Saturday, January 11

Improved resin heads for MiniArt's 35th scale Italian Tankers WWII kit

MiniArt are again adding value & detail to some of their older kits, with examples like this: the 1/35th scale Italian tankers kit of years ago gets a "facelift" with new resin head replacements. We look at the kit in our preview...


Improved resin heads for MiniArt's 35th scale Italian Tankers WWII kit

Italian Tankers WWII (Resin Heads)
From MiniArt
Kit No #35500
1/35th scale
The box contains five figures of Italian tank riders.
New resin heads are included in this set
The Subject: Italian tankers of WWII
The Kingdom of Italy relied on a large and heterogeneous fleet of light and obsolete tanks for training. To address this issue, Italian forces in Africa experimented with replacing machine-gun armament with anti-tank rifles or heavy machine guns. Some crews also added mortars or anti-aircraft support to their vehicles.
Below are four Carri Armati M13/40 commanders. The man on the right with his arms folded is a second lieutenant. All of them are wearing different overalls of different military origins but are all armed with Beretta Modello 1934 pistols in leather holsters. Behind them is a Carro Armato L3/35 Lanciafiamme. All the crew members are wearing the standard cork-bodied leather-covered Modello 1932 tanker helmet with protective glasses. 
Italian tank crews in World War II were often inadequately trained, which led to catastrophic results on the battlefield. The Italian Regio Esercito (Royal Army) High Command ignored training, and as a result, crews were sent to the front lines with little to no experience.

Italian M13/40 tank of the 7th Tank Battalion, 132nd Armoured Division 'Ariete' with its crew, in the Libyan Desert. 
Despite these efforts, Italian tank crews struggled to keep up with Allied forces. The Italian war industry was unable to match the production capabilities of the Allies, and the lack of training and experience made it difficult for Italian crews to effectively operate their tanks.

Carri Armati M13/40 and a Carro Armato L3 light tank crew lined up near their vehicles. 

The Kit:
A reprint of the earluer 35093 kit, this set is GREATLY improved by these new faces that are drop-in replacements in this instance. The new sculptor, Sergey 

The plastic parts are the same as the earlier 35093 kit:
If you ignore the faces, these figures were not too bad at all, but the heads did let this set down...
Step in this special edition, with new faces that are drop-in replacements. MUUUUUCH better!
So you get the out-of-print kit with improved heads for the same price (2025 prices)—a great improvement. Don't thank us for the head's up!

This kit will be released next month.

You can see more about this kit on the MiniArt Website...