Tramcar Triumph

The O9 tramcar was varnished in a spare moment on Christmas Eve, using Halfords matt lacquer as an alternative to Dulcote or a Humbrol aerosol. This is the first time I have used this product and the verdict is that I am pretty impressed with it, having just a little sheen that is not inappropriate for coaching stock or locomotives.

With the paintwork completed and festivities out of the way I moved on to a list of tasks to further completion: 

• Fitting the controllers and brake handles in place on each balcony
• Fitting 7mm NGA door handles on the centre doors
• Flush glazing the side windows using 20 thou styrene fixed in place with Kleer. The door drop-frames have a band of chrome trim along the top using a sliver of car body trim strip
• Weight (self-adhesive window lead) added in pockets between the body sides and seat supports
• Figures fixed in place in the centre compartment and balconies

There was some hesitancy over a suitable driver figure (or figures...) Five candidates were prepared for this task! Left to right, they are:

1. Chinese Preiser copy in a slightly soapy plastic. Used in initial testing of the seating and generally good, but not 'hands on' enough for my liking as the main driver.
2. Monty's Models industrial diesel driver, posed with this hand on the controls. Whitemetal, so to balance him out...
3. S&D Models young man, relaxed pose for the back platform.
   I then started to worry about the whitemetal figures adding weight in the wrong places, high centre of gravity etc on the Kato bogie chassis so looked for a plastic option again, leading to...
4. Chinese Preiser copy (old man with stick) in hard plastic, modified to seated position with hand on the controls and head-swapped. Enthused I also created...
5. Chinese Preiser copy (young lady hand in hair), modified to seated position with her other hand on the controls.

Whilst the plan was to use 4 and 5 at either end of the car, I did wonder if someone with a hand on controls at each end might actually look too much, so the end result was 5, with 1 at the other end, relaxed but poised hand on knee to take control. It is rather a good job that I had created the lady driver, as when it came to it, despite careful measuring and checking, no.4 was a little too tall for the space and looked wrong. I'm sure he will be useable elsewhere, he nearly got lined up to drive the A1 Models 'Albert' but as the driver of that will be barely visible that seemed a bit of a waste.

I had a little setback fixing the roof in place when I found that the glue I had used had failed, it was an old tube of solvent-free UHU that has clearly seen better days, not drying out. So I cleaned up and applied from a fresh tube, held everything in place with elastic bands whilst drying and this time it seems to have done the trick.

With the figures in place I added some more weight in gaps identified around the Kato chassis and then popped the Kato 11-105 in place. The roof was then added as described above. If I have one minor gripe with the finished model it would be the join between the coach sides and roof, however at "normal viewing distance" this is a lot less noticeable than in the photos.

Whilst I have applied a minor amount of weathering along the edges of the fake clerestory on the roof (as this would be a place unlikely to get cleaned) I have yet to add any weathering anywhere else other than a wash on the Kato bogies to tone them down. I will no doubt add something subtle in due course. For now it has taken a spot in the display cabinet for admiration. 

Colin

Clerestories and Controllers - O9 Tramcar Progress

We last saw the O9 tramcar build with the bulkhead panels in place on the floor and some seat supports in place on the platform ends. The seats are now in place either side, made from Slaters planked styrene backed with 20 thou sheet and add further strength to these areas. 

Either side of the end dash panels I added lengths of 60 x 60 thou quarter-round Evergreen section to give a pleasing rounded appearance to the corners. These overhung the headstock pieces a fraction so some packing was added to even these out. Once parts were set in place everything has been tidied up around the edges. Behind the headstocks pieces of 40 x 40 thou strip fill the step openings leaving a clear area for the side panels to be added.

Up on the roof I decided to add a clerestory, of sorts... Not a proper fully-built job as you might expect on a full size tram but more of the bump-in-the-roof you might get on miniature railway stock. This needed to have the same subtle curve as the rest of the roof and the best piece for the job was the bit I had removed to narrow the roof down! As previously explained this was cut 2mm too short so I have had to make up the rest with 40 x 60 strip and Milliput will be deployed in due course. I think even if the cut strip was wider I would have faced it either side to neaten the edges so just as much filling either way... Once set the ends of the clerestory strip were filed down to gently curve to the roof edge.

Jumping ahead a little, I was able to balance the sides and roof into place with a figure on the balcony to prove there is room. In fact a small selection of figures have already volunteered for duty, I daren't tell them of the horrors some may face to clear the motor. Please excuse the gap at the top under the roof, that will not be there in reality!

