Thanks guys, Glenn I did try masking stripes although admittedly that was when I was thinking of doing both parallel pin-stripes - incidentally in my previous post I meant the ultra-thin was 0.033mm, not 0.33 mm. Anyhow I couldn’t get good results mainly because repetitively masking over each strip of stripe tended to dull & abrade the ultra-thin ones. The solution – about 4 layers of gloss varnish, one over each successive strip – seemed too complicated. I just thought decal stripes would be much quicker & a cinch by comparison, and oh look there’s a flying pig.

Mike - OK I’ll look at that although my old partner in crime Mike Koenig (165thspc) is already on board & signed up to rescue me if any of the final images are defective/fixable (I’m not sure which s/ware he’s using now) & I think I can guarantee he won’t be unemployed. Predictable problems will most likely be in background continuity, and the dreaded overhead lines which may need to be “drawn” onto images, to save what’s left of my sanity.

I should also clarify my intention, which is to stay in living colo*r throughout the action. Monochrome’s only an idea if I take that action right through to an aftermath scene i.e. the Reconstruction scene, just for fun trying to replicate it as closely as possible. I’m playing with b&w now just to see particularly how the red translates, although well may you ask what I would do if the red had come out say jet black? No idea, but I think it’s OK anyway & will more closely approximate to 1942 images when in shadow.

I’m still having a fight with myself about those pesky number decals – after shedding several buckets of sweat getting this far towards authenticity it would be plain stupid to settle for bad decals, so I guess I’ll re-run ‘em at the right size this time. Meanwhile the other 2 trams can now go into the paint-shop & I won’t bore y’all with progress shots of that, so maybe I’ll skip next weekend’s update. Besides I’m about to get disconnected for broadband upgrades & judging by local chatter I could be off air for some time

Just keeping afloat on the Internet Ocean with a mobile/cell net lifebelt (broadband installation having found an upstream line fault that’s defied repair all week) so while comms are still functional here’s an update reeking of paint fumes.

This part of model-making can be nerve-wracking & for me the stress index rises proportionately to the amount of time taken on construction, so with T2 & the Trailer sprayed I’m now trying to regain human form after reduction to a blob of jelly. Removing the masking took about half an hour for each & they emerged looking quite good…although it’s annoying how overspray can get under 2 or 3 layers of masking yet miss corners in plain sight. Here’s one of several examples of the former…



Home decorators will know that trying to overpaint red with white takes many coats & typically still shows through pink. Instead, one coat of silver or steel enamel kills the red stone dead…



…followed by one coat of white…



OK maybe one more, but it does the job. I haven’t bothered with those inner window frame surfaces because they’ll be covered by the outer frames. Painting T1 raised an unforeseen issue regarding weathering - I could spend weeks perfecting the livery but then they’ll all just look like brand new toys, especially when the pinstriping will nicely mask any ragged edges on the borders of red/yellow/white. These beasts had working lives of up to 30 years by 1942 suffering all kinds of minor dings & scrapes - relatively easy to do on the white woodwork, but I’m wary about how to do it on the gloss red & yellow livery without ruining it. (Although looks like I’ve already started, where did that white-ish dot bottom-right come from??) Anyhow I’ve still got those redundant side panels to play with so I’ll see how it takes dirt-coloured pastel dust. Meanwhile meet the ladies, now scantily clad & please don’t say you preferred ‘em before…



The roughly-re-affixed strips of tape on T2’s compartment are for handling purposes even though the 3 coats of yellow’s solid enough beneath. Next steps are 30+ touch-ups on the doors, bodies & chassissss & then 10-14 days of pin-striping/decaling, plus a final week or so putting them all together with exterior fittings. Definitely feeling like one of those marathon runners bent over with cramps staggering towards the finish-line

Brilliant,just brilliant mate.
J

Beautiful Tim , really coming together !!!
Ya gotta have chips etc on the outside , weather exposed window frames and parts of the outside body . I mean not over done but natural over time wear, really lookin good !!!

I think once it's over and you catch your breath, it will be all worth while.

