MiniArt
1/35 Soviet 122mm Ammunition
Kit Number: 35068
Reviewed by  Tom Moon, IPMS# 43192

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MSRP: $16.95
Website: MiniArt Models
Available from: Dragon USA

[review image]This kit consists of a set of 122mm 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 BR-471 APHE shell and its corresponding crate or OF-471 High Explosive fragmentation 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 straightforward. There are two sequences to follow according to which type of shell you want to build. I followed the instructions exactly on the first crate and found it was not as easy as I had expected. So I changed the sequence as follows:

I used Tamiya Thin cement to glue the side and end parts to the base. This gives you a few minutes to get everything lined up and square. I suggest that you delay step 1 and 2 until after you have glued the sides, center divider, and end pieces in place. This is due to the fact that if you do not get piece 7 placed correctly, the end piece will not fit correctly. So glue the end piece into place then glue in the spacers. In step 7, glue the pieces 2 and 3 together and after they dry, using a shell to measure the correct distance, glue them into the crate. The instructions do not dictate a certain distance so you can make adjustments. Just don’t make it so tight that you can’t get the shell in without scraping the paint off of it. The lip of the lid is shown to slip into the space left open when you have added end piece 15 to the base. However, the space is too small so you will need to do some plastic removal from either the lid or the end piece to ensure that it will fit correctly. Or you can leave the crate lid off entirely and ignore the problem. If you are going to depict the crate closed, you don’t need to add those inside parts as they will not be seen.

[review image]The shells have noticeable mold seams that will need to be removed and smoothed over.

The molding was generally good with a small amount of flash that will need to be removed. The molding of the wood grain was a little over done. It does make the grain standout 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 as 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 would disappear on that shade of green. I suggest that you go for a lighter green or for an unpainted wood color.

Conclusion – This set goes together quickly and makes a good looking set of crates and shells. They will be a welcome addition to a Soviet diorama.

Thanks to Dragon Models USA for the review sample and IPMS/USA for the review space.

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