I'm going to be building a German Street diorama (April '45) & I wondered if anyone has any advice for building miniart structures? I haven't made any before and I want to have an idea of what to expect before I dip into my wallet. Any suggestions or pointers are very appreciated
-Conor

Conar they do take some skills to assemble well and the best guide for working on these kits is on MiniArts website.

Hi Conor,
Personally I have only bought 1 and found it to be a pain to build.The styrene is flimsy and a lot of trimming involved.On the upside,there's alot of very useful sprues with it for scratch building.For the cost of them I would try one.I much prefer ceramic kits.
Only my opinion,a lot of people have built them with exellent results.I'm sure someone with more experience with them will give you better advise.

Tom

http://miniart-models.com/index.htm?/Catalogue.htm

Click on assembly guide.

Hi
That is Miniart building which I finished yet. I can recomend Miniart's buildings. Because they have details inside and extra parts what you need such as windows, doors, street lambs.I followed assembly guide. The important thing is to put some narrow plastic sheets inside of walls and glue them before combine two parts of wall. So there will be no breakdown. And glue window's and door's frames before painting. Because some of them need to modifying and sanding too much.
Ali

Start off with one of the simpler kits like a straight wall ... or in other words; two halves. A bit of cutting and trimming and sand each half as they show on the Miniart site ... it should be no problem even for a beginner. I have built a few Miniart buildings and its the corner joints that take the most work to get nice IMO. So dont start with one of their more complicated kits ... you´ll find them frustrating and maybe not worth the hassle. But once you get the knack its no problem.
A big advantage with the smaller kits is you´ll have loads of accessories left over, so you can scratch some buildings in the future with cork and plastic profiles. They are great value for money as they have details inside and outside plus they all come with their own accessories. Resin, plaster and ceramic building usually only have details on the outside, no extras and cost more.
I often hear people being annoyed because they have cut trim and sand a little more than normal .... is that not what modelling is about? Give it a go ... its good to have a little challenge and polish you skillsa bit.
The building below is a perfect starter kit.

Last year we had a miniart campaign and you can see some of the miniart range being builkt and get hints and tips throughout the campaign thread as well as some of the trickier aspects involved

Miniart are very tricky I built the french street,
I found that reinforcing the two styrenne sheets with balsa straps made them more rigid
especially where they are to join .
But as someone already said lots of trimming

but interesting sprues

mike

...give this a try...great stuff...

Check my blog (model display diorama 1 and 2), I used a mini art kit as a base and scratch build a lot of stuff around the mini art kit.

You can use parts of it or build a total new construction around a mini art kit.

Yo have a great choice...emagination runs wild whit stuff like that.

Greetz Nico

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I really appreciate it. If I go through with this diorama, it's going to be on the big side. I'm looking at the German city block, and probably a few miscellaneous structures too. It's just going to come down to a question of if I'm throwing too much into one diorama... So hopefully I can pull it off

-Conor

Going back to my earlier reply ... start off with with one of their simpler kits. Your dio idea can wait until you finish with this first. The advantages of doing it this way is that you dont lay out a lot of money on buidings that you may or may not enjoy building. It will also allow you time to plan your dio and get the ideas more concrete. If you jump straight in and buy several buildings and find it too dificult or lose interest, you could have regrets. It takes a lot of the fun out of the hobby. Get one of the small sets ... a few figures and use it as a practise piece ... you´ll be surprised how much you´ll learn and can take with you to the more expensive and larger dio later.

What about this kit? http://www.scalehobbyist.com/catagories/Buildings/MIA00035512/product.php?s=0&t=6&u=0&micr=942&pg=1&ppp=24&sb=stocknumber&so=a&era=6&sc=35&man=MIA

I've got enough figures and a tank that could work perfectly with that. If it's too complicated I'll stick with your suggestion.
Thanks!

-Conor

The only thing to be careful of is the assembly sequence follow it strictly or it can be difficult to join th e inner corners.
Miniart kits should be treated as you would treat a kit of a vehicle- anyone who devotes the time and effort to them will end up with a good result

Hi,
The Miniart Corner diorama base was my first Miniart kit, I think it’s a good choice for a first kit. It’s not over complicated, you get experience joining two wall sections together and it allows for you to add to the interior by making up a second floor. One thing is that it is only a small base so make sure your tank and figures will fit.

Cheers.