Introduction

Raise your hand if you have seen the film “The Monuments Men”. That’s what I thought, most all of us have. Now, raise your hand if you thought to yourself, even for a fleeting moment, “what a great diorama that would make!” during any number of different scenes in the film. And of course you were stymied when you thought to yourself “how am I going to paint such a tiny Old Masters canvas?” Well, your wait is over! Olav Smeets, the brains and talent behind Reality in Scale accessories, has just released a new resin accessory set; “Cargo Loads 3” which looks like it might just have been crafted with a Monuments Men diorama in mind. Now, just like Matt Damon lent a hand to George Clooney in his quest for stolen artwork, Mr. Smeets lends a hand to you the modeler!

Contents

All packaged in a very sturdy cardboard box you get;

• 7 resin pieces cast in a dark gray, granite like (black flecks throughout) resin
• One set of decals
• One length of scale rope
• A 1/35th scale print of an Old Master painting on a miniaturized piece of canvas material

Review

The set has some very nice features. One of the resin pieces is a very large casting of what would be the bulk of a cargo load; several crates with a well done canvas tarp draped over them. On top of this (cast in) is another wooden crate, a jacket that has been laid across the load and what looks like a sack of potatoes on the back side for good measure. I like the large casting; it is free of any air bubbles or imperfections. Aesthetically, I think the sack of spuds seems out of place and will probably end up on the unseen side of many covered truck loads in dioramas and vehicles around the modeling world.

The set includes two multiple piece castings, the second is about a third the size of the larger one and is an open crate beside another covered crate with a rucksack on top and another burlap style bag of something that I hope is not more potatoes.

Three of the resin pieces are cans of food. This is where the decals come in; four to choose from, two cans of fruit, a can of spaghetti, and a can of onions. All very well done and each would go a long way toward adding a splash of color.

Finally, the whole Monuments Men connection of two large framed canvases, one wrapped in canvas and the other a very fancy frame that holds the miniature masterpiece. The wrapped canvas just needs the addition of the rope around it and some paint to be ready to go. The frame needs a tiny bit of work to carefully remove the flash from around as well as inside the delicate frame. Sorry, no acid free paper for the backing of the painting, but I think you can handle that part!

Conclusion

Other than the misplaced potatoes, this is a really cool accessory set and Reality in Scale should be applauded for their effort. It would of course fit in many other scenarios other than a Monuments Men type scene, I keep thinking of Captain Maitland from Kelly’s Heroes driving off with his yacht, how perfect it would be see him in a diorama driving off with priceless artwork leaving Kelly and Big Joe each holding a can of fruit!