Pola G accessories: trash bins, benches and sitting people

I needed some extra accessories to bring more life to my layout. And as always, I had a huge problem finding any "real" photos of the products I considered buying. So since I do own them already, how about I share some information, so that others do not need to wonder what they actually are. Here are the three Pola G accessory sets I bought recently.

Pola G 333206 - Refuse bins

The first item is a set of 2 trash bins. It comes in a transparent plastic bag. So you can immediately see how easy to build it's going to be.

The parts consist of bin bodies, bin covers and black wheels.

The build takes 5 minutes. The covers are installed without any glue which makes opening and closing them possible. The wheels however do not rot roll.

An interesting point is the fact that the set comes without any stickers. The front photo inside the package suggests some labels would be included but this is not the case.

Pola G 331825 - Sitting people

The second product is a collection of 6 sitting people. The content is packaged in a small cardboard box which clearly shows what to expect.

The back side promises "true-to-life models" and "greatest details". I think it's worth mentioning that Pola G offers sitting figures at different price points. This set is a more expensive one. The cheaper sets promise only "basic paint" and are meant to be used inside passenger cars.

Each figure is packaged separately in a small plastic bag and then wrapped in some protective paper. The content arrived in a pristine condition.

And here are all six sitting people. I have to admit they look really nice. And they feature quite a lot of body details.

Compared to the "basic paint" sets they do offer more colour variation when it comes to clothing. The faces however are not painted at all. Well, I guess I'd need to pay even more for that...

Pola G 330979 - Benches

The last item is a set of 6 benches. These come in a rather small cardboard box.

The elements are wrapped in some grey paper which did a good job protecting them.

All parts in one photo. Seems like there are no redundant pieces at all.

The build is easy as long as you remember to keep everything straight. I have to say the benches seem quite nice. I'm especially impressed by the "concrete" supports which look very realistic.

But...wait a minute. Those benches do not look like the ones on the package cover! Can you spot the differences?

Summary

Instead of writing a summary, maybe it's better I just share these photos...


Cool stuff! My layout is looking better and better.

Pola G 331784, G-Scale "Waldau" storage hall

The time has come to grow my garden layout even more. This time I'm building and installing "Waldau" storage hall which will act as a cargo loading point for my trains. The model is Pola G 331784 and I ordered it for around 56 Euro from the Arstecnica store. It's supposed to be a new Faller model for 2016.

The product comes in a really big box. The package is twice as large as my previous buildings and measures 60 x 40 cm. Looks impressive!

Unboxing reveals the same concept as usual. Boxes inside boxes and everything carefully packaged. All the elements came undamaged. No glue is included.

Here we have all the plastic parts in one photo. There aren't really that many. This is going to be an easy build.

Windows glass parts are again thick transparent plastic. They were protected with a wrapping paper to avoid any risk of damage.

The most impressive part is the base. It feels very, very sturdy. It also features a pretty big hole, so lighting installation should be a breeze.

The manual is 4 pages long and describes every step in great detail. All the parts are numbered and there's absolutely no doubt when to use what.

A small sticker sheet is included. Rather unimpressive compared to my previous building models. Unfortunately no plastic base for the labels can be found in the set. That's all OK - I'm making my own decorations anyway...

Build step one - making the walls. Two big surprises here...

One is the sliding elements. The cargo door and the windows open and close. This function is based on plastic rails that allow movement of the elements up and down or left and right. Pretty cool!

The second surprise however is more shocking. The model has three door frames but only two doors. How come? I had to check it several times but it's true. One entrance is going to be permanently open.

Build step two - raising the walls. The parts fit pretty much perfectly. Not really much to describe here...

One thing worth mentioning is that the door in this model open to the inside. From my experience it's a slight inconvenience because when they do, it's difficult to pull them and close. Luckily there are enough openings here to always be able to stick a finger inside and push the door out.

Build step three - the platform. This is the most interesting part of the build. And also the most eye-catching part of the model.

