Assembling the 4Ground 15mm MDF Terrace

I decided to assemble my 4Ground pre-painted terrace kit yesterday afternoon. I was a bit apprehensive at first as there's so many parts. However once I got going and followed the instructions and photos it went together fairly easily.

First tip, don't punch out all the parts as they are all lettered to indicate where they should go. Next have a look at the instructions and punch out just the parts you need, placing them on your work bench in the same layout as shown in the instructions. This really does make things easier. Then dry fit them so you understand how they go together. They recommend using PVA to glue the parts together but I used a clear glue (Bostick or Uhu type) and had no problems. I found that it held the parts together better while you were assembling each floor.

The ground floor has a passageway through it which makes it a bit tricky at first but a quick dry fit should sort things out. A nice touch is that the walls and floor of the passage are painted as well. A little detail but it shows the thought that's gone into making the kits. The process is assemble the floor add the long side walls, then the end walls and finally the dividers.

The next step is to glue on the outside walls. Again you do the long walls first and then add in the end walls. This is pretty straightforward, just be careful with the glue and that's the ground floor done.

The next floor is easier than the ground floor as there is no passage. The process is otherwise identical.

The first floor carcass

The first floor with the exterior fitted.

The roof section is by far the trickiest and most fiddly. You start by glueing in the gable ends. You need to pay careful attention to the instructions here so you get the parts in the right place and facing the right way. Again dry fitting and checking with the pictures is a must.

After you have the base of the roof done the next stage is to assemble the roofs themselves. I had a problem fitting the roofs to their supports and this took a bit of fiddling about to get them to join up correctly. Just be patient! The worst part was the dormer windows. I managed to get the small parts together ok but getting them to fit nicely in the hole in the roof was impossible. In the end I just accepted there were going to be gaps and ran glue around the inside of the roof where it met the window to try and get a better seal.

I still have to add the cills to the windows and doors but I'm waiting till the glue hardens properly before I fiddle about with them. You also get chimneys but I'm not going to bother with them. Here's a couple of shots of the assembled model.

What do I think about the the kits? They're well thought out and in the main go together easily. The fact that you can lift off the various levels makes them great for hiding your troops in FoW. Also they're very sturdy and should stand up well to rough handling. The only downside might be that the burn marks from the laser cutting are visible which could annoy some people. But you can always buy the unpainted kits and do them yourself. Overall I give them a score of 9/10.