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Here we have a slight departure from the norm, but my son has a school project to build a prehistoric roundhouse so I thought it was time to teach him some techniques and train up the next generation. Here are some pics of today's efforts in the sunshine. Waiting for the clay and glue to dry out now before we weave some coloured wool between the wall posts and add the clay and flock turf roof tomorrow. Then we'll sprinkle some flock around for some grass and add some doors.

Ardennes Building MiniArt 1:35 MiniArt seems to be on a production role at the moment and this is their latest release, the Ardennes House. Arriving in quite a large, deep box with a picture of the completed house on the front, it is full almost to the brim with parts. As usual the majority of the parts are vacuum formed, although in this case there are also a lot of injection moulded parts. As with other vacform kits, it’s not necessary to cut all the way through the styrene to remove the parts, just score with a sharp blade and snap apart. Care should be taken when scoring the corner parts of the building as these make up prominent joins. Once the parts have been removed from the backing sheets they will require a good sanding on the mating surfaces to ensure a tight join, care and patience prevail here as it will mean a lot less work with filling and sanding later on. Once all the vac parts have been prepared they can be glued together and onto the base. It is up to the modeller how they proceed with this but I generally build the building first, fill any gaps as required, and give it a coat of primer before painting it in the basic colours. When this is done, then the injected parts can be built up, painted and attached to their relevant positions. The injected parts in this kit, comprise of the entrance door, which is raised off the ground and accessed by a set of stairs and a landing area, each surrounded by hand rails, barn like double door with a smaller door within one side, drain pipes, lanterns and their brackets. The majority of the parts are generic and used in many MiniArt kits, and by the very nature of being generic means that you are left with quite a few spares which can be used as debris for the completed diorama. The front, two side walls and an internal wall are glued together, followed by the roof and chimney. The step assembly to the front door is fitted into position and the railings added. The injection moulded window frames, windows, doors and door frames are then added, followed by the gutter and drain pipe. Most of these parts are best painted before fitting as should the main parts for the building be painted before these parts. Having made quite a few of these buildings I have found that the plastic is readily melted by liquid glue, which, whilst making gluing parts together easier, care must be taken to prevent glue getting over the surfaces of parts as it will show. Since this kit doesn’t come with a base, it is up to the modeller how they wish to present the completed model so is only limited by the extent of their imagination. Conclusion This is a great looking building and quite an extensive kit. Yet again you will be left with a lot of spare parts which no doubt will be used in other builds. But it will look great on the right base and suitable weathered and of course can be used for dioramas depicting a whole range of eras. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of