1902 Stuttgart tram FINISHED!

[Harry P.]

Thought I'd do something I've never done here before, and do a WIP of one of these multi-media tram kits from the Spanish kit manufacturer OcCre. This is the same company that makes the London tram, the Berlin tram, the San Francisco cable car, and the London double-decker bus that I have all posted "Under Glass" in the past. The kit is a multimedia kit, in 1/24 scale, comprised of several sheets of laser-cut wood pieces, same raw wood stock, many cast metal pieces, a sheet of PE parts, various bits and pieces of hardware, a sheet of Lexan for the "glass," a sheet of graphics, etc. A little bit of everything goes into these kits.

The best price I found online was from a place called Cornwall Model Boats Ltd., a hobby shop in Camelford, England.

Here's the kit that arrived today...More to come...

[Harry P.]

Open the box and this is what you see...

And what's inside... several sheets of laser-cut wood parts, a bunch of raw wood stock, strips of aluminum, a box of cast metal parts along with various other bits and pieces, and a sheet of Lexan that you have to cut up to make the "glass," a sheet of photoetched parts, and a roll of soft brass rod...

[cobraman]

Packed well. Looks like a challenge but sure you will do it justice. i will be watching. Building another in the summer ???

[Harry P.]

You also get a full-color instruction book, a separate sheet of written instructions, and a sheet of graphics. The graphics are not decals, but are printed on plain paper. The builder has to decide the best way to attach them to the model. More on that later..

[Harry P.]

Here's what comes in that clear plastic box. Cast metal parts, hardware, a sheet of photoetched parts, a roll of heavy twine, several small sheets of aluminum, and a couple of chunks of basswood...

[Nacho Z]

1:24 scale is not your normal scale.  What made you decide to do this one?  I am going to assume subject matter.

[Cato]

They left out the Rosary beads too...

[Harry P.]

1:24 scale is not your normal scale.  What made you decide to do this one?  I am going to assume subject matter.

Yes, subject matter. I have already built several other of these OcCre kits (San Francisco cable car, London tram, Berlin tram, London double-decker bus). Plus I love working with wood. There's just something about building a wooden kit that I love. Maybe the smell of the wood? Or the way the wood responds to sandpaper? I don't know, really... just know that I love to build wooden kits... ships, trams, whatever! For some reason I find working with wood relaxing.

[Crazy Ed]

      Wow, thats going to be an interesting WIP to be sure. Think I'm going to follow this one!

[Jim B]

Looks like a really complicated kit.  Assembly should be interesting to watch.

[GTJUNIOR]

I'll definitely be following this Harry. Looks like a very interesting kit. 

[Harry P.]

First step was to use a pencil and number each of the parts, using the numbered guides in the instruction book. Then I used my X-acto to cut all the parts away from the sheets... then used sandpaper and a sanding stick to smooth all the "nubs" where the parts were connected to the sheet. I like to do this all at one time... remove all the parts and clean up all the parts at one time. That way I can build without constantly going back and removing/cleaning up parts as I go. It's just a personal preference. Here I am beginning to assemble the ends of the tram...

And here are both ends, partially complete (the "front" and the "back" of the tram is identical).

On the inside, there are no individual seats, just a long, continuous bench running lengthwise on either side of the center aisle. These the partially-built benches. You can see how the engineer the parts to fit together precisely.

 

[Agent G]

That looks like fun!

I will definitely stay tuned.

G

 

[Harry P.]

The floor needs to be planked with 1x3mm basswood strips...

[Harry P.]

The trick is to keep the strips straight and square and parallel as you go across the floor...

[Harry P.]

And another tricky part is that you have to leave areas unplanked so that the benches can later be glued into their locating slots on the floor...

Now I will sand the floor surface smooth, and paint the floor a medium gray.

[Jim B]

Neatly done.  Already well beyond my skill level.

[Harry P.]

I painted the floor with gray acrylic paint, then I ran a pencil across some coarse sandpaper to create graphite dust, which I rubbed onto the floor to dirty it up a bit and make it look more like the floor of real, working streetcar and not a museum restoration.

[cobraman]

Does most of the interior get painted as opposed to stained ?

[Harry P.]

The whole interior except the floor will be stained and varnished. The instructions actually call for the floor to be stained and varnished too, but I wanted a little contrast in the interior; didn't want everything in there the same color, so I went with the gray painted floor.

[CometMan]

Another very interesting subject, Harry! Should be another great one.

[Harry P.]

The benches were planked with the same 1x3mm planks as used on the floor, sanded smooth, front edge rounded over.

The corner joints of the bench's pedestal bases were filed with Bondo, sanded smooth, and painted a reddish brown...

The benches were then glued to the floor and the benches stained...

Once the stain is dry I will "varnish" the benches with several layers of clear acrylic (Future).

[Harry P.]

The door panel detail was simply drawn on with a black ballpoint pen...

Then the doors and the cab end walls were all stained...

[cobraman]

Man, you are going great guns on this kit.

[sjordan2]

Makes me wonder why you don't jump in with 1:24-25 car kits.