With body construction tasks now largely complete, work began on some suitable control gear for the platform ends. Rather than lots of pictures of tiny pieces on the cutting mat I have created a montage...

Top Left: The control boxes started life as 5mm square Plastruct section, but as this was a bit intrusive I cut one side off to make it 5 x 4 mm. Top and bottom I added some 3.3mm x 60 thou Evergreen strip offcuts inside the section and a top from 30 thou styrene. Once set this was neatened off.

Top Right: The handles for both control boxes and brakes were shaped from 0.7mm brass wire. I filed the top of the horizontal section flat on the pieces destined for the control boxes and for both components bent this section to a slightly curved shape. For the handbrakes short sections of brass tube were cut to make a collar at the top and a base. The parts seen here are actually the extra set that were created quite by accident as parts were rejected!

Bottom: The control boxes were drilled 0.7mm top and bottom and the wire threaded through. The excess at the bottom forms a locating pin and holding point during painting. The handbrakes were carefully soldered together with the addition of a split pin under the top collar to help secure the part to the dash panel.

Once the soldered parts were cleaned up I drilled two holes in each platform, one central and one towards the right hand side. In order to take the now cut-down split pin a hole was drilled in the dash panel but from the outside due to restricted clearances. This will be plugged and filled from the outside in due course.

The stage has now been reached where the next step is likely to be Milliput in a multitude of places...

Colin

October Spawned a Tramcar

Having decided that the outline drawing in my last post was pretty close to what I wanted to achieve on the Kato bogie chassis, last week I slowly started to gather the materials required to start work. Immediately I was taken back a good few years to the early days of my O9 modelling, finding odd bits here and there that would become something other than their manufacturers intended. One sign of real progress is that some of these parts were actually intended for O9 rather than other scales.

From the spares box came the good side from a pair of Avalon line coach sides that Peter Ledley (of Clee Valley Railway fame) had passed on to me. This was cut either side of the centre door, the solebars removed and the cut ends made good with styrene strip. A pair of Chivers O9 coach ends were cleaned up and spare seat backs from the same source cut down in height to 7.5mm to be used as seat supports.

The floor piece is from 40 thou styrene, 22 x 70 mm with a cut-out for the Kato chassis. Plank lines are scribed on what will become the balcony ends. Solebars were cut from 3.2mm Plastruct channel, actually the second attempt as the originals were 3.2mm deep 60 thou Evergreen strip, but looked too plain and would have been set quite far back behind the Avalon sides. They were re-cut as strip to go above the solebars between the seat ends.

The floor, ends and solebars were assembled, followed by adding the seat end pieces, re-purposed as seat fronts to hide the Kato chassis under the seat. I hesitated adding the pieces planned along the top of the floor between the seat fronts as I realised they might make adding the bulkheads between the balcony and saloon a little more difficult.

After cleaning up, the Avalon Line coach sides were modified by adding a central window divider in each of the windows, using a length of 60 x 40 thou Evergreen strip carefully cut to length and superglued in place. These dividers would align with the bulkhead/partition pieces, which would be scratchbuilt parts. The new dividers were marked out on 20 thou styrene, with 10 x 40 strip used to make the window frames, very much in the manner that the masters for the Avalon coach kit were made (maybe in this case with a little less care...). Once set overnight the windows and lower cutout were cut out, then the pieces cut from the sheet. At this stage the top edges of the 20 thou sheet had been marked out to use a Dundas VoR roof for the project, but as can be seen, the final profile of the 40 thou material backing the parts is rather different...

Which brings us to story of the roof. When I had drawn out my concept drawing I had planned to keep the overall width to that of a Chivers coach kit, which just suited the Dundas roof. When cutting the floor piece and all the other parts that would sit between the sides, I forgot to take into account that the Avalon Line sides are a good 0.5-0.75mm thicker, i.e. there should be a rebate in the floor... I was also starting to think a flatter roof profile would be bit more "tram like" and to cut a long story short, after rejecting an already-converted version as being too narrow, I pinched a new roof from a Dapol Railbus kit. It was cut to length, oddly the length between sets of ventilators was just right, and then narrowed. I miscalculated here taking 6mm out, then having to take a further 1mm from each side. Glued together with a strip of 40 x 156 thou Evergreen strip below the joint, it was set aside to dry.

Whilst that dried I fitted the bulkhead partitions into place on the floor unit, having carefully measured their location in relation to the sides. The lengths of 60 thou x 3.2mm strip were further cut down to fit in-between and add strength to the central section. In between the partitions and the seat fronts I added squares of 40 thou styrene that will eventually support the balcony seats, but also add extra support to the bulkheads.

