Friday, February 28

Preview: 1/35th scale British Tank Riders, NW Europe (Resin Heads) From MiniArt

The older 35th scale British tank riders (NW Europe) from MiniArt have been greatly improved with new sprues of weapons, equipment, & resin heads in a revised kit. Judge for yourself in our preview...


Preview: 1/35th scale British Tank Riders, NW Europe (Resin Heads)
From MiniArt

British Tank Riders, NW Europe. (Resin Heads)
From MiniArt
Kit No. 35496
1/35th scale
The kit contains five figures, weapons & equipment
The subject: British infantry tank riders in Western Europe during WWII.
Soldiers sometimes hitched rides on tanks in order to keep up with a rapid advance. Often seen on newsreels of victorious (and sometimes retreating) soldiers trying to get an easier or faster way to and from the front. This gave the tank infantry close hand in case they came across any issues better suited to infantry warfare, like closed in streeets or aleys in towns and villages or any urban warfare.

Some more photos of British infantrymen loaded with gear riding tanks in WWII.
British infantry ride on a Sherman tank in Holland, 24 September 1944.
Sherman tanks of the Staffordshire Yeomanry, 27th Armored Brigade, carrying infantry from 3rd Division, move up at the start of Operation ‘Goodwood’, Normandy, 18 July 1944.

The kit from MiniArt:
This kit contains four figures with not only their own gear but extra weapons and equipment on the extra sprues of the kit.

The five figures of British infantry to ride the tanks each come on their own sprue, dressed in standard summer British Army fatigues, ammo, pouches and gear

The new additions to the 2012 kit:
The regular British and Commonwealth soldier's helmets, packs, entrenching tools, flasks, and bayonets are included to vary your soldier.
Two types of Lee Enfield rifles and ammunition pouches are included.
Sten guns, both early and late, plus Bren guns, pouches, and bipods are included in this sprue.
The main issue with this set (as we said in our review back in 2012) was that the faces needed some work. These were made with MiniArt's previous sculptor, and admittedly, the standards of injection-moulded plastic and the availability of 3-D printed heads have raised the bar. MiniArt's new sculptor has made these in what we think is a big upgrade.

Here they are from two angles, below.
Here are the figures with these new faces. Although hard to see great detail, what we can see is better than the older set we had back then, for sure.
The combination of the extra weapons and the new resin heads makes this what we would call a "special edition".

This kit will be available from Miniart's distributors worldwide next month. See more about all of MiniArt's kits on their website...