The set had very minimal flash and no ejection pin marks. The few mold lines there were easily removed with a sharp blade. There are no decals, and some painting instructions. ou will need to copy what you see in the illustration. There are not even any part numbers on the sprue, just a picture on the back of the box with the numbers listed next to the part.

The figures went together without a lot of shaping and filling. Two of them are balanced so they can stand without pins or glue. The tools and shells fit the hands fairly well and are nicely made.

Painting these figures will require quite a bit of research and thought before attaching any of the extra equipment and ammo. The photos on the back give you general idea of what the colors are, but my advice is to review your figure references for proper color.

MiniArt’s German Tank Crew Normandy 1944 contains five figures wearing their German uniforms under bad weather leathers. The commander figure is posed as if he’s standing in a vehicle hatch, scanning the terrain. The other four are depicted during moments of relaxation and revelry. An accordion player appears to tap his toe in time with the music. An NCO stands with his jacket open and an amused look on his face. Perhaps he’s listening to the music or a joke. His jacket has a nice undercut behind him. A crewman wearing a scarf is posed sitting somewhere on the tank (turret, hull) or a stack of boxes, perhaps listening to the music or posing for a photograph. A smiling crewman is posed to lean on the main gun, the hull, or stacked supplies/equipment.

The latest release in MiniArt’s 1/16th historical figure series is this Roman Gladiator around the time of the 1st Century AD. There were many different classes and types of gladiator, each with specific weapons and armor, and this figure is a Mirmillo, a type of gladiator who was armed with a short sword called a Gladius and a large Imperial army-style shield called a Scutum. The Mirmillo gets his name from a type of fish – his helmet has a large crest like a fish’s dorsal fin. Supposedly, he was pitted against the Retarius, the “fisherman”, the guy with the net and trident. But it is believed he was more often up against other types of gladiators armed with short swords and heavy armor.

The MJ1-B is a United States Air Force bomb loader built by Hydraulics International. It has served in various forms since the 1950's and sports a 3000 lb. lifting capacity and a 25-horsepower engine. It is able to lift up to a height of 78 inches and was widely used in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War.

The kit consists of enough parts to build either the MJ1-B (the late version), or the earlier MJ1-A version. The solid resin parts are finely cast and the kit includes a figure for each version – a male for the early one and a female for the late one.

All parts had to be cleaned and cut from their casting blocks, and are on the soft side. There was minimal flash on some parts which was easy to clean up. Care needs to be taken on the steering wheel and the side arms, as they’re very thin and delicate.

This review is for the 1/35 MiniArt Ardennes Street, which is a road section with a damaged building and a small culvert.

As with most of these MiniArt kits you get extras, and these are worth it too. There is a full door, some window panes and some window shutters plus a rail fence. The culvert is really neat too, and I plan to dress mine up with a small piece of pipe, and some trickling water.

The building is not difficult to build, but it does need some reinforcement in the form of styrene stripes. As you can see in the photo, it helps the building stay together, and it provides a place for the putty later on. I have built three of these MiniArt 1/35 buildings, and while I do like them my main pet peeve is that they don’t have much surface for glue to grab onto. However, as you can see from my previous two reviews, once the putty work is done and once they are painted they do look nice.