Manufacturer
Wm. K. Walthers Inc.
P.O. Box 3039
Milwaukee, WI 53201
www.walthers.com
Era: 1900 to present
Comments: If you’re looking for a structure that you can assemble, paint, and weather in one evening, then you’ll want to check out the Walthers HO scale Meadowhead barn kit. The injection-molded plastic kit has less than two dozen parts: four walls, two positionable doors, a simulated wood floor, a four-piece standing-seam gambrel-type roof, a hoist beam (above the non-positionable hayloft door), and two rooftop ventilators (two three-piece assemblies), and a ramp.
The plastic parts are crisply molded with minimal flash. The four wall sections have alignment guides, which make it a breeze to get 90-degree corners. To keep the barn square while the glue is drying, I rested the structure on the one-piece floor. I also braced the walls with .250″ x .250″ styrene strip to prevent them from bowing over time.
Though the barn is molded in realistic colors, it would look better painted. I used an airbrush to spray the walls with Polly Scale Rock Island Maroon and the roof “Bin Silver” (1⁄2 ounce Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Silver and 1/8 ounce Delaware & Hudson Gray).
You can use the barn with the ramp that’s shown, or you can discard the ramp and use Walthers fieldstone barn base and ramp. It’s part no. 933-3331.
The Meadowhead barn is one of 11 new structures in the Walthers Rural USA series. This line features plastic, laser-cut wood, and resin kits. Look for them at your favorite Walthers dealer.
