Taking the Stairs - HO Scale

Figures going up and coming down stairs

A staircase is an element that gets built often on a layout and occupied rarely. The six figures in this set are shaped exactly for it: they are caught at the moment of entering a building or leaving it, that is in a stance that never looks right on a flat floor.

The manufacturer offers several settings they suit. An office building, a school, an apartment house, a library or the entrance to a subway. What they have in common is that a few steps lie between the sidewalk and the door, on which people pass each other.

The staircase itself is not in the package, and that is as it should be, because every building has stairs of a different height. The figures are therefore set on steps that are already standing on the board, and when gluing it is advisable to try each of them dry first, so that the height of the step matches the length of the stride.

Six figures are enough for a whole passage. Two can be left climbing upward, two coming down and two standing at the railing, which gives the impression that a shift has just come through the door or that a lesson has ended.

The HO in the name means 1:87 in numbers. The set is a good complement to city layouts with taller buildings, where the entrances are above the level of the sidewalk and a staircase is visible from the side as well as head on.

Figures in motion also help where a street looks empty. Walking has a direction and direction draws the gaze further over the board, whereas a standing group stops it in one place.