If you want to do a diorama it usually requires the purchase of a lot of items. Well, ICM has a solution for you with this boxing. It includes everything you will need except for figures and airplanes. Let’s see what is in the box.

Included in a sturdy carboard box with a cover with a nice photo of the contents. Instructions are included in an eight-page booklet. The last two pages are painting instructions. They are printed on high quality paper with full color painting instructions/decal placement. Two sheets of decals are included, one for the bombs and one for the guard shack. They look and work perfectly. There are NINE sprues of light grey plastic that is flash free. The grey is a little soft. That is a good/bad thing. Good when gluing but a bit of a challenge when cleaning up small and thin pieces. More on that later.

There are four identical sprues of light grey plastic that include EIGHT SC-50s, EIGHT SD-50s with dinort fuses, FOUR SC-250s, FOUR SD-250s with the option of having dinort fuses, FOUR SC-500s, and FOUR SD-500s. That’s 32 bombs! You can do a lot with those. Each bomb comes with decals specific for that particular variant. The dinort fuses for the SC-250 are an option. Another option is the inclusion of the bomb whistles that can be placed on the tail fins of whatever bomb you want.

Assembly is quite easy, if not a little time consuming. After all there are 32 bombs. The bombs are built up in halves with a tail fin insert. Then the strengthening strips on the tail are added. You have to insure that the fins are square, which is not difficult. I used ZERO filler on any of the bombs or the torpedoes.

Painting allows you a lot of options as well. You can paint the bombs RLM70, Dark Grey or Desert Yellow. I used Tamiya colors throughout. A gloss coat of Tamiya Clear with Mr. Leveling Thinner prepped the bombs for decals. The decals performed well as long as you use lots of water to float them on the bombs. They were settled down with Solvaset and sealed with Aclad Flat.

There are THREE sprues for the boxes, barrels, and parts for the bomb trolley, as well as, the support for the lifting trestle. The hardest part was the clean up of the trestle because they are long and thin so the soft plastic does not help. Once cleaned up the parts all fit well. I used no filler on any of these items either. The barrels do lack detail on the top but look the part.

Another sprue includes the parts for the bomb lifting trolley and the other support for the lifting trestle. This one has the steps to get to the top and also has the chain units.

The final sprue includes the guard shack and barrier, along with a ladder. There is an air tank and little airbrush. Another barrel is included. Interestingly, this barrel has top detail.

Construction starts on the bomb lifting trolley. Everything fits perfectly. The soft plastic rears its ugly head with my heavy hands and I end up breaking off the front wheel. I had to pin it with some aluminum tubing but if you are not as heavy handed as I am, you will be fine. Even if you don’t have to pin it you can move the front wheel in any direction as well as the oil pump. The picture shows the oil pump pointed forward, but it can be rotated through 360 degrees. This can be painted a variety of colors, German Grey, Desert Yellow or even camouflage. I painted mine in Desert Yellow but may eventually camouflage it in Dark Green and Brown, typical of armor vehicles. I have a photo that I love. Eventually I added a SC-250 to it for some life.

The next assembly is the hoist and trestle. The hoist is easy. Clean up of the supports is a challenge because of the soft plastic but I had no issues. The angle of the supports is a little more open interpretation. The supports have an angle on them to the top, but it is tough to get right. I built one side at a time. It seemed to work out for me. I added the hoist to the center and it looks right to me.

Building up the three SC-50 and SC-250 crates was easy enough. I left the top off of one each crate. This would allow me to add a bomb or two to them at the end. They can be painted wood or dark green. I went with dark green and wood on the inside of my two boxes. I painted them desert yellow and then used burnt sienna artist oils. This was sealed with Alclad Flat. The outside was painted and given a coat of Tamiya Clear thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner in preparation for the decals. The decals worked great. Then it was all sealed with the Alclad Flat. I added a two bombs to the SC-50 box and one to the SC-250.

Three Jerry cans assemble easily as do the four barrels. They were all painted in Tamiya German Grey.

The compressed air bottle was build up next. The locating points are hard to see but It really looks great when done. The support is German grey and the bottle is flat black. The airbrush is an easy thing to overlook as it is very small. It just needs a coat of Alclad Aluminum to finish it.

The tool box is an easy affair with just two parts. Painted Tamiya German Grey and Clear. The decals worked as advertised. A flat coat finishes it off. The ladder is simple to build up too. They say to paint it German Grey but I elected to paint the steps like I did the wood. That is up to you.

The guard house, along with the road barrier, are a unique addition to this set. I left off the roof until after painting. ICM has you paint the interior white but I didn’t think that would be correct. Why paint the interior? So I painted it like wood and the outside was painted Tamiya White. The roof was flat black. Assembly of the barrier I would do differently. If I were to do it again I would not assemble the pivot point until later in the build, after the decals. The barrier was painted white with the supports painted in Tamiya Dark Grey. Adding the decals to this item was the hardest. You have to use a lot of water and take care as the decals want to curl. They are complete sides so there is a lot to line up. I recommend putting the front one on first then the others. Take care to align the black stripes. The barrier is also a challenge. Because I assembled mine before the decals the one part was a pain to get right. Overall I was happy with the results, but I did have to touch up both pieces with some Tamiya Black.

That brings all the parts to a close. The bombs, the lifting trestle, the bomb trolley, the guard shack, the bomb boxes and the other accessories are a really unique offering to add to your diorama. This one stop shop just needs some figures and an airplane or two to set you up. Another great release from ICM. If you want to try something different this is a great place to start. You have the beginnings of a great diorama.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to ICM and IPMS/USA for the review copy. You can get yours at www.icm.com.ua or at your local hobby shop or online retailer.