Armed with standard cement this time, it still took an effort of Will to open the Tram 2 box after New Year’s Day, but at least the bogies assembly was ready to roll as I’d built it in parallel with Tram 1’s.
And so chapter 94 of Experimental Tram Conversion resumes with the cabs sections, the most difficult area of all. My notes from Tram 1 are littered with warnings starting with “The cabs should be as wide as the compartment” - MiniArt’s Euro tram is longer than Prague’s so the 11mm excision was performed from the rear edge of both cab floors again, and the floor (which in the kit tapers towards the front) was widened to align with the compartment walls…
After repeated studying/revisiting of image refs over past months I’m reasonably sure this is more correct than Tram 1 where I’d chickened out, not fully realising how much the (comparatively) narrower cab front would lead to cramped cab windows across the corners.
Improvement 3 was a more accurate headlight & Imp 4 involved building the cab integral with its floor this time & also not connected to the compartment floor until much later, essential because of the revised mods…
As before the curved corner fillets were recycled from the original side panels but now the wider body meant new fender - slightly easier to make afresh than chop/extend the original, & now with extra supports…
The step on each side consequently had to be straightened up instead of following the tapered line – Imp # 6
I said before Xmas I wouldn’t post more blow-by-blows for Tram 2, instead it’ll be more blows-by-blows – if you look in the background other elements are being progressed at the same time to speed things up. Anyhow this tram (along with its trailer) will be the one next to Heydrich's car so it needs to stand up to closer scrutiny than Tram 1