Build step four - the roof. The elements fit almost perfectly again. I find connecting such easily matching parts a pure pleasure. The model is finished!

It's time for the decorations. I use the same method as in case of "Oberndorf" train station to create my custom stickers. Once applied, they complete the final image of my model:


So what do I think about the look? Well, it's a mix... The "front side" with the platform is very interesting and is exactly what I expected. I'm fully happy with its appearance. The "back side" however is very generic. There's literally nothing there, not even the door. I will definitely place the building in a way that will hide the "back side" as much as possible.

Now let's see what the building looks like when installed outside and lighted:


Does not look bad although there are two things I don't like that much.

The first one is obvious. The walls are not completely opaque. I can clearly see some "weak points" where the light is coming through. I may have to think about filling those spots with a non-transparent material...

The second complaint is related to the huge windows. The windows themselves are nice, really nice. Unfortunately they also allow the spectator to see inside of the building very well. And considering there's nothing inside, the effect is not that great...

Summary 

Considering the surprisingly low price, "Waldau" storage hall is a very interesting product. It can definitely serve as a goods loading point for both trucks and cargo trains. The model is however also very simple looking and does not offer any great details. And while I think I made a pretty good deal here, others may want to look for something more sophisticated if their budgets allow it.

Piko 35281, G-scale rerailer/grade crossing with track

After building the first pieces of a street network on my G scale layout, I realized I may actually need to build a railway crossing. Luckily PIKO came up with a required track piece just this year, and I quickly bought one!

PIKO 35281 is a 320mm long brass track piece with a short road section wrapped around it. It comes in the same kind of a box as PIKO switches and other PIKO elements. The only unique part about the packaging is the sticker in the lower left part of the cover.

Inside we'll find the track and some accessories...

What we get is:

• 320mm long brass track piece with grade crossing
• a set of two American-style crossbucks
• a set of two German-style crossbucks
• a manual

It's obviously disappointing not to get Polish-style traffic signs but I can't say I really expected to get them :)

The manual shows some really obvious steps. Feels like PIKO really could have saved a tree or two here but on the other hand - it's nice that they tried...

This is what the crossing looks like from the top...

...and from the bottom. Interestingly the part looks like something really new at first sight. But as soon as we turn it around it becomes obvious that it's just a regular track piece with some plastic elements attached. Clever!

Let's see some more photos:


Looks nice to me!

The track is not just a grade crossing, it's also advertised as a rerailer. I was very curious to know whether the rerailing functionality actually worked...

The answer is: yes and no. It does work but not always. I rolled my derailed car over the track piece several times and got mixed results. I'd say it rerails in around 50% of cases and it's difficult to say what the influencing factor here is. So unfortunately it would be hard to rely on this product in terms of rerailing loose cars.

An idea for making G-scale streets

A part of my new garden layout is supposed to be a "town area". And obviously a town cannot exist without streets. I was looking at different ways to make those and finally decided I wanted them to look modern and asphalt-like. This is what I got...

So how did I make them? The best material I found so far are composite decking boards. The ones I bought are 14 x 350 cm and they sell at 15 Euro per piece. The top side of the boards features grooves which are an issue.

But the bottom side is completely flat and that is the one I use.

The boards are too narrow to form a G-scale road. That's why I always cut two pieces of the same length.

Then I connect them using glue and screws. And of course I use the side with grooves to make the connection, so that the flat side is not affected.

Once the connection is solid, I turn the element upside down and attach pieces of a masking tape to define the areas that need painting.

The paint I use is a white mat spray paint. It's declared fit for outdoor use, so I expect it to work well in my case.

I spray it all over the boards. Several thin layers are needed for good result.

Once the masking tape is removed, the road piece is ready. I have to say it looks pretty convincing considering how easy it is to make.

Of course several pieces can be used together to form the town streets. It's always just a matter of painting a proper pattern.

The gaps between the elements are of some concern to me. I'm yet to find a way to get rid of them. Perhaps I need to connect the road pieces together somehow. I'll definitely post an update as soon as I manage to improve my method.