Review: Sentinel Miniatures 15mm Cafe
Today I bring to you a quick review of SM's Cafe Model. First off the pictures.
Having purchased multiple buildings from SM, I have found the following in each case: The casting clean-up required has always been very minimal. In the case of the cafe, I took about 5 minutes to clean around the chimney. The white resin used is light, has some give and is no where near as brittle as the material used in the BF houses. Another feature that I have come to expect is the little details. For example, the cafe has billboards molded on both sides which allows you to vary the signs you either decal or paint on. One side can be the cafe the other can be a general store. Further, I was really impressed with the flower boxes below the window and with a little foliage added really makes the building stand out.
The Bad
My only issue is with the size inside the building. The picture above shows 3 medium bases fitting into the cafe. However it is a very very tight fit, and if you are the type of person who adds sand to the sides of the base it will not fit three medium bases. This is counter to the vast amount of space I found with SM Church model. An easy remedy for this would just be to set the bases in at a slight angle, or just allow two medium bases to be placed into the cafe.
Scale
One complaint that has come up is that the SM buildings do not scale well with the BF ones. I believe the root of this has come from comparing the two while the SM building is in its unpainted white color. My first view of the unpainted SM building were that they were huge compared to the BF ones. However once painted I find that the compliment each other quite well as picture above. My Normandy village is a pleasant mixture of the SM and BF building which works to great effect.
Conclusion
For $17 the SM cafe is a great addition to your battlefield as a stand alone building at the cross roads or in the middle of your village.
