I don't do dioramas -- it's the lack of the creative and artistic genes. But having seen other reviews of these MiniArt diorama kits, I had to see one for myself.

The very first thing I did is go to the MiniArt website and go through both the Assembly Guide and the Painting Guide. The Assembly Guide is excellent even if you are familiar with vac-form kits as there are some differences from, say, an aircraft vac-form, mostly due to the corners and molding practices. And the Painting Guide pretty much shows even the least artistic of us how to get good effects with paints, primarily oils. You can do the quick tour by just reading the captions and looking at the still pictures, or you can also watch videos accompanying most all steps.

When people discuss World War II armor certain tanks come to mind for the main combatants. For the United States it would be the Sherman tank, for the Soviet Union it would be the T-34 tank and for Germany the Tiger tank would come to symbolize that country’s armor might. The fame of the Tiger tank far exceeded the number produced or fielded. Certainly, for the average GI Joe the Tiger tank invoked a feeling of trepidation, so much that any German tank they met became the dreaded Tiger tank.

Zenith Press has produced a book that is a fine collection of articles written by experts of the Tank Museum at Bovington.

Covering the Tiger tank in general this book also covers in detail the restoration and return to operation of the Tiger tank “131” that resides at the Tank Museum. We have ten chapters of information to process so let’s begin.

Dragon’s 1/72 scale line of Armor Pro models has become the standard by which all 1/72 armor kits are gauged. Dragon’s detail in such a small scale, including photo-etched detail, is what makes modelers flock to the local hobby shops to get the latest in the Armor Pro series.

Dragon’s newest addition to this series is the Sd.Kfz 222 Leichte Panzerspahwagen. Dragon has released this little WWII German Armored scout car in a 1+1 pack, similar to their 1/72 Humvee series. The box contains two complete kits, photo-etched parts, decals, and a single instruction sheet with color paint guides. The molding is clean with crisp detail and Dragon has done their best to hide injector marks and sprue attachment points.