Last weekend I won the auction for four working semaphore UQ signals. They arrived yesterday and today I temporarily fitted one to my layout to see how it looked. They have been well made (in my opinion) from MSE brass kits and have a servo motor underneath controlled by a separate little electronic box. This is just labelled Semaphore Servo SO3 so I don't know what make it is. They really look good in operation as the electronic box makes the signal arm go up slowly and then drop quickly when released.
I got them for a little under £20 each (or a little over if you count the postage) and I was prepared to pay a few pounds more. I know that the MSE kits cost about £9 each and I found out from a website that the servo motors are about £7 each. I haven't been able to find out how much the SO3 electronic boxes cost. I am really pleased with the deal when you consider how much you would have to pay someone to make up an MSE kit to a good standard.
I need five signals for my layout and it so happens that I bought an identical MSE kit about a year ago but have put off starting it after reading the instructions. I can't decide whether to use solder which I don't find easy or to use glue instead. Perhaps these four will prompt me to get started on the last one that will complete the set. I shall motorise that one with a spare slow action point motor that I have.
I am really glad that I got these as, to me, one of the defining characteristics of a realistic model railway is working signals.
