Should have said but I will publish the Glasgow trams when I have finished them and, most importantly,written the instructions

Jim

Hi all,Just found and read the articals on card modeling trams, have been modeling trams and railway related items in 3DSmax2009sp1 and, unfolding using Pepakura for some time now, texture being prepared using PSP7, anyone not able to aford max or the like COULD, use the free software Sketchup8, works in a very freindly way, just save and import to pepa as a 3DS file, the rest is a little easier, just remember to unfold manualy and NOT!!!!, AUTO, try it that way and you`ll see what i mean; if i can help any one wanting to have a go at card modeling in 3D and unfolding such, give me a shout mates………………………..

 

                                                                     Regards to all,

                                                                                 Tom…………………….

 

                                              

http://www.transport179.republika.pl/projj_2100.html

   Hi again,

            This site covers quite a nice selection of card model trams, have a look and see what you all think; used it in the past, very nice models, not to hard, nicely coloured, and, D/L rather well……………..

                                                        Regards till later my friends,

 

                                                                       Tom……………aka..mckinnell.

 

 

Hi Tom
Welcome to the asylum.
Those models look good but do you have a scale or do we need to work it out from the actual measurements?
I'll download one of them later and see what I can dig up and if there is a conversion factor needed.

Regards
Jim

Hi Jim,

            OOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooopppppps sorry to leave that important scale size missing, well its HO, or 1/87, BUT, its easy to re-scale to 1/76 or any othet sizes, i`ll see what other sites i have listed…………

 

                                                     Best regards to you mate,

 

                                                                    Tom…………………………….

Hi Tom

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that that's HO to 00 = multiply by 1.1447368?
That is on 1:87 to 1:76.

Jim

Jim,

     I found the scale percentage change is  114.4737%,  hope that helps………………….

 

                                                          Regards,

                                                                       Tom………………………

Heres yet another one for all to view………..

 

 

                          Regards………………..Tom..

 

http://blackpooltramnets.wordpress.com/

Hi Tom
We agree but have expressed it differently. I did the sum 87/76 = 1.1447368 meaning that you multiply your dimension in feet by that number and use that as the size in millimetres. You have basically the same thing but to one decimal place less and at that size there will be no discernable difference unless you use a micrometer (and a damn good one at that) so we agree.

However, 4/3.5 = 1.1428571 and use the same method as above.

But whch should we use and why is there a difference?:eek:

Is there a scale "GURU" on the board who can answer this?

Keep up the good work
Jim

Hi Guys
All rail modellers need some form of test track and I am no exception. But as a tramway modeller I have different requirements to railway modellers. However there are many areas of overlap and recently one occured when I rebuilt my test track.
The back story here is that there is a district in North East Glasgow known as Provanmill. With a single change of a letter it becomes PROVENMILL and a suitable name for a test track. So on to the back story. During the Blitz a bridge on the rail viaduct was hit by a bomb and as this was a passenger line and not important to the war effort the bridge was simply removed and the end of the viaduct walled up and consequently the section of track was used as a siding.
 
The truth of the matter is that Provenmill is a 500X450mm rectangle of track with four 90 degree bends of 150mm radius each. Since it’s a street tramway this is not a handicap and quite acceptable for tram tracks. It is however not a particularly inspiring or pleasing setup and, as with many model layouts, a disguise of the facts was needed. Another problem was that in order to squeeze the track onto the board a section of the track came too close one edge of the board to allow anything to be built on that side. So in the planning stage I opted for a short street scene backed by a viaduct with the tram tracks running either side of the viaduct and since there was a bomb damaged bridge which had been removed I did not have to build a second bridge as there was no viaduct for it to bridge to.
This is where the overlap comes in. I needed a rail bridge to go from one side of the second street to the other side. My plate girder bowstring bridge was OK to cover the distance as it had been designed to do this on another layout but this was at an awkward angle so I needed something else. A plate steel bridge looked like it would fit the bill so I designed and built one based on the one at Shipley station in Bradford. The results you can see below.
The shunter running down the street is acceptable for Glasgow (at least it would be if we had a man with a red flag in front of it) as the tramlines were laid to four foot seven and threequarter inch gauge to allow railway waggons acess to the shipyards by running on their wheel flanges. I only saw it once but it was quite impressive.
 
