Tramcar Roof Refinements

Having added the nicely curved bulkhead top pieces to the body of the tram I realised that something similar but smaller was required under the roof, both to align with the end of the carriage sides and at the end of the overhang. More pieces of 40 thou styrene were marked out, using the template made from one of the old bulkheads for the top and an A1 Models etched cab front for the bottom. These pieces were then fixed in place, carefully measuring for the inner ones. I also added a strip of 30 x 60 thou styrene over the balcony openings to give some substance the imagined framework.

With the roof in place the effect looking upwards is that there is a frame under the roof holding it all up... However the ends of the roof needed some attention to give the impression that the roof is formed from a thinner material than the edge of the Dapol moulding.

With the roof ends filled with Milliput and smoothed back once set, a strip of 15 x 20 thou Evergreen styrene was carefully glued into place (along the 15 thou side) following the curve of the centre section of the roof. Left overnight to set, the following day this was softened with solvent and gently curved around the roof edge profile. Left to set again this was trimmed to size and more Milliput added to fill the join between roof and extension. Smoothing off followed once the filler was set and a little shaping of the bottom corners finished off the job. 

With the roof pieces in place the next job was to add the headlights to the front dash. These are Details West mouldings (LT 1015) designed for an HO scale EMD machine but work just as well in O9. Being clear plastic they don't photograph well... They have separate lenses that will be fitted after painting, one thing I had not realised is that there is no back to the headlight moulding hole so I have subsequently added Araldite as a filler so that the plank effect does not show through.

The holes for the door handles were drilled into the side using a 0.7mm bit and opened out a touch with a cutting broach, to suit 7mm NGA door handles, to be fixed after painting. With all parts in place we might be ready for a good scrub down and a trip the paint shop

Colin