distemper to highly camouflaged vehicles with a base coat of dunkelgelb (dark yellow) the common element. From the box you can build one of the following: Pz.Rgt. 35, 4 Pz.Div. Soviet Union, Orel Direction, Aug 1943 Pz.Rgt. 2, 16 Pz.Div. Salerno front, Italy, Sept 1943 Unknown Unit, Soviet Union, Winter 1943/44 Decals are by MiniArt’s usual partner, 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 one on many newly tooled and well-detailed panzer IV kits from MiniArt that should keep you occupied for a good quantity of modelling time. The complete interior is depicted with a glorious level of detail, which should allow all but the most detail-focused modeller to build it out of the box. Careful painting will bring it to life, and leaving some hatches open will show viewers just how claustrophobic going into war in these iron beasts would have been, and likely still is. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of