Now stocking Sarissa Precision 1/72 buildings

We at Minairons have just started stocking on a permanent basis the new range of 1/72^nd scale MDF building kits made by Sarissa Precision in close partnership with Plastic Soldier Company. Both companies have associated to build a beautiful range of affordable MDF architectural kits, certainly easy to build and paint, that will look certainly great on any 20^th century wargame 20mm setting.

The first kits released consist of a Large Factory, Russian Village House #1, a magnificent Château and a Farmhouse. That's not all, though: both companies assure to have a new batch of buildings ready for next month!

13th International Brigade flags, and poll

I'm proud to show you our latest release: a Spanish Civil War flags sheet in all three scales altogether (1/100, 1/72 and 1/56). This means that we've already started reproducing our sheets in this latter scale too, and the unit chosen for such landmark is the XIII^th International Brigade, also known as Dąbrowski Brigade (or Dombrowski, once transliterated into Spanish phonetics). This unit was formed by Polish subjects mainly, but also by volunteers from other Baltic countries and a significant portion of Eastern European Jews. Their flags letterings and mottos used to show a concurrence of Spanish, Polish and Yiddish languages, as you can see below.

BTW, all three sets can already be purchased from our www.minairons.eu website.

I'd like to take advantage of this new multiple release for starting a poll among our customers and friends: if going to make another set of flags devoted to one particular International Brigade, which one would you like to be first? (see poll at right)

SCW Basic Painting Guide 04: Left Wing Militias

We've just uploaded a new painting guide sheet onto www.minairons.eu website, this time devoted to generic left wing militias. As with preceding publications of this series, the purpose of such sheet is no other than bringing a number of choices and possibilities to average painters from the humble point of view of another, devoted hobbyist wih some (non-professional) experience --far from any scholarly lesson, then; it's not aimed at obtaining masterly but just decent enough results.

It has also been taken advantage for updating a bit the other three painting guides already published, into a 2.0 version. Nearly all of the updating performed regards only aesthetical or ortographical aspects --so you are presumably losing little if not downloading them again. Anyway, all four painting guides can be downloaded for free using this link. For doing so you must log in the website first, though.

More on the Wine Cellar

When some days ago we posted some preliminary captions on our forthcoming 1:72 Wine Cellar, someone requested us to post a few pictures else, showing the model along with figures of several scales for comparison, not just 20mm. Well, here they go at last:

In the photos, a Warlord 28mm Tommy, a 20mm German officer from Xan and a 15mm Soviet soldier by Battlefront.

Hope this helps!

1:72 Wine Cellar WIP

Despite still awaiting a roof to top the thing, I've thought you would like to see what our upcoming modernist styled Catalonian Wine Cellar is starting to look like. Better than trying to explain it in words, let's share a few captions on the prototype:

Please note the main trick we're using to make a relatively lightweight model kit from this otherwise massive building: the thick cardboard box of its packaging is going to be the building main body, on which socles, windows, false towers, terraces and other architectural details are to be fixed, so as to build the ultimate kit.

Such trick will allow us to set an affordable pricing for the model kit, as well as to keep its total weight below 400g --a measure that ought to permit shipping expenses economy too, while still allowing for a durable, tough model building on tabletop.

Two long side terraces will allow for miniatures to be placed on top, so as to help using the building not just as a simple background decoration, but as a terrain element by itself. And last, users will have the choice not to glue the roof on top, thus allowing indoor practicability too.

1:100 SCW Flags range expands

We've just launched three new SCW flags sets at 1:100^th scale --that is, intended for 15mm wargaming. This time it's been the turn for Moroccan Regulars, Catalan Army and Falangist Militia, all them previously released in 1:72^nd some weeks ago.

Our Spanish Civil War 15mm flags range now comprises 14 different sets --each consisting of a DIN A7 paper sheeet with three different historical flags.

Range will keep growing next year, along with its sister collection of 1:72^nd scale flags, also comprising 13 different sets. Besides, good news are also awaiting 28mm wargamers too!

Upcoming 1/72 scenery range

I believe this will be exciting news for all 20mm SCW wargamers: we at Minairons are about to start a new 1:72 scale scenery range, specifically intended for re-creating the common (and not-so-common) Spanish landscapes of those years.

True that some first timid attempts were performed not long ago, by creating a couple of battlefield scenery pieces (a bailed out command Panzer and a downed I-15 fighter), that have proven to be successful enough to encourage us to try and expand the range with a new series of elements --either large buildings or simple widgets.

So that, taking advantage of the mutual trust arisen after our retailing partnership with Surus Creations (by which we became a vendor of their Belchite 1:100 scale SCW scenery), we alongside met a further agreement with them for a similar 1:72 scale range to be made in exclusive for Minairons, under our own make.

Little afterwards, work started on a first project --under some kind of deliberate news blackout, admittedly: a modernist style Wine Cellar, inspired on the numerous cooperative farming facilities built between 1914 and 1925 by the Commonwealth of Catalonia, a semi-autonomous government institution of these years.

Despite work on masters is well advanced now, so that some preliminary pictures might be already shown, we've preferred to let the whole prototype be finished before sharing with you. Pictures will follow in few days, I promise. meanwhile, I've thought you would like to take a glance on the thing plans, so as to get a first taste on the thing:

Front view

Side view

Architectural detail

Some kit elements (such as chimney, for instance) have been devised as optional, depending on whether the user plans to build an industrial factory in an urban background, or as an oil or wine cellar for his countryside settings instead.

As said above, work on this superb building masters is well advanced now, so that we'll be able to show you pictures of it in not too many days' time.

Three more SCW 1:72 Flag sets

Once again, our range of 1:72 scale flags for 20mm Spanish Civil War gaming has just grown with three new sets: Catalan Army, Falangist militias and Basque Army. As customary, these A7 sized sheets contain three historical flag designs each, all slightly textured so as to simulate waving shadows.

After this addition, the above mentioned range now ascends to 13 different flag sheets, that can be found in this page. Such range will keep growing in the next months at a good pace; as a matter of fact, we are now preparing three new sets in this scale: Foreign Legion (already released for 15mm time ago), XI International Brigade and XIII International Brigade.