Carving a streetcar roof out from a block of wood

Any other tips?

Search Ebay for Kits. there are many.

Here is a video showing some of his work, for those who aren't familiar with Bill Everett.

Jeff C

Hmmmm.... couldn't seem to embed the video. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGpQ1PJnYig

I don't want to build kits--I want to learn how to scratchbuild models.

Thanks, though.

Jeff C

There are nice brass models of the NOPS Perley Thomas streetcar

made in O scale (and I believe it was also made in HO). LGB also made a model in G scale.

I'd still like to learn how to scratchbuild them--then I could build anything I wanted.

Jeff C

Great!

If you look at my past 3-4 columns in OST you'd see how to scratchbuild and resin cast a small single truck trolley in resin.

The roof is frequently a pain.  I'd used wood - window and door stop molding glued up to make a roof now several times.

I've also related how to make a roof from older Northeaster Lumber roof stock by ripping the center from the roof stock and re-assembling the 2 halves to get the right width.

There are many older articles on this topic in long past issues of model train magazine such as Traction & Models, and there's an older article from Clouser on scratchbuilding clerestory roof for trolleys.

And, actually building a few kits that require you to shape the roof is probably the best way to get your feet wet on technique for shaping a roof - you generally get a length of roof stock and maybe(!!) a template to what the curvature of the ends should conform to using a files and sanding blocks.  La Belle kits are still in production and kits from all sorts of companies no longer in business are floating about at swap meets and on eBay.

I saw the clerestory roof stock, but I didn't see the "turtle" arch roof material in O scale. I'll check around--that would definitely make things simpler.

I think the big thing is for me to give it a go--and force myself not to worry if I have to make a few before I get something that meets my standards. That's often my biggest problem when scratchbuilding...I give up too easily when things go wrong.

This time I intend to see this through. I need something to keep my interest up as I get my health back, and I've wanted to get more into traction modeling for a while now.

Thanks for the help, everyone! I'll post a few pictures as I get started.

Jeff C

I think that the "turtle" roof is too high an arch as well as being at least a scale foot too wide; trolleys tended to be a good foot narrower that regular passenger rolling stock.  Finding some of the old roof stock that was made for trolley car scratchbuilding is difficult.  That's why I used reefer car roof and ripped ~1' out of the middle and reassembled it to make and arch roof.  I also got lucky and scored 2 sections of clerestory trolley roof stock recently.

And, Walthers and All-Nation are both long gone now when it comes to roof stock and kits; eBay and swap meets.

I did not know that Micro-Mark was selling that many roof stock configurations; Northeastern was selling some but all of what they used to offer.  I wonder where or who Micro-Mark is getting this from?

Sounds like I'll be doing some roof stock casting, once I get a roof I like

Ripping the reefer roof stock sounds promising--I'll check that out. Now on to the next challenge--finding plans for the cars I want to build....

Jeff C

I always wanted to try it out of brass sheet. I love working with metal always have.
I'm wondering how hard it would be to hammer out the roof? Most of the guys working with metal usually make most of the tools needed because you just can't go out and buy indenting dies and seam rollers in this size.
I hate plastic cars. Since I got a set of all metal cars the plastic don't look good anymore. I think I may make a form out of oak and give it a go. The form would be easy to make if you have a router and the rights bits.
A wood roof would be okay but nothing looks like metal but....metal

David

Guys have made clerestory and monitor trolley roofs out of brass; there are articles in the mags that you can excavate on the subject.

But, while nothing looks like metal better than metal, and the corollary being nothing looks like wood better than wood, many trolley roofs were covered with canvas and painted (tarred, etc.) so most of my cars are covered in painted tar paper roofing.  Doesn't matter if it's wood, resin, brass, etc if you can't see it.

BTW, I forgot that East Gary Car Co. sells some of the old ICC styrene clerestory roof sections that you have to assemble from 2 halves.  There were 2(3?) different roofs from ICC, but I don't know which are available from East Gary.

Bob Hayden said it better than I ever could - "In the end, what you see is paint...so I paint everything on the layout very carefully, and I weather every surface."

He's right. It doesn't matter what a model is made of--the finish is what counts.

Jeff C

I found a plan for the NOPS car on a Yahoo traction message board. Now I have a template for the roof curvature. Hopefully I'll be carving and shaping by the weekend.

Jeff C

Excellent!

Please post your progress with pics here for us to follow along!

What are you doing about the rest ofthe car; sides and ends?

Excellent!

Please post your progress with pics here for us to follow along!

What are you doing about the rest ofthe car; sides and ends?

What? I can't just build the roof and be done with it?

I'm looking at this project from the perspective of what scares me the most--and curved stuff like the roof profile that requires sanding to final shape scares me more than anything else.

Jeff C

I think I will try Everett's laminated card stock method for the sides and ends, andusing Micro-Mark rivet decals wherever possible.

Jeff C.

What? I can't just build the roof and be done with it?

 

I'm looking at this project from the perspective of what scares me the most--and curved stuff like the roof profile that requires sanding to final shape scares me more than anything else.

 

Jeff C

Nope!  We have to see it warts & all!  Inquiring minds was to know!

Ok, shaping a roof intimidates everyone.  Just take your time with the roof; I've done so many now that I start off using my 4" upright belt sander, but that's not recommended for one's 1st effort. 

I'd recommend using a 4-in-hand rasp/file for removing the larger amounts and setting the shape and then go to sanding blocks to finish shaping and smoothing - 60 grit to start, and work down to finer as you get closer.  Hardest thing about keeping it even between each side is that you are naturally left or right handed and you really have to pay attention to keeping it even otherwise it'll be unbalanced.

Depending on if you are going to tar paper/canvas the roof or not - seal with sanding sealer and use 400 paper, repeat with sealer and use 600 paper.  You can paint over that pretty well.  If you are tar papering, I put that right over the sanding sealer and not worry about smoothing it further.

I look forward to seeing your progress!!

Here is a link showing some of Bill Everett's models:

http://www.larhf.org/collections/everett.html

Jeff C

Thanks for posting the link to his models - nice sharp looking cars!  Particularly like that one freight motor that looks to be the only wood car in the photos. 

Well I started carving on the roof--so far it seems easier than I thought it would be, but I haven't got it down to final shape yet.

Hopefully I'll have it ready for sealer and final sanding later this weekend.

Jeff C