A Bridge Very Small

Over the years 1/72 scale kits have been dominated by the aircraft world. There have been a few kits that were armor oriented and even fewer that were diorama based. Here Custom Dioramics is helping a recent trend in smaller scale kits. This kit is CD 8021 “European Masonry Bridge”.

When the mailman comes you will get a good size very sturdy cardboard box with a ‘label sleeve.’ The sculpting is done by a CD standard, Ben Jakobsen. Bob Letterman provides the box art and finishing inspiration. Inside the box are 22 parts. They are tightly packed inside box with peanuts and a zip lock bag. There are no instructions, which is typical of CD. In this case the box art is ample. The pieces are self explanatory and easy to figure out. You will notice that in the kit I received one of the packing peanuts was mashed into the base. It scrapes off no problem.
The parts are all the standard CD cream resin. I need to note the roadway piece, see the picture close-ups. The normal resin is a rich even solid opaque color and texture. The roadway has a couple of spots that are translucent. I have seen this before from CD, however, it is not common at all. I tested the resin for weakness and even texture. The areas were strong and uniform; do not let this worry you.

Dry Fit Build

From bottom to top you will like this kit. The base is nicely sculpted as either a dry riverbed or you can pour a thin layer of water. There are rocks and detail along the riverbanks. The base is 20 x 15 cm and will build to be about 10 cm high. In such a small scale this is a huge base. You will notice that the bridge and road are set at a slight angle to the edge of the base. This is a bonus; a basic rule is not to have a major component parallel to the base. This is a nice subtle touch. Another subtle detail is road crowing. This is where the center of the road is slightly higher than the outside edge. This is to keep rain from puddleing in the roadbed.

The detail sculpted into each piece is very good. The sculpting is not the same textures used in 1/35th scale. This is new sculpting in small scale. The detail is believable and would fit any large urban area in Europe. Each piece has a resin block that is positioned on ‘hidden’ surfaces. There shouldn’t be any problem cleaning these up. There is a bit of flash on the railing sections. This is easily removed with a hobby knife.

Crossing Impression

This is an impressive kit. It makes a bold statement and really brings a rich ‘air’ to your diorama. The combination of size and scale allow this kit to be a full diorama base. Just add a decorative edge on the bottom and a column of armor on top. You can also integrate this into a large diorama by blending in your own scratch built base.
The craftsmanship of this kit is topnotch. The dry fit was good and this should build up nicely. The detail in small scale is very good. I think you will be very happy if you purchase this kit. Keep your eyes on the reviews for a build review of this kit.

thanks go to CD for supplying this kit for review.