This “everything in a box” instant street scene could be located anywhere in Southern Europe from the late nineteenth century to the present, so a WWII backdrop is by no means the only option. I plan to use mine later on as a Bosnian setting for a small IFOR vehicle.

The set comes tightly and safely packed in a sturdy box. You get two big resin castings, one for the base (cobblestone street and sidewalk) and another for the walls and roof. A number of laser cut cardboard parts are included, on thick stock, this provides window frames, shutters, etc... Another lighter cardboard pre-cut card is silver plated on one side and has a lantern assembly and hinges. An acetate sheet is included for the windows and lantern faces. A drafting paper sheet is provided with the same option so you get a choice between replicating clear or frosted glass (or a combination). The outline of the “glass” elements is drawn on each sheet but not pre-cut, you’ll have to cut out the parts using scissors or a hobby knife.

Two pages of clear and well written instructions (with some diagrams) are provided, along with another sheet with colour photos of old buildings for detailing, painting and weathering reference, nice touch!

The resin parts are fairly impressive at first sight, but when you look closer a few problems appear, especially in the combined wall/roof casting. There were a couple of air bubbles in the wall sides which were quickly and easily filled and some flash on the bottom of the wall that had to be sanded.

The biggest problem however lied with the roof tiles. The casting looked good but upon closer inspection I noticed on the surface fine resin grit and some tiny resin balls, this all needed to be cleaned up with a hobby knife and sandpaper. Then it became apparent that numerous air bubbles were present, those were very difficult to fill and sand on the complex tiled surface, the worst ones being those on the outward facing edge of tiles. I didn’t quite manage to remedy this effectively by filling and sanding alone and had to resort to cutting off the end of some of the tiles, reasoning I was duplicating a slightly damaged roof....

The instructions recommend pinning together the base and wall so I drilled two holes in the resin in each part, cut off nails were then inserted in those holes and everything was glued into position using thick superglue and accelerator : this made for a very sturdy assembly.

I prepared the laser cut cardboard parts I had decided to use (you have several options and I chose for instance not to  install the street lamp on my building). I found out that they were a perfect fit and painted/weathered them separately in a deep blue shade. They tended to warp a bit after painting but were easily bent back into shape once dry.

I washed the resin assembly, let it dry and coated it with Tamiya grey surface primer in a can. Once dried, this revealed numerous tiny pin holes on the roof. I hand painted the tiles with very thick acrylic paint to overcome the problem. I then carried on with brush painting the rest of the building, sidewalk and pavement in various shades. The cobblestones were given a thin wash of black paint, then further painting and weathering was done with an airbrush. I did some dry brushing of the walls and pavement as well, used localized washes on the wall, sidewalk and pavement and picked up some of the tiles in slightly different shades.

The final touch was to add the upper and lower windows (I chose to close the shutters on the bottom one). I added blue toilet paper “curtains” to the upper window, curtains which in retrospect I should have weathered a bit.

Overall this is an excellent set and it looks great when completed. I love the fact that, being mainly resin, it’s so solid (plaster and other materials I find too fragile) and that everything, including many options, is in the box. Although it didn’t affect the final appearance, I hated those tiles, it’s a bear of a job to fix up such a complex surface when bubbles and pitting are present. Maybe Monroe Perdu should consider moulding the roof as a separate part to be able to better control the casting quality? I was a bit apprehensive about the laser cut cardboard parts but they proved a joy to use (just neatly cut off two tiny cardboard pips to remove them from their frame, much easier than photo-etched brass).

You can find more photos of this set (both contents and photos of a built up example) on the Monroe Perdu website at http://www.monroeperdu.com/mpd018_images.htm

Many thanks to Michael Bishop of Monroe Perdu for the review sample.

Highly recommended.