Model Armour

Soviet Field Kitchen KP-42 Detail Set

(for MiniArt Kit)

Manufacturer: Hauler

Scale: 1/35

Material: Photo-etch

Serial Number:  HLU35051

Price: €9.18

Introduction

Hauler of the Czech Republic has made a reputation for themselves over the last few years for producing extremely high quality 1:35^th, 1:48^th and 1:72^nd scale accessories, detail sets and full kits from a variety of materials including Resin and Photo-etch. They also produce a range of PE detail sets, in the beginning mainly for 1/48^th scale, although as with this set, they now manufacture sets for other scales too. This set is intended to detail the recent MiniArt kit of the Soviet Field Kitchen set.

Set Contents

The set consists of just one fret of photo-etched brass measuring 7 x 5 centimetres, which given the size of the MiniArt model it is actually intended for is quite adequate. A number of plastic details are completely replaced, beginning with the two fenders that rune either side of the kitchen, and are extended to form a base for the food containers. Obviously supplied as flat photo-etch, they'll need to be curved exactly to shape before fitting. Although they make use of some of the MiniArt support brackets, they are supplied with the two brackets that are fixed as supports under the food container shelf, as photo-etched replacements. There are no locating points marked on the underside of the fenders, so their exact fitting is likely to involve some trial and error. For the top surface of each of the two fenders, there are oval-shaped fixing brackets provided for the food containers, along with circular fixing brackets on the top of each fender arch. Note that there are photographs of the KP-42 showing slightly different arrangements to this, and that I've yet to find a picture showing the exact arrangement used in the MiniArt kit and mimicked in this Hauler set.

The small rectangular step on the right rear of the kitchen is also supplied with a complete replacement, and as this can be made to hinge in the same way as the real one would have, then it allows it to be posed raised or lowered, in addition to offering a much more realistic appearance. There are small catches and wing nuts supplied for the MiniArt food containers, along with two hinges for the side hatch on the stowage locker, which although are moulded on the MiniArt kit, they are incorrectly moulded as internal hinges, when in fact they should be externally mounted. There are replacement utensil brackets for the rear wall of the stowage locker too, along with a complete replacement for the circular bracket on the rear of the boiler, and new support brackets in the form of three strips, for the conical chimney hood.

Lastly, we're offered a complete replacement for the triangular stand for the tow frame at the front of the kitchen. This is a slightly different shape to the one in the MiniArt kit, and slightly different to the actual one on the Field kitchen, so you make your choice really. Being constructed of photo-etched parts folded to mimic angle iron, the basic structure more closely resembles the real thing, but the detail has been slightly improved in some respects, whilst over-simplified in others.

Conclusion

Having built the MiniArt kit, I can see the value in this detail set. The MiniArt kit is very nice indeed, but due to the limitations of injection moulding and some over simplification, some of the finer parts are best replaced, and this set does what it advertises. Having said that, there are a few small details on this set itself that could be improved too, so good references are a must.

My thanks to Hauler for the review sample.