This is a kit to build a quite famous building found in Carentan, France circa June 1944. Carentan was one of the towns in Normandy that
E Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, passed through during the Normandy breakout following the D-Day landings.
"Easy" Company was made famous
by the mini-series "Band of Brothers" which was based on the book of the same name by Stephen Ambrose.
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The kit comes in a nice and sturdy cardboard box. All of the larger parts are packed loosely inside while the smaller parts are
packed together inside a smaller plastic box to protect them from the larger pieces. Even with this all save one of the electric insulators arrived broken.
These should really be taped to something a bit sturdier and then covered to protect the delicate stalks from the other pieces as they rattle around.
There are 33 pieces for the building proper, all of which appear to be cast in resin, plus a paper sheet containing the road signs and the restaurant name.
No instructions are included to guide the modeller on how to construct the building though some of the parts are numbered to help with placement.
The reference sheet does show the completed kit from four different angles plus two World War Two period photographs of the real building to help. From what
I can tell from the period photos, what is in the box seems to be but a portion of a larger structure, so the layout of the backside of the building appears to be a fabrication.
The parts breakdown is thus:
- Walls (4 pieces)
- Windows - Paned ( 6 pieces), Shuttered (1 piece)
- Doors (2 pieces)
- Eaves Troughs (4 pieces)
- Down Spout (1 piece)
- Roof Sections (5 pieces)
- Chimney (1 piece)
- Dormer with window (2 pieces)
- Electrical Pole (1 piece)
- Insulators (5 pieces)
- One oval shaped piece that appears to be part of a directional sign
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The larger wall sections exhibit slight warping which prevents a flush fit at the edges of the building. These
definitely need to be strapped or clamped to something flat and immersed in hot water to straighten. The detail of the parts is excellent. There are sections of the
wall where the underlying bricks are exposed and even a few bullet marks marring the surface. There are no clear parts for the windows so these have to be obtained
elsewhere. Adding full panes will be problematic as there is no indentations in the frames for locating the panes so they will need to fit flush between the frames.
From my previous experiences with windows, this method of adding the windows will be an exercise in cutting and trial fitting, though if the glass were to be
portrayed as damaged and broken, which is more than likely considering the amount of fighting that appears to have taken place in the vicinity of the restaurant,
this step could be made somewhat easier because only portions of the glass would need to fit inside the frames.
Once assembled the inside of the building will be completely hollow and devoid of any detail so an interior will need to be scratch built
if it is desired to have a more realistic view through the windows.
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All in all, this is a very nicely done kit. For those who with experience constructing buildings for dioramas this
kit should be a breeze to build and for those
considering their first attempt at constructing a building, this kit would make a good starting point.
Review sample provided by Peter Kuonen of MK72 Modelle/MPK-Modellbau. |
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