Notification has just arrived from MiniArt Ltd. of two very different (but long-called for) initiatives. The full story can be seen:



Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

About the figures, I hope they still have time to rework the heads, those don't look so great compared to the (gorgeous) box art...

About the buildings, the combination shown in the black and white illustration would need three sets to complete. Here in France where MiniArt is not cheap, the combination will probably cost more than 60 Euros, maybe even 70...

I'm very happy to see more civilian figures, and always more so to see them in plastic. The modular building - to me at least - is a great idea. Thanks for the news.

Cordially,

Dennis

I have to agree with you Christophe about the heads. They really need to be reworked some and the pose of the walking guy doesn't seem to fit him walking. Assume the pose with yourself and it looks more like his arms should be arched back more. With the available head sets it will not be hard except for the ladies. Now the building set has real potential for even those that scratch build buildings. I assume it can be built in any number os ways. All in all, I will deffenitly P/U a set of the civies.

Hi

Good to see more civilian figures, and like the ones Masterbox showed as WIP will be most welcome.

With the proviso that something is done about those heads as others have mentioned.

The Hilter Youth figure looks far from youthful, more like 35 and should be serving on the Russian Front years ago. Along with the less than representative model of the lady on the box art, both are in need of serious "plastic surgery" The old Lady just about pulls it off but even she leans towards more masculine features and bone structure than female.

Don't know of any really good resin replacement heads to cover this. Hornet do some but they are without hair and many will feel not up to the task of sculpting their own to fit onto them.

Great idea from Miniart but needs the final product improving in the head sculpting area.

Alan

I must agree with Alan on his critique of the figures. Civilian plastic figures are welcomed but the kit photos look so much different than the box art.

I was laughing at how the Hitler youth figure looked like an old guy in Halloween costume. The lady figure looks like she has aged 30 years and gained 50 pounds between the box art and figure production. Thanks for the laugh Miniart. I'll take civilian figures regardless.

Well, there's a bit of a reason for the 'dodgy-head syndrome' which some seem to be gleefully commenting on.

Unlike the USUAL images from MiniArt these haven't been put on their site on Hi-Res. Whereas their images are usually around 6-8 MB, these are only around 247K. As usual, I expanded them for the News Report which lost a degree of definition...
For example, this the original HJ figure:



Hope that's clear now?

A neat trick when viewing figures such as these ... and indeed any works, is to reduce the images to their natural size and see what they are really like.
Hold your finger on the Ctrl button and use the mouse´s scroll wheel to enlarge/reduce the size (Thanks Terry Ashely for this tip).
When you see them in their natural size, they do look a hell of a lot better!

I knew they looked familiar.... long time WIP

Hi

Even after doing what Frank suggested I'm not convinced. The detail may appear sharper, but to me the sculpting is still wrong. The Hitler Youth figure features still betray someone much older, in fact it looks like the wrong head has been placed on the body, with the policeman looking younger from what I can make out.

The female figure looks nothing like the boxart. Whilst I never expected it to be exact as most kit ones use a certain amount of artistic licence this has not only a head to me that would look more at home in a Baptist Gospel choir than walking the streets of 1930 - 40's Europe but a complete different build as regards the body.

As I said before, this one along with the old lady, is more masculine in bone structure, shape and features than female.

Masterbox managed to do okay with their set in plastic so its not beyond the capabilities of kit manufacturers
http://www.mbltd.info/3514.htm

Maybe Miniart's sculptor is just not use to sculpting the female form and its features, more at home doing male combat soldiers etc.

Alan

I hope they get the old lady's height right she appears to based on thisphoto
However I still plan to buy them.