MiniArt

1/35 Soviet Jeep Crew

Kit Number: 35049

Reviewed by  Tom Moon, IPMS# 43192

MSRP: $14.95 Review Sample provided by Dragon Models USA: www.dragonmodelsusa.com This set is of 5 figures. Four of the figures are seated in a "jeep". The fifth figure is of a female traffic cop or Military Police. The four seated figures are a driver, guard, junior officer and the senior officer. These come on a single sprue with 48 parts. The box art and instructions on the back of the box, shows the figures in a completed state. This illustration is accurate for the 4 seated figures, but the female figure is not as the illustration. On the figure the beret is centered and not to the side as depicted in the illustration. Also the flag pouch shown on the illustration on her left hip is not present in the items on the sprue. One personal pet peeve with MiniArt kits – they do not mold part numbers on the sprue, or on the illustration part numbers are shown. For a figure kit this is not a problem due to the few number of parts, however, on a vehicle kit it gets to be a real pain to look at the instructions, and then have to turn to the front to see which sprue the part is on. This switching back and forth gets tiresome very quickly. This set had very minimal flash, and no ejection pin marks. What mold lines that were there were easily removed with a sharp blade. There are no decals, and the painting instructions are just for the major items. You will need to copy what you see in the illustration or consult your references for actual colors for the badges, shoulder boards, and metals. The paint colors are coded for Vallejo, Testors, Tamiya, Humbrol, Revell, and Mr. Color. If you are one of the figure builders/painters that subscribe to the concept of "if it is a plastic head, replace it with a resin one", then you will have a hard time doing so with this set. The senior officer, junior officer and the woman’s head’s are so well done and so different it will be hard to replace. The senior officer is appropriately portly. His head shows a plumpness that is well done. He is in a relaxed seated pose with no extras such as weapons and the like.The junior officer is leaning forward to hear anything his superior might say. His hat is back on his head at a jaunty angle. The female MP depicts a sturdy peasant girl conducting the traffic at her corner. The guard and driver are fairly basic in their poses. I constructed them using a Tenax type of glue. This softened the plastic enough that as pressure is applied to the join some dissolved plastic will ooze out and after it hardened any excess can be cut or sanded away. I used very little filler. The fit was acceptable and little adjustment was required to get the proper poses. Now for a little side story. MiniArt has released this figure set with the Bantam jeep (Kit Number 35048). There is a small problem with this figure set and the vehicle. The figures are sculpted for a standard size jeep. They fit into a standard jeep with no modification. In fact the guard’s left hand fits perfectly on the rail in the rear of the jeep. The problem is these figures will not fit into the Bantam jeep. The Bantam jeep was smaller and if you want to show them in this jeep be prepared for some figure surgery to get them to fit. Conclusion – This set is a mini diorama waiting for you to mate it up with another vehicle being stopped so the senior officer can get to his next appointment. It is well done and as with most of MiniArt’s figure sets, different and eye catching. Just remember that this set will fit a standard size jeep, not the Bantam Jeep. Don’t let my figure painting deter you from this set, it is much better than what I painted. Thanks to Dragon Models USA and MiniArt for the review sample and IPMS/USA for the review space.