MiniArt Model Kits: Vehicles, Crews and Interior Kits

What MiniArt makes

MiniArt makes plastic model kits, and the grid above shows a maker built around one scale. Our data holds 34 MiniArt listings on Amazon US, and 27 of them state 1/35 in the title.

The grid splits into five groups:

• Vehicles: armored cars, tanks, staff cars, trucks and bulldozers
• Interior kits: inside parts for a tank
• Crews and figures: tank crews, riders, soldiers and a military policeman
• Equipment: weapons, packs and canvas bags
• Civilian subjects: a tramcar and a 1938 farm tractor

Two 1/48 aircraft round it out: the P-47D-25RE Thunderbolt, listed as an ADV.Kit, and the Junkers Larsen JL.6.

Scale tells you how much smaller the model is than the real thing. At 1/35, one inch on the model stands for 35 inches on the real vehicle. Many makers build military vehicles at 1/35, so MiniArt kits share a shelf with other makers' 1/35 kits.

Our data doesn't record skill levels or piece counts for MiniArt. Five listings state ages 14+. Five say paint and glue are required and not included. The rest don't state either.

MiniArt vehicles at 1/35

Staff cars and trucks

• German staff car 170V: paint and glue required
• German staff car 170V Cabrio: the open-top version, paint and glue required
• L1500A (Kfz.70) German personnel car: paint and glue required
• British military lorry B-type #39003: ages 14+

These are soft-skin vehicles, meaning unarmored. They have more glass, seats and open space than a tank, so the interior shows. That makes them a good fit for builders who like painting small inside details.

Armored cars

• Scout car Dingo Mk 1a with crew
• AEC Mk.1 and AEC Mk.2 armoured cars
• Austin armored car: three listings, in Soviet service, German/Finnish markings and the 1918 model in Ireland 1919–21
• Sd.Kfz.234/1 heavy armored reconnaissance car, late type

The Austin armored car comes in three listings, one vehicle with three different service histories on the box. Same car, three paperwork trails. Read each title for the version you want, since the markings and details follow the version.

Tanks and assault guns

• T-55 Soviet tank Mod.1963 with Interior
• MIN35249 German tank: the title doesn't name the vehicle
• StuG III Ausf.G with Winterketten, Feb 1943 Alkett production: 1:35, ages 14+
• StuG III Ausf G, Feb 1943, with winter tracks: 1:72, ages 14+

The two StuG III listings are the same subject at two scales. 72 divided by 35 is about 2.06, so the 1:35 version is about twice the length of the 1:72 one. Pick by the shelf you're building for.

The German tank listing gives a catalog number but not the vehicle name. Open the listing and read the box art before you choose it.

Engineering vehicles

• U.S. armoured bulldozer, 1:35
• U.S. WWII Army bulldozer, Special Edition, 1/35

A bulldozer is a good break from turrets. It's a big, boxy subject with a blade and tracks, and it suits weathering, which means adding dirt and wear on purpose.

Interior kits

Two listings deal with the inside of a tank: the T-55 Mod.1963 with Interior, and the T-44 Interior Kit sold as its own item.

Here is my one opinion for this page. Decide where the hatches will be before you buy an interior. A full interior means parts for the inside of the hull, and every one of them has to be built, painted and fitted before the outside closes over it. If the finished model has its hatches shut, nobody sees that work. If you plan open hatches, a cutaway or a display with a panel left off, the interior is the point of the kit.

An interior you close behind a hatch is a secret you kept from yourself.

Crews and figures

A large part of the MiniArt grid is people. Figure sets add crew to a vehicle or build a small scene, called a diorama, around it.

• Soviet tank ammo-loading crew, special edition
• German tank crew, France 1940
• Bundeswehr tank crew
• U.S. tank crew
• German tank riders, winter uniform 1944–45: ages 14+
• British armored car crew, special edition
• U.S. military policeman with motorcycle
• WLA motorcycles and American soldiers, rest and combat: 1/35, paint and glue required

Figures are a different skill from vehicles. A vehicle is mostly flat panels and straight edges. A figure is folds, hands and a face the size of a grain of rice.

"Special edition" appears in several titles. That's the maker's phrase, per the listing. Our data doesn't say what's special about each one, so open the listing to see the contents.

