Atlas Model Railroad HO KIT Signal Tower

This is a true model railroading classic kit. It is mostly unchanged from its debut in the early 1960s. If your grandfather or father ever built an HO scale model railroad there's an excellent chance that this building appeared on that railroad, likely nearby the passenger station, water tower, lumber yard, and trackside shanty kits from Atlas. When you build this you are connecting yourself to millions of railroad enthusiasts through an activity that's been repeated for 6 decades. This doesn't really matter a lot, but it is something to consider.Signal towers used to be quite common on railroad property, but are now obsolete. Most were demolished a long time ago. Also known as interlocking towers, their function was to route trains through areas by using levers that mechanically controlled distant switches and signals. The tower would also serve as a point of communication between train crews and railroad management. This tower kit does not represent any specific building from any specific railroad. The designers wanted to make a kit that would suggest what the building was intended to do rather than to copy an existing building.This is an easy kit to build as long as you're comfortable using plastic cement. Basically it's two buildings disguised as the two stories. You don't even really need to glue the stories together. I chose to paint mine and use some lettering decals I had, as I don't care too much for the green plastic of the top floor and I wanted a custom designation for the tower. I was able to simulate the mortar between the bricks by thinning light gray acrylic paint with enough water to allow it to flow into the mortar lines. I brushed it onto the walls and laid the walls on a flat surface to dry.If you take your time and make a plan for building this you should be quite happy with the result. The designers from long ago really got this one right. It's not a perfectly accurate representation. The bricks aren't scaled correctly, but considering the age of the design it's acceptable. The pieces fit together well and the window shades printed on the "glass" is a nice touch. There is no interior detail, but a company called Roomettes offers a printed interior designed for this kit. It's suggested that it's best to install the interior as you build the tower. I have not tried the interior.I encourage you to try this whether you have a model railroad or not. It's fun, easy, and looks cool, especially if you add a few details of your own. You can also enjoy knowing that you have participated in a classic activity and kept the tradition alive. I hope you dig it.

nice detail

Atlas has been around for many decades as a manufacturer of plastic HO scale model railroad buildings and scenic accessory kits (e.g. scale people and animals, trees, railroad “right-of-way’ details, etc.) The kits are inexpensive, easily assembled with plastic cement / glue and basically detailed to simulate prototypes (with wood or brick siding, roof shingles, doors, window sills, etc.) Their kits form a good basic structure that can be used with or without painting (although painting and adding scenic details gives you PERSONAL distinction, experience and style.).This kit exemplifies a typical 1930’s – 1980’s era Signal Tower, mainly found where railroad mainlines intersected or at the entrance to railroad yards. They were used to control signals and turnouts during the hey-day of railroads transporting passengers, freight and mail throughout the country.. The kit has a very small footprint (5.5-inch x 2.5-inch) and has small parts (DO NOT leave where small children can either ingest the parts nor attempt to pick up and destroy your 1-hour work project!). I recommend your hobby toolkit contain an X-Acto #1 blade knife to cut parts off the polystyrene “trees” and clear small bits of extruded plastic. (Also good for detailing or cutting small “nature-related” effects that can be found where loose boards or cracked windows might show. You can cut small rectangles from the hard plastic clear packaging that almost EVERYTHING comes in today to make “glass panes to glue inside the window / door frames before you glue them into the building sidewalls during assembly. Also, you can put a small “grain-of wheat” light-bulb or diode through the bottom of the structure if you want to light it from the interior. However, best to mask off and paint the interior kit walls and roof with Testors Flat Black enamel paint before assembly so that the light doesn’t “shine” through the walls and roof once your kit is completed.) Add an HO scale figure or two (1:87), some gravel, grass, trees or bushes and you’ll have a nice little addition to your model railroad layout. When I first bought one of these kits it used to cost $2.99. But, back then gasoline was $0.25 a gallon. Guess my 60+ years now puts me farther down the track!

My grandson put it on his layout

I made this for my son. It wasn't easy, but it was fun. My son is a busy family man and also goes to school on top of everything else. I was happy to put it together for him. It is the correct scale (HO), and it looks good with his train set.

was so easy to put together. It was a nice addition for my boyfriends train set.

Nice kit, Many small details. I painted all but the roof and window frames and added a LED light. Kit comes molded in color but I preferred to paint with flat paints for a more realistic look.

Not assembled yet but the quality looks very good. Lots of add on parts for better dimension. Not sure I will keep the molded colors. See how it looks first with some dull coat and maybe weathered a bit instead of repainting the whole thing.

Je l ai enfin reçu hier , délai très long suite à la Covid , mais bon produit. Merci

Easy build for set