The Stoic Arms

This is a wonderful kit from 4Ground in the UK. This is a pre-painted, laser cut model kit of many pieces that is quite a joy to put together. The instructions are easy to follow of you have ever worked with one of their products before. They are step by step, and in full color. Sorry about the different sized pictures, blame it on Blogger!

The box came with two giant ziploc bags of pre-painted laser cut wood, and a bag of clothes pins and rubber bands with which to clamp the pieces together. I cannot stress enough to follow their directions to the letter. If you miss a step, and you invariably will, you will undoubtedly want to throw things across the room. As the pieces are MDF and take standard PVA glue quite quickly, they tend to stick together quite quickly too. Having to go back and remove a piece to fit another in can be painful to your completed product. 

I have taken photos of each of the floors to show you the detail of the item in general. 

Complete front, about 13" long

Complete back, almost 12" tall

First floor front

First floor top view

Second floor front

Second floor balcony side

Third floor front

Third floor 

Fourth floor back

Fourth floor front 

The entire piece took about 10 hours in total. I will say, the time flew by as the dopamine pumped. There were a few hiccups though. A couple spots there were mislabeled parts. Those were further in and as you get into it, you know what they're thinking and are able to get past them. This can cause some headaches for newer modellers though. 

There were also a couple of misfits that I had to fix. The third floor did not sit flush as usual due to two of the angles roof pieces not having notches in them for the balcony. 

I was able to alleviate the issues when I completed it as I didn't notice it until afterwards. 

Also the kitchen roof would not fit as built due to the third floor balcony. I had to trim the roof spine. Fortunately I didn't glue it on yet, allowing me an easier time. 

But back to the positives. There is lots of great detail in here. All of their pieces come with exterior and interior walls. They don't do things simple just to complete a model. There are cracks in the walls. The bar is fully detailed with shelves and a trap door. 

The kitchen has dual ovens too!

The exterior walls are actually glued on to blank wood to give it the yellowish look. Some of the interior walls are panels that get glued on as well. This can be mainly seen on the third and fourth floors. The instructions even come with posters for you to cut out and 'pin' to the walls!

All in all, it is an awesome piece. One that stands out even without any further painting. I highly recommend all of their products. Now back to work!