the lattice stuff is fragile for one thing, many breaks removing from the frame - its an old kit and gods does it show, got it eventually though.
the white is bare plastic, black is partly plastic, partly painted - and the arm is painted.
you will need a small drill/pin vice to open up holes
now the problems
1. the pack claims to make two signals, and technically it can, but only one "normal" one, the other is a junction or bracket one as you only get parts for one "normal" post
2. the instructions are horrible, again showing their age
3. in theory the arm is meant to be fixed to the pivot wire, as is the back shield (not fitted yet here), suggests crimping the end of the wire so it sticks in the hole, this is laughable, as is using glue to hold the back shield in place
4. fragile doesn't begin to cover the strength of the thing
5. lattice looks ok front and back, from the sides less so
6. the set up to make it "work" is odd, there is another kit - as built it works but manually - shift the balance lever and it moves. the kit to operate it remotely seems to require you to ignore the balance weight - though it is drilled for a second wire the base plate holes are not aligned for that and the instructions very unclear
think its a product of its time, also think I'm going to be experimenting more with 3d printing. the concept of the model is not bad, I think the execution is lacking (and my hamfistedness doesn't help)
this is something that an off the shelf operating semaphore signal, ideally illuminated, would be worth a purchase - not seen them for the lattice post ones. there are metal kits, the instructions make them look a proper barrel of laughs to assemble though
another printing experiment lining up
