Completed tram (well, nearly)

I'm calling this one done. Well, nearly anyway. I little revisit will be made in the future. 

The finished tram, looks in my opinion, very good. Adding a set of names plates from the 247 Developments range (got to thier ebay store for the larger scale versions) breaks up the single-colour sides for a bit of interest. By the way Ceridwen is regarded by many modern pagans as the Celtic goddess of rebirth, transformation, and inspiration - OK, not that well connected to a steam tram, but not offensive either. 

All the detail inside makes a difference. I'm going to stick to my guns and not glaze the windows. I'm just not comfortable with glazing, and since it's my model, they stay open so all the fumes can escape. 

Work to do? Well, I want to break out the airbrush and add a little, light weathering eventually. The skirts especially could do with a but of grime, and some soot marks on th roof would be nice. 

When we ran the tram at the NGRS, it became apparent that a hook in the top of the coupling was too tall. This needs to be a removable pin which retails the chain coming out of one of the slots. That shouldn't be too hard to do, and would be more prototypical too. 

Overall - this is a really nice kit. Assembly is easy and if you don't faff with the inside, quick too. The result is a pleasingly sharp model. 

Thanks to commentators on this thread, I've learned a lot about prototype steam trams too. Thanks very much for this. I hope anyone wanting a similar education finds the comments and follows the links. It's a fascinating subject.

 

Tram roof

 

The tram roof makes use of a 3D printed interior skelton, on to which the builder sticks a piece of plastic. The holes for safety valve and chimney are pre-cut, which makes me hope I didn't make the replacement boiler any longer than I should. 

1mm thick plastic is quite strong, so I stuck it through the rollers to put a curve on. The supports are also strong, but it makes sense to reduce the conflict between the two. 

Removing the 3D print supports was a fiddly job. Lots of triming with some flush cutters and sanding. You could probably skip that step, and I wasn't entirely sure I needed to do it, but I'm glad I did.

Wired up and working

 

Since I can't hide the Loco Remote and battery in the water tanks, they have to fit under the footplate. Fortunatly, there's plenty of space under there. 

The Loco Remote is fixed to one end with some Velcro. The tiny battery tucks onto a ledge I made with plastic, held to the chassis with the original fixing screws. It seems pretty secure there. 

Best of all, Loco Remote include all the cables, with plugs fitted, required to entend the leads the length of the chassis. It's a very neat install really, and works perfectly.

Getting tanked up

 

Regular readers will know that my plan had been to build a pair of side tanks for the steam tram. These would replace the saddle tank that I didn't like, and provide somewhere to hide the Loco Remote unit, and battery. 

I marked out the area that would need to be removed from the top of the lower section, and floor of the body, and drilled holes in the corners. Then scratched my head. How to remove the rest? 

Chain drilling and joining up the holes is the obvious way. Trouble is, to get into the places to drill with the two halves of the body screwed together, required my only super-long drill bit. The chances of this surviving the dozens of holes to be made, was slim. I don't have a tiny saw that can cut out from a hole start either. That ABS sheet is hard.

To be honest, I couldn't see an easy solution, and so I left the floor intact. A bit of investigation showed the control and battery could fit under the floor, so the tanks weren't needed to hold them anyway. 

I still made the tanks of course. Simple plastic boxes with a bit of tube on top for a filler. Rivets are slices of rod smoothed with lashings of solvent. 

Fixed into place with Revell Contacta glue, I think they look the part and add something to the interior of the tram.

Find me a driver

 

Th tram needs a driver, and the only unpainted figure I had was too tall. As, it seems, and I, in miniature form. 

Digging through my collection of people, I found a couple of G scale crewmembers, that are quite a bit smaller. 

They fit nicely in the tram, but I think are a little too small. Someone about 10mm taller would be nice. Something on the NGRS shopping list I think. 

Of course, I driver this small, is going to need a step on the outside to help him get in through the door!

Painted body

 

Fire up the Badger 100!

