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German Tankmen with Gantry Crane & Maybach HL120 Engine (35350) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Tanks are big, but sometimes they need fixing, and there are very few parts of a tank that aren’t heavy. In a workshop situation, cranes are the way to go, and that’s what this kit is all about. It arrives in a small top-opening box with a painting of the contents in action on the front, and within are twelve sprues of grey styrene, two types of metal chain, a decal sheet and instruction booklet with colour covers. It supplies parts to create a four-legged gantry crane with pulley system, a Maybach HL120 engine that was used mainly in the Panzer III, Sturmgeschütz III and Panzer IV, plus a pair of barrels to either rest the engine on, or for background detail. The kit also includes two figures of tankers or mechanics wrestling with the engine in dynamic poses. Construction begins with the gantry, with a large I-beam supported by four legs with twin wheels at the lower ends, and pegs at the bottom to set the angle of the legs and thereby the height of the gantry by slotting horizontal rods over the pegs. The wheels run on long C-section troughs, which are made up from two sections each, joined together in the middle. The legs can be wound-in or out using the winch that clips over the pegs and uses some thread from your own stock to complete the assembly. The block and tackle hang from a set of pulleys surrounded by a metal enclosure, which is simplified in this instance by a set of pegs inside the casing. The larger chain is suspended from the pegs before the case is closed up around the I-beam, then at the bottom the lower pulley is assembled around the looped chain and has a hook added at the bottom. A wheel with smaller chain wrapped around it perpendicular to the I-beam is used to move the assembly along the beam in either direction (on the real thing), while another smaller one raises and lowers the hook. The two barrels are next, made up from two halves, two ends and two bands around the centre that need a little shaved off the inside, as shown in the instructions. The engine can be configured as either a HL120 TRM for a Panzer.IV or Panzer.III by following the instructions with A or B options. The block is made from a number of detailed parts, assembling the V between the two banks of 6 cylinders and covering them with the rocker covers and separate oil filler caps. The flywheel covers the majority of one end of the block, and the various pulleys, their mountings and belts the other, plus other ancillaries, exhaust manifolds, dynamo and air box completing the job. The two figures are contained on individual sprues with separate torsos, arms, legs and heads, both of which have forage caps moulded-on. They are wearing two-piece overalls and work boots, with one pulling on a chain, the other stabilising or pushing on the engine or whatever you choose to mount on the hook. A painting guide for the figures is printed on the inside rear cover, using paint codes that correspond to a table on the inside front cover using swatches, Vallejo, Mr.Color, AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya and the colour names in English to the right. In addition to the decals that comes with the set for the rocker cover and intake (with spares) plus the two stencilled signs for any buildings nearby, the inner cover of the instructions has images of eight posters in German and Russian for you to cut out and apply to the walls if you wish. The back page shows an example of how to set up the various parts, codes for painting the assemblies, and shows how to suspend the engine from the two lugs at each end, using some wire from your own spares. Conclusion Another excellent diorama item that can be used to add human scale and some height to your latest WWII German project. Detail is excellent, while the two types of chain included in the box helps make the build go smoothly. Highly recommended. Currently showing as out of stock at Creative, but should be back in soon. I knew it would be popular! Review sample courtesy of

5 Ton Gantry Crane & Equipment (35589) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models We're blessed these days with a plethora of accessories for all manner of diorama opportunities, and a lot of this is thanks to companies such as MiniArt, who produce this type of set in addition to a huge and growing array of high quality models. This set is suitable for a workshop or field maintenance situation, depicting equipment that was often used in such situations, and would be more than a little tricky to scratch-build. The set arrives in a small top-opening box (think an over-sized figure box), shrink-wrapped for freshness, with the contents also tightly wrapped in a heat sealed bag, with two elastic bands further damping any movement of the parts therein. There are ten sprues in grey styrene, plus two lengths of different styles of chain in another bag and a decal sheet. Due to the relatively high part count and complexity there is also an instruction booklet, although it is a fairly short one. The chains are inserted between the sprues held together by elastic bands, which is a clever way of ensuring they aren't lost when the outer bag is opened in haste on receipt of the model. From the box you can build one 5ton gantry, two 200L fuel drums, an oxy-acetylene torch with twin bottles on a two-wheeled trolley with goggles and a welding/cutting mask, a short step-ladder, a manual fuel pumping device, canister for welding rods, and two caps for the bottles if you choose not to attach the regulators. The gantry is made up of the cross-member and four legs with double wheels at the bottom ends. These are braced apart by connecting rods, and run along a pair of two-part C-channels on the workshop floor. A winch is made up and attached to each pair of legs, and is used to wind the legs together or further apart to adjust the height, with the connecting rods moved up or down the sets of pegs that are moulded into the legs. You will need to add some wire from your own stock to portray the wire, as this isn't included in the box. The movable carrier is made up from a plastic chassis, into which you weave the larger diameter chain, as shown in the scrap diagrams. With this closed up on the cross-member, a smaller chain is added to a wheel on the carrier for adjustment of the jib's height below the carrier. Another length of chain and roller is attached to the side to move the carrier and thereby the jib from side-to-side. The two drums are made from halves to which the top and bottoms are added, then two stiffening bands are added to the grooves in the drums, each made up from two parts. There are a choice of end-caps with different wording in raised lettering, and if you leave off the cap you can make up the hand-pump with nozzle at the other end of a piece of hose/wire that you supply yourself. The cart for the oxy-acetylene cylinders is built from two cranked handles, a c-profile bracket and a hollow end, plus two spoked wheels and an axle, onto which the cylinders are glued once complete. They consist of two halves, plus a flared bottom to prevent tipping, and a choice of either an end cap, or a two part regulator with a small decal. The torch itself is attached to the two regulators via a length of hose, which you must also fabricate from wire, flexible insulation or similar. A two-part tubular canister is supplied for the electrodes, and goggles or face mask are there for the operator. The final item is a two-part short set of step-ladders, which look to be of the fixed variety, as there is no pivot visible between the two halves. Decals are printed by Decograph to a good standard, as evidenced by the crisp black/white regulator dials, and just in case anyone in the workshop was in doubt, there are two large "Rauchen Verboten!" signs warning against smoking in the area around fuel and welding gases. Conclusion More high-quality grist for the diorama mill, either indoors or out during the WWII period, and although it is ostensibly designed to be in a German-speaking workshop, a little alteration of some parts would mean that it could easily be anywhere. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of