MiniArt 1/35 Pushing Soviet Soldiers Kit First Look

By Cookie Sewell

Images by Michael Benolkin

First Look

The Soviets loved to cite the superior tactics of "General Mud" – the rasputitsa thaw which turned the landscape and most dirt roads into a morass that bogged down the Germans. But since the Soviet Red Arm was wedded to either horse drawn transport or worse, two wheel drive vehicles, they were not much better off early in the war. As a result, either tractors were used to pull out stuck vehicles or the soldiers had to push them out.

This nice new set from MiniArt provides a coordinated set of five figures engaged in pushing out what appears to be a GAZ-AA truck that has become stuck on a road. Four enlisted men and one officer are engaged in pushing the truck, two of the soldiers using thick tree limbs for leverage under the rear wheels. All are clad in summer uniforms.

The figures come in the usual six parts (head, torso, arms and legs) with added kit. Each figure has a separate cap, weapon, canteen, and ammo pouches for the riflemen. It also provides four Moisin rifles and one PPSh submachine gun, as well as two helmets.

The hands of the figures with limbs are molded onto the limbs which, while it makes for a natural fit with the pushbars, means that extra hands will have to be found if they are used for other functions.

The artwork is again by Karashchuk and the directions are of the "stick here" with painting colors provided for seven different brands of paint and in Russian and English.

Note that this set can be used to move anything - guns tending to get stuck more than trucks, even on Russian roads, would add more interest. Using them with the horse-drawn ZIS-3 gun from MiniArt would make for a really nice diorama of Soviet artillery, as an example.

Overall this is a good idea and well executed set of figures for Soviet fans.

Thanks to MRC for the review sample.

Sprue Layout:

• ‒ 32 Figures A, B and C
• ‒ 34 Figures D and E, weapons