I agree,sandwiches,chocolate,an opened can of Spam, etc.would be awesome.Regarding the M3 grease gun, Tamiya included it in their U.S. Infantry Weapons Set from 1988.The rest looks good. I'm interested to see how the helmets turn out.

Considering the M3 was a late war development, and very few actually made it into the line before D-Day, I’d say the omission of the Thompson is a serious oversight. But let’s hope it’s planned in a later set. Overall, I like these Mini-art weapon sets, usually they precede or follow some interesting figure offerings. I too would like a closer look at the helmets. VR, Russ

I have always used the Dragon Grease Guns from the US Armoured Crew set of figures #6504 for my Airborne and Armoured crews for D-Day......but yes the versions in this kit, suppressed and cone flash suppressor are certainly later models.

There's a lot of indication here that there will be a follow up set maybe with Thompsons tropical version, drum magazine regular version etc a Garand with grenade Garand with bayonet, Springfield for early war Springfield with short scope and long scope regular barreled Grease gun maybe even a mortar. Then like the German sets they'll release a machine gun set x2 30 cals on tripod x2 30 cals on bipod and x2 50 cals on tripod that's what I can see them doing to be honest

I sent an email to Miniart about the lack of the Thompson. They promptly responded, and said that another U.S.weapons and equipment set will be released around November, and will include the Thompson.

I haven't bought any of the MiniArt weapon sets yet, do they have the barrel openings like the GEN2 weapons do?

That would be a no, the only weapon I've noticed in their kits with a hollowed muzzle is the MG 34

For those who want a look at the Miniart Thompson SMG, here’s a link to an article at The Modelling News on the “new” (actually a re-release) Miniart MPs and Jeep crew just released, which has a variety of weapons, including two versions of the Thompson. The weapons look nice, but again, they include the M3 “Grease Gun” which was a late war development, this time it’s the standard M3 without the OSS silencer or flash hider. For the life of me, I don’t see why the M3 is such an attraction, having been released late in the war, and not commonly found among the rank and file units. Why there are three in this set, pictured alongside a Bantam Jeep and pre-‘44 uniforms is a mystery. Maybe Miniart is channeling “The Dirty Dozen”? Or maybe the “Battle of the Bulge”? LINK VR, Russ

They are indeed doing a follow up set due for release Nov Dec titled US tank crew and infantry weapons included in the set is grease guns with regular barrels Thompsons and a tripod mounted 30 cal