Keith Magee at ScaleMilitary.com describes it as “new line of building modules from the “BattleFronts™” series”. This series is not one kit, it’s not one building. It is a series of ‘components’ that fit together in form and function. Each individual piece can stand on its own or be joined with another in the series to create a ‘mix and match’ custom scene.
This series falls between a ‘pre-designed’ kit such as a Mini-Art “Polish City Building” and a scratch built diorama. It’s a series of ‘components’ that can be ‘bolted’ together to create some unique and new.

The Series

The series is a comprised of 13 individual kits. The kits range from a fireplace to a store two story store/building front. All kits in the series are made from white resin. The resin is firm and easy to work with. Each kit comes in it’s own packaging that consists of a zip lock bag and a product header. The header is simply a sheet of heavy stock paper folded over the zip lock bag with a label on it. This is nice touch and helps out with definition.
The series includes

Item# Description Price WxHxD in cm
35-500 brick building with wrap around brick edging $12.95 18.2 x 8.7 x .7
35-501 2-story brick and stucco building ruin $10.95 8.5 x 17.5 x 1.4
35-502 Interior brick Fireplace (use w/ 503) $ 4.95 4.5 x 9.5 x 1.8
35-503 Outside Brick Chimney w/ wall $ 7.95 8.7 x 9.5 x 1.5
             second piece 4.9 x 4 x 0.8
35-505 Brick wall with column $ 5.95 9.6 x 5.1 x 2.7
35-506 Wooden store front ruin with brick edges $12.95 18.1 x 8.1 x 2.3
35-507 Brick and Block Wall Section $ 5.95 9.5 x 8.7 x 0.8
35-508 Stucco wall ruin w/ window $ 5.95 8.7 x 8.7 x 0.6
35-509 Timber, Brick and Plaster wall section ruin $ 5.95 10.1 x 8.1 x .8
35-510 Brick wall section ruins $ 5.95 9.6 x 3.6 x 1
             second piece 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.8
35-511 Damaged brick wall with debris at base $ 5.95 10.5 x 5.6 x 1.8
35-502 Interior brick Fireplace (use w/ 503) $ 4.95 4.5 x 9.5 x 1.8
35-503 Outside Brick Chimney w/ wall $ 7.95 8.7 x 9.5 x 1.5
35-512 Small section of wooden planked wall ruin $ 5.95 8.8 x 5 x .7
35-513 Plaster and Beam Shop Front $10.95 9.2 x 8 x 2.2



All the parts are designed to be compatible in size scale and design. There are differing types of buildings but the design elements are all within similar scope so there won’t be any question if any are used.

Each item itself is a ‘kit’, however I will use the term component in the reset of the review. They are not really pieces or kits, so components fits better.

Building for the Customer

Examining these components finds that ScaleMilitary.com has listened to its customers. On a couple of previous reviews, it was noted that there was quite a bit of excess resin in the resin blocks. There was virtually NO resin block. On some of the narrower components such as walls there were a few small resin blocks. These should be easily removed with a razor saw.
The other components show that it appears that the manufacturing process includes a trip across a sander. This removes the excess block.

This may sound like a small thing but for anyone who has had to deal with these this is a great detail.

The parts

These are wonderfully crafted components. The resin is not the same as other big manufacturers. The resin is firm and solid. It is easy to manipulate with a hobby knife. This will make trimming and adjusting easy to do.

Each component is wonderfully detailed. The brick sections are all made with individual bricks; there are no ‘scribed’ bricks. This adds a great sense of realism to the products. All the bricks across the series are uniform in size and can easily fit together.

Wall sections are highly detailed. The stucco is nicely dimpled and ‘bumpy’. The wooden portions have grain added and have nicely textured sections where they have broken or aged. The smaller cobble stone pieces are nicely combined.

Notice that even the windows come with pieces of the window frame. Great touches, no need to scratch build anything. The doors are the same way. Don’t let this deter you if you do want to scratch your own, simply cut out the pre-molded pieces. Again is a great touch to help new builders or those with out time or resources for scratching these details.

All the components are flat and true, there is no warping at all. There are some quite long pieces that are flat and straight. Corners are 90 degrees. It looks like all the components will fit nicely together with little more than creativity. The windows and doors are all comparable and consistent, which is good because the pieces can be truly mixed and matched.

The pieces are all made from individual one part molds. This means no seam lines to deal with. It also means that one side will have no detail on it. This is usually the bottom or inside which is Ok. All you have to do is add wall paper to the interior and you can have a full 360 degrees of viewing. As mentioned above the components ‘blank’ side has very limited excess resin to deal with.

impressions

Cohesive, Unified, interoperable – these are overall impressions I got when looking through these components. You get a sense of creativity and freedom. This series is truly universal. It all works together and it can meet any diorama builders’ needs. There is enough detail to stand on its own for a new builder, there is opportunity for an experience builder to add detail and customize each component even more. There are components that will act as a quick ‘backdrop’ for an AFV or a small vignette. There are larger ones for a full scale diorama. The blend of creativity you can use combining components and the ease of use (no scratch building) make this series a perfect blend of form and function.

These are components that can sit on a shelf and be pulled out at any time for a diorama. These are a cooks ‘sugar, flour, eggs and milk’ – staples You don’t need a specific project to buy these.

Hands down these are a fantastic series.



I’d like to thank www.ScaleMilitary.com for providing these component for the review.