MiniArt Scout Car Dingo Mk. 1A w/ Crew

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This review was written and submitted by Thomas Voigt.

Company: Mini Art
Item #: 35087
Item name: Scout Car Dingo Mk. 1A w/crew
Review type: Inbox preview

Mini Art has released some Dingo Scout cars, a very unique and welcomed series. This vehicle has not been available as plastic kit before.

The sprues are in grey styrene, which included 303 parts, including the ones for the two British soldiers with desert uniforms. All parts are free of any flash, only the obligatory mold departing lines are visible and easily removed. Some of the thicker parts like the hatches show some slight sink marks. Ejector marks are found either on areas that will be hidden after assembly or on the underside of the vehicle. The only problematic marks are on the insides of the fenders, but these should be manageable too.
Sprue A contains all main parts for the chassis and the superstructure. Sprue B is included twice. It has all the smaller parts that are needed multiple times. Sprue C is divided in sub sprues C, Ca, Cb and Cd, which contain superstructure parts particular for this Dingo version. Sprue D is a small one with parts for the rear fenders.
The four wheels are separate from any sprues and show some nice tire pattern. The wheels come from a slide mold, which means that the detail is excellent, but there are some mold departing lines that have to be removed.
The last srue has the parts for the two British soldiers.
The PE fret has some very small parts like bolt heads or levers for the hatches. Also parts like the mud flaps that are depicted better in PE, because plastic parts would be way too overscale.

The molding of the parts is excellent and show sharp very details. Some of the smaller parts have those little plastic nodes, which help to avoid pin marks on them. That makes cleaning up of the parts a little more time consuming.
The assembly instructions show 43 steps with many sub assembly groups for smaller parts.
Construction starts with the chassis tub, after that the very complete interior is assembled.

The weld lines on the inside and the outside of the armor plates are slightly raised. In case somebody finds them too prominent, they can be a little sanded. The interior is quite complete and should be sufficient for most modelers, especially when the hatches are partly closed.
After that, the main body parts are put together and mounted to the chassis tub.
When this is done, the steering mechanism is installed.
The assembly of the fenders is next and the last steps show the placement of all the smaller parts like hatches, etc. This final part of the instructions is quite busy and care must be taken when the parts are mounted.
You have the option to depict any of the hatches opened or closed.

The kit contains markings for three vehicles. The decal placement and painting instructions are in full color. Also shown is a painting suggestion for the two soldiers. The paint charts includes, as always from MinI Art, paints from Vallejo, Testors, Tamiya, Humbrol, Revell and Mr. Color.

The marking options are
1. Unknown unit, North Africa, 1942
2. Regiment HQ 4th/ 7th Royal Dragoon Guards, 27th Armoured Brigade, 9th Armoured Division, 1941
3.HQ- 22nd Armoured Brigade, 1st Armoured Divisio, UK 1941

         

Mini Art has also released several other versions of the Dingo, which are similar to this one. These are so far the Mk. I, Mk. Ib, Mk. II, Mk. III

Conclusion: A beautiful kit with many details. The only drawback is the omission of clear parts for the head and rear lights. A welcome release for fans of British Armour.

Review by Thomas Voigt for Prime Portal
Copyright © 2011