MiniArt

1/35 Soviet 152mm Ammunition

Stock Number: 35076

Reviewed By  Tom Moon, IPMS# 43192

MSRP: $16.95 Website: MiniArt Models Available from: Dragon USA This kit consists of a set of 152mm Ammunition and their transportation crates. Included in the kit are 6 identical sprues with one set of decals for the markings on both the ammo and the crates. You can make either a High Explosive fragmentation shell and its corresponding crate or a HEAC anti concrete shell and its crate. You can make all of one type or a mixture of both. I built 3 of each type. The construction of the crates is fairly straight forward. There are two sequences to follow according to which type of shell you want to use. I followed the instructions exactly on the first crate and found it was not as easy as I expected. So I changed the sequence as follows. The first part I assembled was in step 4, the center divider. You have to choose which shell you are going to place in this crate at this point. I left part 10 (inside spacers) off until the very end. Instead of adding the side wall parts (1 & 2) at this time, I added part 11 (end cap) first. Then I added the side wall part 1, then sidewall part 2. At this point I inserted the center divider while the glue on the side walls was still pliable. This allowed me to make any adjustment to get everything into alignment. The part 12 (end cap) is now glued into place. With the crate now assembled I added part 10 (inside spacers) to the side walls and the center wall. There are no marks to indicate where these four parts are to go, but by waiting until the very end you can pick a single side and glue in the first one and they eyeball the rest to be generally in line. If you are going to depict the crate closed, you don’t need to add those inside parts as they will not be seen. The shells have noticeable mold seams that will need to be removed and smoothed over. The HE fragmentation shells have two grooves at the tip, but in my sample they were only on one side. If you lay them in the crate properly the missing grooves will not be seen. However, if you are going to have them out and ready for use, you will need to cut the second groove. The molding was generally good with a small amount of flash that will need to be removed. Only one of the base parts (15) was warped. I fixed that by gluing the side walls to the base and clamping it until it dried. The molding of the wood grain was a little overdone. It does make the grain stand out though. The paint instructions call out paints for Testors, Tamiya, Humbrol, Revell, and Mr. Color. I found this very helpful as I had 3 of the 5 brands of paint and was able to choose with relative assurance that I was close to the color called out. However, the dark green was too dark and the black decals disappeared on this shade of green. I suggest that you go for a lighter green. Conclusion – This set goes together quickly and makes a good looking set of crates and shells. They will be a welcome addition to the Soviet diorama. My sincere thanks to Dragon USA for providing the review sample, and to IPMS USA for allowing me to review it.