New Series - Building 1/16 Scale Model Tram in Model Engineer

Ashley best begins a series of articles describing the construction of Stockport 53, his final tram in his Manchester project. Part 1 is in issue 4456 of Model Engineer, on sale until the 30th May. Included in the article is a drawing of the car.

Another Model Tram Series in Model Engineer

I am a little late with this, but Ashley Best is running another series in Model Engineer. He is describing building his Bury 1/16 model tramcar number 13. It started a couple of issues ago – No. 4374 and part 2 is in the current issue No.4376. That is in newsagents until 5th May.

You can find more details here Model Engineer.

Painting

I started last year on the painting, but then put the model to one side for quite a while.

Went back to it a few months ago. As I reported in my previous blog, I could not find a green that I was happy with. I have spent years, in between other tasks, trying many products! In the end I bit the bullet and decided to mix up some Humbrol Enamel paint. The Dundee Trams were Mid-Green or Grass Green, so I mixed Mid-Green (101) and added Yellow (24). As this is a large model I needed to mix a large amount so I used a 50ml glass bottle. To test the colours I used a reject side frame.

Here are some of the colours I experimented with. The other side has more colours.

I painted the stairs as the first stage on the model itself.

I am now painting the lower-saloon. It was a couple of months from painting the green on the stairs until painting the lower-saloon. During that time the bottle of green of paint formed a skin on the top, so it was not completely air-tight. To avoid this repeating, I have decanted the green into an emptied 50ml Humbrol tin.

It’s been sometime since I updated

Noticed it has been a little time since I updated this. Not sure anyone is following this?

What have I been doing, well rubbing down, filling and painting. Someone said to me, that when you get to the point of painting, then you are 50% done. I can understand that now. It does take some time and I am only on the undercoat. I am also having some difficulty deciding what shade of green to paint the car. There is a book of colour photos, but with the vagaries of early colour photography, the darkening of varnish over time, it is very difficult to find a colour I am happy with. Using a reject side frame that has been panelled, I have been experimenting with some shades of green. Since no one can recall, I suppose no one is going to say that it is wrong???

Fitted the Upper Saloon Vestibules

A few weeks ago, I fitted both upper saloon stair vestibules and destination screens to the upper saloon. The wiring runs under the vestibule screen.

Finished the trim on the lower saloon

 

Wet Easter, so finished the trim on the lower saloon.

Chroming the brass parts

The Lochee car like many from the 1930’s had chrome fittings. I purchased a kit to attempt home chroming of the various fittings. Some time was spent in trial and error but the final results seem ok.  Here are some parts after chroming. The process used a small electric wall power unit, hence the cable for the negative on the controller top plate.