MKD 1/87 building components - windows, doors, shutters and water downpipes

I recently bought these MKD building components from http://www.ontracks.co.uk/. I am very happy with the kits because they are well made and also reflect genuine French building styles.

Hornby became the distributor of MKD products last year I believe. Before that it is quite hard to find MKD products in the UK. At Ontracks' website it indicates that you have to wait 14 days for the MKD products to be delivered. I placed the order in 9th January and the parcel arrived in 24th January. Two sets of kits each costs £4.60.

This is the package of windows, doors and shutters. Fairly simple. Next picture shows all you get in one pack - three identical sprues moulded in different colours. There are 6 full size doors on each sprue. But according to the sample picture on web there were only 4 doors. So it is a pleasant surprise! However, the number of windows is only 6, including one very small window. There are 8 separate shutters to match 4 windows. The quality of moulding is excellent, with absolutely no flash. Detailes are also very good, for example the texture of wooden doors.

The next picture is a closeup of the sprue.

The other side of the sprue are flat and with no details at all. All doors and windows come with a rim around them. That means they should be fitted to the hole on the wall from inside. But I am going to use 5mm foam board to make walls and cut holes on it. So it is too thick to mimic a real wall and hole. I have to cut the rim out so the windows and doors can be fitted in the hole from any side of the wall and leaving a desired gap between the wall surface and the window or door, that is 2-2.5 mm. Fortunately the plastic is a bit soft and it is very easy to cut the rim with a sharp craft knife.

I give some measures of the components here.

Window                  9*15.5mm          X2

Window                  10*16.8mm        X1

Window                  8*13mm             X1

Window                  9.5*16.5mm       X1

Window                  4*7mm               X1

Door with single vertical separator                10*25mm           X2

Door with vertical and horizontal separator   10*25mm           X1

Door with slat and window                           10*24.5mm        X2

Tall door with no window                             10*26.5mm        X1

Small wood door                                          8*13mm    X1 

Next we look at the water downpipes. Each pack contains two identical sprues moulded in light grey. Again it gives adequate details but no flash. But in some parts the injection pins are visible. The length of gutters ranges from 74.5mm to 8mm and most of they are around 50 to 60mm. The downpipes are from 87mm to 40mm and you get two styles of downpipes.