* Tel: 01746 716384  
* Email: contact@lcut.co.uk  
* Web: www.lcut.co.uk  
* Price: £17.99  
* Purchased and Reviewed by Mark Horley  

I saw the Lcut Creative stand at the Warley show held at the NEC. I was immediately drawn to their range of laser cut buildings, mainly attracted by their competitive prices offering an opportunity to try a substantive model in this medium without risking a lot of money. I chose a medium sized signal box with steps to the Left.

The kit comes in a 'flat pack' cardboard box and consists of a series of fibre and paper board panels about 6in x 4in, along with a plastic chimney pot and a set of assembly instructions. The instructions are mainly a series of diagrams showing the parts which are added at each stage of construction. The parts are neatly laser cut and are held in the fret by tabs which have to be cut through. These are quite tough to get through so a stout knife is required rather than a scalpel. Care needs to be taken not to damage the parts. I tidied up the edges trimming first with the knife blade and then with a fine emery board.

Assembly starts with laminating two thinner layers to create the upstairs windows for the box. This gives some depth to the frames and simulates the sliding layers. Once glued the parts were put under a heavy book to dry flat. At this stage I also added the window frames and door to the locking room wall panels.

Suggested assembly is then to join the four main brickwork panels. The brick work joins at the corners with interlocking courses of bricks. I applied the PVA adhesive from the back as suggested in the instructions to minimise the amount which could appear on the exterior surface. The kit includes parts to create an internal framework glued to the inside of the walls to support the floor. Instead of using this I cut panels from scrap 4mm foamboard to fit snugly inside the locking frame walls to further reinforce the structure. Once the supplied floor was glued in a further rectangle of foam board was trimmed to fit underneath to make a very solid structure.

The window panels and strips representing the eaves woodwork are then glued to the top edges of the brick panels. From the scrap fret from the window frames I cut strips which I glued on over the window/wall join to form the window sills.

I decided I would make the roof as a removable unit rather than gluing on top of the signal box body. The roof gable ends are laminated from layers forming the planking and an overlay valance with a rear reinforcement. Again, I substituted foam board for the reinforcement and extended this downward 4mm so it would fit between the walls of the signal box body. The two sheets forming the roof were then glued onto the gable ends and additional triangular foamboard reinforcements inserted to support the middle of the roof. A further foamboard panel was cut to a size to fit within the signal box walls and glued under the roof so the roof module would firmly plug into the body. Ridge tiles then finish the top edge of the roof. The chimney stack is four small wall panels assembled around a square for the top. The chimney is simply glued to the roof with four small pieces to represent the lead flashing around the base. A plastic chimney pot fits in the hole in the chimney top. I added some modelling filler to represent the cement bedding around the pot. To complete the roof I added pair of white metal finials from Highland Castings range.

The kit is designed with a planked gallery and stairs on the left hand side. From looking at photos, most of the GWR signal boxes did not look to have the gallery across the end, rather a small platform outside the door at the top of the stairs. To replicate this I had to cut down the length of the gallery floor to the same width as the stairs and discard the two handrail sections in the kit. The stair case itself is two sides with hand rails with slots into which each tread is glued. Assembly was a little tricky sticking in all the treads onto one side and then gluing on the other side lining up all the treads as you go. Once the glue has dried the unit is quite robust The modified platform was similarly assembled and then the two assemblies butt jointed together before finally being glued to the signal box.

Having built the kit I was then uncertain as to how to paint the material. Lcut simply recommend a single coat of acrylic paint but I was concerned water based paint might soak into the material causing bowing. After waiting a while an article appeared in the Gazette about a laser cut wayside hut where the author first varnished the material to seal the surface before painting. I decided to use this approach so the signal box was duly painted with some water based matt varnish I happened to have in the shed. The brickwork was painted with with diluted Hobbycrafts matt ochre and individual bricks picked out with a variety of Humbrol and Tamiya red/brown colours. The other colours were all chosen from the latter ranges.

Overall the kit went together well without problems and produces a pleasing freelance result. My one minor criticism on the design would be that the roof should overhang the walls more to improve the aesthetics. I have a kit for a low relief warehouse from the same manufacturer to build next.