I just finished putting together and painting the first of my half dozen
Sarissa Precision laser cut MDF buildings. I have been interested in these products for a while, but only recently decided to take the hit on shipping and currency conversion to get them from across the pond. I am really glad I did. These kits are amazing. I picked up the entire range of their
28mm WWII Normandy series. By buying one of each, I have myself a nice little French village.
I have never worked with MDF before, much less laser cut kits, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The material is nice to work with. You can cut it if you have to, you can sand it easily (though use a breath mask), and it glues well with regular old wood glue (though I also used some CA glue for some parts).
Straight out of the box, these kits are excellent. The kits go easily together and the laser cuts are precise. The kits overall are well planned and are pretty accurate architecturally for the period and region (at least to my amateur eyes). You could easily slap these together as is, spray paint them with a tan undercoat and finish off the details and you would have a great bunch of buildings. Being the kind of gamer I am, I couldn't resist using these as a blank slate for adding a ton of my own detail. I decided my buildings had to have plasticard shingled roofs, detailed chimneys, rain gutters and spouts, and custom shutters. I say this not to put down the original kits, but simply because building this kind of terrain is something I enjoy. The great thing about the kits is it saves me hours of headache measuring, cutting, and building my own. With the basic kit I just need to add the details, and since they are laser cut and so precise, adding details is easy, especially for adding the plastic sheet shingles to the roof.
Here is the kit straight out of the box from the Sarissa Precision
website (I didn't get a shot of mine before I painted it). So far, I have 3 of the buildings built, and one of them painted with 3 more to finish. I also began working on some back yard walled gardens for the terraced houses.
Here are the shots of the completed version. I prefer a clean style to my buildings (except for ruins), and I use little to no drybrushing on most smooth surfaces. You could add your own interior walls if you liked. For now, I just painted the floors brown and brushed on some wood grain with a darker brown to save time.
If this building looks familiar, it's because I painted it to match my other 28mm building, the
Normandy Farmhouse. I figure it could be paired with that building for a Norman farm complex.
Anyway, hope you enjoy!
More to come!