As part of a very long term plan to build a larger French layout as a follow-on to Cogirep, I've acquired a few of the card kits manufactured by Regions et Compagnies:

http://www.regionsetcompagnies.fr/

Earlier in the year I ordered three kits from the Loco Revue website, of which one was a Nord goods shed, and the two others were urban structures suitable for a town or city scene. I've since picked up a Nord signal box, but for the first one, I thought I'd tackle La Passerelle, a very evocative corner cafe. The instructions are in French, but they're backed up by reasonably clear photos, and once you've had a long gander at the parts, the assembly is fairly logical, at least with this building. The parts are printed on card of various thicknesses, and seem to be laser-cut such that only a few tiny tabs need to be released to separate the components.

The kit allows for various heights to be constructed, but I went for the full monty of four stories. Most of the parts were very satisfactory, but the roof is a weak point and I'll be laminating Wills sheets over the flat relief as supplied. Most of the detail is formed from separate laminations of card, and I found that the effect was helped by touching in some of the edges with liquid acrylic paints. Once the building was finished, I also dabbed on some Humbrol weathering wash here and there to suggest that the rendering was a bit tattier than as supplied. Once I've attended to the roof, I'll add guttering, downpipes, and one of those typical French "tabac" signs.

The kit includes a nicely detailed interior for the lower level, and it seemed a shame not to be able to see it properly. Having installed grain of wheat bulbs in many buildings, I liked the simplicity and ease of installation of using LEDs as part of Woodland Scenics new range of "Just Plug" lighting modules. The advantage of this system is that the LEDs should last forever, and the brightness can be individually adjusted without faffing around, unlike grain of wheats. Given the design of the kit, too, it would have been tricky to access the interior once I had the roof on, so I liked the idea of being able to seal it all up.

Once I was happy with the interior, I out some Preiser HO figures into place and then added a yellow LED.

I also added another LED into one of the upper story rooms. It always looks better if most of the windows aren't illuminated, but of course it can be quite a lot of work to arrange light blocks and so on. I spent a couple of weeks adding intermediate floors, making sure everything was light-tight and looked good in both day and night modes.

Here's a look at the control module, which allows for four LEDs to be individually operated. The white knobs on the module are dimmer switches and work nicely. You can chain these modules together (using another module) to light as many buildings as you like.

I was very impressed with both the card kit and the ease of use of the Woodland Scenics gear, so I'm looking forward to adding a few more buildings to create a typically urban French scene. If you've any interest in French, the Regions et Compagnies range contains some very tempting products, with some very characterful buildings.