Gotcha with the title, didn’t I? Well, this is a short report on two models of fire escapes. I bought both the Tichy set (2 platforms for $3) and the Walthers set (3 platforms and roof ladder for $10.) The Tichy package, as expected, was less detailed and considerably easier to de-sprue and assemble. The plastic was light gray. I broke several thin Walthers pieces just getting them cut from the sprue (and yes, I was being careful) but everything glued back together neatly. I used styrene glue and had no problems with assembly. Both sets of castings were very clean, and required only sprue trimming. The Walthers escapes came in a darker gray. I spray painted them both with rust-colored flat primer from Lowe’s.
The Tichy platforms are larger than the Walthers ones by a good deal. They could be cut back with a little trimming, but I didn’t try that. Here they are viewed from underneath to show the relative sizes, along with their respective ladders. The Tichy platform is on the left:
Here’s a front view of each. Again, the Walthers roof ladder is shown. Also note that the Walthers kit contains one bottom-floor ladder, mounted on a pivot with a counterweight. It works, too.
I put the whole Walthers set together on the walls of the building (Model Power’s Baldy’s Barbershop kit, rear wall) just for illustration. I’ll have to trim the ladders a bit, but it’s better to have them too long than too short. The roof ladder has already been trimmed - it was almost an inch longer than I needed.
For comparison, this is an earlier and more complete shot of the Tichy platforms on a DPM Townhouse. That’s Tony and Ma