Review

There have been a number of M3 Stuarts released by MiniArt, both with and without interiors. I am guessing that this one being a vehicle in Japanese service having been captured, must mean that we are heading towards the end of the line. The model is packaged in the usual manner of a cardboard tray with a separate card lid. All of the plastic sprues are provided in a single plastic bag, with the photo etch, decals and clear sprue packaged in a bag on their own. I say it often, but this could lead to damage. An examination of the contents reveals no obvious moulding issues, one part did get broken free from the sprue, but I believe this occurred after packaging as the part was in the bag. Access for part removal is generally good, but obviously care will be required for the finer mouldings. The number of gates and their size is reasonable and does not cause me any great concern. 

This model being available both with and without interiors means that the main body panels have a lot of detail both inside and out and goes together like a flat pack. The benefit of this is exceptionally crisp detail where needed, and assembly is aided by the inclusion of the firewall panel which helps to correctly position the sides and floor of the model, and this gives you a decent structure from which to build. There are some exceptionally small parts, which I can almost guarantee will make some swear - some of which is right down to bolt heads. Another aspect with this being also released with interior is that every hatch is provided separately with detail inside and out - so if you want to have something open you can, just make sure you have something in there to hide the missing interior. Photo etch is thankfully minimal and so that is a plus. 

The suspension units are not workable, and do not need to be, as the tracks are provided via link and length. The level of detail on the tools is good and should meet the expectations of most. Moving to the turret, again all of the panels are flat pack but decent interior turret detail is included. What will require care and attention when assembling are the flat panels as there are a number that need to be correctly placed and I believe these will be a pain as one panel out and you will be checking yourself to work out which it is. 

The 5 man crew provided in this release are from a previous offering. You are given 3 crew members that can be depicted in or on the vehicle, the person sat crossed legs could be sat on the vehicle perhaps posing for a photograph. The officer figure with his sword can only really be posed outside away form the model as I cannot think of any placement that you could use the stance in. His sword will particularly get in the way no matter how he would use it. the uniform detail appears correct from my limited knowledge and crease detail is pleasing in appearance. The instruction booklet does a reasonable job covering part placement, but the sheer quantity of parts many of which are very small will make this release a challenge.

MiniArt has provided 4 finishing options for this release:

3rd Company, 7th Tank Regiment. Manila, Phillipines, May 1942

3rd Company, 7th Tank Regiment. Manila, Phillipines, May 1942

7th Tank Regiment (7th Sensha Rentai). Philippines, Manila, January 1945

Unidentified Unit. Phillipines, Tuguegarao, Luzon, 1945