Model Kit | Model Railroad Sanding Tower by Faller

A quantity of sand was carried by trains to prevent their wheels from slipping on the track, providing the necessary friction when the track was wet or oily. The sanding tower loaded sand into a dome situated above the boiler of steam locomotives, where heat from the boiler kept the sand dry. The sanding valve was operated by the train engineer and air pressure dropped dry sand onto the rails just in front of the wheels.

Sanding Tower by Faller

This Sanding Tower model kit by Faller was pretty complicated to put together but thankfully, the instruction sheet was fairly clear as to where all the various bits were supposed to go.

Railway man looks off into the distance from atop the Sanding Tower, contemplating his existence on the Sunny Model Railroad

I used Tamiya Extra-Thin Cement for this kit which helped cut down on the potential mess factor. The great thing about Tamiya Extra-Thin Cement is that it is applied with a brush, giving you ultimate control over how much cement you need use. For a model such as Faller's Sanding Tower which is made up mostly of a complex mesh of very thin plastic struts, the lesser the amount of cement used, the better. You also don't get the unsightly blobs at the joints such as when cement from a tube is used.

A railway man leaps from the second strut of Sanding Tower instead of using the ladder. Note rust weathering on the tower. Also note globs of Scenic Accents Glue used to attach the figure to the Tower. These close-up pics sure do bring out details I would otherwise miss.

True to the prototype, I painted the Sanding Tower kit with Model Color's Basalt Grey. Weathering was done with a light dry-brushing of rust red to simulate, well.. rust.

Scenic Accents Glue was used to attach the figures to the Sanding Tower. The great thing about Scenic Accents Glue is that it doesn't dry out and remains tacky, allowing easy re-positioning of figures on a layout.

Another view of the top of the Sanding Tower. Again Scenic Accents Glue used to affix the figure is clearly seen around his shoes.

As you can see in the pics, I used perhaps a little too much Scenic Accents Glue, something that only shows up in these close-up pics. Cleaning up the excess glue will be easy though -- just pluck them off with tweezers. I'll need to get out my magnifying glass for this purpose though. These eyes ain't what they used to be.

A view of the Sanding Tower from the ground at evening time. I was also testing the Fleischmann bulb in the Constance Signal Tower in this picture.

I still have to get around to levelling the Sanding Tower with the baseboard and attaching it permanently, blending in the base of the tower so that it is nearly flush with the groundcover.

More model kit buildings on The Sunny Model Railroad:

Western Homestead Shanty by Life-Like models

Country Chapel by Faller

Atlas Picket Fence and Gate Kit

Constance Signal Tower Model Kit by Faller