Product Review: Smalltown USA Structures

A while ago I bought a brick storefront for Main Street on the Lakes Region Model Railroad. The structure was made by Smalltown USA, a division of Rix Products, the company that also makes the Pikestuff corrugated metal buildings that I like. The structure is still on my workbench because it still needs detailing, but I feel that it is complete enough to write a review of it. My structure, Marcee's Flowers, is a small structure, but Smalltown USA also has some larger structures to choose from, and all of their structures fit the "Main Street" theme.

I assembled the structure following the kit's instructions almost exactly. The first thing I did was look over the pieces and make sure they were all there. The ends of the wall pieces were molded with a slight angle, which needed to be filed down. I used 200 grit sandpaper to do this, and touched it up with a needle file. I also added bracing using square styrene tube from Evergreen Scale Models, to give the joints extra strength.

The walls are molded as one piece each, so the doors and window frames and sills are all molded in place. I left the walls the color they were molded in, but I carefully brush painted the door and window trim with Polly Scale CSX Blue to make them stand out. If you are feeling ambitious, you could also paint the sills gray to simulate stone, but I am not that good with a paintbrush. I also simulated mortar by rubbing spackle over the wall pieces and rubbing off the excess, leaving white lines between the bricks.

The kit came with window inserts and signs. They simply glue in from behind the window opening. They have signs printed on them, and the windows are blacked out. Since I wanted to change the name of the store and add an interior, I discarded these and instead glued plastic overhead projector sheets behind the window openings to simulate clear glass in the windows. I plan on printing custom signs and gluing them into place as well.

The kit comes with a surprising amount of details, considering its simplicity. It was easy to assemble and looks great. If it weren't for my wanted to add an interior and lighting and new signs, I could have had this whole kit assembled and on my layout in an afternoon. Best of all, the kit was only $13.98, and Smalltown USA has many similar kits to make a full Main Street scene easy and affordable. I will definitely be buying more of these in the future.