ARM: Review - Meng 1/35 scale Vending Machines and Dumpster

Kit Review: Meng 1/35 scale Kit No. SPS-018; Vending Machine and Dumpster S et; 30 parts (21 in grey styrene, 9 in clear styrene); retail price US$18.0

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Advantages: first ones in styrene; two contemporary design vending machines and common light dumpster

Disadvantages: due to trademarks very "generic" machines!

Rating: Highly Recommended

Recommendation: for all modern diorama fans

Most of the time we see modern modelers displaying an engine change or oth er major operation involving heavy maintenance it is shown under field cond itions. But in the real world most of that sort of work is done under what the US Army calls "Third Shop" or depot level maintenance and the Soviets o r Russians call capital rebuilding. These are generally large workshops som eplace in either garrison or rear areas where all tools and facilities are available for that purpose.

Also common to those facilities are drink or soda machines and dumpsters f or discarded parts and boxes. Now Meng has released a handy kit of those de tails which fits the bill. They have provided two types of vending machines - one with a glass front showing the remaining brands of drinks available and one with a cabinet type where you select and press a button.

The first one consists of four shelves with two rows of bottles or cans in each one - the bottom three are clear styrene parts and the top one are gr ey. No decals or markings are provided so it is up to the modeler to "brand " them on his own. The kit does provide markings for "Tropical" which is th e apparent vendor of the beverages. Note that in this day and age retailers are fiercely protective of trademarks so any attempt to use Coke or Pepsi (or other major brands) would be met by a demand for royalties, so Meng too k "Option B" and left it generic.

The second machine consists of only three parts - front, base and body. It comes with a large cheery logo wrap on the front but once again shows no b randing of the products offered.

The dumpster consists of a three-piece body, four casters and a plastic to p. These are quite common and are seen in a number of locations albeit it d oes look more European than American in general design. US ones tend to be galvanized steel with that silver-grey finish used on buckets, tubs and oth er items generally filled with water. The top may be flipped back (since it is lightweight plastic it just has a simple hinge at the rear and no locks . There are some ejector pin marks to remove but happily Meng has designed its alignment tabs as "no show" so pin and nesting marks do not need to be removed.

Overall this is a neat idea and would be a nice addition to mechs tearing down an Abrams or Stryker for repairs.

Cookie Sewell

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AMPSOne
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