The Modelling News: Build Review Pt II: 1/35th scale B-type Military Omnibus from MiniArt Models

After his in-box review & the first part of his build, Lukas has finished MiniArt's new 1/35th scale B-type Military Omnibus kit. Today we see him finish construction of the bus & the final weathering & finishing of MiniArt's latest people mover...

Build Review Pt II: 1/35th scale B-type Military Omnibus
From MiniArt Models
Kit No #39001
1/35th scale
Product Link on the MiniArt Website

Previous parts of this story...
- In-Boxed: 35th scale B-type Military Omnibus from MiniArt Models
- Build Review Pt I: 1/35th scale B-type Military Omnibus from MiniArt Models

Today - Build Review Pt II: 1/35th scale B-type Military Omnibus from MiniArt ModelsWelcome to the last part of this beautiful and possibly the most fragile built I have ever conducted. Few things to note before I dive into it. I finally made a final decision on the background (I feel like I changed it at least twice in every previous article) which will be white. Some parts of build were not documented (such as mounting the second floor to ground floor) due to how delicate some little parts are. Here we go…

This is where we left off with the last part of the bus...

After finishing the chassis itself it was going to be all about the far more intimidating part of the build - the ground floor and upper level. I decided to stage it to lower deck - build and partial weathering, staircase and follow up on weathering, upper level and weathering and final assembly before attaching all handrails and small details which I was worried I would lose if I attach them as I go.

To make a noticeable between indoor and outdoor section I used actual clear plastic parts and hold them in place with masking tape. Later on, I washed the windows with thinner to get rid of all the paint but the residue actual left a nice effect on the glass. I didn’t want to end up with crystal clear windows but rather with dirty partially washed windows with some scratches here and there. More of that later.

Here are the parts before receiving base paint.

The parts are separately painted and ready for some compulsory dry-fitting...

The results of the test fit using masking tape to check for any issues,

Sitting on the chassis the lower floor looks good!

The wooden floor was painted with oils which I applied over Tamiya’s flat earth XF-52 and lightened with a little white. I masked this here but considering the amount of effort I went straight for dry brush on an upper level later on

Some subassembly enabled me to spot my first mistake - that box on the bottom left wasn’t actually on this particular bus or at least wasn’t attached when the only picture I am aware of was taken. As this was glued lot earlier I decided to leave the box on

As part of the instructions, you get a set of very handy WWI era posters. It felt like a great opportunity for some extra detail and period reality in the interior so I cut one out and glued it to the only place really available.

Now that I had that in place I finished the side panels of the walls on the lower floor. I painted them with Tamiya's XF-49, sealed them with varnish and applied decals for the exterior of the bus. The decals worked beautifully, and after weathering, they looked like they painted.

I then started weathering using oils - burned umber and various other shades of earth tones

When that was done, I attached the last panel and it was time for some pigments to spread some dirt.

The dirt inside I felt was just right to represent a well-used bus by soldiers

Happy with the interior, let’s move onto outside!

The first layer of weathering using oil paints was the next step - I usually go with what feels right to my eye. It pays not to rush this step, so I will then leave it for a few hours and when I come back I review whether I need to reduce the effect or add more.

On to the first floor built up pretty simply including the spiral staircase. You can see the parts here ready for paint.

Here I split my progress it into staircase implementation and then the second level. The staircase was airbrushed and pre-weathered in the same fashion as the lower level cabin was.

After attaching the staircase and weathering I glued in windows. It was at this stage when my original plan to show the broken window ended. However I decided to come up with a different solution to add more interest - canvas and wood (tissue paper represent canvas on the left-hand side and balsa wood replicates the wood on the right-hand side)

The wooden parts on the side were treated to some harsh weathering to make them look right, and I think this added a lot to the side of the bus.

I was pretty happy how it went at this point and I was able to move on after this to the upper floor of the bus.

The first floor painted with Tamiya acrylics (XF-10+XF-64). The seats were not glued at this point which makes it easier to mask before painting outside. I also cut off the major straight parts of handrails and replaced them with an evergreen profile. It was easier than trying to clean up the kit's parts. The seats were then painted and scratched up using the hairspray technique. White deck tan was the colour used for the base and Tamiya XF-64 applied over the hairspray.

Prepared for the colour. I scribed the panel line on the side panels as that is visible on the pictures.

The seats were then in secured safely in to their places and the top deck was then ready for some dirt which was applied just like the lower deck.

Weathering was then done on the top deck level in the same way as it was below deck - Again I was happy with this result and the dirt pushed and gathering int he corners more than the walkways.

A view from directly above shows the wear and tear given to stimulate the wear and tear of thousands of troops that used these busses would have made.

The top deck requires very accurate assembly in order to smoothly (& strongly) attach it to the base level. I thought I had this down...but later I found had to cut off one of the sidewalls, part D18, to re-align. Purely my error for not double-checking twice and thoroughly.

After I managed to finally properly attach the top deck there were only a few things to add. Handrails, little step and horn

Conclusion - 1/35th scale B-type Military Omnibus from MiniArt Models
To me, this kit replicates a fantastic looking original subject - plenty of schemes are available right out of the box provided by MiniArt, who also provides a lot of spare accessory parts to make your model even more unique. I am fully aware that mine has few inaccuracies, that extra box for example, but despite being tricky and fragile at points due to the structure of the original subject and, given mainly to extremely butter-like plastic, it delivered rather impressive results.

A walk-around of the completed kit