This review is an extension of a previous review of Cooking Utensils (Pots & Pans) . This is the built review whereby I take the product and put it into its element – a diorama.
Since the kit comes with multiples of all the parts and not every part is necessary for a single diorama this review focuses on four of the pieces. Each piece was selected with a specific reason in mind.
The large pot – this was chosen to show off the general ‘fit’ and ‘function’ of the pieces in a diorama. This piece also serves to compare and contrast the handle detail this kit has.
The tall coffee pot – this piece was selected for its unique shape and ‘out of the ordinary’ stature. You don’t see this type of element in dioramas very often.
The medium pot – This was selected because of its handle and its delicate parts. I wanted to put this piece through its paces to be able to give the reader feedback on how I was able to deal with it.
A bowl and a lid – These were selected to demonstrate the ‘super detailing’ you can do and to compare it to the large pot’s production detail.
assembly – the cooking
With this kit there isn’t much to assemble, the pieces are self-explanatory. The only pieces that really ‘go’ together are the lid and bowl. You can use the lid on the large pot if you so desire. There isn’t any ‘dedicated’ pairing of the lid and any other part. I decided to pair the lid and the bowl.
The first obvious procedure, as with any resin kit, is to cut off the resin blocks. This is easily accomplished with both a razor saw AND a hobby knife. The razor saw will do most of the blocks. My concern was the handles on the medium pots. There is an additional bit of flash that occurs between the resin block and the handle of the pot. You absolutely need to be careful of what you cut and what you cut it with. I found the razor saw to be too large a tool for this job. I cut the major resin block off with a razor saw and the rest of the flash/mold resin with a sharp hobby knife. This is easy to do and just as easy to mess up.
After the resin block is removed then there is a bit of sanding to smooth everything out.
If you so desire, this could be the end of preparing the pieces. I was not satisfied with the pre-molded handles and wanted to do a bit of comparing and contrasting for review purposes. So I super detailed the bowl and lid. I used a sharp hobby knife and cut off the lid handle and the two side handles that were molded on the these parts. I then sanded down the area where the molds were. I then took some hobby wire and a cut them to length. I used pair of box pliers to square up the lid handle. I used a pair of round pliers to help bend the pot handles in a nice curved shape. When I was happy with the handle shapes I used a bit of CA to glue to them to the resin pieces.
While the detailing was simple enough it really makes the piece more realistic and I would recommend that you do it to all the pieces. You can see in the pictures the handles on big pot on the stool just aren’t as crisp and showy as the handles on the bowl and lid next to the seated cook.
finishing - eating
I wanted to have cast iron utensils with a basic ‘black’ coloration and a bit of highlighting. I proceeded to airbrush all the parts with Polly Scale Dirty Engine black as a base coat. I then very gradually dry brushed on Tamiya gunmetal to get a base of light highlighting. Once that was dry I added a light layer of Tamiya aluminum dry brushing.
The large pot is going to be used in a diorama at field kitchen. It is slated to be ‘in use’ and therefore full of some type of foodstuff. So I filled it with white glue and added a bit of white glue to the edge and out side to represent spilled foodstuff. After the glue was dried I painted it with some acrylic hobby paints, mixed a light brownish yellowish color.
To give them a final touch of use I used some black pastel dust on the bottom area of each item. This is supposed to represent the burned on charred on sot. This was harder than it sounds. The smooth resin made it hard to keep the pastels in place.
Summary – desert
Overall this is a great kit. You get a nice variety of pieces and a good overall quantity for the money. The molding is solid and can stand on its own. I would recommend that you super detail the loop handles on the bowls, large pots and lids. The extra detail makes these a super diorama detail. The resin used is a “good news/bad news” item. It was good quality resin, easy to work with easy to cut and sand – that’s the good news. The bad news is that its easy to cut, this is bad when it comes to the pot handles and the pan handles. If you aren’t careful you can cut them off.
Check out how the items show off in a diorama. Large pot - On the stool in front. Coffee pot - On the back of the field kitchen Bowl and lid - On the ground next to the seated cook Medium pot - Next to he seated cook
Final word – get yourself a set of good cooking utensils.
SUMMARY
This kit is a great add on to any diorama builders kit stash. It is a nicely done set of cooking pots and pans.
About Scott Lodder (slodder) FROM: NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES
I modeled when I was a teenager. College, family and work stopped me for a while. Then I picked it back up after about 12 years off. My main focus is dioramas. I like the complete artistic method of story telling. Dioramas involve so many aspects of modeling and I enjoy getting involved in the ...
