Building a "O" scale Brisbane FM Part 7

The model has been painted all over with light grey. This will be the final colour for the sides and the portion of the roof that was canvas covered in the original. In the photo the floor is still unpainted and the fibreglass ends that contain the destination boxes have to be painted darker grey.

I fitted the trolley poles and found I had to modify the kit as my home made poles had a high base of their own and added to pieces in the kit the poles just didn't sit right. I needed to bring everything down closer to the roof. It looks better now.

The job I hate the most is applying masking tape. Put it on too firmly or leave it on too long and you risk removing paint along with the tape later. Don't put it on firmly enough and the paint gets under the tape and ruins what you have already done. I spent hours cutting and fitting the tape over all the doors and windows from the inside. The only problem I ended up with was a small amount of grey on one of the seats.

I thought I had everything smooth and even the etch primer looked good but it was surprising the number of flaws that showed up after the gloss grey went on. Fortunately it will only be a full gloss until I get the decals on and then it will be over sprayed with a clear semi-gloss finish with the roof being weathered and finished in mat.

Time to start thinking about the windows. I would like to show the windows open as this is how I remember them. 494 and I suspect all of the trams in this group were fitted with counterbalanced windows. The spring mechanism was concealed behind the panelling under the window. The glass had a chrome strip glued to the top with a lip so you could raise or lower the window. Open there was always about 150mm of glass still showing so I will have to experiment with reproducing the chrome strip.

The photo of 494 while still in service shows the driver's window and just one of the side windows open. Only the four sets of four windows and the driver's side windows could be opened. The driver's windscreen, the glass in the doors and in the two windows between the centre doors were fixed.

The last photo is an interior shot of 494 showing more detail than anyone would ever need for a model. Also shown are the end mirrors so that the conductor could see if anyone was boarding through the end doors from anywhere in the tram and the timber panelling on the motorman's bulkhead.