Just before the holidays, Matho Models released some new sets of boxes in 1:35 scale. I received a care-package through the post (see last pic for full selection), including this set of pizza boxes to review. They represent the familiar Pizza Hut brand, as well as more generic pizza boxes that my local take-away would use.
review
The boxes come printed on glossy paper, representing six different box-art styles with 6 boxes each, except one that has 8, for a total of 38 boxes - enough for even the hungriest party. The back of the paper is plain brown.
Assembly starts by carefully cutting them out with a sharp knife - it's well worth chucking a new blade in the old #11 for this! There are thick black lines between flaps where you are meant to cut on both sides so the black sliver falls out - this gives enough clearance between flaps to ease the bending and assembly process, but is fiddly so take your time. Folding is easy enough if you pin the box down with a metal straight-edge and lift the free part of the box by wedging a wide chisel-bladed knife under it, rotating the knife up to create the bend. Then it's a mater of gluing flaps - I used Gator's Grip glue. Locking tweezers come in handy too. The boxes are sturdy enough to pose either open or closed, but unfortunately the open boxes have no pizza in them - a gap in the market just waiting for a resin-caster to fill.
conclusion
These boxes may seem fiddly to assemble, but they are surprisingly robust once assembled, and certainly look the part. They can decorate any modern AFV, "technical" truck, or pretty much any slack-time diorama within reach of a phone and a delivery-driver's scooter. And the more clever modellers out there will no doubt find they can be "crushed" or flattened just like real empty boxes...
SUMMARY
Highs: The right size, shape, and look of the real thing!Lows: A bit fiddly to build, and no slices to eat...Verdict: A nifty accessory!
Our Thanks to Matho Models! This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.
About Tom Cromwell (barkingdigger) FROM: ENGLAND - EAST ANGLIA, UNITED KINGDOM
A Yank living overseas on a long-term basis, I've been building tanks since the early '70s. I relish the challenges of older kits (remember when Tamiya was "new"?...) because I love to scratch-build.
So I'm scratching my head on this one. Either the Army has changed a lot since I retired, or I'm totally behind the "power curve". In what scenario would these be used for a military model or in a diorama? I can't imagine a use for "Pizza boxes" in the field, or on an armored vehicle in combat conditions. In my day we would have eaten the pizza right away-- it wouldn't last five minutes around hungry troops, and the box would have been trashed immediately (who saves old pizza boxes?). Not to mention it would have been pretty hard to get pizza in some of the places I was deployed. Even in CONUS it's pretty darn hard to get delivery drivers out to the boonies with a warm pizza (might make a funny dio though)! So I'm asking-- where would you use these? I guess I could see a one-off M1 tank, M2 Bradley, or a HMMWV with a "pizza delivery" sign on the roof and a stack of pizzas in a bustle rack as kind of a joke-- but where else?
VR, Russ
P.S.-- now that I'm thinking about it, it might be great fun to build a beat up delivery driver's vehicle, partially crushed under an M-1 tank, with a forlorn delivery driver standing by the road holding a "fresh pizza" box-- maybe there is some promise in these boxes after all!
VR, Russ
I know when I was in Kandahar there was a pizza hut, a burger king, and briefly,a subway, all operating out of seatainers. The pizza boxes would be appropriate for a scene in a major base.
I echo the "sort of" understanding of these "sort of" fast food businesses in modern war zones-- having been there myself on a few occasions, but really, how many of us model these kind of "R&R scenes? All the modern PX/BX have snack bars with at least one pizza place, but would you see the box in the field? Or in a combat zone away from the base camp? I don't know-- but t would be interesting to see how one could use these in a diorama--and make logical sense.
VR, Russ
True, these items may be a niche market, but anyone modelling a Chally tank here in Blighty on exercise could justify them, or indeed any of the armies securing post-war Germany from the Reds.
I was in one of those "post war armies securing Europe from the reds" for a total of six years-- first in the 70's, and again in the 90's, and never saw a pizza box in the field. I saw lots of troops (including me) eating them in restaurants, or in the PX, but never in the box in the field. Please tell me if things have changed that much. We even had pizza occasionally in the mess (dinning facility now--and it was in a rectangular strip), but it never came in a box. I still think it would be interesting to see a dio of the delivery truck, with a mishap with an armored vehicle. Or perhaps as you say, a tank crew leaning over the side buying a Pizza on the sly from a delivery driver in some German town somewhere (I bought plenty of bratwurst, pomme frittes and Spezi that way-- and Moon Pies in Korea!).
VR, Russ
when I was in VN , in the USO or Red Cross places there was things they called "pizza" more like cardboard and ketchup . served on a paper plate . never saw a pizza box !
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