[art] AEC Mk. III armoured car - review

[406 Silverado]

AEC Mk.III Armoured Car

In Box Review

Scale: 1/35

Manufacturer: MiniArt

www.miniart-models.com/

Model Number: 35159

MSRP:

Part I in a two part review. Part II will be a build up review.




Model details:

Highly detailed model
537 plastic parts
52 PE parts
Decals are included
Full-color instruction
All New Tooling. Up-to-date technology using sliding moulds.
Fully detailed interior
Highly detailed engine compartment
Engine is accurately represented
Fighting compartment is truly reproduced
Crews vision periscopes with clear plastic parts
Driving compartment interior is fully detailed and correctly done
All doors and hatches can be assembled open or closed
Slide-molded tire made by 1 detail in plastic


The Box and Instructions

The first thing that caught my attention with these instructions was that the color profile and painting was on the front page. Not having build a MiniArt vehicle before, this was a big surprise. Flipping through the instructions the build seems pretty straight forward. The inside first page has the typical sprue/parts layout.
Now onto the kit

The Kit

The kit parts are molded in a light gray color, similar to other kit companies. The box is filled with 19 sprues, both large and small. Upon close examination I did see ejector pin marks on some of the larger parts, but in areas that will most likely not be seen.

One thing about this kit I love, is the fact that you get a full interior including the turret. A bonus of course is the well detailed motor and drive train. This is one kit where you HAVE to leave the hatches open to show off the interior and motor. The chassis parts are well detailed and look to build up easy.

The hull of the car is made up of separate panels ie; floor, roof and side panels. Details on both sides of the panels are fine and nicely molded. The separate panels will make painting and weathering the interior easier to get to, apposed to a hull tub. The front and rear fenders are molded in thing styrene which makes it easier if one wants to apply any battle damage. Again the detailing and molding looks great here as well.



The turret comes with a complete interior, turret basket and all the ammo rounds to fill the ammo bins. The parts all are well detailed and crisply molded without a trace of flash. A nice touch is the radio for the turret. There is a PE wire guard that covers the radio front, as with the real thing.
The numerous small sprues containing the smaller parts are finely modeled and the detailing is very good considering the size of some of the parts.



Next we have the wheels. The outer rubber tires are molded separate from the hubs/rims and have no mold seems to clean up.




The decals, clear glass and a small fret of PE come in a small bag. The PE mainly covers straps and other finer details, with the biggest part being the wire screen for the radio, suspension guard and pats for the rear deck. The decal sheet has markings for 3 vehicles.



Conclusion

Although I am not familiar with these types of vehicles the kit looks very good. Of course no kit is perfect and there may be some areas that are not 100% correct or accurate, reference material would come in handy. This is a fairly small model that is crammed with loads of details, especially in the interior area.

With a model this detailed, the interior being what stands out the most, one is tempted to try and show it off. I have an idea of how to do just that..

This will cover the in box review of the kit, the build up review will be the true test of the kit.

I would like to thank MiniArt for supplying this and other review samples.
www.miniart-models.com/