Keeping the upper and lower halves of the tram sperate, makes painting easy. The top is Revell 48 - Sea Green - because I'd lost the Humbrol Grass Green I bought for the job. On balance, I think I prefer it, so a happy accident. 

Skirts are Humbrol 153 - Insignia Red. I'm out of practise, and made the mix a bit thin, so the finish isn't as good as I might like, but it will do. Plans to lightly weather the tram are in my mind, and this will help. 

The main thing is, I much prefer my livery to the one on Boot Lane's own model which has a hint of mock tudor about it. Each to their own of course, but since this my blog, I get to choose.

Boiler painted

 

A blast of matt black aerosol provided most of the colour for the boiler. The rest of the work was just picking out the pretty bits. 

Wooden cladding is a couple of coats of Humbrol 93 (Dessert sand) given a wash of Agrax Earth Shade afterwards. I'm not aiming for perfectly clean, so the mottled effect looks good to my eyes. With this in mind, all the black is dry-brushed with Tank Grey too. 

Gold is Darkstar Molten Metals Regency Gold. A couple of coats do the job here, and it's not too bright. Yes, I know that Non Metal Metalic paints are fashionable, but I've not had the chance to play with the set I bought last year, and I like the Molten Metal range anyway. 

This is looking promising. Maybe a bit more caracture than finescale, but that suits my large scale modelling.

Boiler built

 

With a free Saturday afternoon, and a freshly purchased DVD box set of Blake's 7's first series for background, I got some time in on the steam tram. 

Boiler fitted, I could move on to the rest of the interior. At the front, I scratchbuilt a smokebox door from Plastikard bits and pieces, based on prototype photos. I'm sure that the kit includes this part, but I've lost it as the tram has moved around over the last few weeks. No worries, I'm pleased with the result, and enjoyed noddling around with bits of plastic. 

At the back, all the required parts were still with the kit, and it only took a few minutes to fit them with superglue. I particually like the firebox door, which is nice and chunky. There are a pair of water glasses, but these can stay off until after painting.

Body in primer

 

There's not much detail to go on the steam tram body - just some handrails. The knobs for these are nicely 3D printed, and I reamed them out to take a 2mm thich piece of plastic rod.

They are a little brittle, but spares are provided. As it was, when I felt one crack, I stopped reaming and the crack didn't cause the end to fall off. A good wash of ABS solvent stuck them into the body and fixed the rod in place. 

To add a little relief, some half-round strip runs around the body. Tacked in place with Revell Contacta cement, more ABS solvent fixed it. Once dry I sanded the corners for neatness. 

A spray of pimer brings it all together. I'll need to attned to all the corners as I didn't get them as snug as I'd like. Working with clear plastic makes it difficult to see what you are doing, or at least that's my excuse!

Now I've got this far, the plan to just get on with it is proving right. I like the look of the model, and while I can see some tweaks to come (should there be a step to help the driver in and out of the doors?) the proportions look right, so I'm happy.

Boiler tubing

In this episode, our hero proves that sometimes that junk you hang onto for many years, does eventually come in handy.

 

If I'm fitting side tanks to the tram, the great big hole in the top of the boiler needs to be covered. I could have solved this by fitting the tube upside down, but that didn't occur to me at the time, so now it needs a wrapper.

I've recently curved some Plastikard very succesfully for a set of 16mm coaches, using my metal rollers. A few trips back and forth, and the roof pieces were a perfect fit. On this basis, I tried to roll something near to a cylinder. It sort of worked, and I hoped superglue would do the rest. It didn't. The plastic gapped at the bottom and couldn't be persauded to lie flat against the 3D printed boiler.

Attempt two involved finding some suitable tube to do the job. After a bit of rooting around, I rediscovered a plastic tube that once contained the paper for a fax machine (ask your grandad kids) from the late 1990s. I kept it, because I just knew it would come in handy one day. 

