1902 Stuttgart tram FINISHED!

[Harry P.]

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

They're too small for my tastes.

[Harry P.]

On the front and back ends (remember, the front and back of the tram are identical), you form the curves on the face panel by gluing in a series of 2x2mm basswood strips. Sort of a clunky way to do it, IMO. I think a better solution would have been some thick cardstock, which would form a nice, smooth curve. Doing it according to the kit instructions means I'll have to fill the gaps with Bondo and then sand the curves smooth. Maybe I'll just go ahead and cover everything with some cardstock anyway...

[slusher]

On the front and back ends (remember, the front and back of the tram are identical), you form the curves on the face panel by gluing in a series of 2x2mm basswood strips. Sort of a clunky way to do it, IMO. I think a better solution would have been some thick cardstock, which would form a nice, smooth curve. Doing it according to the kit instructions means I'll have to fill the gaps with Bondo and then sand the curves smooth. Maybe I'll just go ahead and cover everything with some cardstock anyway...

So using cardstock would eliminate bondo and sanding? Your idea makes sense ..

[Harry P.]

I think it does!

[Harry P.]

Jumping around the instruction book... this is the framework of the roof structure. The reason the edges of the parts are so dark is because those edges are burned. Remember, the wood parts are laser-cut, so the edges of the parts will show the charring from the laser.

[Harry P.]

The bolt head detail on the chassis parts are done with small round-head brass pins...

Eventually these parts will be painted "steel" and then black washed to bring out the bolt head detail.

[Harry P.]

The outer walls of the main cabin have been stained, and the window frames painted a cream color...

[Harry P.]

And the interior end walls of the cabin have been stained and "varnished" with Future, as have the benches. This is the beginning of the passenger compartment...

[slusher]

Harry, do you brush the stain or varnish or rub it on with a rag???

[Harry P.]

For the stain, I brush it on, let it sit a while, then use paper towels to wipe down the parts. Once dry I brush on several coats of Future. And since the graphics in this kit are not decals, but just printed on plain paper, I also use Future as the "glue" to attach them (like the signs on the interior end walls and those ventilation grates at the top).

[cobraman]

Coming along nicely.

[GTJUNIOR]

Looking good Harry. Another idea for the front and rear ends would be to form some thin wood veneer around the whole of the structure. No joints or filler. Similar concept to the card stock, but would be more in keeping with the build material of the kit. 

[Harry P.]

Looking good Harry. Another idea for the front and rear ends would be to form some thin wood veneer around the whole of the structure. No joints or filler. Similar concept to the card stock, but would be more in keeping with the build material of the kit. 

Yes, but on the real thing that panel is sheetmetal... so I think I'll go with the cardstock.

[GTJUNIOR]

Ok. In that case, cardstock makes perfect sense. Still enjoying the progress on this kit. 

[Harry P.]

The way the kit is designed, the window frames and the side walls are laser cut so that the window frames are right inside the window openings... in other words, in the place they will be on the finished model. The problem with that is, once you cut the window frames away from the side walls and sand down all the connecting "nubs" on both the frames and their openings in the side walls, the frames are too small to be glued back into the openings! The laser cutting itself, of course, creates a gap between frame and opening, and sanding all the edges smooth makes the frames that much smaller and the openings that much bigger. We're talking maybe the thickness of a piece of cardstock, but still, the frames just float around in the openings. If you glue one side of the frame to the side wall, there will be a big gap on the other side. What I needed to do is to make the frames bigger somehow.

So I came up with a pretty easy way to do it... I cut thin strips of masking tape and just "wrapped" the frames, going around them 2-3 times. That extra thickness of the tape let me place the frames in the openings with a nice friction fit. All I had to do then was flow CA into the joints and the frames were attached...

[Harry P.]

However... I made a big mistake by installing the window frames so soon.

The way the kit is engineered, you have to build the floor and the benches, than add the end walls to that assembly, then add the outer "skins" of the passenger compartment sides. As you can see in the photo in the last post above, the corners of the cabin walls have those mortise-and-tenon type joints. In most cases these joints are hidden by clever engineering, bit in the case of the main cabin walls, those joints are visible when the walls are installed. They have to be filed in with Bondo, then smoothed out, to hide the mortises and tenons.

What makes this sort of tricky is the fact that when you get to this point, the interior is already finished, and the glass on the end walls already installed. So I have to be careful when doing the Bondo and sanding everything smooth, I don't get too much dust and junk in the interior.

Also... I shouldn't have installed the window frames yet. You can see that I have to fill in the corner joints of the walls and sand them smooth while not scratching or sanding the window frames. It would have been easier if at this point the frames weren't already installed, but oh well...

[Harry P.]

I managed to fill and smooth the corners without messing up anything...

[Harry P.]

The graphics are printed on plain paper, so they have to be cut out exactly along their edges. Before I apply them, I paint the edges to match the color of the graphics... otherwise you will see a white line along the edges of the graphics when they are applied...

And here they are applied to one end of the passenger compartment...

[Harry P.]

I added card stock on the front panels, then the kit graphics over that, then glued the front and back end on...

[Harry P.]

The kit supplies a roll of soft brass wire that you're supposed to use to make all the brass grab rails and bars. But there's no way to make perfectly straight pieces out of a roll of brass wire. I will use K&S brass rod instead. Here are the four grab bars for the cab corners, made of K&S brass and strip styrene...

[cobraman]

Nice work !

[Harry P.]

The overhead light fixtures are cast metal. Here they are attached to the center ceiling strip...

The problem is, once you plank the roof, they will be almost invisible...

[Harry P.]

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

Assembled and sprayed Rustoleum Brass and then Testors Transparent Black Window Tint...

And installed...

[Harry P.]

The roof of the superstructure that runs front to back and sits on top of the cupola is made of sheets of aluminum that you have to pre-bend to shape and then glue onto the wooden framework...

[slusher]

Really nice progress and work Harry...