Bank Of Baltar (TTCombat)

The Bank of Baltar is part of TTCombat's Dark City Scenics range. Ideal for superhero style gaming such as Pulp City, Supersystem and BMG, this piece is pretty large and seems to reflect a recent trend towards bigger MDF buildings intended to create a modern city-scape. I like the art deco-esque style and I am pretty chuffed with the piece. The painting isn't great, but I am still getting to grips with painting MDF stuff.

The model is so big my usual backdrop was too small! The figures used for scale are from my Pulp City collection; the large red one at the entrance is Amok, who is around 65 mm tall.

The basics

• Footprint: 32 cm x 32 cm (base), 26.5 cm x 26.5 cm (building)
• Height: 46 cm approximately
• Build time: It took me around 4.5 to 5 hours, split over a few sessions
• Price: I got this for £30, and have seen it between £30 to £40 depending on seller

The building is not really designed to have accessible interiors, simply because the lug and slots between levels are so tight and so not conducive to easy removal, and also because there are only three internal floors (of five stories). Really, the building is designed for exterior vertical movement and model positioning.

Pros

• Value - honestly I think this is great value for its size
• Simplicity - despite the lack of part numbers, it is actually straightforward to identify what parts are used and where
• Size - for certain gaming environments/needs, size is good
• Cuts - the laser cutting is very neat on the whole

Cons

• Lugs - some are very slightly out of line in the middle section, meaning that the complex array of sections do not line up quite as neatly as desired, and some walls would have benefited from better-placed lugs to ensure everything lined up correctly
• Interlocks - these are not really designed to fit sequentially - there was some forcing of the final wall piece of each 'box' assembly

Despite the identified cons, I am very pleased with this as a piece and would recommend it. Allow at least one 500 ml spray can for it though! I can say I will be buying more Dark City Scenics stuff in future.