Large Scale Model Tram

Another Model Tram Series in Model Engineer

2010-05-02T09:14:00.001-07:00

I am a little late with this, but Ashley Best is running another series in Model Engineer. He is describing building his Bury 1/16 model tramcar number 13. It started a couple of issues ago – No. 4374 and part 2 is in the current issue No.4376. That is in newsagents until 5th May.

You can find more details here Model Engineer.

Painting

2010-05-02T09:06:00.001-07:00

I started last year on the painting, but then put the model to one side for quite a while.

Went back to it a few months ago. As I reported in my previous blog, I could not find a green that I was happy with. I have spent years, in between other tasks, trying many products! In the end I bit the bullet and decided to mix up some Humbrol Enamel paint. The Dundee Trams were Mid-Green or Grass Green, so I mixed Mid-Green (101) and added Yellow (24). As this is a large model I needed to mix a large amount so I used a 50ml glass bottle. To test the colours I used a reject side frame.

Here are some of the colours I experimented with. The other side has more colours.

I painted the stairs as the first stage on the model itself.

I am now painting the lower-saloon. It was a couple of months from painting the green on the stairs until painting the lower-saloon. During that time the bottle of green of paint formed a skin on the top, so it was not completely air-tight. To avoid this repeating, I have decanted the green into an emptied 50ml Humbrol tin.

It’s been sometime since I updated

2009-08-27T14:34:00.001-07:00

Noticed it has been a little time since I updated this. Not sure anyone is following this?

What have I been doing, well rubbing down, filling and painting. Someone said to me, that when you get to the point of painting, then you are 50% done. I can understand that now. It does take some time and I am only on the undercoat. I am also having some difficulty deciding what shade of green to paint the car. There is a book of colour photos, but with the vagaries of early colour photography, the darkening of varnish over time, it is very difficult to find a colour I am happy with. Using a reject side frame that has been panelled, I have been experimenting with some shades of green. Since no one can recall, I suppose no one is going to say that it is wrong???

Fitted the Upper Saloon Vestibules

2009-04-17T14:10:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I fitted both upper saloon stair vestibules and destination screens to the upper saloon. The wiring runs under the vestibule screen.

Finished the trim on the lower saloon

2009-04-13T06:01:00.001-07:00

Wet Easter, so finished the trim on the lower saloon.

Chroming the brass parts

2009-04-13T05:58:00.001-07:00

The Lochee car like many from the 1930’s had chrome fittings. I purchased a kit to attempt home chroming of the various fittings. Some time was spent in trial and error but the final results seem ok. Here are some parts after chroming. The process used a small electric wall power unit, hence the cable for the negative on the controller top plate.

Model Tram Article in Model Engineer Magazine

2009-03-17T02:42:00.001-07:00

I picked up a copy of Model Engineer magazine yesterday and discovered that they are going to be running a series of articles written by Ashley Best on building model trams. The series starts on the 27th March.

A couple of Ashley’s models running on the former layout at Stockwood Park.

Front Platforms

2009-01-18T03:11:00.001-08:00

The front platform dash is made from brass sheet. The headlamp surround has been soldered to the front. This required a fair amount of heat from a mini-blow torch.

Here we jump a few steps ahead with the platform dash, vestibules and platform together. Some modellers pin the dash to the platform, but I chose to make small brackets from brass soldered to the dash and then bolt the dash to the platform. At this point the vestibules were being glazed with glass. The glass is old large microscope slides cut to size with a diamond cutter and then carefully ground to size using a sharpening stone. All the glazing in the model is glass except the lower saloon quarter lights – I am considering replacing these since the upper saloon quarter lights are now glass.

Here is the platform in place.

Tramcar Seats

2009-01-17T03:39:00.001-08:00

When planning the construction of the model, research and experimentation takes up a large part of the time.

I sought out photos or plans of the seats that were used in the tram and obtained this document from the National Tramway Museum library.

Here is one of the tram seats made up. This was one of the prototype seats and was painted for the upper saloon.

The lower saloon seats were covered in a moquette cloth.

I used transfer paper to create the effect of the cloth.

And here are the upper saloon seats that were covered in antique red leather.

You can find more details on their construction on the website.

Start at the beginning

2009-01-14T14:03:00.001-08:00

This was some 8 years ago. The under frame for the model. I am going to step through the build quite quickly to where I am now. A useful book to aid building large scale trams is Peter Hammond’s book “An Introduction to Tramway Modelling” which you can buy here TLRS SALES.

Here is one of the lower saloon side frame and a saloon door.

And this is one of the lower saloon bulkheads.

These all go together to create the lower saloon.

You can see more details at my website Building a 3/4 inch Dundee Lochee Car

What is the model?

2009-01-14T13:40:00.001-08:00

It is a Dundee Corporation Tramways tram built in 1930 by Brush of Loughborough. There were ten trams carrying numbers 19 – 29. I have chosen to build car 19 which was the first car delivered in 1930. The cars were originally planned to operate on the Downfield route, but were found to be too wide for the track spacing on most of Dundee’s routes. Instead they spent their life on the Lochee route, gaining the nick-name Lochee cars.

The model is built to a scale of 1/16 or 3/4 inch to 1 foot.

Starting off

2009-01-13T15:02:00.000-08:00

This a new experience! Travelling in the blog world.

I used to post updates to a forum, but that got deleted so thought I would give this medium a whirl.