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Introduction: The primary organization of the IPMS/USA Review website is by IPMS/USA National Contest Class. Within each Class there are sub-menus by kits, decals, books, etc. The Miscellaneous Class is for items that are not class specific or that cross two or more classes.

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Review Author
J.R. Sharp
Published on
Company
MiniArt
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$34.00

The Kit

The kit is cleanly molded in 154 pieces of multi-colored plastic. These parts are the same parts used in constructing many of the other 1/72 offerings from MiniArt. No flash is apparent and detail is very crisp on all parts. A new part that I have not seen on this model was the introduction of a stone foundation.

Construction

Assembly of this kit was straight forward as all of the offerings before it. However, I took a different approach. On many of the other kits, I found that doing each wall with the end connectors tended to produce minor gaps at the corners. This time I decided to pre-build the corner assemblies and then add the walls. Also, I decided to paint parts separately before assembly. This approach offered a much cleaner look to the house, a departure from the worn down structures I had built in the past. The result was by far my favorite work of all of these kits I had done.

Review Author
Mark Aldrich
Published on
Company
Trumpeter
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$63.95

This was another item that had been on the review list for some time before I volunteered for it. As this vehicle comes with almost no external markings, Steve said I could do it as a Middle East Vehicle. I am thinking Syrian Militia based on a picture I came cross surfing the web. However, I do need to include some information about this particular kit as it might actually be a “What If”.

Review Author
J.R. Sharp
Published on
Company
Zvezda
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$14.95

The Kit

Nearly 100 injection molded parts in tan plastic plus 2 black plastic treads. All parts exhibit crisp detail and are flash free. The muzzle of the main gun is not slide-molded so will need to be drilled out. Being a snap kit, all parts had a number of locating pins. All of them fit together without modification.

Review Author
Tom Pope
Published on
Company
Showcase Models Australia
Scale
1/350
MSRP
$30.00

Introduction

Showcase Models Australia is a relative newcomer as a model distributor in Australia (founded in 2011, according to their Facebook page) and has recently branched out into manufacturing their own kits. In May 2013, the production of the Collins Class subs was completed and the kit made it to the Showcase Models showroom and subsequently, other retailers and distributors.

A big Thank You goes to Dragon Models USA for providing this review sample to IPMS/USA.

Review Author
J.R. Sharp
Published on
Company
MiniArt
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$34.00

The Kit

The kit consists of 110 injection molded parts in the standard MiniArt colors; orange, maroon, black and white. All parts are relatively free of flash (some may have just a small bit around the attachment points) and are very crisp in detail.

Construction

As with the kits before it, the Country House is very well made. Being a smaller kit, assembly should not take much longer than an hour or two. A few points worth mentioning on this kit centers around the roof. As with prior offerings, the thin roof pieces seem to have a slight bow to them. Given that all of these meet in the middle, there may be some considerable use of cement or CA to get them to remain. I was able to resolve this by tacking them with a little cement and then gap filling with CA.