This is a plastic kit that has a lot of detail with easy instructions for the beginner. Very little glue is needed and really does not need to be painted unless you want to add some additional detail. All pieces are molded in black, so I painted the gears and hook to add some detail as shown on the box photos. Acrylic paint works well and is easy to clean up. The nice part of the detail is that the gears really do move to raise and lower the hook on the end of the crane and the crane can spin around in its base. The base will need to be mounted directly into the layout or on a slab. Finally, just a little caution, the supports along the side of the crane arm are very thin, so be careful cutting from the plastic sprue. This is a great kit and can be assembled rather quick.