City Workers - HO Scale

The maintenance men without whom a city does not work

Running a city's infrastructure is a rewarding subject, because it happens right on the street and is visible. The six men in this set cover three different trades at once.

The division of labor

One of the men has climbed a distribution pole and is reaching behind him, as if waiting for somebody to pass him a tool. A colleague below holds a cable or a rope in his hand. Two others are collecting refuse, one carrying a container on his back and the other opening another one. The last pair is dealing with a manhole: one man kneels and points something out to the one who is down in the shaft.

Why it works in a scene

The figures form links in pairs, and that is essential for a diorama. The man on the pole only makes sense when somebody is standing below him; the kneeling figure needs an open cover. The set therefore offers not six isolated figures but three finished scenes, which can be spread along a street and tied together by a maintenance vehicle.

What to add to it

A few extra small things lift the credibility: cones or a barrier around the shaft, a ladder leaning against something, a tool basket at the foot of the pole. Being made to a ratio of 1:87 means that even accessories this small are still clearly visible, and they can be made from offcuts of plastic and wire in one evening.

Safety as part of the scene

An open shaft in the middle of a roadway is unthinkable today without a barrier and a sign, and a viewer subconsciously expects that on a model as well. An added barrier therefore not only makes the scene more exact but also widens it visually, because vehicles driving around it and slowed traffic belong with it naturally. Five square centimeters of scene thus become a stretch of street that influences its surroundings.