# Chrismas Project; a trolley under the tree



## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

OK, I should have known that buying a cheap, secondhand, christmas train online and thinking it will fit perfectly on G scale tracks was a bit naive... Although the boxart on the pictures stated: "fits all 0 and G scale...".

Turns out that PERHAPS it indeed is a sort of 0 scale train, although the tracks have there own -non standard- gauge and that PERHAPS the station included could be useable for a G scale dwarf station. 
Most dissapointing was that there were 2 wires hanging out of the locomotive and that the only thing working was the headlight. Screwing the locomotive open to check; the transmision turns out to be sort of enforced with paper tissues (!) by the former owner in order to keep the motor in place. Also the wiring was cutted and soldered together more than once by the former owner, appearently to try to get the thing working. 
The locomotive came with a tender and three cars. Two cars have animated figures on them; "powered" by one of the wheels. Due to the lack of weight this wheel only stutter a bit when pulled (by hand that is). No animation took place, not even after oiling and cleaning...

My lovely wive was allready looking at me and "Told you so" was allready on her lips (actually, she DID warned me before I bought the wreck online!!!). 

OK, time to take my loss! I want a train under my tree this year and again My Large Scale offered me a source of inspiration!!
I came across the Ted Roy his New Freight Motor Build and I foud the trolley look great and very inspirational! Those interurban trolleys and trams look almost like if they come out of a sort of phantasyworld. 

So, I took out my Dremel and get started wit a cheap and ugly bash project! 
I mounted the motor directly on one of the carriages/bogies. I had to cut out a part of the base:










Notice that the front bogie is in its 'original yellow plastic' livery and red wheels. I painted the other one black. Also the weels are painted black, but after testruns the black paint wears of the wheels... Have to get a stickier paint I guess!

Than two swithes (on/off and backward/forward) wired between the motor and the battery. It turns out that the moter runs the chassis allready very steady at 1,5 volts and on a very convincing speed. 
So on the picture below it is powered with only 1 battery. There wille be more batteries but I will place them serial, so it will stay 1,5 volts but with more power.










After a series of succesfull testruns I started with the sidings. They are all built out of styrene plate with Evergreen grooved plate on top.
The trolley is sort or less 1:32 scale. On the picture you can see different stages of the sidings; the one below is almost finished.










Fronts are constructed using the Evergreen grooved plate. I carved the grooves with a hobby knive; this makes the plastic bending from itself.
It was supported with extra pieces of plastic to keep the right shape.









Building up:










It's begining to look like a trolley! The figure is a cheap toy figure in 1:32 scale. 










Scrathbuilding the cowcathers:



















Next is the roof. I'm experimenting with balsa and cardboard. I'll take pictures soon when Il find some time this week to work further on this trolley. Hope you liked it so far!!

Paul


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## Ted_Roy (Jan 2, 2008)

Paul, 

I could only wish to fabricate as fast as you do! Looks great, and should be a good runner. Great pictures, I cannot wait to see what you are going to do for the roof. 

Ted.


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## Steamnutt (Apr 12, 2008)

Lookin' good!!!!!!!! 

Can't wait to see the progress of this. Keep the pic's coming! Ol' St. Nick will be traveling in class under your tree!


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow, nice work and quick. You should post it over in the large scale trolley group, they would like to see it, I'm sure.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/largescaleTrolley/


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Looking good. Looks like you figured out how to correct a mistake and came up with a neat idea. Later RJD


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice pilot!


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

By golly... one CAN make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Thanks for the nice comments!  

Here some pictures of my (struggle with the) roof. 










First I cutted out the right form on a thin sheet of card and glued two layer of 2 mm balsa on it. In the mid I placed some balsa wood strips for the higher part of the roof. Than I sanded the roof in form. 
I tried to give the roof surface a smoother look by glueing aluminium foil on top of it. Perhaps this can work well, but with me the foil crancked to much. Not smooth at all! But removing the foil would damage the roof. 
So I came up with an idea to use several layers of thick white glue to "fill the crancks". Actually this worked very well; 2 to 3 layers will provide a relatively smooth surface! 

