Intro

Details make a diorama. All the little bits and bobs that go into a diorama bring it to life. 135th Construction Battalion brings us yet another bit of flair.
This time it comes in the form of Building Corner Barriers - 135th Construction Battalion kit CO 0106. These are those protective pilars that are found at building corners and entrances to protect the building from damage.

box

VLS has expanded thier line of shipping materials. They are using a new range of blister packs. The packs are nicer in size. The immediate result is a better shipping environment. The parts will have less room to bump and move and potentially break. The box comes as a 5cm x 9.5cm x 3cm blister pack. It has a nicely developed cover with great art. Inside the box is a ziplock bag containing the resin parts.

open up

When you open the ziplock you'll find nine typical resin pieces. These nine pieces will combine to make seven posts. One post is comprised of three parts.
There is a wide variety of styles with these posts. As a mater of fact no two are the same. Ben Jcakobsen has done a very nice job sculpting the masters.
The detail is well done and creative. You will find a use for every one of these pieces. The posts come in simple round posts, complex round posts, octogons, and square posts.
The parts are the typcial VLS resin. They have the normal resin block at the bottom of each piece. Most of these also have a 'resin tube' on the other end.
These tubes are left overs from the molding process. The masters must have had an overflow tube molded with them to reduce air bubbles. Reducing or eliminating
airbubbles is very important. You will appreciate having to cut off this tube rather than trying to putty an air pocket.

One thing I did notice on almost every post has a seam line. The round styles are the worst. These are going to pose the biggest challenge to you. Simply sanding down the seam line will not be sufficient. You will need to consider a two fold approach. First fill the seam with a bit of putty by scraping some putty up against the high side of the line. Then sand the whole seam/putty line down with flexible sandpaper trying to retain the round shape.

You may even consider positioning these pieces with the seam in back. Since there is no front or back only the most astute judges will look for this.
The second consideration with this kit is that no two are the same. This is a double edged sword, one edge is nice in that you get a nice variety. On the other side you have to explore your options if you plan to have these on two different corners of a building.

Now if you use your creativity a bit you'll find that there are many uses for these posts. You can use them in a park setting as a low chain fence post. You can use these for pourch posts. If you are in a mixed urban rural environment you could use it as a horse tie post. You could even use one as an ashetray.

Wrap Up

These are nice products from a great company. This is a 'fit-a-need' kit. If you have a need for a post, then this is your kit. If not, I wouldn't necessarily
go and purchase one to have it on hand.


I'd like to thank VLS for providing this kit for review - Thanks