Ruined Factory with base 1:35 MiniArt

[Shar2]

Ruined Factory, with base

MiniArt 1:35

The latest release from MiniArt I their series of diorama bases is this on of a ruined factory. Contained within their standard top opening box, with a picture of the completed model on the front, are four sheets of grey vacformed styrene, five sprues of grey injected styrene and one small sprue of white injected styrene. The injected parts are nicely moulded with only a small amount of flash which can be easily and quickly removed with a sharp knife or a couple of swipes with a sanding stick. The vacformed parts are very well defined and the styrene is actually quite thick. I’m not quite sure why, unless it’s as a shortcoming of the vacforming process, but there are numerous polyps over the surface of the parts which will need to be removed, the base being particularly bad. This can sometimes result in small holes in the surface that will need to be filled and sanded down. The instructions for the injected parts and their sub-assembly are very clear, and whilst the building parts are clear, plenty of test fitting will be required to get everything square.

As with other vacform kits, it’s not necessary to cut all the way through the styrene to remove the parts, just score with a sharp blade and snap apart. Care should be taken when scoring the corner parts of the building as these make up prominent joins and whilst it is a ruined building these corners are meant to be intact. Once the parts have been removed from the backing sheets they will require a good sanding on the mating surfaces to ensure a tight join, care and patience prevail here as it will mean a lot less work with filling and sanding later on. Once all the vac parts have been prepared they can be glued together and onto the base. It is up to the modeller how they proceed with this but I generally build the building first, fill any gaps as required, give it a coat of primer before painting it in the basic colours. When this is done, then the injected parts can be built up, painted and attached to their relevant positions.

The injected parts in this kit, comprise of the entrance door, which is raised off the ground and accessed by a set of stairs and a landing area, each surrounded by hand rails. The majority of the parts are generic and used in many MiniArt kits, so some alteration is required and the instructions clearly show this, particularly on the stair treads which need to be shortened by cutting the indented parts off. The nature of these generic parts means that you are left with quite a few spares which can be used as debris for the completed diorama. On the other side of the building there is a large window, to one side of which there is an angled ventilation trunk, one end attached to the wall of the building, the other is attached to a straight section of trunking held off the ground by two lattice towers. Inside the building there is another length of trunking that is attached to the internal wall corresponding to the external parts.

Having made quite a few of these buildings I have found that the plastic is readily melted by liquid glue, which, whilst making gluing parts together easier, care must be taken to prevent glue getting over the surfaces of parts as it will show. Once construction is complete one can paint/weather to your hearts content, plus add any troops/vehicles as you desire.


Conclusion
This is another great building and base from MiniArt, giving the modeller a good starting point for their imagination to run riot with the weathering, adding of debris and creating a story through the diorama or vignette. Recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[Panzer Vor!!!]

Good review chap whats especially good about this range is the fact its timeless, suit any scene from the 1900,s to today .

Kudos to Miniart for giving us modellers a range of bases