I’ve been checking these out on Squadron and was curious if anyone has used one or has any experience with them. They look pretty sweet. You can actually go to the Miniart website and download the instructions - some of them look pretty complex.
So, any insight you can provide…
The biggest problem with them is that they are Vacuform kits.
There are on a large sheet of plastic and you have to cut the pieces out, not like sprues, but every bit of it needs to be cut out, ALOT of work goes into just getting them off of the plastic.
After that, there thin and can be hard to line the sides of the pieces together.
That being said, they are absolutley gorgeous when finished. Beautifully molded.
My experiance with it
As far as the figures, there Dragon figures, that says enough.
I have used them to a very limited degree for the reasons already stated…there are much better buildings out there, just say “no” to these…
Smeagol and Manny,
Thanks for the info. They do look pretty nice, but I did not realize the effort required to construct them. Unless I get a deal on them, maybe I’ll take Manny’s advice and look elsewhere…
I think there good for like… bases where the base is not the center of attention. I like them for when I dont feel like making my own ground work.
Look at Miniarts webpage, they got a tutorial showing how to construct them… have a look and you’ll get an idea of how they are…
I haven’t tried them myself, but I want to!! [:)]
I whined and complained when I found out what it took to build them, but seeing the results, it was worth it. But then, im the kind that likes that kind of work, its fuffilling.
This is the MiniArt building that I am currently working on:
The dio is still in it’s very early stages, so there are a LOT of elements missing.
I’m with Smeagol that they are kind of a pain in the butt, but the finished product can be quite convincing.
This is my first diorama, and I am still learning. There are a LOT of hours in that building so far, and a lot more to go. Not a big fan of Vac-form. I will most likely do my buildings from scratch in the future, but with time and patience, MiniArt buildings can be very nice.
I have just recently bought one to give it a try, and so far:
The Pros: Good detail, plenty of extras, you get the whole thing, for example a building with a base, most companies only do a building.
The cons: It aint gonna fit together great, requires putty and some scratch building.
So knowing now what you get and have to deal with, i would buy again.
Work still in progress!
Lufttigey, is that the new one that comes with the tank? More important then how their bases are, how are their tank kits?
Smeagol - Cool album in the background of that one shot 
Thanks, we had a whole nice discussion about that album when I first posted that dio’s wips, under that is presto on vinyl (I have the whole diskography over 3 formats)
Smeagol, i can’t comment yet on the SU 76 or the figs that came with it, as i havn’t touched either yet. But by just looking at it, it reminds alot of a Premium Dragon kit??