MiniArt German Soldiers w/Fuel Drums Special Edition (35366) 1:35

[Mike]

German Soldiers w/Fuel Drums Special Edition (35366)

1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd

 

 

It’s a fact that an army marches on its stomach, so by extrapolation, a mechanised army rolls on its fuel supply, with fuel efficiency hardly a priority when creating gas-guzzling monsters such as tanks, heavy prime-movers and the trucks that move the fuel about, ironically.  During WWII, Germany suffered from a shortage of fuel that drove the reasoning for some of their initial conquests to rectify this untenable situation for an aggressor.  As they were driven back into their original territory, those sources of oil diminished, and fuel became scarce, contributing to some of their military failures, with some help from expert tactician Adolf Hitler, of course.  Mass fuel transport was done by rail to distribution points (Allied fighters permitting), where trucks and manual handling took over.

 

 

The Kit

This set is a combined figure and fuel drums offering, providing five figures and eight fuel drums of two styles, plus some hand-pumps into the bargain.  It arrives in an end-opening figure box, and inside are ten sprues of various sizes, although the figure sprue has cut in half in order to fit the box.  A sheet of instructions for building the barrels is included, and the figures are shown on the back of the box, with paint codes and part numbers arrowed where appropriate.  There are also some suggestions for the fuel drum colours on the back of the box, which we have expanded with some details that might prove useful in helping you choose.

 

 

The five figures represent a work-group, consisting of four soldiers and an officer that is in command, a.k.a. not doing any hard work.  The Officer is dressed in typical garb, with knee-length riding boots and trousers, a flat-topped cap, and is busily scribbling on a notepad, with a holstered pistol on his hip.  The workers are split evenly between peaked and flat forage caps, wearing standard Wehrmacht uniforms and long boots.  They are in various poses, including pulling on a rope, pushing with both hands and leaning into the action in two poses, and rolling a barrel whilst stooped forward.  The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprue for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up.  The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s sculptors and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model.

 

 

The drum sprues give you enough parts for six drums, and there are a further two on the figure sprue of a different type that have moulded-in ribs around the centre of the cylindrical forms, and have a couple of dents moulded in for realism.  The other 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 is a choice of end-caps with different wording in raised lettering, and if you cut off and drill out 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.

 

 

 

You can depict the drums in any state from brand new to badly dented and completely rusted to bare metal, and the choice is entirely up to you.

 

 

Conclusion

If you’re looking for an activity for your latest German WWII truck model to undertake, this set will supply that, and a decent quantity of drums to fill the load bed with into the bargain.  If you need more, MiniArt sell a separate set that is just barrels, which you can see here.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of