USN Missile Cart w/Figures
Videoaviation is an Italian manufacturer of superb aircraft accessories, ground support equipment and figures in all three popular scales. I have had the luck to review a few of these and have always been impressed by the excellent casting and design of their kits. This newest set, a 1/32nd scale US Navy MHU-191 Missile cart and two ordnance man is excellent. The set consists of parts for a MHU-191 cart set up for missile transport. There are two ordnance men in different poses. All parts are cast in light tan resin with crisp details and minimal seams. Parts breakdown is as follow:
- Missile cart - seventeen parts plus decals
- Ordnance Crew #1 - four parts consisting of body, head and both arms
- Ordnance Crew #2 - four parts consisting of body, head, satchel and right arm
The instructions are excellent and include both assembly and painting instructions. Prep work for the figures is simple and consists of cutting the parts loose from the casting blocks and eliminating seams. The area between the arms and body was filled with glazing putty wiped off with lacquer thinner and let dry which gave a nice smooth seam. The figures were then primed with Alclad gray.
The assembly of the missile cart starts much of the same way- remove the parts from the casting blocks and sand any seams. I did find two small voids on the tires and these were filled and smoothed over with glazing putty. The bottom missile supports are numbered so watch for that when assembling. The rest of the assembly is straightforward. Super glue was used throughout and when done, Alclad primer was used.
Painting the missile carts is simple, it is white. I sued Tamiya gloss white thinned with lacquer thinner. I built this up in several sessions and ended with a nice high gloss finish. The wheels were painted “tire’ color which is basically a dark gray. The support pads on the missile holders were also painted the tire color and this was all followed up with touching up the white. The front handles were painted black and when dry, the decals were added. These settled well with Microset solution. A wash was added and then entire thing sealed with Dullcote.
The two ordnance men have the same uniforms. Looking at the Videoaviation web site, they include eight excellent pictures of these sailors at work. The primary colors are navy blue pants with red shirts and vests. The head has a brown liner covered by red plated head sets. Details include black shoes, leather gloves and tan ear muffs. The goggles are also glossy black. I wanted a weathered look to the red with a much brighter vest. Flesh was Scale 75 paints while a mixture of Tamiya, Reaper and Andrea was used. Once done, flat was used and the goggles were glossed.
I posed the set on a deck portion. It looks great. The fit and sculpting are good and I can see many diorama type uses for the missile cart. Highly recommended.
My thanks to Videoaviation.com for the review sample and to IPMS/USA for the chance to review it.
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