French Farm Gate

Monroe Perdu, 1/35 scale

Reviewed by Alex Dutt

FirstLook

This is one of Monroe Perdu’s latest kit releases. It is a multimedia kit depicting a “Farm Gate”, and is designed to be utilized in dioramas. Monroe Perdu label the kit as 1/35 / 1/32, and the instructions suggest that the kit represents a structure found throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, the Balkans and Russia. Personally, Monroe Perdu’s Farm Gate reminds me of a Western European structure. I think that it would be perfectly suited for a Normandy or Ardennes scene.

The kit comprises of seven resin pieces, two frets of laser-cut cardboard pieces, a sheet of instructions, and four reference photographs.

The quality of the resin parts is very good. My sample was very well cast with a few small air bubbles here and there, particularly around the corners of the roof tiles. The resin parts are very thoughtfully cast, there are no casting blocks and the components are virtually ready for assembly straight from the box. It looks like the kit will go together relatively quickly. The resin seems to be slightly softer than the typical resin, and lighter in weight too. Each side of the thicker walls are cast as separate pieces, which allows for a solid wall structure with detail on both sides. The smaller walls include detail on both sides also, however they are cast as a single piece. The stonework is beautifully sculpted and very realistic. Above the smaller doorway a wooden support beam is sculpted, with wood grain detail even engraved on the underside – A nice touch.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The main farm gate doors and smaller door are supplied as laser-cut plain cardboard components. The door hinges and weathervane are again supplied as laser-cut components, this time made of cardboard coated with a metallic looking element. The detail on the laser-cut pieces is excellent, the parts are very cleanly produced and certainly look realistic. While I have yet to try working with these cardboard components, they do look very user-friendly and they will add a lot to the finished project.

The instructions are supplied as a full A4 sized sheet, including some line drawings illustrating how to go about assembling the laser-cut doors and fittings. Also on the instruction sheet is a few paragraphs with direction on how to work with and paint the kit components, and also a brief history of what the kit is supposed to represent. Then we have four reference photos, all printed on high quality photographic paper. The first photo is of the completed kit, very skillfully finished. The other three photos depict various structural details in French locales. The photos show a variety of textures and finishes, and I’m sure they’ll be useful to have on the workbench when it’s time to paint the kit.

I only have one very minor gripe with this kit, and that is the way that the smaller walls are designed. If the walls are placed as per the kit recommendations, in my opinion the kit looks too clean-cut. It would have been nice if the smaller walls tapered off in a more natural manner, perhaps if one wall was damaged or unfinished, rather than having both side walls identical sizes and thus making the structure appear symmetrical. Either way it will build up into an impressive diorama piece, measuring about 15.5 inches in length.

Conclusion

This is a very high quality product and I have no reservations in recommending it.

The kit retails for $44 USD. I think that this is a reasonable asking price due to the fact that it such a unique kit, and as I said it looks very user-friendly and therefore enjoyable to build.

Highly recommended for diorama buffs.