4Ground 20mm Hayloft build and review

As you might be aware of, 4Ground are makers of very fine, pre-painted MDF building kits. So far their kits have only been available in 15 and 28mm much to my sadness as they look very good indeed. Now Plastic Soldier Company have released  a line of 20mm buildings made by 4Ground to specifications by PSC. The first release is a Normandy farm complex available either as one large bundle or as individual buildings.

The whole shablooie. The Big Kahuna. The Mother of all Farm complexes. You get the picture.

I couldn't resist ordering one of the buildings when PSC had their black friday sale recently and opted for the Hayloft, top right in the above picture.

A bag stuffed full of goodiness.

The kits come flat-packed in zip-loc bags, just like IKEA furniture. In fact, the material used is MDF which is what most IKEA stuff is made by too. The sheets are all laser cut with very high precision so most pieces need only a quick slice or two to pop out of their frame. What sets 4Ground kits apart from most other MDF kits are that they are painted.

There's so much stuff you don't know where to start...

...luckily instructions are included. Note the engraved stone pattern on the walls.

The building is not that hard to assemble if you follow the instructions. However, the pictures are rather small and sometimes it's hard to make out the part numbers. It's mostly obvious which part is to be used for each step.

The beginning of the bottom floor, inner wall pieces mounted...

...and then the outer walls. Rubber bands are used to make sure the walls don't separate while drying.

Note the double sided walls which means you get texture on the inside as well as the outside.

Last the upper floor supports are glued in place.

It is well worth taking your time to ensure everything fits together squarely. The entire building is made up of separate pieces that can be left separate or glued together in the end, which makes it possible to work on one piece while the previous one is drying. That, however, can mean that the pieces don't fit in the end if you are not careful.

The upper floor is constructed in much the same way as the bottom floor.

Roof assembly. This is the trickiest part.

Test fitting the roof supports.

The stair is a separate piece. Note the way they steps are constructed.

The finished hayloft assembled...

...and broken down into separate pieces for easy transportation or storage.

On the whole you don't need to paint the building, but I think they appearance is a bit marred by the dark edges where the pieces fit together. But it's easily remedied with a bit of grey paint. I couldn't match the colours perfectly but that doesn't matter much. I used extra paint to highlight random stones on the walls and to vary the colour on the roof and blend it all together.

Some grey paint is used to touch up the dark edges.

Also some blue-grey paint were used on the roof.

There, much better. No dark edges in sight.

When I was finished there were a couple of mysterious pieces left that I didn't know what to do with. They weren't mentioned in the instructions anywhere, but I managed to deduce that two of them were the door posts. The other pieces might be some tools that you can use, but I have no idea really.

So... what's this? A tooth-pick?

And these two? At least they have part numbers, unlike the previous one.

I wonder... 

...Heureka! It's a door post!

4Ground kits are a bit pricey but well worth the money. The kits are a interesting subjects as well, since they depict all the different buildings present on a farm and not just the main building and a barn normally available as models. So if you can afford them, check them out. I ordered mine direct from PSC and got it in about a week. If you shop around you can probably save a couple of quids though.

And there it is in all its glory.

To sum it up, this is a jolly nice kit which was a joy to build. I give the 4Ground 20mm Hayloft 5 out 5.

Don't forget to check out my giveaway, you still have time to enter. The competition closes on midnight christmas eve.