Hello,
This is my first post in the blog and I would like to clear some things out: As you may have noticed from the title this blog is basically me, writing my personal reviews for certain kits, always inspired by other's opinions. There might be some kit building posts in the future, but for the time being it's only reviews. So sit comfortably and enjoy! :)
The Model:
The MiniArt 1/35 Panzer III Ausf. B is a new kit, released in late summer, 2014. Taking in consideration older tank kits from the company, I was really skeptical about buying it. After opening the kit I was really surprised by the quality. I could describe every single detail, but I'd rather show you in pictures, so let's start!
Kit:
The kit consists of 46 plastic sprues, 18 of which contain the tracks as well as 5 detached parts.
The two largest ones. Unfortunately, they are the size of the box, and squashed as they were, these problems occured:
Also, the great amount of sprues is a bit annoying. It will take time whenever you try to find a part, taking the fun of the built making it dull. It is not like the couldn't be a few of them. Most of them contain from five to twenty parts. Here is the entire list of sprues:
However you can notice some pretty nice detail, making the kit stand out from all it's former rivals.
No flash except from some very detailed areas whatsoever!
Instructions
The instruction sheet is simple, yet totally adequate. Black and white as they usually are. I'll let you make your conclusions.
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As you can see for yourself it's pretty straight forward, well explained with many options for the final result. I would like to emphasize on these parts of the built:
The suspension system looks very detail and it appears that, as a whole, it will be workable.
Parts for the interior of the turret as well as the radio operator's machine gun are included.
Here we can see the primitive commander's cupola of the Panzer III series.
The tracks are brilliant! It will take quite long to assemble, but the end result will give you fully workable tracks, easy to paint and weather separated from the tank itself.
Extras
For all the Dragon lovers, don't think the kit ends here. Just as Dragon does, MiniArt has provided us with some extras with which the end result will be ever so good.
First of all, clear parts, quite a lot of them for a tank. We can clearly see that most of them are for the observation holes of the upper hull and the turret, and two for the headlights.
Photo etched. For many different purposes, like the biggest ones which are the hatch frames for the inside of the turret.
The decals seem to be of very good quality. Some of the markings are cut in two which really shows that MiniArt considered the open hatches option.
Conclusion:
Overall I think this is one of the greatest releases of 2014. MiniArt has really surpassed themselves. They have created a kit that, in my opinion, is above the all-mighty Dragon kits, not only for it's quality, but the money value as well. The only things that annoyed me, if you wish, is the quite poor protection of the parts (see kit explanation above) and the none-needed amount of sprues. I do believe that the parts could have been molded in at least have of the total amount, if not less.
Hope you found the review helpful! I would really like to hear your opinions!
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