The smaller, higher part of the roof was also made out of card. However I did not like the appearence of it. So I decided to glue a very thin strip of styreen sheet over the cardboard. I used contact glue (Bison) for it becaude I had to glue the styrene on the papercard. First I glued the flat part of the upper roof. Than I bent the styrene and I cutted the ends of the roofstrip to match the rouded fronts. Than I glued both ends in place, using tape to keep it in place. The result was a beuatifull smooth roof. Unfortunatly, after a few hours the glue melted the styrene on several places!!! 
So I had to sand the styrene and fill holes and dameges with putty and sand it again to get it straight... 
Also I used a layer of white glue on this fo a finnish. 












Painting the white glue: 










Primer (still wet): 










After primer is dry I'm afraid I have to sand it again (and perhaps again and again). 

Also I noticed I just completely forget those little windows on the sides of the upper roof supports!!!! There is nothing there on my roof! Perhaps I place some small "fake" windows (pieces of plastic)? 

Actually... I am thinking to redo the roof... But not for now! 
I will make the roof removable so I can replace it later with a more detailed one. This way I finnish the model first (so at least it is on time for christmas) and replace the roof later. 

Now I'm thinking of scratching a trolley pole on the roof. Any ideas? 

Paul


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## Dennis Paulson (Jan 2, 2008)

Your trolley is looking really good , nice work . You could consider no pole , and just say that it is a third rail operation , and leave it at that . 
As I look at the model it looks like something I've seen a book or photograph somewhere .


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## rwjenkins (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Dennis Paulson on 25 Nov 2009 11:19 AM 
As I look at the model it looks like something I've seen a book or photograph somewhere . 
I'm seeing a strong resemblance to the Shelburne Falls & Colrain no. 10, an 1896 Wason car preserved at the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum in Massachusetts... 

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?p...229753.jpg

Nice work on the model!


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## joechoochoo (Dec 27, 2007)

Wow.... thank you for the pictures. I built a cowcatcher for kids train at church. that was one of the hardest things I ever bult.


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## harvey (Dec 30, 2008)

J.G. Brill woud be proud of you. 
Well done and what a great effort.


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## ohioriverrailway (Jan 2, 2008)

That's a really nice piece of work. The cowcatchers and the car ends are particularly impressive. And be sure to post over on the LST Yahoo group. The folks there will get a kick out of the project.


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Thanks all! 

Fast little update: 
Here some pictures of the trolley getting it's red livery. I painted a base with Tamiya bright flat red. The roof is painted black (what is more 'gentle' for little bumps and errors in the roofs surface).


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

BTW, it does look indeed like the Shelburne Falls & Colrain no. 10! 
And that's funny because I builded it straight from my fantasy, using pictures from other models as reference but "cropping" it to fit on my chassis... 
Thanks for linking that picture!!


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

This is were I stranded with the project; grips and frosted glas... Way behind schedule!!












*Why stranded?*
Well, the problem is the following; running the chassis only gives great results but running with body and roof mounted on the chassis just don't work!!! The thing won't run, not even a bit.... If I lift the model, the wheels spin freely but when I place it on the track it freezes..
I changed the batteries, tried several voltages, removed and added weight; nothing works!
I'm afraid there is only 1 conclusion; the motor is to weak... Strange because I used the motor from the trainset (but than again, looking at all the problems in the first place I would not be suprised this is not the original motor at all...).


So I have to replace the motor with a stronger one that also fits in place... I'm afraid it is not finnished at Christmas this year...










On the other side, I rewired the station (so the lights stay on the whole time, and not only when a sound effect button is pressed). Most important; I reduced the sound level of the thing!!! 
So, this is how it had to look like....: 










Hopefully I can report some more succesfull progress on the trolley soon...


*So no running trains arround the tree?? * Sure they run! Luckely I found an old Triang/Lima train on an auction site last week!!! 
It brings back many memories as I and my brothers played as kids with those trains. The trains were given to nephews when we got older and got totally demolished by them...
I never saw these Trian/Lima trains anymore (for at least 25 years!) so I'm very happy to find one again!

Now, watch my youngest son demonstrate the station sounds as the Train train runs arround the christmas tree!!!


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