1902 Stuttgart tram FINISHED!

[GTJUNIOR]

Beautiful Harry, just beautiful. Your building skills are inspiring.

[peteski]

The guards on the windows on each end of the passenger cabin were scratchbuilt using styrene rod and strip...

And installed...

As usual, superb job and documentation. 

However, I'm wondering if those guards aren't a bit out of scale (too thick). They look like they are about scale 2" in diameter.Wouldn't they be closer in thickness to those handrails you made from brass rod?

[Harry P.]

Probably. But I used the rod I had on hand, didn't want to bother making a trip.

[cobraman]

Really looking good. I hate when a kit has a lot of nice detail but when it's assembled you can see little to none of it.

[sjordan2]

Really looking good. I hate when a kit has a lot of nice detail but when it's assembled you can see little to none of it.

Me? I'd make the roof removable.

[Harry P.]

Me? I'd make the roof removable.

That would require a huge re-engineering of how most of the body and roof parts fit together. There's not all that much to see inside, anyway. The side windows are big enough to let you see inside.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Very nice. Reminds me of the model RR stuff I built in the dim recesses of history. Yours here is much larger scale, but the build technique is much the same as some of the older wooden passenger cars.

[Harry P.]

Here is the start of the chassis. The flanges on the side frames are supposed to be made with strips of aluminum supplied in the kit, but I thought that strips of thin cardboard would be easier to work with. I used an old USPC mailing envelope; the thickness was just right for making the flanges...

[Harry P.]

After I planked the roof with 2x5mm strips of basswood, I had to figure out a way to hide all the seams. At first I thought I'd just Bondo everything, but that would have been hard to do... and would have created a huge mess of dust that would get into the interior and I'd have no way of cleaning it out. So I went with Plan B and covered the roof with thin cardstock instead. Here is the roof with much of the details installed...

[slusher]

Coming along great Harry. 

Edited April 30, 2016 by slusher

[Harry P.]

Skipping around again...

building the trolley is definitely the hardest part of this entire process. You have to form brass rod to shape using the full-scale templates provided, then attach the various pieces to each other. I used CA to glue the parts together, then wrapped the joints with thread and flowed CA over the wrapped joints to hold everything together. The base is a photoetched part supplied in the kit...

[Harry P.]

The completed trolley assembly is a combination of brass rod, photoetched metal, machined brass, laser-cut wood, and copper wire (the tension spring). Truly a "multi-media" assembly. All of this will eventually be painted "steel."

[Crazy Ed]

   REally good job on the Trolly assembly Harry. I think at that point I'd be giving serious thought to turning it into a Dinner!

[Cato]

Why not solder the brass Harry? Only five connections and no thread showing.

[Harry P.]

Why not solder the brass Harry? Only five connections and no thread showing.

Just following the instructions.

Maybe the real thing had some sort of wrapped joint? Don't know... I can't find any photos online that shows that detail.

[Cato]

Just following the instructions.

Maybe the real thing had some sort of wrapped joint? Don't know... I can't find any photos online that shows that detail.

Plenty good reason. I don't think real catenary had wrapped joints with 600+ volts running down them. Found a lot of shots of catenary but none close enough to see the joins in the lines.

[Harry P.]

I'm assuming the kit designers based their work on an actual Stuttgart tram. I couldn't find any photos of that particular Stuttgart tram that showed the trolley details, but I did find this photo of a Hungarian tram car. Same era, very similar trolley structure. If you look closely, it does look like the trolley joints are wrapped somehow...

[peteski]

Probably. But I used the rod I had on hand, didn't want to bother making a trip.

Guy like you doesn't have a well-stocked workshop?

[sjordan2]

I don't know if you've found this site, but there are lots of good hi-res shots of ol' 222 here.

http://www.drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?5,4341433

[Harry P.]

Oh man! I wish I had those photos before I started this!

Better late than never, though. Thanks, Skip. Once again the master of online research comes through!

[sjordan2]

Oh man! I wish I had those photos before I started this!

Better late than never, though. Thanks, Skip. Once again the master of online research comes through!

There seemed to be some questions about the electrical thingy on the roof, so I thought I'd check it out. I would bet that these photos show modern adaptations, though the kit maker was probably aware of them.

[Harry P.]

Yeah, the trolley assembly is apparently not particularly accurate... where the kit calls for wrapping the joints with thread, it looks like the real thing has some sort of mechanical fasteners. Oh well... too late now, I'm not going to go back and re-do the trolley. But the photos on that site do reinforce a lot of things that I was questioning. The kit is actually a lot more accurate that I thought it was.

[sjordan2]

I'd say you nailed it. I couldn't figure out the role of the vertical rod on the front -- maybe a drop-down stabilizer to keep the car in place when it's at rest?

Edited May 2, 2016 by sjordan2

[Harry P.]

So far, so good.

[Harry P.]

The springs are cast white metal. After a little cleanup of minor flash, I painted them a dark metallic "steel" color, then added a black wash to bring out the details...