Friday, July 19

Video & build review: MiniArt's 35th scale German Road Signs – Ardennes, Germany 1945

Seeing he was using his set in his forthcoming diorama, Clayton Ockerby (of Workbench Hobbies), thought he'd show you how they build up in a nice review & video. See how these signs & poles in MiniArt's 35th scale "German Road Signs – Ardennes, Germany 1945" kit look in his review...

Video & build review:
German Road Signs – Ardennes, Germany 1945
MiniArt 1/35 
Kit # 35609
Five sprues in plastic included
Decals included.
There wouldn’t be too many armour modellers unfamiliar with MiniArt as a manufacturer. MiniArt kits can build into amazing models, however their high parts count and small assemblies have been known to intimidate even the most seasoned modeller.

Not only does MiniArt have a comprehensive range of all types of vehicles and figures, but they also manufacture a range of diorama accessories, which brings me to today’s review.

The recent series of figures & accessories to make a French town / city come to mind 
I remember vividly Miniart being mocked by people within the hobby when they released a boxing of 35th scale Pigeons…until I saw a swag for dioramas popping up online using them to great effect. And again… they release a kit of crates and vodka bottles. Who would buy that ? Well turns out I would.
I could go on with the obscure releases in this diorama range, and how often we glance past them without a second look, then all of a sudden you need something from one of the sets and all of a sudden, they become the most valuable thing in the world! Especially when the local hobby supplier is out of stock!

The box is a typical open ends box from Miniart with all the sprues in one plastic bag.
That’s exactly what happened to me with this set. I wanted a concrete telegraph pole from one of MiniArts’ older sets and I couldn’t find the kit anywhere. Then the modelling Gods (that is the people from MiniArt) offered me this set of German road signs to review and all of my modelling prayers were answered.

The instructions and painting guide are on the back of the box...
The kit is essentially bits and pieces cherrypicked from previous road sign releases but with the decal sheet offering the unique element in the boxing.
The kit comes with an array of German signs and posts that would be appropriate for a late war setting. It also comes with the concrete telegraph pole and insulators, which is the piece I was waning for a vignette I was planning.
The decal sheet is really the heart of the set with all the various town names and symbols are resented. If you were really wanting to press for accuracy you’d have to do your research, because technically you’d be able to pinpoint the location of your scene just by looking at the signs.
Interestingly the instructions on the rear of the box suggest the decals need to be applied over a white background. This is necessary because the decals are printed using a 4-colour process to achieve the photo-realistic look. The downside of that is the inks are transparent, so if they don’t have a white base there will be no body in the colour. The white base is crucial and has the potential to catch a few unwary modellers out.
There are five sprues in the box with a double up of the one that houses the sign blades.
The sign blades have a sculpted timber grain present on both sides of the parts.
The poles and posts have a similar level of texturing to them.
The element I was looking for was the concrete telegraph pole. The pole is supplied in two halves with the metal brackets and insulators as separate moulded pieces.
Interestingly the kit included additional pieces from older road sign sets that had a considerable amount of flash present. So yes, the flash wasn’t great, but given they were ‘bonus’ pieces in the set it’s hard to be critical.

Who doesn't like an extra bit of pole?
I’ve assembled and painted the pole for an upcoming vignette but check out the video for a sneak peak of the results you can achieve with this set.

CONCLUSION
These diorama sets are worth their weight in gold, and like I said, you don’t appreciate how valuable they are until you can’t get your hands on the set you want.
Yes, you could make road signs yourself with a little research and scratch building, but if you are like me, I value my time and the bench, so any opportunity I get to make my life easier in that regard I’ll take with open arms.
Thanks to The Modelling News and MiniArt for the opportunity to review and use this kit.
Lastly, here is the finished product in the diorama that Clayton made with a video showing you how to create your own snowy scene here at this link...

Clayton Ockerby

Thanks to MiniArt for sending this to clayton to build & review for you all. You can get this set from their distributors worldwide...
See more of Clayton's amazing works on his YouTube Channel, his modelling portal "Workbench Hobbies" or his FB page