Scale Creations has launched its first diorama product, a kit for a ruined German church in 1/35th scale. What makes this product very different from others on the market, is that it includes packs of rubble, plaster and Celluclay, effectively everything needed (apart from vehicles/figures) to produce an effective diorama. More details of this innovative product can be seen:

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Thanks!

Wow, thanks jimbrae! This looks neat, with everything in the box! And as you typed, this will definitely help newbies (Like me....) get into diorama building. I guess this gives new meaning to "Out of Box".........Thanks for your time.

Thanks Jim for working on the article for me. I must say it is alot more than i thought it would be. Good work and thanks again.

Just to let everyone know i only have one of these kits made up. This will help keep your dio unique, so this kit once it sells will be gone forever--i didnt even make a copy for me :-)

I dunno there... I'm not saying this isn't a nice kit, but for my money, the best church ruin is from PLUS MODELS (Czech). This kit is far larger, contains a lot of Resin, Wood Strip, bags of dust powder and debris... it is also knock-yer-socks off beautiful. This is the same kit I reviewed in my feature article "Prepping a Plaster Kit and "Last Rites: Coloring a Church Ruin". Here is a picture from the article which is available in the "Hall of Fame" #25:

Well im sorry i dont have enough PE,resin and wood parts in this kit for you but i dont have the tools to do that yet:( . The thing that dosnt come with that kit, not saying its not nice, is the basic dio materials that alot of beginers dont have or arnt sure what they are and where to get it. To be honest the kit that you showed in that article whould scar me as a beginer because it is so big and there are alot of little pieces that i wouldnt know where to put them.
I hope in the future i can include all the extras but for now i cant...

What else would you guys want in the kit to make it more worth the money? I guess if you dont think it is worth it i will pull the product.........

Now I really don't know where all this is coming from. Matrix was kind enough to send me details of the Church set and I included it in the News pages. NEWS PAGES - it wasn't a review, I did a news article. In other words I simply reported it, I liked the images, I liked the package that was being offered. The people who use this site should decide for themselves if they want to buy it or not.

In other words, what I find rather sad, is not Ken's response, but rather the answer given by Phantom... Jim, no-one is putting a gun to your head if you don't like the product, fine...

I don't want to sound like a schoolteacher, but this site survives (in part) by building up a good relationship with vendors/producers. In a review, it is a different thing if someone starts slagging-off Tamiya -o.k., what I find unacceptable is this level of comment... Constructive, helpful comments yes. Knocking is (in my book at least) beyond the pale...

And if we are talking about price, take a look at what Verlinden is quoting for building kits. No it's not cheap, there again, what is these days?...Jim

I really like the idea of getting a 'complete' diorama in a box, however, the left hand window and supporting wall looks suspicously like the Italeri Church Window set to me?

AS far as it looking like the italeri set i did not make it to look like that. i sat down with graph paper and desighned it from the ground up, i took photos of old churches and combines details to come up with the final product. Phantom, i will consider adding more of those details and the like. Thanks jim for your comments. and i would consider doing what jim said and look at companies bigger than mine and you will find them to be well over my prices.

I don't know, I think the piece looks great, it is a good size for a small little dio, with say one vehicle. And there is a lot of room for some scratching here as well. The bags of rubble are a great idea. Even though I make my own rubble and bag it for future use, sometimes it's nice to have some ready to go. Yes, it may be on the pricey side, but as Jim stated, what isn't? The Plus Model kit looks superb, but it is a different size, and different details on it. I would purchase this little kit, Then add my own little bits of detail, as any of us would, to make our own vision.
This is a good starting point for the creator of this, a good idea that easily be expanded on on future releases. Keep it up Matrix!

As for not getting much for your money, I recently purchased Verlinden's Bridge Ruin set...A nice looking kit, and the photos on the box are great! Here I see a pic of the bridge, with another broken section beside the main piece, and a cobblestone road section attached to the main piece. But looking at the upper right hand corner at the "contents of kit", it's only the one section of the bridge. Sometimes a little misleading on what might be in the box and what actually comes with it...oh well, I'll just have to get the creative juices flowing!

Thanks for the comment kelly.

Fair play Adam for having the guts to have a go at starting something. In my mind, everything that is competition, is good. Its great to see modellers try their hand in a market where the right idea can start a business.
Maybe taking the points made here in a positive way would be an idea, if the church ruins was sold as kit1 and the extra contents were sold as kit2, it would be up to the buyer what he wants. It would mean the church could be priced more competitively and offer the buyer the option of buying all the extras at one price/one shop. This would suit the buyer who doesnt have these items at home, and the dio builder with these items could aqquire the actual church cheaper.
As you progress and have a few more kits, kit2 would always be an extra option to offer, as these are re-packaged items.

Kit2 sounds an attractive product on its own at a reasonable price.
"One large bag of plaster, One small bag of static grass, One small bag of 'Celluclay', One large bag of fine rubble, One medium bag of medium rubble and Also included as a 'bonus' are five cast-resin ammo crates."
For somebody new to dios, this would be a better/cheaper option, instead of buying them all seperate.
just my €0.02. Whatever you decide to do, best of luck on your new venture.

One minor comment on the concept of including the static grass, rubble, etc. all in one box:
I like it. It reminds me of the kits Woodland Scenics came out with for the model railroaders. Everything needed, from plaster to latex molds to pour your own rocks to the materials for the ground work is in the WS layout kits.
I think this will be a big help to the first time diorama builder who doesn't have 15 different grades of kitty litter, oil dry, sand, Celluclay, Durham's Water Putty, spackle, etc, ect, lying around, like I do.

Just my .02...
Shaun

Hmmm... first, I wasn't aware that Scale Creations was made by Matrix (didn't know you had started to go commercial - congrats!).... so when reading the original review, i was responding to the fact that other companies do supply rubble kits (which is an excellent idea), and that if people were looking for a Euro Church that might be a bit more grand, especially for the price, the PLUS MODEL kit was a top notch value ($40 US vs your $45).

Matrix - take heart... I've been selling "boxed kits" for over a year now... some have REALLY done well, while others that I am quite proud of, have not met with much acceptance. This industry is about versatility... trying to find unusual kits that people would enjoy making is the key, and timing has a lot to do with it. Right after "Saving Private Ryan" came out, I got a ton of request for urban ruins, village bridges, etc. If I had brought them out now, those that I offer may not have done so well. I have also tried to take my simpler kits and priced them in very low categories $8 - $10 US... perhaps a price in the $20-$25 range would be more attractive while you try to gain some visability?) This helps build a following, and allows people to use the pieces as supplements to other kits, if nothing else.

Overall, you received quite a nice review from Jimbrae- you should be able to sell a few of these for sure... but also be aware that the "armorama" crowd is more advanced as a general group, and is more likely to build from scratch than to buy a kit.... that surprised me a bit, but it is true.

In closing, nice product... and best of luck building a business you enjoy, have a talent for, and if nothing else, can help offset the costs of your own dio-addiction! (That's how I started back in 1998 !!!).

Thanks for the comments....i will lower the price to $25.00. I am also making a detail kit that contains a pulpit and a pew to throw in the rubble to make the curch look like people actually used it at one time. i am also thinking about making up some tomb stones as well. The detail set will be priced at $5.00.
Remember for this set there is only one that can be bought so i cant sell it to two or more people.