So if you are going to have stories about soldiers and mercenaries, at some point or another you're going to need a bar. Bar's serve multiple purposes for socializing and stress relief so that some can forget their troubles. I came across this dollhouse kit by Rolife and considering my past success with their products I thought that this would be a good fit. Overall I am happy with it. For whatever reason the one they sent me had Mandarin instructions and so I couldn't read them, but since it has detailed pictures following along wasn't hard. I probably screwed up a few parts but maybe that was because of my own weak skills.

 

 

The first thing I knew I had to change was the bar name. The actual bar name reads 'Light Music Bar - Even If Noisy Happy Unrestrained Place' obviously whoever does the English translation for their signs didn't understand why that sounds silly. As I planned on using different names I just wrote different bar names on a piece of paper and stuck it on the wood with that wall tack stuff so I could take it off and add a new one each time I used it. One bar name I liked was called 'The Hole'.

 

 

Like Rolife's other DIY Dollhouse kits this one is probably set in 1/24th scale, but with a few adjustments I made it work. The first thing I noticed was the bar itself, it was just too low for 4 inch figures. So I added a bit of wood down at the bottom and then glued paper onto it which I painted black. I think it turned out all right.

 

 

But it does look a bit rougher round the back. I just added 1 cm thick wood (0.4 inches) to increase the height just enough so that it would go up to the waist of the fingers. 

 

 

I like the little bar taps too, but they are quite fragile. Those mugs are a great size and fit 4 inch figures just right.

 

 

Then here's the back of the bar. The shelf looks quite good. You don't have to paint it thankfully. The beer bottles are also a good size, honestly I think they're a bit big for 1/24 scale, which suits 4 inch figures. The wine glasses are a decent size too, but I just kept them hanging off that rack. I didn't glue them down though so I could potentially use them for something else later.

 

 

The stools were supposed to be made of this very soft gold wire, the same stuff that's around the bottom legs of the stool, but it was just too soft. I tested a figure on it and the metal would bend. At first I was thinking I shouldn't bother with the stools at all since I have those white ones from another set, but I really liked the checkered pattern. So instead I just used toothpicks as the legs and I used a heck of a lot of glue to hold it all in place. They aren't pretty, but they are sturdy. I also made them a bit longer too. I do have trouble getting figures to stay seated on them, perhaps its the padding that's the issue, I shouldn't have bothered to add any and just kept the material flat on the wood.

 

 

For the couch and chair they too appeared to be a bit small and low. So first I added some wood to the bottom of the couch to lift it up a bit and I also added a bit of wood to the chair in the middle so that it would sit up higher. I also decided to remove the arm rests to the chair because that really limited the figures that could sit in the chair, but without arm rests that wasn't a problem. They aren't pretty, but that's probably my own workmanship quality.

 

 

Another bit of customization I didn't consider until too late was this side door. As you can see the door gap there is quite small. It would've been worth it to just close it off altogether by adding the plastic panel over the doorway and just adding a piece of wood below. If you scan the design of the wood print and then print it, you could just use that instead. A lot of work sure, but it would look mostly seamless. 

 

 

Finally the last thing I will mention are the lights. I find that they hang too low and went too far with making it before I realized that. I think if you can set those two bars below higher, by like half a inch, then it would make a world of difference. Perhaps if there was another piece of wood on the other side to help brace the bars against the yellow wood that would help? Also make sure to test the lights before you start wrapping the wires and gluing them in place. I did screw it up the first time I did it, but realized that the lights did matter which side was positive and negative, though the markings are difficult to tell.

 

 

The kit makes for a solid scene and works well with 4 inch figures. It is a standalone building, but could work with outside tables set up or something. All the bottles and cups also work well 4 inch figures too, which alone is pretty awesome. It's made quite a few appearances in The IOM series with various names. The bottles and glasses also get used in other sets too.