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MiniArt 1/35 Soviet Field Kitchen KP-42

By Eric Christianson

The Kit

MiniArt’s field kitchen and figures come in a small box containing seven sprues of soft grey plastic parts. The wheels take up five of the sprues, and the trailer and figures fill out the remaining two. The parts are very crisp and flash-free, and effort has been made to restrict the few ejector pin marks to areas that are not visible on the finished model. The plastic is very soft and sands easily.

The single, double-sided Instruction page is broken into 26 steps. While the instructions are well illustrated and somewhat easy to follow, I found that the intricate assembly of some of the more delicate parts would have been easier to navigate had I been able to see more views and had things broken down a little more. That said, the parts fit together well, and many were engineered to fit only one way, which always makes the build a little more enjoyable.

Assembling the Trailer

The main kitchen utility trailer has a lot of extremely fine detail, yet an attempt was made to limit the number of tiny, fidgety parts. The pieces fit very well and look a lot busier than they really are. For example, there is a seven-sided box that could have been a wobbly nightmare to assemble. MiniArt engineered the pieces to fit only one way, however, and to fit securely. In minutes I had a beautiful little box that stands prominently on the completed trailer.

There were two areas that I might have made a mistake on – better instructions would have helped here. The main springs that hold the axle and the axle assembly also provide an attachment point for the side fenders. No matter which way I put these parts together they came out looking slightly askew from what I see in the final drawings. Nevertheless, they look ok for a field kitchen so I moved on.

Also, the sides of the main cooking tub assembled in Step 3 must fit around the tub cover built in Step 4, and the cover fits only one way. I suggest that you have the cover handy before working on Step 3 so you will be able to adjust the parts accordingly. The cover is not actually glued to the cooking tub until Step 9 but I would do so prior to attaching the delicate exhaust pipe at the top, which I saved until the end. The hatch at the top of the tub cover can be built in the open or closed position, as can the lids of the two side-mounted food-storage cans.

The two illustrations of the main chassis are flipped in the instructions to assist with assembly – make sure you are aware of that fact before gluing several small pieces on each side upside down – not that I would know anything about that! Steps 25 and 26 provide the different assembly approaches for a towed trailer as opposed to a stand-alone operating kitchen.

Tires

This is the second time I have encountered MiniArt’s multi-part tires and I think these are really great. Each tire is made up of seven flat disks that, when glued together, form a beautiful tread. There is a specific assembly order that I ignored the last time I made them, so I paid close attention to the instructions this time. The ply of the tires fit perfectly when properly assembled and looks beautiful when completed. Painting is a breeze since the wheel and tire sections are separate. I wish other manufacturer’s would pick up on this design – it really sets the bar for 1/35th scale tires – and provides modelers with a plastic alternative to paint-and-finish-defeating rubber tires.

Figures

The figures included in this kit, like those in every MiniArt kit I build, are exquisite and a great value by themselves. Each figure is made up of many parts (13 for the potato-peeling cook, 15 for the wood-gathering soldier, etc), but they fit together very well and require almost no filler and just a little sanding. A coat of primer was all the filler I needed for the most part. The only problem I had was trying to find a way to naturally hang the duffle bag carried by the standing soldier – I ended up leaving it off.

What I like the best about these figures are the natural poses and simple look to them once completed. The artist responsible for these gems should be congratulated for the fine craftsmanship. Beautiful.

Painting and Finish

I prime all of my military vehicles with an even, airbrushed coat of Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1200 to prepare the surface (and to cover up stray glue marks!). I follow this with a base coat of Tamiya NATO Black. Both of these layers are very thin and (I feel) do not detract from the look of all the delicate parts involved.

Tires and wheels - I painted the outer slice of each side of each tire (6 parts) Model Master US Army Helo Drab before assembly. The wheels were painted the same color as the trailer (see below).

Trailer - I assembled the entire trailer before painting it and the three wheels from above. I started with a coat of Model Master Russian Armor Green.

Once dry, I followed this with a post-shading coat of Model Master Topside Green, applied to the exposed flat surfaces, leaving the darker color to mix with the background black in the shaded areas. I then assembled the tires and wheels, hand-painted the unpainted tread Helo Drab, and attached them to the trailer.

Once dry, I shot the whole thing with a coat of Future to prepare the surface for a wash and let everything set for three days. Next I applied a pin wash of Windsor Newton Raw Umber thinned with Mona Lisa thinner.

Once this was dry I dry-brushed the exposed edges with Model Master Afrika DunkelGrau, followed by a pass with a Prismacolor silver pencil here and there to bring out a metallic glint.

Finally I dusted the lower trailer parts and wheels with a mix of MIG Black, Russian Earth and Old Rust pigments. The last step was to dust the exhaust stack with MIG Old Rust.

The build took me about eight hours to complete, most of the time spent on the finish.

Conclusion

MiniArt has really come into their own with beautiful kits that fit well into 1/35th scale dioramas. At every show I attend I can easily identify the MiniArt pieces when I see them. Their figures are top-notch, naturally posed and fun to build. The trailer in this kit can be shown ‘opened up’ and ready for field use as well as buttoned up and towed behind a prime mover.

The completed kit conveys the practical look of any bivouac vignette on any battlefield, and I think it will also look perfect behind a utility vehicle on a muddy road somewhere on the Eastern front.

I would recommend this kit to experienced modelers due to the complexity of painting figures. That said, however, the kit builds into a very nice and unique representation. I'd like to thank MRC for providing the review sample, and Internet Modeler for giving me the opportunity to build the kit.