MiniArt 1/35 Middle East Diorama Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

First, let me express my hopes that all is well with the MiniArt team and their families. MiniArt is located in Simferopol, Ukraine. Simferopol is the capital of Crimea, right in the midst of the Ukrainian versus Russian tensions.

Here is a 1/35 scale diorama set that I've been looking forward to for some time. This is their first setting in the Middle East, which provides the a nice backdrop for the growing number of contemporary combat vehicles used by the United States and NATO in Iraq and Afghanistan. Molded in light gray styrene, this kit is presented on eight sheets of vacuformed plastic and five trees of injection-molded parts (duplicates not shown).

Constructions is pretty straight forward, but should you have any questions, please take a look at the MiniArt website as it has numerous tips and even some videos on how to construct their vacuum formed kits. This kit will be a bit more complex than previous releases as it not only replicates the exteriors of these buildings, but it provides interior rooms in the structure with the exterior steps. This can provide an opportunity to develop several vignettes on the same diorama base by placing various figures into different rooms as well as outside the buildings. No furnishing are provided for the interiors though there is some nice floor and ceiling details to start with.

If you're familiar with the fantastic dioramas produced by Bob Letterman over the years, each with a variety of stories to tell depending on where you look in the diorama, this set provides an opportunity to have some serious fun with figures and your favorite vehicle.

Thank you MiniArt for this first Middle East diorama and please do more!

My sincere thanks to MRC for this review sample!