Knights of Dice Harmonic Theatre

[Maccwar]

I thought I was more or less done with buildings for my modern cityscape project but after following the Art Deco Cityscape thread here my enthusiasm was rekindled and I placed a pre-order with Knights of Dice for one of their Harmonic Theatre kits lured in by their offer of free worldwide postage.

The kit was $65 which might sound a lot but that's Australian dollars so the exchange rate meant that the price was more than reasonable when converted into pounds. Here is what arrived:-



And opened up and spread out we have this:-



First thoughts - this is a big and reasonably complex kit with lots of nice touches and details. I'd rate myself as an experienced kit builder (but not an expert) so I saw the lack of instructions with the kit as a challenge rather than an obstacle. I'm told that instructions will be available soon but in the end the only thing I couldn't fighre out is what these bits were.



I send Knights of Dice a Facebook message and got an immediate reply which goes down as excellent customer service in my book. It turns out that they are tools to help pop put some of the smaller and more delicate components. Up to that point I had been using my craft knife and a wood carving tool but I switched to using the MDF crowbars and found that they work really well. On with the build.

After laying out some of the components I proceeded to dry fit as much as I could to get an idea of what order to assemble things. Here is the facade partly assembled



And the main body of the building.



Once I had an idea of how everything went together I decided to build the kit in three section. The front back and sides, the fire escape and the facade. I decided to add the detailing bits at the end once the rest of the kit was built.



I dry fitted the fire escape to the side of the building once built so I can remove it later to make painting easier. I might keep this section detachable if I can as it looks like one of the more delicate parts and I don't want it to get damaged in storage or when moving it to and from games. The very front pieces of the kit were dry fitted at this point to make it easier to slot the facade into place.

[Maccwar]

And then once the three sections are assembled it is time to add the details which really make this kit stand out.



And some extra shots to show the scale of the beast - this kit really is very large and imposing (the KoD site says Footprint: 289mm x 254mm Height: 203mm).





I've now been waiting for a few days to get some suitable weather to prime the kit prior to painting but the British weather really hasn't been cooperating. I'm looking forward to using Carnage's Majestic theatre in my games once it is finished.

[Elk101]

I assembled most of mine last night after paying the ransom demand from HMRC. It's a lovely kit.

[Stu]

Thanks for the photos, It's been slow progress with mine but this will help no end.

[Amalric]

Thanks for the photos....

What Stu said!
I look forward to seeing how this comes along.


I haven't even begun mine yet, but I have been getting into the swing of things by starting one of the rooftop access things.

[Malebolgia]

Great build and excellent centre piece. I am currently building the 68 O'Neil Row building. Even without an explanation easy to build. But I (stupidly?) made the decision to score the brick pattern into the sides of the MDF to really make a difference in realism. That's one of the main drawbacks of MDF: it's etched on only one side. So now I'm carving all sides where the brick pattern ends where you can see it. Boring and lots of work...hopefully it will pay off!

[obsidian3d]

My order is apparently out for delivery today and there's one of the theatres in there. Looks like a great kit, but now that I've seen all the parts I can imagine I'll be doing a fair amount of swearing while it gets put together...

Thanks for sharing your progress.

[Elk101]

It goes together really well actually, I was pleasantly surprised.

[gamer Mac]

Lovely Kit 
Are you going to paint it?

[supervike]

That's incredibly impressive.

The size is perfect....Quite often buildings just look too small, this one has a massive feel.

[exploding youth]

Nice work!  Is great to see builds and paintjobs starting to pop up in the wild

[obsidian3d]

I was able to go pick up my order on Friday evening. The kits themselves look great. The only complaint I have so far is that the plastic used to wrap the kits isn't up to the task on larger kits like the theatre. Despite being well packed, it moved around enough in the box to escape from the plastic. Something with a little more elasticity might be worth considering.

[exploding youth]

I was able to go pick up my order on Friday evening. The kits themselves look great. The only complaint I have so far is that the plastic used to wrap the kits isn't up to the task on larger kits like the theatre. Despite being well packed, it moved around enough in the box to escape from the plastic. Something with a little more elasticity might be worth considering.

We actually upgraded to a new shrink wrap and machine that is MUCH more forgiving. Most of the pre orders that went out were done one the old crappy machine. So we were aware of the issue and have corrected it

[obsidian3d]

Good to hear. I'm looking forward to building this stuff, sadly I know it's not going to happen until a few months into the new year.

[Vermis]

Blimey, that's some piece of kit. One of the most detailed lasercut buildings I've seen.

Who's going to put 'The Mask Of Zorro' in the door signs first?