MiniArt 1/72 Buildings
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
For those familiar with MiniArt's high quality 1/35 diorama buildings, their 1/72 offerings will truly be ones to envy. Unlike those larger scale buildings, the 1/72 examples are fully injection molded, so there is no vacuform parts to cut out. They have been quite prolific in their releases as of late, too, with no less than five buildings showing up on our doorstep. The parts in each of these are identical, as the overall concept is to create a modular system that can easily adapt to any number of building shape and design. This means that, with a good selection of pieces, one could also come up with their own custom design, should they so wish.
The Village House
The Village House is a single story building with a tile roof. It features windows on three walls, a single door, a chimney, and gutters. This is probably one of the simplest structures MiniArt has produced, with the walls made up from only five sections and the roof from four sections. If you are looking for a good starter building, this is probably the best one with which to begin.
The Watchtower
The Watchtower is an interesting building, as it is a two-story structure with openings mostly on the second story (there are two windows on the first story, and that's it). This means that you will be building a staircase, which adds a bit to the complexity of this one. There are also stacked walls that add to the assembly challenge. The only doors are on the second story, and one of them opens out onto a balcony. Finally, you get gutters on this one as well.
The Goods Shed
This is a very interesting building, being long and skinny with a couple of large sliding doors on one side. This building has few windows, and those that it does have are small. The roof is made up from four sections on each side, but at least there are no gutters to deal with. The front door also comes with an overhanging roof. A bit more challenging, but the diorama potential for this one is good, so worth the effort.
The Railway Station
Now we're getting into the advanced buildings here. In essence, this is three buildings in one, as the station has a large central building and two side buildings. The side buildings go together similarly to the Village House, with only three sides (the fourth side mates up to the central building). The central building will be a fun one to put together, as it not only has two stories but also has a central hallway. There are lots of windows and doors in this building, and the central building also adds a couple of chimneys for added flair.
The Administrative Building with Workshop
This is easily the most complex out of all of the buildings presented here. When viewed from the top, this building looks like a cross. It combines assemblies from just about every other building shown here, with two stories, a large sliding door, a staircase, and a chimney. The roof is particularly challenging, as you will have to build this up to seamlessly blend the angled roof pieces. About the only thing this one is missing is the gutters, but it has plenty to make up for that.
Conclusion
These are really a great series of buildings and open up some great display potential for any number of models. The overall design is basic enough to fit in with just about any locale, so one could just as easily put one of these next to a WWI biplane or a modern APC. If you're looking for something to fill that corner of your latest display base, check one of these out. Alternatively, if you have a strong desire to build a small village, get them all. My thanks to MRC for the review samples.