Equipment and accessory sets

• British military backpack, bag and folding canvas, WWII
• U.S. weapons and equipment, tank crew
• British weapons and equipment for tank crew and infantry #35361: ages 14+
• Military miniatures model building kit, WWII: the title is cut off in our data; read the listing

Accessory sets add stowage to a vehicle, the packs, tarps and tools strapped to the outside. They're small parts, many of them, and they change how lived-in a model looks. The parts tray earns its keep here.

Civilian subjects

The tramcar and the 1:24 Ackerschlepper D8500 farm tractor, model 1938, are the two civilians in a grid full of uniforms. The tractor says paint and glue are required. The tramcar title doesn't state a scale in our data. Check the listing before you plan its shelf.

At 1:24, the tractor sits at car-kit scale, not military-kit scale. It belongs next to 1:24 cars, not 1/35 trucks.

Building a small scene

A diorama is a small scene: a vehicle, a few figures and a patch of ground on a base. MiniArt's grid is set up for it, because the vehicles, crews and equipment come as separate listings at the same 1/35 scale.

A simple first scene needs four things:

• A base: a flat board a little larger than the vehicle
• One vehicle: from the grid
• Two or three figures: a crew set or a figure set
• A few loose items: a pack, a bag or a tool from an equipment set

Keep the scene small. A base that's only a few inches wider than the vehicle on each side reads as a moment. A big empty base reads as a parking lot.

Plan where everything stands before you glue anything down. Set the vehicle and the figures on the base dry, look at them from the front at eye level, and move them until the scene makes sense. Then fix them in place.

Painting order for a vehicle with a crew

Vehicles and figures usually get painted apart and joined at the end. The order I'd use:

1. Build the vehicle and the figures separately. Don't glue the crew in yet.
2. Prime everything. A primer coat shows flaws and helps paint grip.
3. Paint the vehicle. Base color, then camouflage, then details.
4. Paint the figures. Uniform first, then skin, then the small items.
5. Add decals to the vehicle, then a clear coat to protect them.
6. Weather last, after everything else is dry.
7. Join the crew to the vehicle at the very end.

Painting a seated figure after it's glued into a hatch is a lesson nobody takes twice.

The 1/48 aircraft

• P-47D-25RE Thunderbolt: 1:48, listed as an ADV.Kit
• Junkers Larsen JL.6: 1/48

These are MiniArt's two aircraft in the grid. 1/48 is a common aircraft scale. Our data doesn't explain what ADV.Kit means, so read the listing for the contents.

How to pick a MiniArt kit

1. Pick the vehicle. Car, armored car, tank, truck or bulldozer.
2. Check the scale. Almost everything is 1/35. Note the 1:72 StuG, the 1:24 tractor and the 1/48 aircraft.
3. Decide on the interior. Open hatches or closed.
4. Add people second. A crew set, if the vehicle doesn't include one.
5. Add gear third. Equipment sets, if you want the vehicle to look loaded.

By experience

• Fewer kits behind you: a staff car or a bulldozer, with no interior and no figures
• Several kits behind you: an armored car with crew
• A long list of finished kits: the T-55 with Interior, or a vehicle plus a figure set and an equipment set

By space

A single 1/35 car or armored car fits a standard shelf. A truck or a bulldozer needs a deeper one. A diorama base with figures needs the most room of all, and it needs it on the bench for weeks before it ever reaches a shelf. If your bench is a corner of the kitchen table, start with one vehicle and leave the scene for later.

Small figure and equipment parts are the hardest pieces in this grid to handle. A magnifier and fine tweezers help more than a faster knife.

Where MiniArt fits next to other makers

For more 1/35 vehicles at the same scale, see Meng, Italeri and Tamiya. For painting camouflage evenly, airbrush kits covers the tools. The 1:24 tractor fits beside the kits on model car kits. The model kits section page has the full bench list.

Safety at the bench

Hobby knives and tools: Cut away from your body on a cutting mat, and keep blades away from kids.

Cement and paint: Work with good ventilation and follow the paint or cement maker's label for masks and gloves. The EPA lists paints, solvents and hobby supplies among household sources of volatile organic compounds and advises more ventilation and following label precautions.

Small figure parts and equipment pieces are easy to lose and easy to swallow. Keep them in a closed tray, away from young children.

Decide on the hatches first. Everything else is easier after that.