After some trials and tribulations my order from Sarrissa-Precision finally arrived. The late arrival time was not their fault, just a combination of extenuating circumstances. The first package never arrived and we are pretty sure it got caught up in the whole Hurricane Sandy disaster that hit New York. The second was just delayed by the holiday season (and probably some residual effects from the hurricane). It arrived sometime while I was away for Christmas so it was a nice bonus when I found it waiting for me Wednesday. I did do an initial tear into the package just to check to make sure it was really there but I wasn't able to actually do anything with it till last night (Thursday).
I purchased three kits, The Livery Stable (a mandatory structure in just about any Old West town), Old West Heroic Small Option Plus 4 (I think) and Old West Heroic Large Option 1 (I think). Per my standard operating procedure I started off with the small building. The Plus in the title indicates that the building comes with a porch which I did not assemble yet because it gets in the way of painting. I also selected the pitched roof option for both the small and large kits. I just don't like the looks of the flat roofs (if they were slanted I could live with it, but they aren't).
The Sarrisa-Precision kit goes together like just about all the other small buildings from other manufacturers do. There are no instructions (and you should all know how I feel about that, even simple kits should have some form of guidance) so I moved along following my own standard procedure; first gluing all the trim pieces around the doors and windows in place. This was followed by assembling the walls on to the base. While that was drying I built up the roof. The angle on the roof seems to be steeper than on any of the other buildings I have. I think the only one that comes close is the one from Aetherworks. At this point the building was pretty much done. Its a simple basic kit and it looks good when its finished.
Like I said there are no instructions, which I just detest. Its not hard to figure out for someone with experience but a whole bunch of parts on sprues like that can be intimidating to someone that has never built anything like this before. If you are an old hand with laser cut kits then you won't have any problems. Sarissa uses 2mm MDF, this is by far the thinnest stuff I have worked with. I like how the trim looks with the 2mm MDF but I found it a bit fragile. If you just try to push a part out of the sprue that still has an intact attachment point you are likely to damage it (especially trim pieces). So use a sharp x-acto knife to cut it out of the sprue when it doesn't just fall out. I also like the size of the building, its a bit narrower than a lot of the other kits that are out there and I like the varied footprint its going to give me as I build up Calamity. Scale wise its looking pretty good with my Black Scorpion miniatures and since those are just about the biggest ones out there it should look great with the minis from other manufacturers.
On to the construction pictures!
What comes in the box (or bag!)
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| Looks like I received a whole extra sheet because I want the pitched roof. So if you selected this option pay attention to which rear wall you glue the door fram too! |
Working on the trim
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| The trim is a little delicate when its only 2mm thick, but I really like the look. |
Assembling the Walls
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| From the Back |
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| Clamps in place |
Need to keep the rain and snow out
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| The inside of the roof |
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| View of the shingles |
All finished (except for the porch)
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| From the front |
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| From the back |
A scale shot with a Black Scorpion miniature
Next to the competition
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| Battle Flag Saloon |
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| Aetherworks Brick Building |
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| Gamecraft Miniataures |
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| Knuckleduster |
