When buying the last house, I've faced the same challenge as with Piko 62072. There just isn't enough variation of the models available on the market. So the final addition to my small town - Pola G 331082 - is again very similar to a building I already have: Pola G 331019.
But that's fine. They follow an identical structural pattern but externally look quite different. And actually, judging by the picture on the box, my new purchase seems to look nicer than the previous one...
Here comes unboxing. The content of the set is divided between smaller containers as always. This way the heavy parts do not damage the fragile ones in transport.
The walls and the roof elements definitely make an impression of being very sturdy.
Quite a lot of smaller parts are included with the set: chimneys, rain pipes, ...
...doors, windows, a balcony.
There's also a collection of accessories which include a table, two benches and firewood tools.
Curtains sheet is provided, as well as two bags of foam flowers.
The manual is as detailed and as accurate as I expected from a Pola G product. All the building steps are very clear.
Let's do it then!
Step one: walls assembly. I immediately fall in love with the blue wooden logs on the white background. I also remember to cover the weak spots with my own 3D printed plastic sheets. This way I will avoid light leakage after I illuminate the building from the inside.
Step two: connecting the big pieces. Looks nice already!
Step three: adding the roof as soon as possible to reinforce the structure. The balcony and the door are installed already, too.
Step four: filling the gap in the back wall with a huge stack of firewood.
Step five: roof elements which consist of chimneys, upper floor windows and a small statue.
Step six: rain pipes and small details.
In the meantime a set of accessories is constructed.
With a few flower boxes and some custom stickers the entire model is ready!
Let's enjoy the house's look from different sides...
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
...and when installed outside. Illuminated at night.
Definitely looking very nice. I love the vivid color of the roof and I think the stone walls look fantastic. There's just the right amount of contrast between the colors used to make the building look attractive but not flashy.
The upper floor is very interesting, too. The balcony is a welcome add-on, and the opposite wall with blue wooden logs looks really great. I'm not sure I'm convinced about the two identical chimneys, but they do fit after all.
The most original element of the model is the stack of wood at the back of the house. In my opinion however, this particular wall is the least interesting one. It's definitely one of its kind, but it's also a little boring. Unfortunately, this is the most exposed side in case of my layout.
The product is expensive. I think its official price is over 200 Euro. That's way more than the twin model Pola G 331019. Luckily I was able to find it online for much less, but it was still a significant spend. At least it looks great. I have no reasons to regret my purchase at all :)
Hi Tomasz
ReplyDeleteI want to say it's a nice blog you make their.
I'm also started with a G scale Piko Startset In 2011, but only have a layout once a year with Christmas indoors.
Thinking of making also an outside level-up layout.
The wooden modules is a good idea, but not with all the rocks in it.
I was thinking of a wooden floor in it about 10cm under the top with a pond liner on it for draining, and gravel on it till the top. Think it will be heavy enough not to blow away, even add some 30x30 flatstones on the bottom construction to prevent to make it top heavy. Advances of this is you can make some small doors in it for maintaining the electricity, give you extra storage or even to make a shadow track or station under the layout, so you can put your train there at night during the driving season.
And then the lighting of the houses. I can imagine if you came from N scale, that you where happy if you can put some lightning in these small houses. But here you have lots of room, with your electronics skills it must be easy to put an arduino on a piece of PCB, divided the house inside in global rooms with is own LED from thin cardboard and program some evening /night cycles so that the rooms are lighted independently, then you where also lost from glowing front doors. With arduino you can also drive some cheap servo s to open and close doors, have some bundled colour LEDs together to emulate a colour TV inside and a lot of other stuff for a very low price. Also traffic lights and a flickering Streetlight will give you much more reality. Hope you can do what with my tips and I anyhow will follow your blog with pleasure and interests.
Greetings, André
Thank you for your comment, Andre. It's good to know people are reading :)
DeleteYes, the idea with all the stones was a crazy one. If I ever decide to extend my layout, I'll choose some other way. The solution you're describing is a very good one, and I was considering this as an option. Unfortunately where you see a place to store your trains, I saw a wet cave full of spiders and other bugs :)
It's true that much more can be done with the electricity and electronics. And you're right - I probably have the required skills. And it's funny you mentioned flickering lights, since I have just recently added a blue blinking LED to my car service station to emulate a welding torch :)
But there's still one aspect I know very little about. It's the weather resistance of the electrical components. I do not know where you live, but in Poland the summer is hot and dry, autumn is wet and windy, and the winter is cold and snowy. So we get all kinds of weather. I'm positively surprised the street lights I added some months ago are still 100% functional. This might be a sign I should not be afraid to add more complex stuff. We'll see... Garden railroad is something I'm still learning :)
Cheers!
Hi Tomasz
ReplyDeleteI live in the Netherlands so there's also a lot of rain.
But I think If you put the electronics In an enclosure and eventually seals the PCB with plastic spray it will be all right, most components have good temp. range, just hold them dry.
Decoders In trains have no better protection
Greetings, André