How to work with MiniArt vacuform building kits?

Craig,

A friend successfully built one of those Miniart kits with no previous vac-form experience.  See the Batman Tumbler article:

http://www.ipmshawaii.freewebsitehosting.com/Newsletters/Oct-08-Newsletter.pdf

Sorry that there are no construction photos.  I think he just cut out the parts, sanded the edges to fit, and glued everything together with liquid cement.  He said the fit was pretty good, so the parts needed very little filler.  I don't think he reinforced anything.  The road section really needs some sort of backing though, as it is kind of flexy.  Maybe some plaster poured into the underside, then set a flat non-porous non-stick plate on the plaster, turn the whole thing over, and let set.

His first-time results were so good that I bought a set as well, but have not yet gotten around to building mine.

Neal

patton45

How to  glue the walls together with such thin edges and not have seams, etc?

These aren't any different than any other vac-form kit, and I've builr several of them (aircraft)..You're gonna have seams no matter what... You'll need to fill and sand them, just like an injection-molded kit...

Do I need to reinforce each side with balsa, etc to have something for the glue to adhere to?

I do.. But use the styrene scrap from the kit, not balsa.. Reinforcing strips allow you to put a little "oomph" in the sanding.. I use either Testor's Liquid (Pink Bottle) or MEK (hardware store) for gluing them....

How do you work with these things?

Use a Sharpie or other ultra-fine marker to go around the edges of the parts, leaving just a skoshi bit of extra palstic. Using a scriber or a good ol' X-Acto Number 11, scribe (with the BACK side  of the X-Acto) along the lines, holding you knife as close to flat as you can.  If you're cutting it right, there should be long curls of styrene in the blade's wake... Do it several passes, not one, long, hard one..

If you can, reinforce with plaster, or sometime you can use expanding foam spray (hardware store) to fill it out...

I'm getting ready to start one of these also, so far I found this:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t60547.html

hope this helps

Scott

Wow.. After looking that thing over, I'm now convinced I'll never buy one, lol...  I'll stick with cutting the building walls from 1/4" basswood and putting sheetrock mud or vac-form brick sheet on 'em, or casting plaster walls... 

Good luck, you guys... 

Hans von Hammer,

Actually the Miniart vac kits are rather nice looking, the relief detail is very good, and the air evacuation pips are minimal and sometimes impossible to detect.  Their depiction of brick and cobblestone are especially well done.  The injection molded detail parts are a little on the heavy side, but look great after clean up.  I think the only stuff I have seen that would be better off being replaced are the open rain gutters.

As with all vacuform kits, the backing material can be cut up into short tabs and glued to the backsides of the mating surfaces in an alternating pattern, to give more strength to the joints.  After my buddy built his Batmobile diorama, I ran out and bought a Miniart diorama kit to try it out as well.  I just have to pick a vehicle and figures to populate it.

I have to say, its looks a lot easier to scratchbuild a building and base..those kits look like way too much work.

BURN THEM!!! BURN THEM WITH FIRE!!! BURN THEM WITH FIRE THEN DANCE AROUND THEIR BURNING, MELTING CORPSES WHILE LAUGHING MANIACALLY!!!!

That is how I deal with Miniart Vacuform building kits.

Edit: Maybe I should clarify...

Im working on something for a friend, been doing it for almost 2 years because of the kit.  Heck, I have SCULPTED two custom figures for the dio in the time its taken for this.  The church went together without a lot of problems... the house on the other hand... nothing is fitting right, corners dont line up, windows dont line up.  I have hit the point that I'm filling the darned thing with celluclay and then cutting off and plastic parts that dont line up and just sanding and puttying untill its smooth.  I am NEVER buying a building from this company again.

vespa boy

I have to say, its looks a lot easier to scratchbuild a building and base..those kits look like way too much work.

Ditto.. There's plenty of vac-formed styrene "brick" sheets at the LHS if you need brick.. Or siding, concrete blocks, etc...

I'd be willing to bet I could scratch-build those type of buildings faster than y'all can build that kit, were we sitting side-by-side.....

Hans von Hammer

 

vespa boy:

 

I have to say, its looks a lot easier to scratchbuild a building and base..those kits look like way too much work.

 

 

Ditto.. There's plenty of vac-formed styrene "brick" sheets at the LHS if you need brick.. Or siding, concrete blocks, etc...

I'd be willing to bet I could scratch-build those type of buildings faster than y'all can build that kit, were we sitting side-by-side.....

Hans, I would put money down that you could.

Tell us how your really feel, smeagol *cough*

I've got one of the MiniArt kits done. It was a bit of a pain at first trying to get the halfs togetther. I finally used some 1/4" plastic shims to fill in the vaccum and glued the shims to each other. I filled the seams with some latex caulk . I used some fine ballast over that for a little crumbled brick texture, then painted.

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Did you build the whole roof then break it?  For some reason it looks like alot more wood on the ground then there should be.  that nitpicking aside, you did a good job with that

thanks.........I just built the roof thats on the building. The wood in the rubble was done one piece at a time. I do think I over did it a bit, but my reasoning was the wood from the second floor, its ceiling, and then the roof of the buidling itself would be alot since it didn't burn, just blew up.

I think you did great Hman, i like it alot.
I did one as well, they take some work but i think its worth it.

Lufttiger........well done sir.  I really like the paint job on your figures.  

Though I wouldn't discourage you from building these kits, I'm with Hammer.  I prefer to use scraps of wood--I prefer luan plywood--and spackle.

I do agree, you can build a building faster with wood and putty than you could with the vacuform kit.  The main advantage in the MiniArt kits, for some, would be that the details are molded in, whereas those of us who scratchbuild them have to supply those details some other way.  Of course, we can buy basswood strips, popsicle sticks, etc, or scrounge them (eg, wooden coffee stirrers can be used to replicate timberwork, planks, etc).

Having said that, I will say, there is some very nice work going on, in the photos and at the linked site.

Best regards,

Brad