Valentine Mk IV - Red Army

[Mike]

Valentine Mk IV - Red Army

1:35 MiniArt

In association with

The Valentine Infantry Tank was a development from the earlier A10 Infantry tank, and was designed as a private venture by Vickers, to be submitted to the War ministry just before the outbreak of WWII. Some 8,000 of this model were produced between 1940 and 1944 when production ceased, with over 3,500 ending up in the USSR under the Lend-Lease agreement.

This model is one of that number, and arrives in a top opening box with a large painting of the Valentine on the front, and a small "scrap" painting of the crew that are included in the box. MiniArt may be unfamiliar to many, but they are a rising force within the AFV modelling community, having released a number of quality products of late.

Inside the box are 12 sprues of mid-grey styrene, the lower hull part, a smallish sheet of Photo-Etched (PE) brass parts, a small decal sheet, and of course the instructions and separate full-color painting guide.

This version is clearly an adaptation of a previous release, as evidenced by the new sprue of parts (mainly) for the turret in a slightly different shade of grey styrene, and the Russian crew in yet another shade.

Unusually, the build begins with the turret, which has a pleasing level of detail inside, with a full rendition of the breech of the 2-pounder gun, the barrel of which is hollow, using slide moulding technology. A radio fit is also included, and sits to the rear of the cramped turret, behind the gunner and commander. The instructions become a little hard to follow afterwards, until you realise that each 4-page sheet should be read side-by-side, rather than in the booklet form in which it is supplied. Perhaps taping them together may help here.

After completion of the turret, construction of the two three wheeled sprung bogies (per side), and roadwheels begins. The roadwheels are made from an outer face with rubber tyre moulded in, and an inner face that is glued within the tyre. This produces a nicely detailed roadwheel that will require careful painting of the tyre later in the build. The final drive and drive sprockets are made up from quite an array of parts, so should look good once installed on the hull.

The tracks are individual links, and once liberated from their sprues should behave much like Dragon's Magic Tracks. Clean up should be relatively straight forward, as there are no ejector pin marks, and the three attachment points are on the edges of the track parts, so should be easily sorted with a sanding stick. Detail on the parts is impressive, and even includes casting numbers on the recesses between the contact patches... detail that is only clearly visible with the aid of magnification!

The driver's position is also detailed with a seat, and controls, which should be sufficient to allow the modeller to leave the driver's hatch open, being careful to paint the interior behind him a suitable dark shade to fool the eye. Additional detail to the driver's compartment is attached later in the build to the underside of the hull top, and includes foot pedals, instrument panels and vision blocks, all of which will require careful painting.

Construction then moves to the outer hull, specifically the top deck, with the numerous hinged covers on the rear portion depicted as separate parts. Additional detail panels, stowage bins and access hatches are also included, plus the usual pioneer tools, fire extinguishers and additional track links. The flared exhaust pipe is made from a great many parts, and has PE and styrene securing brackets to hold everything in place. The exhaust is later covered by a styrene and PE shroud, so some of that detail will be lost forever.

Construction finishes with the addition of the heavily riveted rear doors to the hull, and the placement of the turret within the turret ring. The turret is a drop fit here, so a decision must be made whether to glue it in place, or remember to hold the model upright while transporting.

The decal sheet is small but functional, consisting of Cyrillic and Roman numerals in yellow and white. The decals up printed by Begemot, and as such should settle down fine.

From the sheet you can model one of the following:

• Educational Tank Regiment, Gorkij city, November 1941
  
• Moscow battle, December 1941
  
• unknown Tank Regiment, 1941
  
• South front Kharkov region, June 1942
  
• Vilnus Lithuania July 1944
  
• Voronezh front 201st Red Army Tank Brigade, January 1943
  

Painting diagrams for the five crew members are also included, with colour callouts in Vallejo, Testors, Tamiya, Humbrol, Revell and Mr Color, together with the colour names for information.

Conclusion

this is very nice kit of an overlooked participant on both the western and eastern fronts, with lots of delicate detail that should please most modellers. The inclusion of the crew figures and the small photo etched fret adds value to the package, and with careful painting it should build up into an excellent rendition of a later model Valentine tank.

You can purchase this kit directly here.

Review sample courtesy of

[spitfire]

That looks really great, nice to have an up to date kit of such an important British AFV, much neglected, having struggled with 2 Maquette versions this one looks much nicer ! Though I still think that I would pass on the track links !

Cheers

Den

[jimbuna]

Nice review Mike

Looks very well detailed...I wonder if my son might like to have a go at this

[Mike]

If he's got a few kits under his belt and has the patience to wrangle those track links, he should do fine

Den - don't be such a blouse!

[MASH4077]

That type of track, now the norm, is the reason I have given up modelling totally.

