MiniArt has released a nice set that would look great in your WWII dioramas. MiniArt provides twelve trees representing the crates composed of five parts per tree. The crates appear to be molded in tan soft styrene as the parts are somewhat flexible and are easily cut. The twelve trees for the milk bottles contain ten clear milk bottles out of a clear styrene. The clear plastic seems to be a bit harder than the styrene for the crates. The waterslide decals provided offer markings for English US/Britain), French, and German milk companies for both the crates and the bottles. Packaging is quite nice with the finished product depicted on the top of the box and the contents / instructions / paint guide on the back of the box. The total parts count is 180 parts. I would recommend that you wash all the parts while they are still on the sprues to remove any remaining mold release.

There are two parts to the construction. First is the assembly of the wooden crates. I used sprue cutters to separate the parts and then cleaned up the sprue attachment points with a #11 scalpel blade. Keep in mind the plastic is rather soft, so don’t cut too hard. Assembly was completed with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement with no issues. I painted the assembly with Vallejo Model Color Pale Sand and then dry brushed Vallejo Model Color Off white till satisfied. I used Future to prepare the surface for the decal and then used the German crate labeling. I used Solvaset to set the decal and had no issues. Once dry, I brushed Vallejo Matte Medium over the entire crate. Crate preparation outside of painting and decaling was about five minutes.

The second part involves the milk bottles. There is a very slight mold line on each bottle that can be removed with a few swipes of a sanding stick. I then dipped the bottles in Future and set aside to dry. Except for the empty bottle, I painted them on the sprue with Vallejo Model Color Foundation White with a brush. I found that I got better at the upper edge of depicting the milk in the bottle with each bottle I painted. The bottle caps were painted with Vallejo Model Color Medium Olive. The ‘empty bottle’ had its bottom dipped into Foundation White to give the appearance of some residual milk. The milk bottle decal was a bit stiff going on the, but eventually settled down with an application of Solvaset. After painting and decaling, the bottles were again dipped in Future and set aside to dry. I have since found that by painting the milk bottles with a flat coat that brush painting the white on (still on the sprue) yields a better result in the upper edge of the milk in the bottle. Once decaled and then dipped in Future it looks great.

The milk crates went together quite well as described in the instructions. I am quite pleased with the overall look of the milk crates and milk bottles and feel that they are well worth the cost and effort. If you want to add something extra to your diorama, you will want this set. I plan on using it in a Tamiya 1/35 Jeep that I am working on. Highly Recommended

My thanks to Eduard and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great kit.