The MiniArt River Embankment Diorama Section consists of two sets of parts, some pieces being injection molded and some being vacuformed. The parts for the street surface, river embankment retaining wall, and access steps are vacuformed. The sidewalk railings, various street posts and stanchions, “park” benches and manhole covers are all injection molded. Each of the six part trees included in this kit are identical and each carries a manhole pipe casing and manhole cover, a storm grate frame and cover, parts for two sidewalk railing stanchions, and half of the parts required to build up a “park bench”. These parts provide the builder with all of the pieces to build up the street scene as shown on the box lid as well as extra parts so the builder can do a little free-lancing.

When this kit arrived in the mail I was pleasantly surprised by the my impressions of the kit. Although I’d never build a Zvezda kit, my understanding about their kits was… well, let’s say not so good. Let me say right here at the start that if this kit is any indication of the quality of kits they now produce, I’ll gladly put down my money to buy one if the subject interests me. This is a great kit of an unusual German heavy truck. The kit is molded in dark tan styrene. The quality of the molding is very good, with minimal flash and clean up required. There were some minor sinks on the suspension bogies that needed to be filled and sanded, but were not difficult to accomplish. The sturdy box contains 10 sprues, 9 in dark tan and one clear sprue and a small decal sheet. No photo etch is included. The kit does include two very nicely cast crew figures as well.

The Bf 110 was envisioned by Hermann Goering as a heavily armed fighter-destroyer escort for the Luftwaffe’s bombers. With its four machine gun and two cannon armament it was a deadly opponent as long one could position the aircraft to take advantage of it. Problem was, as so many other countries found out, the idea of a heavy twin engine fighter competing against smaller single engine fighters of equal or greater horsepower just didn’t pan out. Physics simply did not allow it. Early successes against inferior aircraft were soon reversed when the Bf 110s met their match in the Battle of Britain. In spite of being what many could argue was an obsolete design, the Bf 110 soldered on in various versions until the end of the war. It proved especially effective in the night fighter role which capitalized on its multi crew seating and ability to carry a lot of firepower. The Bf 110 D-3 in this kit was designed for long range escort/patrol.