Add a little paint to get rid of the plastic look and you have great looking kit. Don't forget the weathering.

The Atlas 2840 Signal Tower is a fine-looking building. Though painting is not required, went ahead and painted with respective matte colors that matched the plastic colors with exception to the roof. Painting before assembly is the way to go especially because all the parts on a sprue significantly simplifies the task. Assembly was fairly straightforward but it would have been more helpful to have views of all the sides and bottom for pre-sales decision. Since custom lighting is planned for most structures on the layout, the bottom view would be helpful to see. This model comes with a base without an opening as well as no opening between 1st and 2nd floors so another hole needed to be drilled. The tower now has a 2nd floor inside light and the non-functional plastic outdoor lamp above the 2nd story door was replaced with an LED. The hole for the included outdoor plastic lamp served as a great pilot to drill an opening for the outdoor lamp. Pros : This is a nicely detailed kit and at around $20, is a fair value. The 4 color parts sprues aid in painting, especially if matching. Most parts fit together correctly. A permanent base that aids in construction serves as a great foundation. Cons : At around $20, it is a fair value. Much above that, especially when adding in the cost of supplies and if it's a small layout, could be higher. The base, if not perfectly flat, can cause some assembly issues, as is the case with the particular item received. The bottom of the short sides would alternatively pop out of the bottom when attempting to make flush with the base. Also, alignment of the outdoor pipe details and roof was a little tricky too. Was able to complete but definitely added a little more complexity to the task. Very pleased with the outcome and now, finally, have my first station tower that I had always wanted in previous layouts. This is a 4.5 rating but had to rate as a 4. Would recommend and buy again however, if a decent LED prebuilt was available, that could change.

Great little signal tower. Great detail, easy to assemble.