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Oli Models Kitchen Set 'A' Review
Oli Models is a brand new resin accessory manufacturer from Argentina. Oli Model Resin Pieces is the brainchild of Victor Olivato, a highly accomplished, talented model builder in his own right. In a quest to create various diorama accessories Oli Models was born!
Kitchen Set A
I have the pleasure of taking a first look at Oli Models Kitchen Set A, model OMRP0002S. At the present, Oli Models has three sets to offer, the Kitchen Set A and Living Sets A & B with more products being released as I type.
The Kitchen Set A comes packaged in a sturdy flip-top box. DO NOT let the box fool you! All of the seventy-eight parts for the Kitchen Set are packed extremely well in this little box. The parts are all wrapped in bubble wrap and foam for protection. Honestly, this is the best packing job I have come across; each piece is completely protected be every other piece either interlocked or individually wrapped.
The following items are contained within this kit:
62 – Crème colored resin cast pieces
15 – Clear resin cast parts
1 – Resin cast template
1 – One page instruction sheet
Each of these parts combines to create sub-assemblies of the intended kitchen layout:
1 – Full set of kitchen cabinets, two top cabinets, four base cabinets, countertops and sink.
1 – Refrigerator
1 – Stove (cooker)
1 Microwave
1 – Table with four chairs
Accessories - Small radio (boom box), Bowl, Two different lights, alternate sink and faucet.
After seeing the large amount of items contained within the set, I separated the parts by construction to make it slightly easier to go through all the parts.
The Refrigerator is a one piece cast two opening box. The cast is excellent; clean crisp and free from air bubbles and seam lines. There are 14 parts to the refrigerator construction. Two finely cast door panels with recessed interior. There are two handles for the two doors and are located on a cast block that also has a template for the installation of the handle. Simple take the template, following the instructions, and mark the placement of the two handles and glue into place. The nine other parts for the refrigerator are cast in clear resin. The clear parts are extremely clear in appearance. There is four interior shelves with a raised detail around the outer edge that can be painted leaving the center clear as seen in most modern refrigerators. There is one crisper drawer and four door shelves.
MSPR (cost of the kit!) - $28.00 US
The Microwave construction consists of three parts; The crème colored resin microwave main unit, a clear cast round interior carousel plate and on clear cast door. Again, these parts have been cast exceptionally well. The microwave has nicely detailed raised buttons and digital screen and the interior has pretty much the same layout as my own microwave here at the house where as the interior is slightly recessed where the carousel in installed. The carousel is round with a small mounting recess that fits to the alternate pin inside the microwave. The door has a raised perimeter around the center window to allow for painting.
The kitchen Table and chairs has many parts to its construction. The table consists of 6 parts; the table, pedestal and four feet. The table and features on the underside of the table are cast extremely fine. The post is inserted into the four angle bracket cast into the bottom side of the table and the four feet attach accordingly to the bottom of the table support.
Each chair is a two-piece construction; each base has the four legs cast into the seat. There is a separate seat back piece which gets glued to one side of the base to create the chairs.
The Kitchen Cabinets consist of many sub-assemblies. There is one corner cabinet that has a four part construction to it; one side panel, one interior shelf, a countertop and two doors. There two base cabinets and two top cabinets with straightforward construction as the shelving in each was incorporated into the casting. Each of these four cabinets has two doors and the two base cabinets have corresponding countertop sections. There is one drawer unit with one-piece cast box with openings for the drawers, three drawer boxes, three drawer faceplates and one countertop section. There are two options to the drawer unit that you can choose from; three drawer setup and a single top drawer and double door on the bottom.
As I have explained a few times already here in this review, these parts are cast extremely clean, smooth and void of air bubbles. All of the doors and drawers fit precisely to their corresponding counterparts, the boxes. All of the doors have a recessed finger pull as seen on a few different 20th and 21st century cabinets.
There are two different Kitchen Sinks included with this set. There is an integral double bowl style unit for a more modern look and a surface mount, single bowl porcelain style sink with separate twin handle faucet. The porcelain style would of course cover a much wider range of years as it has a more retro feel to it. I am sure with a little thought and very little effort, four legs or another cabinet box could be made up quickly to use this sink in another location or separate build.
The Stove provided with this set has three pieces to its construction. There is the main unit which is a one-piece cast with rounded recessed details where the burners are located and several control knobs located on the front. There is one drawer front for the bottom slide out draw that is standard on most over style stove units. The door for the stove is of similar construction as seen on the microwave and the interior shelving of the refrigerator whereas the outside edges of the door are raised to give clean definition for paint demarcation.
There are a few Accessories supplied with this set to bring a bit more to the décor of the kitchen. First, there is a small radio or “Boom Box” as it is described. This is very similar to today’s small Compact Disc style radios in most homes. There is three parts to this nicely detailed part, the radio box unit, a handle and a small rectangular piece that appears to be where a CD would be installed.
There is a small accent bowl for the table or the countertop cast from clear resin. Finally, there are two separate lights supplied with the Kitchen Set A. The first light is of the clear bowl style surface mount fixture; this is cast from clear resin. The second fixture is a two-bulb fluorescent lighting unit containing the main fixture and two simple cat resin bulbs.
There is a one-page detailed set of Instructions contained with this set. The instructions are laid out in an exploded type view and show all of the construction steps to bring all of the parts of this set together to create the kitchen. These instructions are clear and easy to follow.
After having a close look through all the parts for Oli Models Resin Pieces Kitchen Set A I have to say I feel this is an exceptional accessory or add-on piece for any diorama. This is a fresh idea for many diorama constructions from house scenes to blown out building which exposes all of the interiors of the dwellings as seen in war-torn areas around the world today. The Kitchen Set A is pleasantly at $28.00 US. With the quality of the casting as well as the amount of parts in the set, this is a more than fair value for a resin accessory on the market today.
The parts are of some of the highest quality resin casting I have seen to date. The parts are delicately cast and pretty much spot on with regards to scale. The total amount of assemblies supplied with this set give countless options to their applications. The fact that these pieces are not only offered with alternate options in the same set, the separate parts allowing for open doors with interior details is a big bonus. I can say that the packing not only of the parts in the retail packaging but the packing of the sets into the shipping carton were neatly and well secured to prevent damage while in transit. Now I cannot comment on the shipping costs, I can tell you the shipment was expedited in a timely manner and goods were received undamaged. Shipping costs will vary depending on location and this information was not available at the time of this review.
As with anything that is purchased today, there is some level of critiques that will be brought up. Personally I looked at the set and found very little that I would have said “hey, I would have done it this way”. The multi-piece counter top might be one at first thought. This will leave a small seam at the attachment point when in a series of cabinets, but this can be resolved with filler of a cutting of a one-piece countertop from maybe some 1mm styrene flat stock. The only other thing I noticed that will need a small amount of attention is the stovetop. The four burners are recessed as seen on most stoves; however, there is little detail to the burners themselves. The builder might want to scratch build four burner inserts if so inclined to add this minute detail. I could also look at this section as giving me the option of making it a gas or electric burner setup. Snipping a couple of leftover brass strips from photo etch trees and a gas assembly could be made up or a piece of styrene flat stock could be placed over the recessed burners creating a glass top surface…it’s all about the options.
I will say that this Kitchen Set A from Oli Models is a definite winner in my book!! And I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a high quality add-on accessory for a diorama or vignette.
At the moment Oli Models can be found and contacted on their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oli-Models-Resin-Pieces/258619780961230
Recommended!!
I would like to thank Oli Models for this First Look Review Sample!
Conclusion
