Review

MiniArt has released a number of Austin Armoured Cars in 1/35th scale with the latest offering being an Indian Pattern British Service. The kit is packed in the usual manner of a cardboard tray and card lid with the parts inside all in plastic bag, this approach puts does put the decals at risk in my opinion. An examination of the contents reveals no serious issues with the mouldings and having built one I know the parts go together well.

The interior is well catered to with good detail throughout; my only real issues with the interior is the difficulty in showing items such as the engine which is a wonderful model in itself only needed some wire detail added to make it stunning. Another aspect is that the modeller needs to add some detail to the interior to give it some life as it is very clinical otherwise. Some figures would help and the tank crew by ICM jump to mind as a possibility.

Looking over the exterior detail I am happy that it is accurate and there are some very nice lines that are well replicated. The nice engine detail is very hard to display to good effect, but with some forward planning it is not impossible to do. Leaving the doors open is a must to display the interior and I would consider leaving one of the turrets to the side.

The turrets are well designed as regards assembly and the Vickers machine guns are pleasing in their level of detail. It is this high level of detail that is another reason why one would best be displayed off of the vehicle to enable the detail to be best seen and allows another point to look into the vehicle when completed and the model design enables this. The ammunition for the Vickers is a canvas belt that is reloaded rather than disintegrates during use. Displaying the belt accurately will require some heat I feel to get the correct relaxed look. The canvas should be tan in colour for the vehicles period, green tended to come in after the 2 World Wars.

The finishing options for this release are:

8th Armoured Car Company, No4 Section, RTC, British Raj, Lahore, Jan 1923

8th Armoured Car Company, No4 Section, RTC, British Raj, Lahore, Jan 1923

RTC, British Raj 1920’s

RTC, Waziristan 1920’s

Conclusion

Another great model offering of the Austin Armoured Car that served across the globe and with more countries than I realised. The model is well laid out with display of the great interior and engine being the difficult part which can be partly overcome by displaying one of the turrets off of the model. Another great release but how about some crew figures?