Last weekend I didn't paint anything but I took the time to examine the contentes of the Pegasus Bridge set a bit more carefully. In other words I started to assemble the kits.
Since those were my first MDF kits I decided to start with the presumably easier buildings: The Café Gondrée and the pillbox.
The instructions proved to be short but absolutely adequate and I finished both buildings after about three hours. What really elated me was the excellent accuracy of fit which the laser cut parts have. In both kits there was only one part which needs some further treatment but anything else is absolutely fine.
But now for the two buildings in detail:
Cafée Gondrée
The Café Gondrée was and is near the western bank of the Caen Canal just near the approach of the Pegasus Bridge. Supposedly it was the firstly liberated, French house in June 1944 and temporarily it served as sick bay after the success of Operation Overlord. It's still operated by the Gondrée family and one of the major places to go for visitors who are interested in the events of June 1944.
The kit consists of three or four sheets of MDF parts and one sheet of laser cut cardboard for the window shutters. It is well detailed and represents all features of the building as it is conseerved today as well as it is pictured on coeval photographs. Although I haven't checked the dimensions yet the model seems to be rather good in scale. The assembly went well and without major problems. All parts fit very well together. Singly with the shutter of the lower right window you have to be careful since it's smaller than those of the other windows at the front. Actually the windows on the side have that narrow shutters as well. The only point where parts didn't fit perfectly is the side gablet on the right hand side of the front. Probably the roof framework got slightly out of place when I glued it together. Therfor a gap of about 1.5mm formed between the slanted part of the roof and the straight one. So be careful there. I'll have to fill this gap with greenstuff or Miliput.
The Pillbox
This fortified building stood near the eastern approach of the Pegasus Bridge. Actually it was the cellar or basement of a larger building which was pulled down earlier during the war and then converted into a fortified position. Likewiese the parts of this kit fit together perfectly and it was a pleasure to assemble it. Although it seems to be well in scale - as far as judgeble from the only photo I know (here) - the ceiling is too low to place standing models inside. I presume the real basement would dig deeper but the kit is obviously limited by the baseplate. Anyway I left the top unglued to enable access to the insight. Probably I'll install some sandbags on to of the building to create another position there inspired by the coeval photograph mentioned above. Unfortunately there's nothing left of the building today.
Well... Those were the first two buildings of the set and assembly was great fund. I hope to procede equally good when painting them.
The bridge itself is much more complex. I started with the kit on saturday and finished several parts of it but nothing coherent yet. I'll present it as soon as possible. Anyhow it's the very next project to be finished on my workbench. I want to have that done before Curt's Painting Challenge starts. Luckily I got one of the last entries for it and I don't want to be sidetracks during that quarter of the year. But more on this later...
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