The Prairie Star Elevator doesn’t occupy much space (its footprint is 6″ x 6¾”), but its 10″ height captures the towering size of large-capacity prairie skyscrapers.
The parts have crisp window and siding detail. There were trace amounts of flash in a few of the windows, but I was able to remove this with a square jeweler’s file and hobby knife. The walls fit together well, and there were no gaps between the clapboard siding and corner trim boards.
Since the Prairie Star Elevator can be used as either a stand-alone structure or as part of a mill com-plex (with Prairie Star Milling), Walthers includes parts to model the dormer opened or closed. The kit also features working doors in the freight car loading bay.
Adding glazing to the lower elevator windows was difficult. There’s no easy access to reach these windows, so you’ll need to paint the walls before assembly, cut a hole in the base, or use Testor’s Clear Parts Cement or Microscale Krystal Kleer to fill in the individual panes. I used the Testor’s product.
Decals are included to letter the structure for Prairie Star Milling, but I added my own lettering.
Prairie Star Milling is a hybrid of a traditional Cornerstone Series kit and Walthers’ new Modulars building components. The first story of the mill features one-piece walls, while the upper floors have modular wall components. It’s easiest to build the modular walls at the workbench and then attach them to the building.
The mill is a large brick build-ing (8¾” x 9¾” x 12¾”) and has a lot of parts, so patience is a must when assembling the kit. For example, the structure has nearly 100 windows. Fortunately, though, many of the window castings fill a pair of adjacent openings, which speeds the assembly process.
In addition, the mill includes a one-piece smokestack and a con-veyor to connect to the elevator. The mill also includes decals.
The only other problem with this kit – a small one – is that the ejector-pin marks are visible above the roof-line. These can be filled with putty and concealed with weathering.
I was impressed with these new kit offerings from Walthers. The models are well designed and are must-haves for modelers of grain-hauling railroads.
Price: Prairie Star Elevator
$34.98, Prairie Star Mill $64.98
Manufacturer
Wm. K. Walthers, Inc.
P.O. Box 3039
Milwaukee, WI 53201
www.walthers.com
Description
Injection-molded styrene industrial structure kits
I like the contrast of brick and steel construction. It gives a sense of progress and prosperity. The selective compression of the storage building necessitates the need for a lot of rail traffic to keep the mill supplied, which of course is good for us. Thanks for another great looking model, too bad the price is too high to allow me to buy it.
I like the hybrid concept of the mill. I think the mill could be utilized in either a rural or a suburban setting.
using these 2 kits together as an industry looks great.
I don't think this elevator would be of much use to a mill of that size. Adding silo's to the elevator would give it a more finished look.
Impressive buildings. Wish I had room in my layout for it.
I have the flour mill and found it easy and fun to build. On my layout, it is located in a factory district amongst other Walthers buildings. As always, the quality is top-notch. I built the kit as designed, however, I did paint the walls and window frames different colors from what they are molded in. This helped greatly to blend them into the urban setting and to make the mill appear more realistic. Great Job Walthers!! Oh, one more thing, being that the mill is modular in design, it can be used as a starting point for many kitbashing projects.
While this building set seems to be of a quality normally expected from Walthers I have trouble with the overall concept as a whole. It would seem more likely that a mill of this size and construction would be more likely teamed with a building like Walthers ADM Grain Elevator 933-3020. I doubt that this small rural elevator could supply enough product and/or keep enough on hand to keep this mill running on a daily basis, but I would be interested in hearing if someone knows of a prototype like this one.
Looks like they could fill the bill on my layout…