Ruined Building

Preview

When I purchased this set, I was unsure at first how the size of the box rhymed with the small wall segment depicted on the box.
The reason, however, soon became obvious: you are actually buying a lot of air.
That said, I am happy that we are slowly getting some buildings in injection plastic in our scale. We have had a fair offer of resin items, but these are generally less easy to work with, suffer from reduced availability in a lot of shops, and are quite pricy.
Which brings me to the second duality: the set is not that expensive compared to resin items of similar nature, but actually very expensive when compared to a complete plastic injection AFV kit. (Your average AFV kit would contain around 5 times as many parts for about double the price.)

So what do you get ? A sprue with 4 wall sections (about 55mm tall) and five "ornaments" on one hand and a sheet with some groundwork (measuring about 9 by 4 cm) and parts to fill in the window on the other. The latter seem to be vacformed using very sturdy styrene. I believe assembling all of this, including cleanup, will take less than an hour. I am not sure that I will actually use the base, as it might interfere with the rest of the diorama, but it is nice that it is there. About that base, I have this uncanny feeling that the one on the box-top has sharper details, that might pass for bricks, while the one provided is quite soft in detail. The injection parts have sharp detail all-over, however, nicely representing the stucco texture and do not have any noticeable flash or seam lines.

A nice touch, in my opinion, is the fact that MiniArt lets you choose how to fill in the window (either with small bricks, leaving a small opening for observation/firing or with larger stones, completely filling the window). You can also choose the type of small ridge that you place above that same window.
Instructions can be found on the back of the box.

• Not mentioned in the instructions, but possible nevertheless, is the option to change the assembly of the two main components of the wall. Part 4 will cover the opening wherever you leave it. (See instructions above.)
• The inserts of the window are rather troublesome as they have to be cut to size. I ended up with a gap between the two halves inside the wall where it is difficult to reach.
• As the walls come in two halves, you will end up with a seam that is difficult to hide without a lot of work.

I ended up using the base plate, but covering it with all kinds of rubble, which I would expect to be present around a destroyed building. I also added some impacts of small arms fire.

PS: You can see the ruin used in a diorma here.

Article Last Updated:
18 December 2010
15 March 2014