tramcar trev
all manner of mechanical apparatus...
Weatherproofing the roof.
I wanted the roof to look like the original which is wood with canvas stretched over it. As it turned out its easier to do than I thought it was going to be. I found a scrap of Muslin left over from some long gone project. Seems to be capable of accepting a compound curve and it’s about right for “G” scale Canvas….
To do the job I cut the “canvas” oversize about 12’’mm all around. Set it aside while I filled a small pump pack with Acetone, and then lay the canvas on the plastic surface. Next spray the acetone over it and then gently smooth the canvas down with fingertips. I found the acetone dried too quickly so I mixed up some 50 -50 with GP thinners and this gives a better working time. The solvent melts the plastic and grabs the canvas. I let that dry for a few minutes then nicked the corners with a sharp scalpel so I could do “hospital folds at the corners on the edge the repeated the spraying and smoothing down. The dampened plastic gets very tacky and so holds the muslin in place. When dry, using a new scalpel blade, trim off the excess. Any bits that stick to places where you don’t want it can be either pulled off or sanded off using 240 grit paper. For precise placement of the solvent you apply it with a small brush and pretend your working with fibreglass and resin, worked well where I had to stretch the muslin at the ends....
If it goes awry I found that if I resprayed the Muslin it could be lifted and reworked till I was happy. I predrilled the holes in the roof for the various parts that pass through but that may not have been necessary but I didn’t want to risk furry holes. Paint to the colour required, in this case a mid grey and it’s done…. Maybe later on I’ll get some matte black in an airbrush and “dirty up the roof” just for a little realism…
Gives quite a realistic effect, I had no idea this was going to work….
Then, or should I say concurrently, I was working on the boiler back head and smoke box door. The former is a slice of the plastic former for the boiler with a 3mm radius on the edge and the details are made from styrene sheet. Notice the absence of water gauges? They do not appear on my drawing but they are on the real thing. I decided that they would look nice so contacted my “old supplier” of glass tube seeking some 1.5mm glass tube, I thought it would look quite real with some brown liquid in the bottom half. Anyway things have changed; my regular supplier of glass tube no longer is there and said “which department do you work for? Have you got a job code? “What”, says I, “for 30mm of glass tube” Spose not says this new guy and he wanders off and comes back to tell me the smallest tube they have is 5mm…. BUGGA
Ok well I may leave off the water gauges for the moment till I can source something that will suit.
The later, the smoke box door I machined up from some brass rod and drilled holes to fit the imitation bolts through, the astute will have noticed that there are 2 holes with no bolts, that’s so that I can bolt on the 2 diagonal braces when all is assembled and painted.
While all this was going on I was tinkering with the smoke generator. Couldn’t get a die cast box to fit so I had to get a longer one and take a 20mm slice out of the middle of it then rejoin the box with industrial strength super glue. It all came together in the end as can be seen makes more than enough smoke; the 2 tubes that poke out the bottom will go to the cylinders to provide steam leaks…
Then a dry run just to be absolutely certain that all the “stuff” is going to fit inside the boiler – and it does with millimeters to spare, about 2 mm that is.
Next task is to work on the pistons and skirts, after that the radio control Transmitter should be here with the associated receivers and ESC’s.
I wanted the roof to look like the original which is wood with canvas stretched over it. As it turned out its easier to do than I thought it was going to be. I found a scrap of Muslin left over from some long gone project. Seems to be capable of accepting a compound curve and it’s about right for “G” scale Canvas….
To do the job I cut the “canvas” oversize about 12’’mm all around. Set it aside while I filled a small pump pack with Acetone, and then lay the canvas on the plastic surface. Next spray the acetone over it and then gently smooth the canvas down with fingertips. I found the acetone dried too quickly so I mixed up some 50 -50 with GP thinners and this gives a better working time. The solvent melts the plastic and grabs the canvas. I let that dry for a few minutes then nicked the corners with a sharp scalpel so I could do “hospital folds at the corners on the edge the repeated the spraying and smoothing down. The dampened plastic gets very tacky and so holds the muslin in place. When dry, using a new scalpel blade, trim off the excess. Any bits that stick to places where you don’t want it can be either pulled off or sanded off using 240 grit paper. For precise placement of the solvent you apply it with a small brush and pretend your working with fibreglass and resin, worked well where I had to stretch the muslin at the ends....
If it goes awry I found that if I resprayed the Muslin it could be lifted and reworked till I was happy. I predrilled the holes in the roof for the various parts that pass through but that may not have been necessary but I didn’t want to risk furry holes. Paint to the colour required, in this case a mid grey and it’s done…. Maybe later on I’ll get some matte black in an airbrush and “dirty up the roof” just for a little realism…
Gives quite a realistic effect, I had no idea this was going to work….








Ok well I may leave off the water gauges for the moment till I can source something that will suit.
The later, the smoke box door I machined up from some brass rod and drilled holes to fit the imitation bolts through, the astute will have noticed that there are 2 holes with no bolts, that’s so that I can bolt on the 2 diagonal braces when all is assembled and painted.
While all this was going on I was tinkering with the smoke generator. Couldn’t get a die cast box to fit so I had to get a longer one and take a 20mm slice out of the middle of it then rejoin the box with industrial strength super glue. It all came together in the end as can be seen makes more than enough smoke; the 2 tubes that poke out the bottom will go to the cylinders to provide steam leaks…
Then a dry run just to be absolutely certain that all the “stuff” is going to fit inside the boiler – and it does with millimeters to spare, about 2 mm that is.
Next task is to work on the pistons and skirts, after that the radio control Transmitter should be here with the associated receivers and ESC’s.