Miniart 1/35 Lieferwagen Typ 170V

The chassis is built and I’m now starting on the bodywork. A couple of things to watch out for when building the chassis is that Miniart have mixed up a couple of part numbers (A14, A15, B22 and B23) and it is very easy to glue these parts into place then realise they are the wrong way around (ask me how I know).

Miniart had a fair go at replicating the springs for the rear suspension but I replaced them using 15amp fuse wire wrapped around a 3mm dia. drill. Brake hoses were also made from the same wire.

As the bonnet (hood) is going to be closed I just did the basic engine block rather than go to town with detailing as you won’t see it. The front bumper is VERY delicate and held onto the sprue in five places so I put a new blade on a scalpel to give me a fighting chance of cutting it off the sprue without destroying it.

I modified the front suspension to depict the wheels turned to the left rather than ‘straight ahead’. This was easily done by drilling and pinning the the upright posts the wheels are attached to then gluing the posts into position. I tend to use superglue for jobs like this to give the delicate joints some strength.

It’s not been a quick build as with most Miniart kits they do feature some fine and fiddly bits however if you take your time this particular kit goes together very well.