Monroe Perdu Studios has been in existence since 2001. They specialize in both resin (notably Zimmerit sheets) and laser cut kits for diorama and architectural-subject builders. Offered in various scales, their laser cut kits provide some unique structures (chapel, farmhouse, etc.) as well as more than a few diorama accessory items (church pew, wheelbarrow, wooden scooters, etc.) that could easily find a home in your next project.

One such item is a kit of two wooden rocking horse. The laser cut parts for the two different styles of rocking horses come on a small sheet of thin cardboard.  Don't let the nature of that material put you off, the assembled 'horsies' couldn't be sturdier.

ICM has released kit of a British Policeman in the standard on the beat uniform.

In the box is:

• 2 x light grey sprues
• 1 stand base
• 1 black sprue
• 1 instruction sheets
• 1 box art print

Construction

The construction of the figure is very easy and they assemble very well. You do need to do a little filling here and there during the assembly.

The Base is a nice touch and has optional ground finishes to choose from.

Painting was easy, although I did not use all the reference colors as shown on in the instructions. I did use all Tamiya paints with the shoes and helmet strap being done using Semi Gloss black, the main uniform was Rubber black as this is closer to the uniform color at this scale. The Silver was replaced with Chrome. The finish I feel is better using these colors.

I really enjoyed building these and they look great as a team of individually.

ICM continues with its fascinating series of Chernobyl “instant dioramas” with the latest being a scene depicting the evacuation of civilians from the threatened region around the power plant disaster. In this case, five figures are provided, along with an apartment balcony, a small pot and a printed background to bring it all together.

The figures include one older gentleman, a young man and woman, and a somewhat matronly mother with young daughter. All are excellently sculpted and show lots of individual character along with natural poses. If there is any objection to the sculpting, it’s that none of the figures display the level of abject terror that I, personally, would be undergoing if such a thing were happening to me. In fact, all of the poses appear to be relatively relaxed. Maybe no one really knew what was happening.

With the loss of the famous Verlinden line of diorama accessories, other small manufacturers have been stepping in to fill the void. Danger Close Dioramics is one such company, with a line of nineteen products as of the time of this writing. Their “factory gate” accessory is one such product, consisting of six dark grey, non-porous resin pieces which, when assembled, make a diorama backdrop piece about ten inches in length.

ICM continues with its growing tradition of providing suitable pilots for its newest 1/32nd releases, in this case the Tiger Moth training aircraft. Like most ICM figure sets, this one is comprised of four figures – three RAF cadets and an officer/trainer. One cadet is trying on a parachute harness while his classmates look on. This is a very simple set of figures to assemble, as there is only one piece of equipment between the four of them – the parachute harness.