Ratio 500 Signal Box Woes

[TheITGuy]

Having spent a fair few hours battling with the Ratio 500 signal box kit, I ended up consigning it to the bin!  The lower section went without a hitch but the upper section was a complete nightmare.  Each wall panel has a “wooden” frame but either I wasn’t interpreting the instructions correctly or there is something wrong with the design.  I assumed that the framing either sits outside of the wall panel or on top of it but the dimensions were such that either the frame was not quite large enough or the wall panel was too small for either options to be viable.  The floor had a mysterious slot in one corner, the purpose of which completely escapes me and the cut-outs in the wall panels for the door frame sections were too small for the frames to fit!

 

I thought my modelling skills were better than this

 

Can anyone shed some light on how to construct this **** kit, as I’m willing to buy another and give it a second try, if I’m just doing something stupid.

 

Thanks!

 

Glen

[Steamport Southport]

Not built this one, but have built other Ratio building kits with no problems.

 

But it does seem that other modellers have had problems with this kit. Worth having a read of this.

 

 

Jason

[TheITGuy]

Hi Jason

 

Thanks for the comments and the link to the other topic - spikey certainly has achieved a far better result than I did!

 

Glen

[SM42]

It's a long time since I built one of these but I seem to recall the frame goes round the wall section

 

The mysterious slot is I think to allow wiring for lights to be threaded through

 

I added an interior lining to mine and made a false chimney breast over the slot.

 

Andy

 

 

 

[TheITGuy]

So after I calmed down a bit, I retrieved the partially built kit from the bin, sliced off the upper storey and have now scratch built the top half, using a combination of the remaining parts of the Ratio kit, bits from a Metcalfe kit and plenty of card!