Joe's 1/22 Artesania Latina San Francisco Cable Car

[flyjoe180]

Satisfied everything was in order, I attached the two levers and foot pedal inside the grip man's operating area.




The side running boards were attached to either side of the open end of the cable car.

 

[flyjoe180]

The front and rear chassis were completed with the addition of the track brakes I fabricated earlier, and the grip lever inserted and attached through the centre of the front chassis.




Here you can see that the grip mechanism sits lower than the wheel base, in this case by about 15mm, which will be taken into account when I create a display for the cable car.


Contrary to instructions, because that grip mechanism hangs lower than the wheel base, I'm going to delay fixing them to the car body until later on. I've checked the holes in the body and adjusted their sizes to accept the chassis. So hopefully no surprises later on!

 

[flyjoe180]

Roof construction begins. These are the parts that make up the two ends of the roof structure. I've cleaned them up and they're ready to go. The lines drawn across the two larger sections mark a 19mm spacing from the rear edge for one of the formers. Easier to do now than after bits have been stuck together. I have also used the nicer sides for the bottom (interior) of the roof, as these will be visible and painted white. The rough stuff on top will be covered later on and sanded to shape.


They go together to create these structures. One is larger than the other, an important item to note when assembling them.



Leaving it here for now. As these parts are going to get sanded severely, I'll give the glue a good period of time to set. Next time I'll be reporting on shaping these pieces, creating the roof structure shape, and forming that clerestory structure (thank you Tim Marlow for the cool word).

Catch you soon, stay safe.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Joe. Glad you like the cool word as well

 

[flyjoe180]

Those two roof end structures were sanded to shape.


A centre beam was attached to the ends and the two varieties of ribs prepared. I measured where they should be situated per the plan, but as we shall see some adjustment was later required.



The clerestory window panels should match up with the ribbing so that the structure isn't seen or interferes with the glazing. The original measurements weren't spot on, so I removed the offending ribs and refitted to suit later. A dry fit shows what I'm talking about:


I attached the main roof panels either side of the clerestory.


And then the clerestory window panels were attached. This enabled me to position the offending ribs from earlier with everything in place.

 

[flyjoe180]

The inner formers for the roof ends were shaped to create a slope for the strips that will later make up the roof ends. The strips either side of the roof edge were blended.



The roof ends are made up of strips of wood that are attached to the structure and once dry at the ends and middle former, will be bent down to the roof ends. Then they will be sanded smooth to the shape of the roof, and filled with putty as required to create a smooth surface. Much like the cable car cabin walls were earlier. The same bunch of strips are used to build the clerestory roof cover later on.


Many strips later




It looks like a dog's breakfast at the moment. Once dry I'll bend the ends down, clamp them while they dry, and once that's complete, sand the new structure to shape.

 

[flyjoe180]

While all that is drying, I got on with some other items so as not to lose momentum.

The cable car bell sits atop the front of the cable car. Here it is made up of five tiny parts. The bell, base, clapper arm (the piece that bashes the bell), a vertical stand, and a pin that hinges the arm and base.





I read that cable car grip men can participate in annual bell ringing competitions, apparently in the world of San Francisco cable cars it's a prestigious event. Unfortunately in the screwed up year of 2020 the cable cars are not running and the bell ringing competition isn't taking place until further notice. Sad.

These tiny pieces are lights. Four at each end of the car, two on top, two on the bottom. Front lights are amber and the rear lights are red. These are prepared for painting.



That's us once again up to date. Thanks for looking in, we're definitely on the home stretch with construction now.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Joe. I think you‘ve probably learned enough to build a real one.

 

[SimonT]

Does the bell actually sound Joe if you flick the striker arm?

 

[spanner570]

Joe, it's a real treat to follow this build.

Thanks for all the excellent progress pictures too.

 

[papa 695]

Just caught up Joe, some fantastic work going on, love it.

 

[flyjoe180]

Looking good Joe. I think you‘ve probably learned enough to build a real one.

Thanks Tim. I reckon it would be possible to fabricate one of these from scratch. Not a real one though, the garage isn't big enough

Does the bell actually sound Joe if you flick the striker arm?

Hi Simon. More of a tiny ding than any dong...

Joe, it's a real treat to follow this build.

Thanks for all the excellent progress pictures too.

Thanks Ron. I was a bit concerned that I was putting up too many pictures, but it helps to explain the build as I go.

Just caught up Joe, some fantastic work going on, love it.

Cheers Ian, thank you for the comment.

 

[flyjoe180]

Once the roof ends were dry, I clamped them down while the glue set. Ye olde clothes pegs are great for this.


They conformed well to the former shapes.


The saw was then used to trim the ends roughly to shape.


And after much sanding to shape, some filling, and smoothing, we have a reasonable result.

 

[flyjoe180]

I turned my attention to the ends of the clerestory framing. No easy way to bend these to shape, so I used longer strips held down until the glue set, then trimmed them to size.



The other framing sections were added and sanded to shape


Each clerestory window received a frame using vertical pieces of wood strip.



The upper section of the clerestory ends framing were added, not as easy as the lower piece as I was running out of this type of wood strip and it proved difficult to clamp into place. Enter ye olde clothes pegs and humble tape.


Trimmed to size.


The window frames were sawn to length and sanded to shape

 

[flyjoe180]

The final construction step for the roof, and major building section for the project, is the roof for the clerestory section.

Here I have laid the strips out to measure the coverage. Two more lengths were added to the width to create the correct overhang. They were later trimmed to a more suitable length as you will see.


Each strip is glued, laid down flat and held together at the conclusion of gluing, by tape. I was beginning to have reservations about the flexibility of this when curved over the roof formers.


Couldn't resist a dry fit of the incomplete roof while I was waiting for the glue to set and procrastinating. The roof will be capable of removal, revealing the interior.


Next day, the dry strips were cut to length the ends and then shaped. The curves were drawn using a circle template and then roughly cut using a saw. A sanding finished the corners and ends. Looks symmetrical to me!


Thankfully, my reservations about the ability of the roof to curve to the required shape without cracking or splitting was unfounded. I measured the overhang at each end, and marked the centre strip for alignment. I applied glue to the parts of the structure that would come into contact with the roof panel, and used tape to hold it to shape while the glue set.



Once that is dry I'll be sanding and filling as required to create a smooth surface. Some tidying up is required, and then I'll prime it ready for paint. the interior will be white, the exterior yellow.

We are nearly there folks, I hope you are enjoying the build, and thank you for having a look. Stay safe, I won't be doing much to this in the coming days as I have to build a fancy raised vegetable garden over what used to be a greenhouse concrete base. SWMBO has an intricate design for me to comply with....

 

[papa 695]

Fantastic work Joe, it's really coming along a treat.

 

[adt70hk]

Joe

just caught up on this. Have to say it looks absolutely stunning!

Very well done.

Andrew

 

[Tim Marlow]

Great work on the roof. Looks fantastic.

 

[stillp]

that clerestory structure (thank you Tim Marlow for the cool word).

I used to think it was a cool word, when I thought it was pronounced with 4 syllables: "cle-ress-tor-y", but now I know it's pronounced "clear-story" it doesn't seem so cool! This model is however really cool!
Pete

 

[spanner570]

This is really top drawer stuff.
Great S.B.S. and excellent photos too.

Thanks for being so thorough, Joe.