I got this Micro Arts Studio “fuel dump” set of barrels back in September of 2019 for AU$30.50 as it looked pretty decent in the webstore picture. When I got the set and opened them up, I was pretty badly disappointed because the barrels are much smaller then the typical ones that we use for 40k and related gaming. The ones we tend to use from pretty much all manufacturers are pretty heavily based on the size of what was readily available in the day – Tamiya and similar 1:35 scale barrels from those various WWII sets.

These ones were/are much smaller, so instead I shuffled the box off into a pile of other assorted products of things to “get around to” at some stage, and then of course did not get around to them. I didn’t have any Tamiya or GW barrels handy, but here’s one from Marvel Crisis Protocol and one from (I think) Maxmini – both of the “standard wargaming size”. So you can imagine my disappointment when the items pictured on the website turned out to be considerably smaller than expected. They’d probably work very well for smaller minis closer to 25mm than 32mm+ and games like Bolt Action. Hence the more “grounded” paint scheme I went with.

A few months ago I came across them and removed them from the box, and put them into a tub to paint “sometime”. Then several weeks ago I found them again, and decided to get them out of the way by taking them outside to spray black. Which I did, and then they sat outside for three weeks as I forgot about them yet again. A week or so then, I found them outside and gave them a second spray of black, then let them dry, and got stuck into them.

By the time the next morning rolled around, they were ready for spraying. Or as we in the know call it – “Just Needs Varnish”. A coat of gloss, a day’s dry-time and then a round of Testors Dullcote later we have a completed set of five barrel piles. There’s these three smaller ones, one of which is a dupe – seen above.

Then there are also these two larger pieces with the tarps draped over the top of them that look a lot more impressive/nicer. Probably just due to having a bit more of interest happening on them. Niow that they’re finished I don’t resent these pieces any more, and I’m pretty satisfied with them. Of course, I’d be happier if they fit with the other barrles in my collection, but as-is they’re perfectly fine and do at least look pretty good in their own right.

As it is, these five pieces mark the beginning of my Season of Scenery 2023 models – may there be many more to come! (I do have a fair few items already on the production line…)

They don’t look too bad at all in their own cluster, and they look pretty decent next to both the regular human and the Primaris Marine – the issue with them is simply when placed alongside the “Tamiya-sized” barrels (which, by the way, is also the size of GW’s plastic barrels). On the other hand, these barrels do come in more than one size/capacity, so as long as these are kept to their own section of the board and not overly mixed in with the larger ones, it should all be good. Would I recommend these? Well, as I said, for historical games or games using smaller miniatures in the 25-28mm sphere I think they’d work nicely. For games like 40k, Star Wars Legion they could work in a pinch, or as long as you kept them away from the larger ones – and for even larger games like Crisis Protocol or Shatterpoint, I’d skip them entirely.