icm 1:35 Railway Tools & Equipment

[James H]

1:35 Railway Tools & Equipment
MiniArt
Catalogue # 35572
Available from Hannants for £10.99

 

 

Back in the days of yore, before portable arc welders, mass-produced tools and battery drills etc., your average railway worker would still of course need to maintain his stretch of track so those lumbering steam locos would get to their destinations safely. There are of course a number of 1/35 locos and wagons available for which to create some nice dioramas, but until this new release from MiniArt, you might have been struggling to find period rail tools and equipment for it. Struggle no more! MiniArt’s new release is packaged into one of their smaller, slim but glossy boxes, this time depicting the whole gamut of the railwayman’s arsenal of equipment. You’ll notice a barrow, buckets, lantern, lump hammer, blowtorch, and even a small ear-trumpet to listen to the track to see if any trains are likely to arrive on the scene of a maintenance job. 

Inside the box, a small clear heat-sealed sleeve contains SIX light grey sprues, plus another small sleeve with one further small sprue containing the buckets and clear lantern lenses. MiniArt has also employed some excellent slide-moulded parts to make your project a little easier to handle.

 

Sprue Bf

The basic layman’s tools are provided here, and you’ll see a lump hammer, small hammer, straight crowbar for moving rail sleepers, pickaxe, shovel and spade. Of course, these are single-piece items and no assembly is required. Just cut, clean and paint.

 

 

Sprue Bg

On this sprue, you’ll find the gas tank and blowtorch ensemble, which only requires a length of wire to represent the connecting hose. Note also a two-part wrench, spanners, standard crowbar and a wood plane. The latter is slide-moulded for a nice one-shot part!

 

Sprue Bh

The multipart lantern is represented here, made up from numerous parts, as well as an oilcan, grips, ear-trumpet and a broad shovel.

 

Sprue Ef

Here we have the smallest sprue, with parts for two sizes of bucket. The base on these is a separate part, and again, slide-moulding is used to good effect, so you don’t have to remove a seam. 

 

Sprue F1 & F2

These are simply the lenses for the lantern, with one moulded in clear, and the other in clear red. A small nub will need to be snipped off before use.

 

Sprue Kd (x2)

Two rail sleepers are included here, moulded as halves, with the joint being along the corners. You’ll only need to remove a diagonal seam on the end of each sleeper. These parts have an excellent wood grain detailing too.

 

Sprue Kh

Our last sprue contains the parts for the barrow. This comprises 10 parts and looks great when built up. Note, of course, the single, wooden spoke wheel too. A very agricultural-looking item but fitting perfectly the era. Again, wooden parts are detailed with a grain pattern.

 

The back of the packet contains the assembly instructions, as well as a paint guide, with colours given for Vallejo, Mr.Color, Life Color, Tamiya, Testors, AK etc. Probably more options than your average kit would normally list. A parts map is also included on the obverse side of the box. You will note that the instructions themselves are very clear in their approach, with line drawings used to represent the construction, and clear part annotation. Some wire will need to be added, for the bucket handles, and in the case of the lantern, a small colour image is presented to help you with painting this nice little addition. Of course, some smaller items such as the ear-trumpet do not need assembly and aren’t represented on the instructions. However, you can look at the box front for a colour representation of that item.

 

Conclusion
A wonderful and comprehensive little set that will provide invaluable to railway diorama modellers, and typically those that model period steam locos, as this appears to be the era to which these tools pertain. Beautifully realised, engineered and moulded, this set is very easy to construct, has plenty of detail and will provide those little touches that really help a diorama come alive. It’s also a very reasonably priced release. Go check it out!

My sincere thanks to MiniArt for supplying this sample for review. Click the link at the top of the article to purchase directly from Hannants.

 

 

 

[Fran]

A really nice set!!