Plast Craft Kits

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I recently bought some kits from Plat Craft, a Spanish company that is producing gaming-terrain kits using foamed PVC (makes a change from MDF!).

These are the first things I bought and I thought I would briefly outline my initial impressions, with more insights when they are eventually built.

The kits I picked up were: (2 x) Torii Gate; Fukei Bridge 2; Sci-fi big container. It was the Torii gate that led me to Plast Craft as a manufacturer.

Pros/plus points:

• Cheap as chips. I think these are a bargain price as long as you understand what you are getting (see Downsides).
• Simple construction; they all have instructions which are clear.
• Quick turnaround of order by Plast Craft.
• Interesting ranges.

Downsides:

• Lack of surface detail; foamed PVC is not a straight alternative to MDF, so the shapes are plain (possibly die-cut?) and will need work by the modeler to add any sense of texture.
• Photographs of the finished and painted pieces can therefore be misleading - especially the planking grain on the Fukei Bridge which does not exist on the product as manufactured.

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So what I would suggest is judicious consideration of the products available, and asking yourself that if a lot of extra work is required to add texture (for example the need to create the effect of planking on the Fukei Bridge), then how cost-effective is it really since other options may be as cheap or cheaper (e.g. scratch build), with the time factor being a big issue in decision-making.

Before building some of these, I would suggest that some represent excellent value for money, but anything that appears to have a lot of texture would probably necessitate a lot of work so buy with caution.