A trip to Normandy with Sally 4th

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Sheena Jordan
5 years ago
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1 A trip to Normandy with Sally 4th Assembling a random building from the Normandy Kick Starter range Having received the envelope from Sally 4 th I quickly ripped it open to reveal its content. I was met by a sturdy envelope with bubble wrap on the inside. The building was tightly packed in a plastic bag and so were the printed photorealistic prints. Everything arrived in perfect condition and did not show any signs of travelling Europe. I went and got my knife, a steel ruler, a cutting mat, PVA glue and an old used brush for applying the glue. I decided to go build without asking Chris for help or instructions. This, in my opinion, gives the best possible review of how easy/difficult the kit was to deal with. I did take a little time to look through the printed sheets, the different parts and a few dry-fits. Each of the dry-fits helped enabled me to change the position of a part. Slowly I got to the point where the assembly seemed to fit the paper prints. 10

2 I opted for assembling everything before gluing the prints. In the Sally 4 th video I saw Chris with my house only some parts left off and I think that some of the paper could be easier applied before certain parts are glued on. This is probably a matter of temper but I will definitely try it out on the next building. Building the model was a very straight forward job as everything fit perfectly together. I could not find any parts that needed adjustments with my knife to fit. Only a little flash from what seemed like a cut that hadn t penetrated properly. It fit but I chose to remove it anyway. After everything was assembled I left the building to dry overnight. In effect this isn t necessary but I ran out of hours that evening. (I left the roof of the entrances off to allow for the wall-paper to be applied easier) The following day I discovered that even though I had been so careful before gluing I had mistakenly placed the tall end wall on the wrong end. I was sure that the glue being all dried up would end up ruining the review and building for me. But careful applying my knife I was able to cut open most places of connect between the three sides. I was sure that a few spots would crack but to my surprise not a single corner was ruined. The quality of the MDF was magnificent and especially looking to the following day where I discovered that the other end of the house had to be mirrored as the door was in the wrong corner. I really have to pay better attention to detail. The following day I cut everything using a steel ruler and a knife with a brand new blade to ensure clean cuts. Then on to glue the photorealistic pieces on to the building. I cut everything so the white was only just cut away and by that having as large pieces as possible. I did have to adjust the pieces but this was minimal and probably due to my mistake in the MDF assembly. Very limited adjustments were needed and this was only with the courtyard pavement, the wall-piece in between the sheds/entrance in the courtyards. The low courtyard walls I dry-fitted, cut to length and then gently folded around both sides. Then I provided a medium amount of glue and waited a few seconds for the glue to soften the paper. Then it was easy to fold the paper over the top of the wall and make it stay there with a few gentle rubs. With all the big pieces I only applied the glue to the building. Otherwise I suspect the glue would soften it too much and I would end up ripping it to pieces while adjusting to the window/door openings. All in all I would say that the gluing was very easy and with just a few pieces added I had the hang of it and knew how the paper was reacting with the glue. It has to be said that I do have big experience with paper and cardboard buildings. That certainly could be a factor in knowing how to provide pressure on the knife when cutting and adjusting the photorealistic pieces.

3 After all the paper had been applied I added the window/door frames by adding just a small amount of glue. Then I added windows and doors inside the frames making sure to leave open the space in the building itself. The reason I left this space unused is because the supplied glass (plastic) fit perfectly into these openings and only needed a tiny amount of glue to keep them from falling out in time. I had a little concern in regards to the paper to be glued. I was concerned that the corner of the building would see white lines as the papers edge would show. The weight of the paper suggests a certain thickness but to my surprise the glue actually enabled me to press the edges almost completely flat and by that hide them effectively. In the pictures you will notice white lines and most them is due to a bad cut by me or some testing I did cutting away excess paper after it was glued to the building.

4 The roof was the easiest part to cover as in was all straight line cutting and then a soft fold to show me where to cut it lengthwise. One thing did annoy me and was the thickness of the cut-lines in the roof prints. This was a minor issue as they were not as visible as I feared. They can always be redone before the final product is released. Looking at the finished building I feel that everything went together as tight as can be. There is no need for adjustment here. The flat end of the roof isn t properly aligned with the wall but this is no doubt due to my mistake. If that wall had only been glued once it would have aligned as supposed. Whether there is a fault in the sprue containing door/window frames or I was supplied the wrong one I am unsure but I ended up missing one window frame. The window and the glass were on the other sprues but the frame is missing on the sprue. In the printed sheets I had too little of the red shingles to go on all the connections of the roof and I had to copy it on regular paper to have enough. On the pictures you might not notice the difference but looking at the building the difference in quality is visible. The paper is thinner and quickly gets soaked by the glue which means than details are ruined by the slightest touch. Hence the thicker paper used by Sally 4 th.

5 The only thing assembly-wise for the MDF parts I miss is that each of the four sides only fit the base in one way. That would make it easier to ensure a correct assembly but on the other hand, pictures or an instruction would solve this issue. Maybe just paying more attention to detail! In overall I would say that this kit looked great in the pictures, looked cool assembled and ready for paint and structure for your everyday wargamer, poor with just a few of the photorealistic details added and fantastic once finished. Now with this building done, I feel I have made the mistakes needed and ready to assemble the rest of my pledge. For sure the next assembly will be easier with the newly gained experience fresh in mind. I can only recommend this as it looks great on a battlefield and is very quick and easy to achieve a great looking piece of terrain without being an ace in terrain building. Whether or not Sally 4 th decides to provide sections with damage I really see very easy ways of adding bullet holes, blown out windows or even holes in the walls using a small saw prior to adding the paper details.

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