Decision Time - Mini Art vs. Takom T-55A 1:35 Scale

[Tiger331]

 

Hi Folks,

 

I'm contemplating a Balkans War era Croatian HVO T-55 for my next 1:35 armour project. I see that both Takom and Mini Art have this version of the tank in their catalogues. Mindful of the very recent release of the Mini Art kit (which some may not have seen), I wonder if anyone can provide advice and guidance on which of these two kits I should go for ?.  

 

Thanks

[Julien]

I have reviewed Takom kits and MiniArt kits over the years, if I was spending my money it would be on a MiniArt kit.

 

Julien

[Bullbasket]

It depends on what you are after. The Takom kit is good and simpler to build than the Miniart. I'm not sure what is available for the particular version that you want to build, but Miniart usually do a simpler version, and then an all singing ,all dancing version with full interior. Obviously, there is quite a difference in the costs. So, you pays yer money, yer makes yer choice.

But by all means, read the reviews first.

 

John.

 

[zigster]

I would go for Miniart 37088. Nice markings, and at least you know, you've got a proper version. Not an easy kit to build though. Check all online builds and try to find your best way.

Personally, I will "forget / discard" the rods, and fix all the road wheels on "average" highs. Let say, the build in Scalemates ended up with road wheels axis being too close to the drive wheel axis.

Too flat! That throws the track sagging away. And so - on. Not an easy task, those russian tanks. Happu glueing!

Zig

 

[Mike]

I'm going to go for the MiniArt option too, as they're more detailed kit and they're readily available from Creative.

[GazB]

Thought I'd throw my hat in the ring.

 

Having just gotten a Miniart T-55A Mod. 1981, I'd say get a Takom. 

 

My reasoning is...the Miniart build has been a frustrating chore

 

I get they go for detailed builds (its the non-interior variant), but a lot of it is unnecessarily complicated. Multi-part construction for things that could be one or two pieces. Part fit wavers from okay to bad. Locating pins are so shallow they might not exist, and there's significant gaps between components. In about 5 days of work I've only got the hull partially built. The suspension arms don't function as advertised (with the working torsion), and the wheels are never going to just plug into them as described. I had to drill out the suspension arms and fit styrene rods to give the wheels something to actually affix to. The idler wheel position has no guidance. The track pins are too short, so too much movement causes shearing. One part wasn't labelled at all, and another doesn't exist in the kit (some kind of tubular part to attach the hatch peg into), nor does the Cb sprue the instructions refer to. 

 

The kit is very detailed, but far too much of is almost 'place this roughly in this spot' and hope for the best. I was disappointed because I liked Miniart for their figure sets, even if one of their accessory sets maybe gave me a bit of forewarning. I will say their parts allocation leaves a lot to be desired, with multiple sprues and a very strange coding convention often needed for constructing one part. 

 

I've actually, just yesterday, decided to hiatus the Miniart one. Pack it up, and have it as a Christmas present. In exchange, I'm getting a Takom one. I was tempted by Tamiya's offering, simply for build ease and fit, but that kit isn't anywhere near as detailed unfortunately. Its a real shame because I was looking forward to finally building a T-55 after years of thinking about it. My experience with Takom kits is, more of a challenge, but a nice end result. I had somewhat dreaded building up their 1/72 Object 279s, but they were surprisingly stress free builds. 

 

Anyway, that's just my two cents. Miniart has a lot more variants, but the fit definitely leaves something to be desired on the particular one I got. 

 

Hope this proves useful. 

 

Update: The Takom kit has been fully built, along with a crew, in less time than it took me to build up the wheels and lower hull on the Miniart kit O_O

 

Gaz

Edited September 28, 2020 by GazB
Updated information