Scale Plastic & Rail

MiniArt 36044 1/35 Dioramas Series " River Embankment Section"

MiniArt

36044 1/35 Dioramas Series

" River Embankment Section"

 

Kit no: 36044

Scale: 1/35

BOX: 345 x 240 x 60 mm

Pieces: 74

Ages: 10 and over

Price: GBP £ 14.88/ Euro 16.73/ US $23.35 – GreatModels Webstore

 

 

 

Next in this month's reviews we have some much awaited stuff from Ukrainian producers of Model kits, figures and dioramas in all scales MiniArt. This company is making in-roads into all of the military modelling areas and branching out from their beginnings in mainly soviet subjects and is starting to provide us with some great diorama bases, vehicles and figures of all types. Regular readers will note I have reviewed one of their Diorama sets before – the excellent building/base/tank + figures "Budapest 1945" which was a vac-form and styrene kit of amazing potential. This time the first cab off the rank is one of their new diorama bases, the 1/35 "River Embankment section"

 

What's inside the box

Until I recently started to construct my MiniArt "Budapest" diorama I haven’t put together any Vac-formed scenery since I was a child. MiniArt is showing how Vac has moved on - the old simple detailed structures of the old toy kits are a thing of the past. These large pieces of Vac have their own skill set to employ to make this mound of plastic into a kit. Through scoring and cutting the Vac-form in the right way they can be joined together and made into quite a convincing three dimensional scene. The trick is to score along the outline of the walls while giving a mm or so extra if possible , so when it is sanded down to fit together it fits perfectly. So at first a daunting process is made simple. MiniArt has a great "How–to" on their website that shows the right way to do it in their "assembly guide" part of their homepage here - http://miniart-models.com/

Let's start with the base, it is quite well "formed" in that the brick pavement is quite irregular and does not follow any particular patter I can see. Some of the bricks are slightly raised as well which add depth and irregularity which is what we look for in a good diorama. There is one slight line across the cobblestone base which you can only see in the light, but being who we are – let's try to turn that negative into a positive – it’s the perfect thing for a drain on the road! So subtle is this line that it is only noticeable unpainted and if pointed out.

 

 

 

Now the instructions are on a double sided page printed in black and white. Easy to follow , but these kits are easy to stuff up as well if you cut the wrong bit. Maybe on the instuctions with the joints that need to be cut  we could do with some little magnified explanations on the diagrams.

There are steps which lead down to what is the river in the diorama. These are in a different pattern to the cobblestones on the sides of the wall which is nice, and are similarly irregular as they seem to be on most European rivers. I can imagine some figure of a soldier or civilian getting a bucket of water on this lower level of the base – Giving it another level of dimension to the scene. To complete this kit you just need some aide and backing material. Thick polystyrene should do it nicely.

Next are the six – yes (6) sprues of the same type for the diorama "furniture." They are in grey styrene. To save effort of the re-tool MiniArt have just given you the same one six sprues – so you have a total of six road barriers and six fence posts with six sections of fence, as well as that many man holes - square and round. Now you can put these anywhere you want to really – there are one or two pictures below with suggestions in the built up kit, but really it is up to you, you can have them all, half or none. I love the choice to option this base however you want. Cheap they aint at MiniArt – they could have supplied JUST enough in the box but went for excess and I like that! The sprues themselves are flash free and including the fence sections which have to be moulded finely there are three benches to enliven your scene.

After being inspired by MiniArt's "How to" section on their website http://miniart-models.com/ I am stoked and am going to attempt to make this kit . Keep a look out over the next few days I'll post progress on how easy it is to do these vac kits with a bit of forethought!

So what do we think?

If you want a nice base to kick off your riverside diorama MiniArt really do have the best game in town! Easy to construct with lots of scenery options or vanilla  the height gives this Diorama  great depth that adds to the illusion of a good base. Detail in the cobblestones is irregular and realistic.

A great diorama that is easy to construct and well priced. I like it very much, and cannot wait to see more of their work!

 

As i said i am building this one - alrady a third finished as i type - ill show pictures of the completed article here.

Adam Norenberg

 

Many thanks to MiniArt for the review sample used here.

GreatModels Webstore stocks this for just GBP £ 14.88/ Euro 16.73/ US $23.35 –

Below are some pictures from MiniArt of the completed model – painted up – Wowsers!