Tuesday 12 June 2012

15mm Laser Cut MDF Buildings

When I was at Broadside on Sunday my only purchase during my brief look round was two 15mm Laser Cut MDF Buildings by 4Ground. I've been jealously looking at the 28mm stuff produced in recent years and its good to see some high quality 15mm buildings being produced at last. 4Ground only released this range on the 8th June so I was very lucky to get these at this show.

15mm Semi Type 1
4Ground's Europe at War range currently includes five different terraced buildings all of which come painted or unpainted and simply clip together. I bought a painted building and one unpainted so I could see how they compared and how easy (or not) they are to paint once assembled. If I like what I see I'll buy some more from the range as it would be possible to put together a small town for relatively small outlay.

The Northwest European semi-detached houses are finely etched with tons of detail. Assembly looks fairly straightforward and all that is needed is a little bit of glue to hold them together. Being made from MDF they look a little more robust than resin (a particular concern of mine!) and they look like they would be easy to convert or 'distress' to fit in with existing buildings in my collection.

15mm Semi Type 2

The main thing I like about these buildings is that each floor is removable and lock into place so they don't fall apart on the table. Also each kit comes with paper road signs and advert/propaganda posters for that added 'custom' look to the finished building.

I also thought the price was very competitive, especially compared to similar resin alternatives. 

The range includes the two Semi Detached buildings you see here plus a three story Hotel, a 4 Story Apartment block and terrace of three buildings. I nearly bought the latter item but by the time I went back they had sold out (I'm an idiot) but I think its highly likely that I will buy more from this range in future. 

20 comments:

  1. Looking very good!I wish they make some in 20mm also.

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  2. Lovely but you should have bought more seeing as you're the rich Reject!

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    1. I still can't get over this description of me. I'm broke or on a budget most of the time and the idea that I'm the 'Rich' reject still makes me chuckle.

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  3. If I were doing your period I would have bought these, they look excellent, but now which ones are you paint up first these or your hovels ones????

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  4. Those are very nice. Is there a big price difference between the painted and unpainted?

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    1. The two buildings pictured above are £8.00 unpainted and £13.00 painted. At an extra £5 for the painted version I'm not sure yet if its worth it...which is why I bought an unpainted example to try out before buying any more.

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  5. I missed the whole 4ground stall at the show. Which makes me think that next year we should hand out a single table layout plan to each club that puts on a game. As they don't get as much browsing time as a normal paying atendee.

    Thanks Lee.

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  6. They look great!

    looking around there site the fencing looks like a bargin for 1.5m worth of pre painted fencing.

    Thansk Ben

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  7. WoW these are some great looking buildings.

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  8. These look great Lee! Must admit, I've got a shedload of (still unpainted) Hovels stuff from 1997 that I've still to paint...
    Given the fact I'm such a skinflint, I tend to use either Fat Dragon or Dave Graffam's excellent card models for 20/28mm as the quality/price trade-off IMHO can't be beaten.

    Regards,

    Monty

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  9. They really look the part, good purchase.

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  10. I do enjoy reading your blog Lee. There's always lots of good things to tempt me to spend money on! You clearly have a good eye for cool stuff :)

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  11. Must admit I'm not convinced about these laser mdf things, they still have a very 'put together' look even after being painted that I dont like. I'm inclined to stick with resin ones...

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    1. Its a compromise for sure, but one I'm leaning towards having bought these. Like everyone else I'm having to make a few 'austerity measures' (politicspeak for 'Cuts') this year and I'd rather focus my expenditure on figures rather than terrain. But I still need terrain such as buildings so I'm looking at cheaper alternatives and these fit the bill. Having said that I haven't constructed them yet so the jury really is out until I have had a chance to give them a proper assessment.

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    2. Thats a very fair point, and I will be interested to see how they turn out once assembled and painted up.

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  12. Another interesting post and link. Very tempting product to get. I rerally like buildings that can actually fit bases of figures in. A great find by the looks. Thanks for sharing it.
    cheers

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