Using a pipe cutter, I chopped off the correct length. The cutter ensured the ends would be square, and is far easier than a saw. I did need a saw to slit along the bottom though. The fax tube is too small, but can be prised open to clip over the 3D printed supports on the smokebox and firebox. 

While digging through photos, I found a French steam tram with wood cladding on the boiler, so I've scribed the planks on the tube, it will get boiler bands later. 

The whole lot was fixed in place with epoxy, and left overnight. The result is nice and solid. OK, there is a gap underneath, but no one will see that. 

***

After all this, perhaps it's time to upgrade my rollers to a set like this, seen at Statfold Barn last weekend...

Just build it!

 

A dearth of  modelling time, but plenty of thinking time, is causing me problems with the steam tram project. That, and all the very helpful information so many people provided, has left me in a bit of a quandry. 

I could go for a more realistic Wantage tram. It's not beautiful, but has charm. To do that, the chassis sides need to be opened up, some bufferbeams scratchbuilt, and several other jobs. If I'm going to do that, I don't think this kit is the ideal starting point. The finished model would always be compromised. 

My original plan had been to emulate the LGB 24500 tram, but that calls for curved corners, and reducing the number of windows. This had been part of my original plan, but now I feel the vertical bars are too thin for that to look right. 

There has been a lot of looking at photos in leiu of modelling and I've come to a conclusion - I just need to get this thing built. All this thinking has meant that when I could find a bit of modelling time, I've no enthusiasm. 

So, the windows stay. I'll paint the body green, and the skirts maroon(ish). We'll have side tanks to give the battery and Loco Remote somewhere to live. And I'll get the tram built, ideally so I can run it at the NGRS in a couple of weeks time. 

Watch this space.

Testing the Loco Remote

 

Steam tram control will be via a Loco Remote unit. The cheapest version was selected as I don't need sound or lights on this model. Power will be from some cheapo LiPo batteries picked up on ebay. 

Assembling the wiring is simple as long as you pay attention to the instructions. Make sure the battery is plugged in the right way around, and it's hard to go wrong really. 

Once plugged in, a blue LED flashes to say all is well, th device sets up a WiFi hotspot. Log on to this using a suitable device (I'll be using an old smartphone) and then go to the web page mentioned in the instructions. Up pops the controls and away you go. 

This testing has shown everything works, I just need to figure out where to install it. Initial thoughts involve the water tanks I need to scratchbuild. There should be plenty of room in there, and access should be easy to arrange with removable tops. 

In the meantime, I'm just enjoying playing with my new toy. At some point I need to get it on some track to test the duration the little battery offers.

Steam tram boiler

 

Work on the steam tram has been very limited recently, but I have had time to look at the boiler. 3D printed on a filament printer, it needs some smoothing. 

My plan involved a coat of Halfords High-Build primer. Anoyingly, my can has spent too long in a cold garage and spluttered out like a low-pressure hose. Since I planned to sand the stuff anyway, I decided I didn't care. the job was to get a thick coat on. 

While doing this, I realised that a pragmatic decision had been taken by Boot Lane when designing the kit, the loco is a saddle tank. Now, I assume this means the ability re-use an existing boiler, and it provides space for the suggested LocoRemote controller, but steam trams are normally side tank engines.

I'll have to do something about that.

The skirt

 

I think skirt is the correct term here. It's the bit of the body that covers there wheels to protect pedestrians and animals from the wheels during street running, and ladies from catching a glimpse of fully quartered wheels. 

The problem with a freelance model is that there's nothing to copy when adding detail. I felt that the skirt looks a little plain, and so have assumed that the panels hinge upwards to provide access to the wheels and (imaginary) waggly bits. 

For this, there will need to be some handles. My first though was to use the holes made in the bottom corners fo twistable handles, but I wasn't happy with the results, so have opted for grab handles. I'm not sure this is right either, but hopefully, no-one will worry. 

Hinges are made from bits of plastic strip and rod, taked in place with Revell Contacta and then given a dose of ABS solvent so we have a suggestive lump that hopefully looks the part. 

