My orders from Sarissa Precision Ltd and TT Combat - a review

A few posts back I said I wanted to use MDF for my TNT board, so I ordered up a few things. Directly from Sarissa Precision Ltd, and the TT Combat stuff through my preferred Ebay.co.uk shop, the Trolltrader.

Both were ordered on the 17th of August, both sending a order confirmation by email. Trolltrader sent me a shipping confirmation the same day, Sarissa sent me one on the 23rd of August. The TT Combat order arrived on the 24th, the Sarissa one yesterday on the 30th. The TT Combat order was sent in one box, which arrived ship shape, the Sarissa one in 2 boxes, one of which arrived banged up on every corner.

I've seen this plenty of times in my previous job when items are packed with room left in the box, so it can bang around and either break free of the box or break itself. There was only some thin loose plastic put on top to fill it visually and that just won't cut it. So the box took the brunt of it. Oddly enough the contents of the smaller box had been taped to the bottom so they would not move around, so they know this can be a problem? There was nothing wrong with the contents though, everything nicely shrinkwrapped and no banged corners.

For this review I will start with the TT Combat stuff first.

I ordered the Bus Stop (5,95 Pounds), Construction Office (3,95 Pounds)  and Subway Entrance (4,95 Pounds). I paid 4,72 Pounds in shipping. Total order cost was 19,57 Pounds.

The Bus Stop

In the pack is a cover sheet with the code, name and finished product, a 2-sided instructions sheet, a thin piece of lasercut cardboard and a lasercut sheet of MDF with 2 acryllic inserts. Both cut sheets seemed to be well laid out, with no waste of space. The bench looks a bit flimsy being just a thin piece of cardboard but it is supported on both end and in the middle, and I like the fact it has been designed to stand up as is, without the need for a base, so it should blend in on your table with no problem at all. The acryllic inserts were a bit of a surprise as I had thought all the glass areas were open. This will make it easier to add posters or graffiti. There seems to be a lt of thought put in this, with a pole with a timetable to a map with the routes. Quite good I say!

The Subway Entrance

 In this pack is a cover sheet with the code, name and finished product, no instruction sheet and 1 medium and 1 small sheet of lasercut MDF. Again the sheet is pretty much full of parts. It looks simple enough to go together without any problems, and should look nice in any 1920's, Modern or Post Apoc table, as either a point of interest, a spawnpoint or a escape route. Happy with this one!

The Construction Office

In this pack is a coversheet with the code, name and finished product, no instruction sheet and 1 medium sized sheet of lasercut MDF. This is a really versatile building, with a door and window on one side, and 2 windows on the other. It is labelled as a Contruction Office, but with some signage on top it could be a check-in counter for my trailerpark, or a booth for some Carnival rides, a Border Guard checkpoint and give me some time and I'll make up some more uses for this. Will fit any Modern table really. The roof, if you don't glue it, should come off nicely so you can stuff inside as well, which is a nice option. The sheck itself is standing on 3 raised legs which might be an issue if you move it around a lot, but adding a form fitting base should negate that problem. Cheapest of the lot, and well worth picking up if you are making an order and have a few spare Pounds in the bank.

Next up, Sarissa Productions Ltd.

I ordered the Retro Americana Bundle #2 (67,50 Pounds for a pack of 6 trailers, this gives you a 7,50 Pounds saving to buying them seperate), the Children's Playground (7,50 Pounds) and the Park Bench Set (5 Pounds). Shipping is a fixed fee of 2,50 Pounds worldwide. The total cost for this order was 82,50 Pounds.

The Retro Americana Bundle #2 (which consists of 6x Residential Trailers)

In this pack is a coversheet that doubles as a instructions sheet printed on the back, 4 sheets of lasercut MDF, 1 sheet of cardboard (well, matboard) and 2 pcs of clear acrylic. The sheets are well layed out, though there are some empty spaces that could have been filled with something like lasercut pink flamingoes, the instructions easy enough and this is actually a pretty big piece of scenery. The trailer alone is 24x8 cm's.
What I don't like is the overly large base, as this kit does not need that (Caveat: I belong to the "School of minimal to no basing"), the trailer can stand on it's own, it just adds weight and will need to be flocked with sand or astroturf to blend in with the table. Sure, you don't pay much for shipping so the extra weight bit is a bit moot, but leave it out and save a bit on costs? The 2 top windws are a nice toutch, the matboard sunshades I have doubts if they will survive frequent handling. Filling in the openings with some left over bits of wood or cardboard will create variation if you build more then one (as in this case, 6). There is plenty of space inside for figures or scenery or objectives. You should have no problem lifting off the roof if you would like to do so.

The Children's Playground

In this pack we have one cover sheet, with the instructions printed on the back, 2 pieces of lasercut MDF and 1 small bit of matboard. As you can see, both MDF sheets have wasted space. Basing wise, I see some odd choices. The roundabout (please correct me if this is not the correct term) has a very large round base. I've never visited any playground which has such a large bit of concrete underneath. We just use astroturf or rubber tiles, so I will not be using that base and just glue it down to a washer that fits nicely underneath the roundabout. It is very well put together though, it looks like a real one (not that you can find these around here anymore, Health and Safety has them replaced with versions with bars all around the outside to prevent kids from being ejected at high speed. Lawsuits, funerals, etc). The See-Saw suffers from Basus Maximus too, again not needed, a small base should support it well enough. The Swing. The one thing that does need a base, lean on this a bit by accident and you'll break a leg easily. A misplaced elbow, dice at speed, plenty of rougness on the table that happens by accident and this just wont cut it. But it has no base.....:(  The tireswing is a nice toutch, but I'll cut the tires in half and glue them underneath either end of the See Saw to cushion the blow. Too many kids front teeth flying without them :). I think the wasted space on the sheet could have been easily filled with one or two Spring Riders (we call em Wip Kip) for a minor, if any, cost increase.

Park Bench Set

I'll be frank (as usual). I don't like it. A coversheet that doubles as instruction sheet, a piece of MDF and a piece of Matboard.. The base is matboard (which you have to blend in with your terrain unless you want to tell everyone it is based on a concrete plinth, or cut it down a lot), in which you insert the 2 nicely ornamental sides, and then you glue the seat and back to that. If you don't want to use the big base you will end up with something that has little lateral stability. As the MDF sheet has a lot of wasted space (again) it would have been nice to have 2 MDF beams added, one on the base, one underneath the seating, for more strength and easy blending with your table as it can be a stand alone piece then. I have no faith in the matboard adding strength as just picking it up made it bend quite a bit. I will be returning this one as I think (well, know) I can buy a better product elsewhere.

There you have it. I'm happy with most of it, some layouts I question and it's been ages since I last returned a product, but I'm really not happy with those Benches (I had hoped they would be able to stand withou the base but it does not seem so).

Leave a reply if you liked the review, or disagree, of generally feel like replying. Final note of the day, all of the items you see in this review have been paid for with my own money, no freebies were asked or given. 

Now to build, basecoat and paint the lot as fast as possible so to finish the TNT demo table.