Yes Mojo you can download it and so can anyone else if they wish. Unfortunately you will need to wait untill I get a working pdf writer since mine is currently up the proverbial creek at present and my free trials have run out. If you do download it and build it please let me know how you got on as criticism can help to make things better. Right now it’s only available in 4mm scale but if there is any demand I will do a 7mm version.
The Problem




The Solution



The weight test


The bridge has no lateral structural members as it is glued to the abuttment at either end. Popping the saddle tank on it was a quick test.
Well the Plate bridge seems to have uploaded but the bowstring is too large. I'll try to get it on as more than one file on a later post.



Regards
Jim

Hi Jim,

          Nice mate, do you or have you ever used Modelbuilder, from the USA??, have got it myself and, its rather good at running off some building and the like in any scale you set it at; could send you a building to show you if your interested???………..

 

                                                    My very best regards my friend,

 

                                                                          Tom……………

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Tom
Thanks for the kind offer. I have never used the system but I assume that like the scalescenes system it is an excellent tool. As a tramway modeller I face much more street scenes than rail modellers. I also need more building fronts.
Since the system is American origenated I must, possibly incorrectly, assume that it features mainly US style buildings and as such it will only have a limited use here. It's hard enough to get european buildings to fit in on a Glaswegian street never mind US ones. Mind you the New York brownstone tenements are geologically the same as the Glasgow ones.
Look forward to your comments.

In the previous post I mentioned a Bowstring bridge. This is it in the two pics below I finally found them in the wrong file.





Regards
Jim

OK
Looks like I can only get 1 attachment at a time on a post so here is Pat 2 of the Bridge. Part three will be the next post.

Part Three

Hi Guys
Just got myself one of the Bachmann Hong Kong trams. Had to  resort to a little trickery to allow me to use it in Glasgow. Finaly  came up with the idea that it was a publicity stunt for Vesta packet  chow mein and part of a competition to win a holiday in Hong Kong.

The  reason for this post is that while these are nice little RTR models  Bachmann UK say that they do not have the truck available as a spare  part. I can just about put up with that since I can use the seats,  internal rails, stairs etc as kit bits BUT if you need a new truck you  can't have one so if you are only a casual tram modeller bear that in  mind. Like I said, I can use the truck since it will fit inside a British double or single deck tram without showing and still leave room for the seats so they will be usefull as a source of parts.

Regards
Jim

[user=1339]The Bankie[/user] wrote:

Hi Guys
Just got myself one of the Bachmann Hong Kong trams. Had to resort to a little trickery to allow me to use it in Glasgow. Finaly came up with the idea that it was a publicity stunt for Vesta packet chow mein and part of a competition to win a holiday in Hong Kong.

 

And the second prize is a pair of chop sticks

 

       Nice model mate:cool wink………………………………Tom..


PS………..Have you seen the Corgie tram models on EBay for sale Jim??????

Hi Peter
You Said

PS………..Have you seen the Corgie tram models on EBay for sale Jim??????

Not looked at Corgi stuff for years. Last time I looked they had done exactly what they had done with the bus models. That is taken a standard type of bus, AEC, Routemaster etc, and painted it in various company or Corporation colours and issued it as a distinct model. This fails totaly with trams as many cities, Bradford, Blackpool, Glasgow et al designed and built their own vehicles. It would be a bit like Hornby having only one branch line loco and claiming it was a different design because it has a different paint job.
The Bachmann model is very good but they have perpetrated the same mistake by painting some of them in Birkenhead colours. Really good detailing but wrong vehicles. I got this one as a trial and it is a nice and competant performer, good scale speed and passable control on DC using an old H&M Duette (the original version which actually works) and I was looking at breaking for spares as I am having trouble finding motors and trucks and bogies which will not intrude intothe saloon interior. The snag here is that I don't reall want to dismantle a new and tidy model.

Regards
Jim

Hi Peter


           Who`s Peter???????……..

 

                                     Regards, …Tom

Hi Tom

Oooooops:oops:

Sorry Tom but when I look up the thread its Petermack who is credited with starting it and I made the mistake of not checking.:oops::oops:

Apologies
Jim

Jim,

       Have taken it upon myself to do you a nice competition add for the side of your tram

      If you like the material, please use, and let me see the results…….

 

                                                                       Regards,                     Tom……..