Hi all
I have been plodding on with one of these kits for my other half and thought I would share my experiences with you.
She likes that period of history and wanted something of her own to run that wasn't a loco. Turned out she had a relative that was on the trams in Derby so we went for that. I was going to scratch one up but then Occre announced their new kit and so I got one from Glendale Junction.
I know it isn't strictly correct for Derby but it has the right "feel" I think.
Anyway, the kit is ok but not great, several silly mistakes in the design and a strange order of construction with that preference for painting and glazing midway through the construction. It is also VERY fragile, even though I have reinforced it and replaced the front aprons with brass, if you are going to run it then you will have to be carefull. The long handrails around the upper deck are all new from K&S instead of the nasty coiled stuff in the kit, the mesh was cut out and glued into each section propperly rather than just laying it behind. The stairs were very poor and had to be redone which was difficult with their curved shape.
As I said, I changed several bits and reinforced it, throwing quite a bit away and rethinking the construction order.
I didn't like the motor design so opted to do my own from some wheels I had in stock. I used a bit of scrap nickel and a low voltage geared motor from Como drills, plus some gears from mecanno that I machined to fit and also some delrin chain to link the axles. The plan is to have some AA battery's under the floor to power it and the lights, just a simple on/off switch with no reverse will do.
You can see that I did some coats of off white and then either hand painted or airbrushed the rest, plus used my lining pen quite a bit.
It still isn't finished yet but you can see how far it is. I am just getting some nice transfers made for it then I can glaze it and finish the upper deck. It is a big thing in our scale but looks great I think after all the work.
As to whether I would recommend it.........it would depend on your skills, but I would say for me personaly it would have been far easier and cheaper to build it from scratch! Plus it would be far stronger!
Cheers
Rob
I have been plodding on with one of these kits for my other half and thought I would share my experiences with you.
She likes that period of history and wanted something of her own to run that wasn't a loco. Turned out she had a relative that was on the trams in Derby so we went for that. I was going to scratch one up but then Occre announced their new kit and so I got one from Glendale Junction.
I know it isn't strictly correct for Derby but it has the right "feel" I think.
Anyway, the kit is ok but not great, several silly mistakes in the design and a strange order of construction with that preference for painting and glazing midway through the construction. It is also VERY fragile, even though I have reinforced it and replaced the front aprons with brass, if you are going to run it then you will have to be carefull. The long handrails around the upper deck are all new from K&S instead of the nasty coiled stuff in the kit, the mesh was cut out and glued into each section propperly rather than just laying it behind. The stairs were very poor and had to be redone which was difficult with their curved shape.
As I said, I changed several bits and reinforced it, throwing quite a bit away and rethinking the construction order.
I didn't like the motor design so opted to do my own from some wheels I had in stock. I used a bit of scrap nickel and a low voltage geared motor from Como drills, plus some gears from mecanno that I machined to fit and also some delrin chain to link the axles. The plan is to have some AA battery's under the floor to power it and the lights, just a simple on/off switch with no reverse will do.
You can see that I did some coats of off white and then either hand painted or airbrushed the rest, plus used my lining pen quite a bit.
It still isn't finished yet but you can see how far it is. I am just getting some nice transfers made for it then I can glaze it and finish the upper deck. It is a big thing in our scale but looks great I think after all the work.
As to whether I would recommend it.........it would depend on your skills, but I would say for me personaly it would have been far easier and cheaper to build it from scratch! Plus it would be far stronger!
Cheers
Rob