Tony

[daz greenwood]

Those track links aren't so bad in 1/35th it's when you get them in 1/72nd

So Mike will you be doing a build review of this beasty?

[Mike]

...as soon as I get a gap in my schedule, yeah!

[spitfire]

I must confess thinking back I bought some Accurate Armour Trakpax, and they were nearly as much trouble needing a lot of cleaning up, in the end I think I used a mixture of both.

Cheers

Den

[Paul A H]

Very good! It's about time British armour fans had some new kits to build, and things are starting to look up these days!

[warreni]

Not wanting to carp, but there are four attachment points for each track link, not three.. That is a lot of cleaning up, for me anyway.

Cheers

Warren

[jimbuna]

If he's got a few kits under his belt and has the patience to wrangle those track links, he should do fine

Yeah, I've asked him and it doesn't seem to bother him...only time will tell

[smuts]

Hi guys, got this one & it do look nice sprues look as good as Tristar (that good) about time british armour started to get a look in.

Andy.

[Mike]

Not wanting to carp, but there are four attachment points for each track link, not three.. That is a lot of cleaning up, for me anyway.

Cheers

Warren

Aye - I was typing that late at night using voice dictation software. The cleanup should be pretty easy actually, as they're on standout points on the tracks, so as long as you cut them clean & close, each link should only take a few seconds of your time to clean up. Something to do with your brain switched off while you watch telly perhaps?

[ChrisITA]

Aye - I was typing that late at night using voice dictation software. The cleanup should be pretty easy actually, as they're on standout points on the tracks, so as long as you cut them clean & close, each link should only take a few seconds of your time to clean up. Something to do with your brain switched off while you watch telly perhaps?

Good review Mike

I also have this in the stash. I was going to do an interior for it, but most likely I will now do a partial interior as half of it is there, but there are still significant (and visible through hatches) omissions such as the firewall and turret basket, so I will release an upgrade for the interior

One not on the review, you say this kut utilises an earlier release because the turret is a different colour from the rest. This is not true. This kit is a completely new tool, as the only other version is the ancient Maquette/Togo/Dragon etc repop. The crew is an earlier release however. I suspect the turret is a different colour because they are planning other versions. The valentine sported a variety of turrets in its life with much fewer hull changes

Chris

[vonmarkenhausen]

That type of track, now the norm, is the reason I have given up modelling totally.

Tony

Track links aren't so bad. A bit of patience, a good file and a straight edge. Hey presto done. Smaller links are tricky I admit. The Russians actually liked this tank, because of it's simplicity in maintenance.

[richellis]

Oh, that looks nice. I must do a tank soon, and a sub, and a ship, and a..........

[vonmarkenhausen]

....airship.

[Mike]

I suspect the turret is a different colour because they are planning other versions.

I'm sure that's true - a possible explanation for the difference in color could be that the common parts have already been produced and just await the finishing parts for the relevant marks? More speculation though

[ChrisITA]

I'm sure that's true - a possible explanation for the difference in color could be that the common parts have already been produced and just await the finishing parts for the relevant marks? More speculation though

To be honest Mike, I've had a few Miniart kits and there is some variation in the mold quality and various things. The difference could be something as simple as they made all the hulls one week, and the turret sprues the next week and put slightly less pigment in the styrene. Their products are good but exhibit slightly differing QA standards from the likes of Tamiya

A good example is I've had a kit from them riddled with flash (I mean 1960s standards of flash) and others I know have had the same kit with virtually none. One of those things I guess

Personally I like the way they put Charlie Chaplin in charge of the tank though

[vonmarkenhausen]

Personally I like the way they put Charlie Chaplin in charge of the tank though

Must have been the original 1940's propaganda feature?

[darson]

That type of track, now the norm, is the reason I have given up modelling totally.

Tony

Have you ever thought about perhaps modelling aircraft or ships?

[MASH4077]

Been through all the other genres, done the IPMS national winners thing years ago, then found I couldn`t make them up to a standard I had set. I have tried to get back into modelling for the last three years have spent far too much of my retirement lump sum and have nbeen keeping the bin men in work, I am down to the last few kits in my stash and when they get thrown in the dustbin I will just drool from afar and take up collecting beer mats, something I think I am probably capable of.

Tony

[jimbuna]

Been through all the other genres, done the IPMS national winners thing years ago, then found I couldn`t make them up to a standard I had set. I have tried to get back into modelling for the last three years have spent far too much of my retirement lump sum and have nbeen keeping the bin men in work, I am down to the last few kits in my stash and when they get thrown in the dustbin I will just drool from afar and take up collecting beer mats, something I think I am probably capable of.

Tony

Currently in that phase of life myself (I suspect)....take up collecting die cast, at least you keep your passionate thoughts alive.