Just visible in the shot above is the construction of the rear side of the bulkhead partitions, a 40 x 40 thou strip runs from the motor cut-out, through the window divide and right up to roof level, with panels of 40 thou sheet in either quarter above and below the windows. This was a neater way to get the strength required in these parts. As some of the lower pieces are visible through the side windows they have a planked effect scribed in to represent the seat backs.

More soon, this is progressing well... 

Colin

A Tramcar Doodle

It seems like only yesterday, but turns out to be a number of months ago (four to be precise), I was looking at ideas to build an O9 railcar on a Kato bogie chassis. I had hinted at another design to come, which would essentially have been a pastiche version of my Dapol railbus conversions. That has not been drawn up, however with time on my hands I had another look over the various ideas and parts to hand and drew up something that ticks many boxes.

This is very much an evolution of the tramcar-like "Chivers Jubilee" design but actually incorporates the Avalon Line coach sides as well. The large windows would be split in two by the (scratch built) divider between balcony end and saloon. The ends are envisaged as the Chivers coach ends with the planking plated over, and the roof the Dundas VoR moulding. The chassis will be better hidden in this configuration and there is the potential to maybe have mesh panels in the end doors rather than solid, or even to leave them open if it looks OK and is strong enough.

A number of people had echoed my thoughts that the previous design was rather Volks-esqe, this continues that theme but is none the worse for it. I can envisage it jollying around sand dunes or in a private garden!

Colin

Railcar Doodles II - A Potential Chivers 'Bash'

Whilst I rather liked the Avalon Line conversion drawing in the last post, I had rather come to the conclusion that it would be better as an item of coaching stock, 4w or bogie, rather than a railcar.

Prior to looking at the Minirail railcar I had looked at the Chivers O9 coach kit as the basis for a railcar. I had rejected this idea as I thought it would require similar modifications to those I carried out to create a semi-open coach using some Dapol railbus window parts (indeed I did consider rebuilding the coach a bay shorter to convert it...). After some thought I decided to take another look and realised that by rearranging the parts and using a spare 'high' end, something quite railcar like could be created.

The Kato chassis will fit nicely between the outer ends of the seat sections, the dotted line in the centre doorway is the top of the casing and it may be that half-height doors are required on this opening. The trick I have employed in this design is to use the high ends as the seat backs, therefore giving a sturdier support to the roof than any use of plastic section could achieve and a better bond with the sides than using brass. Rather than use the end based on the floor level of the part as supplied, I envisage it with the top of the vertical planking at the height of the kit seat backs, adding another crucial 2mm into the height. It will require more modification of the part but as a cut-out needs to be made the clear the motor casing it isn't too much in the grand scheme of things.

Internally seats would have to be raised over the motor casing and at the outer ends the space under the seats will be filled in, potentially using the original seat back pieces. It will be tight and any potential passengers in the centre section need to be aware that they are at risk of leg (and maybe hip) amputation to clear the motor casing!

The roof is envisaged to be a Dundas VoR moulding, which is again a sturdy moulding that will hold it's place. Looking at the drawing again there maybe needs to be some support at the upper ends of the uprights, maybe not complex scrollwork but there are some right-angled mouldings in the Dapol railbus bits that might suit, and keep another tradition going...

Colin

Conversion Potential

Having reassured myself that I was going to try and stick to O9 projects and not get distracted by 009, I have to reveal that I have bought an 009 kit this week. However, this is with good reason... I've always been a fan of Chivers Finelines kits, the mouldings are always well defined and detailed in the O-16.5 and O9 kits I've had and the 009 ones I've seen in the past. When Matt Chivers announced this week that there were two new bogie wagons released in 009, RC811 (flat ends) and RC812 (rounded ends), I took a look and immediately saw O9 potential.

The dimensions are 79mm long and 24mm wide, which in 7mm scale is approx 11 ft by 3 ft 6ins wide, which for a 15" gauge miniature railway is a reasonable size for a works wagon, possibly built on an old open coach chassis. 

This isn't a new idea - in the past I had obtained a Peco L&B bogie open with a similar aim in mind but had found that the detailing was too fine for it to work quickly and easily in O9. In these new Chivers kits the detailing is very suited to 7mm scale, again with a miniature railway eye on it father than heavy industry.

My RC812 will join the kit stockpile for future build, despite the temptation to jump straight in. I did however realise that I needed to add some suitable wheels to the stockpile too, so eBay was scoured for suitable Graham Farish ones, it is good to have then available again!

Colin