Plusmodel has recently released some interesting 1/35th scale diorama accessories. The Cable Reels – Small are just some of them.

They arrived in a sturdy cardboard container and wrapped in heat sealed plastic. There was no damage to the parts. Parts consisted of wood, fiber board, heavy paper and resin.

Read the instruction sheet before removing the laser etch wooden parts. They suggest that you take tape and tape the inner reel wooden slats together. These parts are not attached to each other and this is highly recommended if not vital to construction.

Once the wooden parts were separated from their carrier a little sanding with an emery board was all that was needed for cleanup.

I ran a bead of wood glue to both sides of the inside slats, then place the laser cut fiber board templates on them and rolled the slats around the templates. Just like the instruction show you. Left a little tape on one of the ends and viola you have an inner round circle. There was a space between the two ends that required a fill piece. I used the left overs of the carrier to add these after the glue was dry.

The outside reels are two pieces glued together with the grain of the wood ninety degrees of one another. This adds strength to the ends and it’s what the instructions call for. A bunch of mini clothes pins held them together until dry.

I used a small dowel rod to ensure alignment when I glued the two ends to the center. Worked real nice.

After the assemblies were dried I stained them with whatever stain color I had on hand. Let them dry overnight.

Next comes the bolts and washer. The bolts are resin the washers a dark brown heavy paper that is pre-laser cut. I painted the bolts before installation. Ensure you align the washer centers with the pre drilled holes. I attached them with ACC. A word of caution, there were not enough bolts to fill all the holes. If you notice the center flanges on the outside do not bolts. The instructions call for them but not enough were included. I’ll probably order some small Grandt Line bolts to fill these holes. I had to drill the holes a little larger to accept the bolt shafts.

After everything was put together and cured I took some felt tip markers and marked the reels up a little. All I have to do is decide what the reels should hold. They do look nice empty.

The instructions are quite adequate to provide detailed information on the assembly.

Thank you Plusmodel and IPMS USA for providing me the opportunity to review this sample and let the modeling community know it’s out there. Highly recommended and an easy beginner project.

Have fun and enjoy.