Prague Lubricating Tram in 1/250

[Kevin WS]

PRModels (who do the wonderful 1/250 military vehicles) occasionally produce the odd train or tram.

in September of last year a Beta of the Prague Lubricating Tram was posted by them on their Facebook and I duly downloaded it. Problem was, that I have not until now modelled for over a year - I have been having some treatment for over a year and it affected my hands and my sense of touch a bit.

This little model however was my inspiration to get back into modelling and I embarked a program to regain better use of my fingertips! The therapy was devised by me and revolved initially around Lego! I started over December and built a couple of interesting Lego models and the process worked!

So the process of now building a paper model in the form of this little tram commenced!

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The Prague Lubricating Tram is rather a strange little model of a rather strange little tram. It looks half finished, but that is how it is!

The interesting thing is that the tram developed into a cult object, and now has its own Facebook Page, its own pop song and a considerable following!

A Tatra T3 tram, it originally carried passengers as a ordinary tram before being converted into a cargo tram, then a snow plough, and finally a lubricating tram. There is plenty on the Internet, but for a quick read as to what it does here is a nice little link........

Weird LIVE stream: See Prague from a moving Lubricating Tram - iDNES.cz

The cult status of the tram extends to it having a live webcam on board which you can watch as it drives around. As it does over 6,000 km a month it is often constantly in motion and so actually is a very good watch. Generally active.

Here is is the link for the webcam.......

M Tram, Prague, Czech Republic Live Streaming Webcam

If you do not go full frame you can also watch it moving on the map of the line!

Here are also a couple pf pics pf this odd little machine!

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The model itself is pretty small and not complex. For its size it is a great representation of the real thing!

Through the printer, and my next post will cover some of the initial work........

[Kevin WS]

Well, shown in Picture 1 here is the model itself.

As I mentioned, a tiny model in 1/250 - the whole thing fits onto one page as you can see, and has very few (7) pieces.

Picture 2 shows the pieces cut out. The body of the tram is one piece, and as a result it is quite difficult to figure out in some places what to cut out and what to not!

A good magnifying glass and a slow approach should however result in no issues!

[Kevin WS]

Well, with the few pieces I anticipated a quick build, and no real build in progress pics. Not so!

As shown in the previous post the body is one piece.

Cut out it is fairly complex, and I proceeded to put it together only to find I had a serious warp when it was complete!

What had happened was as I had worked around attaching the various sides, I had induced "creep". This was especially due to the fact that the inside sides are glued to the outside sides around the rear of the tram.

Pictures 1 and 2 show the result of the "creep", alongside a second build (on the left).

Picture 3 shows my revised approach which then worked for me.

From this photo you will see the back part and the fact that at the rear "load bed" one side is glued to other which caused the issue of the "creep".

The knife blade is pointing to the part where I decided to start when doing this part over. I then glued the back and the other rear side, then both sides at the rear just behind the body, and then the body at the front - in that order.

I also changed my glue I normally use (normal white glue) as it is too fast drying, and instead I used glue stick. The latter looks and works like lipstick and is used by children here for their projects. Basically I apply bits with my knife blade and it enables a long working time.

I also used my steel ruler to check the squareness and alignment as I went ahead.

The result was good, so I suggest a similar approach to anyone making this model.

I must also stress that there is NOTHING WRONG with the fit of the model - it is really good, especially given the size and complexity. The mess-up was all mine!

[sharunas]

An interesting model by it's size and in general.

Btw why "Lubricating train" what was it lubricating and why?

[Texman]

It oils the tracks in the city to allow the passenger trams to run smoothly.

[Kevin WS]

Ray - that's right!

Sharunas - have a look at the two links in the first post - you may find them interesting!

[sharunas]

Originally Posted by Texman

It oils the tracks in the city to allow the passenger trams to run smoothly.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Kevin WS

Ray - that's right!

Sharunas - have a look at the two links in the first post - you may find them interesting!

Really, first of all I had to read the thread carefully before asking ...
Interesting how oil can decrease noise from 85 to 60dB, that's a huge difference.

[Kevin WS]

The noise reduction is a huge difference.

One can understand why the little lubricating tram perhaps became so popular!

[Don Boose]

Very nice model, Kevin. And I have been enjoying traveling through snow-clad Prague on the lubricating tram. Although I have Czech heritage (25 percent), I have never visited the Czech Republic and was glad to have the chance to see Prague in this manner.

Don

[Kevin WS]

Don - glad you enjoyed the webcam!

I have had great fun with it, especially watching the changes of weather and following its place on the route at the same time!

One webcam that is actually quite worthwhile I think!

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I have never been to Prague, but most of the area the tram travels in looks quite attractive.