Berlin Tram Occre

[Aginvicta]

This is a model of one of the oldest trams that ran in Berlin. It was built by Böker & Cie, Remscheid and remained in service until 1943, it was fitted with two 16. 7 kW AEG motors, was 28 feet long, 6 ½ feet wide and 11 feet high, and weighed in when empty at 8.5 tonnes. It had sitting room for 20, plus another 12 standing. The kit is produced by Occre in Spain, is 1:24 scale and contains laser cut wood for the body frames, wood strip for the seats and roof, cast metal for the running gear, driver controls, and clear plastic for the windows. I built Occre's London Bus a year or so ago and really enjoyed it, so I decided to have a go at one of their tram kits. The instuction manual has clear photographs for each stage of the build. The written instructions are in Spannish and English, but I have discovered the parts list that is in English is for a different kit, so I'll have to get my daughter, who is learning Spannish at school, to translate the parts list for me.

I cut the floor out and then fitted the seat suppots in place. There are two different seat supports to be fitted each side so it was a case of making sure the correct supportwas in the right place and that everything was straight and upright. Leaving it overnight to allow the glue to cure, I then fitted the lower sides to the seat supports.

Andy

[AndyC]

Cool subject! I've got a 1/48 San Francisco tram to make and was considering pulling it out the stash

[Aginvicta]

There has been a strange yellow/orange round thing in the skies here the last couple of weeks and it's been warm enough to go out without the normal hat, scarf, gloves, coat etc, so I've been either sorting the garden out or playing tennis. I have managed to get a bit further with this tram. 9 strips of 3mm wide "planks" have to be fitted to the floor of the tram between the seats. They have to have a gap of "about" 1mm according to the instructions, and fortunately my 12" steel rule is "about" 1mm thick so it makes a good way to keep the planks the correct distance apart. They were cut slightly over length and once the glue was dried, the ends were trimmed off flush with the edge of the floor. The floor assembly has then to be painted grey, so I used Tamiya neutral grey which looked about right. Once this was all dry, the next stage was to fit 5mm wide strips of Sapelli wood to the seat bench fronts. These have to be fitted vertically and are about 16mm long. The ones in the middle have to have a bit cut out so they fit around the middle seat support which was a bit fiddly, but after they were fitted the rest went on without any problems, just took a bit of time to do. I left this overnight to dry and then filed the strips so they were flush with the tops of the seat supports. It was time now to start on the seating strips, the first one is 3mm by 3mm Ramin wood and fits in the cut out on each seat support. After that it's a case of alternating between 3mm by 2mm Sapelli and 3mm by 2mm Ramin. That's where I am at the moment,

Andy

[Aginvicta]

Getting the seats finished has taken a while. The strips where the seat back starts had to have angles filed on the edges to get them to fit round the curve, lots of careful measuring and filing, but finally it was completed. The last 2 strips are 5mm by 2mm Sapelli and once fitted they have a 2mm by 2mm Sapelli strip glued either underneath or behind the larger strip. The strips on the seat fronts were difficault to fit, the strips were slightly warped and I had to hold them in place until the glue started to set, I couldn't get any on my clamps to sit right without damaging the strip. All the ends just need to be trimmed flush with the sides. The 4 sliding doors were removed and then painted, brown one side, green the other, before the "glass" was added using small dots of C.A. gel. The 8 small window frames that go on the 2 ends of the passenger compartment have also been painted brown and the "glass" fitted.

Andy

[Aginvicta]

The seats have now had a couple of coats of satin varnish, so it was time to focus my attention on the passenger compartment ends. There are 3 parts that need to be glued together with 2 sliding doors sandwiched in between, and then 2 window frames glued in place either side. The 4 end pieces were painted cream using B&Q Custard Cream, and then the middle piece was carefully glued to one of the end pieces ensuring it was lined up on all sides. This was then clamped whilst the glue dried.

The 2 sliding doors were then put in place making sure they were the correct way round and then the other end piece was glued, again making sure everything was lined up, and then clamped and left overnight.

The window frames were then added and any rough edges smoothed down and paint touched up. The doors are supposed to move but I have glued them, I don't want them getting damaged through people trying to open and close them. There are cast metals handles to fit to the doors next, I am in the process of cleaning them up, there is a little bit of mould offset on them, they then need to be painted gold.

Andy

[Aginvicta]

Having fitted the door handles it was now time to fit the cabin ends in place. After a little bit of trimming to the locating tabs the cabin end was glued in place and clamped making sure it was upright.

This was left overnight and then the other end was glued on. I painted the main side frames on both sides. I don't know what it is with paints these days, but I need to put about 3 or 4 coats on before I start to get a half decent finish. After numerous coats of paint, the first side piece was dry fitted, the two end pieces weren't quite upright so I had to push them apart a little bit to get the side frame to fit. It was then glued and pinned in place, and then left overnight. A smaller lower side piece was glued, one either side and also pinned in place. A piece of clear plastic was cut to size with small cut outs in the top to allow for fitting the roof supports and then attached to the inside of the side frame with dots of C.A. gel. The second side frame was a little bit warped, well when I say a little bit, I've seen straighter looking bananas, so I glued the window glazing on to the outside of the "warp" and then glued and pinned it into place, this helped to straighten it out and once the roof frames are fitted it should be ok. I have filled in some small gaps on all four corner joins and once that is dry and smoothed down, I need to fit two planks each side in between the upper and lower side frames.

Andy

[Aginvicta]

The two planks on each side have now been fitted, and it took all of last weekend sitting in the sun in the garden to smooth down the planks and get them flush with the other side panels. A couple of coats of paint has shown where I need to add some more wood filler and this will get done later today hopefully. The two small window frames that go on the roof were cut out and trimmed until they fitted in place. I added the glazing before I fitted the frames, there are 4 cross pieces that also need fitting and it would have been really difficault to fit the glazing after they were fitted. The top window frames and cross pieces are now fitted and painted and the whole thing is starting to look like the picture on the box.

I have now moved on to the area where the driver stands. First of all some panelling has to be done. 3mm wide wood strip is used and this has to be cut and fitted as per the instructions. I marked out the position of each strip on each back piece and then fitted the horizontal strips first.

Each strip has to be the same length and there are 16 to fit in total. I used a vernier caliper to get the lengths exactly right. It was then a case of making sure all the other vertical strips fitted. The hardest part was getting the strips that go in between the vertical strips the correct length. I am in the process of building up the front (rear) area of the tram and trying to get both ends to look the same.

Andy

[grindle]

Nice one Andy...Ed

Are you going to carry on with this Build Andrew Ed..

Edited July 26, 2016 by grindle