Adding another essential release to Z is Archistories “Cooling Tower”: ARC-701171 (1 tower per kit). Here is an interesting example of industrial architecture whose scale will be very interesting on a layout.

These cooling towers use a lot of filigree parts to form the framework of the model along with railings and steps. Overall the kit is pretty easy to assemble, it is well designed and the parts are precisely cut. The only difficulty with this kit is working with the ladder, steps and railings due to their lightweight nature, but careful handing and a no rush pace is helpful. Very small drops of glue are all that is ever needed with these precision card-stock kits, use as little glue as possible!

A few of Archistories kits include motor driven parts such as windmill and water wheel, this kit offers something different, it has a smoke generation device which will simulate the steam coming out of a prototypical cooling tower.

The device comes complete with the liquid required to stir things up in the smoke chimney whose leads are hooked-up to the accessory leads on the mini-club transformer or better yet a Marklin distribution strip and controller. The manufacturer provides an acetate disk to protect the base of the cooling tower from spills. And the building is also designed to be lifted off of the foundation for refilling the smoke generator thus gluing the tower to the base is not advisable if you plan on using the smoke generator.

At 4 1/2 inches tall the scale of this building looms over the rather large diesel locomotive passing by. Adding this new architecture to your layout will be an interesting focal point for trains passing through the industrial landscape as it will be a good reference point for prototypical modeling.

Available in the United States from ZScaleHobo.com and ZScaleMonster.com.