The couplings are supplied 3D printed parts given a coat of filler-primer and a sanding. There's more to do in this respect when I move on to the interior.

Body building

 

The tram body is a very quick assembly job. All the laser-cut acrylic parts slot into one another, with no cleaning up required. SIdes are made up of two laminations. According to the instructions, the single parts are fragile, but I didn't find them. Maybe if you are super clumsy, but with a bit of care, all is fine and once laminated, maybe they aren't bomb-proof, but they are pretty solid. 

A wash of EMA ABS solvent down the inside of each join effects a pretty much instant fix. The whole body takes lass then half an hour, even if you are trying to work slowly to spread out the enjoyment of the build!

In the photos, everything is plonked together to get a feel for the finished model, there are many more parts to come. 

Rods on, chassis finished

With the wheel inserts in, getting the chassis working is simply a matter of fitting the bolts, and slotting on the rods. 

Lengths of plastic tube act as bearings. These replace resin parts from earlier kits that were too small, and very brittle when you tried to drill them out. I know my dad's original chassis is fitted with plastic tubes, because I brok three of the five provided doing just that!

While plastic tube might not sound that impressive, we are talking about a chassis designed for light loads. The tube stops the metal bolts wearing away the 3D printed rods, and should be able to do this for a long time. If this becomes an issue, I'll replace them with bits of brass. 

I like these chassis. They are quick and easy to assemble. OK, if you need a loco with a lot of grunt, they won't do the job, but for the sort of light loads trunding around a garden railway the model is likley to haul, it's underpinnings are fine.

 

Wheel inserts

 

A nifty feature of many Boot Lane kits is the conversion of Binnie wheels into driving wheels by using some 3D printed inserts. A pair are provided, one with and one without a hole for a crankpin. 

I'm assuming that a pair are supplied for each wheel to even out the stresses of them being forced into the wheel. They could represent balance weights, but on this loco you won't see them, so that would be a bit of a waste of time. 

Fitting is a matter of a few seconds forcing them into the wheels between the spokes. I use some parallel jawed pliers for this to ensure they go in straight, because I paid a lot of money for these tools and so I like to find excuses to use them!

No glue is required, the glass-filled nylon wheels grip them well enough, and now we are ready to fit them to the chassis.

Steam tram chassis

In thoery, assembling the Boot Lane chassis is a screwdriver job. Acrylic sides are screwed to 3D printed spacers. Not quite idiot-proof, but if you read the instructions carefully, then hopefully not to bad a job.My Dad managed, with a tiny bit of assistance, to put the working of his Rose together, and it's the first time he's ever done this sort of thing. 

The motor fits nicely into it's cradle, and everything fits perfectly. Getting the spacer the motor bolts on to the right way up is essentail - there is a groove to accomodate the gear wheel that should be at the bottom (the chassis is upside down in this photo) or it won't fit later. 

Biggest surprice so far, how far the screws go into the spacers. Lots of turns of the big screwdriver, in fact a small powered version wouldn't be a terrible idea for this job.

Winifred the steam tram

 

My parents (and me) like the team at Boot Lane Works. After a chat at the NGRS last year, my Dad ended up with a Rose on his workbench, so it wasn't that much of a surprised that a Winifred kit arrived for me at Christmas. 

The kits are a mix of laser-cut clear (and a nightmare to photograph) acrylic parts and 3D printed bits, plus metal axles and stuff. 

Although a motor is included, batteries and control are left to the builder to supply. My plan is to use sime tiny LiPo's and a Loco Remote controller for this part. According to the instructions, there should be plenty of space. 

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the model as supplied. For a start, I don't think steam trams should be glazed. I'll be modifying my model a bit. The LGB 24500 tram looks rather nice,  so I'll be taking a few design cues from it. 

There's nothing wrong with this of course. I'm sure plenty of stock Winifreds will take to the rails, mine will (hopefully) be a little different. I'm going to paint it green with red skirts for a start...