May 25, 2026

Preview: New 1/35th scale U.S. Airborne tank riders from MiniArt

To add to their US infantrymen tank riders, the Airborne now gets a ride, with this new set from MiniArt out next month. See more in our preview...

Preview: New 1/35th scale U.S. Airborne tank riders from MiniArt

U.S. Airborne Tank Riders. Set 1
From MiniArt
Kit No. 53040
1/35th scale
The kit contains four figures, weapons & equipment
The subject: US Airborne infantry tank riders during WWII.
Soldiers sometimes hitched rides on tanks in order to keep up with a rapid advance. Often seen on newsreels of victorious (and sometimes retreating) soldiers trying to get an easier or faster way to and from the front. This gave the tank infantry at close hand in case they came across any issues better suited to infantry warfare, like closed-in streets or alleys in towns and villages or any urban warfare.

An American paratrooper of the 17th Airborne Division shares cigarettes with a British tank crew during Operation Varsity, the attack across the Rhine near Wesel, Germany, late March 1945.
Some more photos of a Churchill Mk IV of the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade carrying Paratroopers of the US 17th Airborne Division near Dorsten, Germany – 29 March 1945

Below: This squad of infantrymen from Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges’ First Army caught a ride on a Sherman tank as they moved through the French town of La Ferté-Macé on August 14, 1944. These troops were in a hurry to catch retreating Germans of the 5th Panzer and Seventh Armies in the Falaise Pocket. After having defeated the German counterattack at Mortain on August 7, the American First and Third Armies swept around behind the enemy from the south-west and forced them to flee eastward to escape entrapment.

During Operation Varsity, paratroopers of the 17th Airborne Division take a ride on a Churchill Tank through Münster, Germany in March of 1945
The US Army even had a map of sorts or a procedure for who sat where on the tanks. Whether this was followed rigidly is up for speculation...

The kit from MiniArt:
This kit contains four figures with not only their own gear but also extra weapons and equipment on the extra sprues of the kit.

The four figures of US infantry to ride the tanks each come on their own sprue, dressed in standard summer US Army fatigues, ammo, pouches and gear
The regular US soldier's helmets, packs, entrenching tools, water flasks, and bayonets are included to vary your soldier.
In the case of self-defence, Garand rifles and M1 carbines of two types are included.

This kit will be available from Miniart's distributors worldwide next month. See more about all of MiniArt's kits on their website...