Never forget that the rolling material on tracks has a very high standard of maintenance. Example given, the painting sequence was very strict.
Those Trams had an almost pristine look after maintenance.
So keep that in mind when weathering calls come whispering in your ear.

Kind regards,

Robert Jan

Robert Jan , since Tim started this project just following his build was not the only thing that inspired me . Researching everything tram related was a start , then occupied Prague and the Czech people under German occupation .

Quote from a blog on the occupied Czech country and Prague in particular .

At the beginning of World War II, Prague shops were well-stocked with goods purchased before the war. Yet by 1944 stores were empty with signs proclaiming they were closed for the victory of the Reich. Garbage-ridden streets reeked. Nazi law forced people to drive on the right. By the end of 1944, private cars were banned. Most traveled on bicycle or took dirty and crowded trams that often broke down. The tram stops were announced in both Czech and German.

There is a lot more to read and research on the occupation , especially about maintenance of public services , transportation , water , sewer , electric and water .
Most Czech people were pressed into service to produce things for the German war effort , of course unless you were Roma or Jewish , they had a different fate .

Another quote ....

By February of 1945, people found themselves working 64 hours per week and sometimes as many as 10 hours on Sundays. A lot of women opted to get pregnant so they would not have to toil in factories during the war. The demanding work week, poor diet and illnesses brought on by stress all contributed to citizens’ bad health. Infectious diseases were also no strangers to the period. For leisure time, though, healthy people played sports such as ice hockey and went swimming. Horse-racing was popular, too.

So I don't know where you got your information on , very high standard of maintenance , pristine condition , strict blah , blah , blah .

So to sum up on weathering of trams and other social services in occupied Prague , ................

Whisper , whisper , whisper .....

Thanks for your kind comments men & uh-oh dissention in the first compartment, I’m sending the Conductor down to intervene - I know it’s been a bumpy ride but settle down good friends, I think you’re both half-right. The case for well-maintained rolling stock has been occupying my mind for the past week or more, despite my prior comments broadly in line with Glenn’s. I think Robert Jan may have a partial case given we’re talking mid 1942. Czechoslovakia had already been occupied for over three years by then, and while there was rationing and a general decline in supplies of everything (doubtless including paint & transport maintenance supplies) the impression I get from background reading is that the (non-collaborationist) people were keen to keep up pre-Occupation appearances, keeping things looking the way they used to be before the Germans invaded and those bright red home-grown Prague trams were likely to have been an obvious symbol of national pride.

On the other hand conditions were constantly deteriorating and as Glenn says only got worse as the war dragged on. Even by ’42 I can’t imagine they were replacing defective trams with new ones so they could only replace stock with older/shabbier overhauls. It comes down to speculation, I’m willing to believe they did everything to keep those trams looking good but in addition to normal wear & tear I’m also willing to believe standards must have slipped by mid-’42.

So how exactly do I represent those opposing trends in my trams? Insert expletive here. The Reconstruction photos don’t help much because there are no close-ups, but the state of the tram roofs has always inclined me towards medium weathering overall.

The men in the white coats approach, it’s taken me all week to pin-stripe T2 & I’m onto the Trailer tomorrow but I need another spell in the padded cell before carrying on

Meaning no disrespect to Robert Jan and I'm not advocating highly distressed/weathered trams , although considering the state of affairs in Czechoslovakia and especially Prague on the downward spiral of things from 1939 to 45 , I just don't see or have read about highly maintained , strict painting codes and pristine trams leaving the maintenance sheds . I don't know where he got his information from , it just doesn't seem plausible .
My quotes come from reads from Czech people that lived during the occupation . What really caught my eye was the statement about the public tram system to be dirty and oft broken down .
Like I said , I'm not making any claims to severely weathered/distressed trams during this time in history just not pristine ones .
Whisper , whisper , whisper .

Restraint, restraint, restraint ...🚋🚃

Thanks Mike...I posted a pic of someone wearing some but on second thoughts maybe it wasn't that amusing so it's gone...I guess I gagged myself.

Let me be clear. I don't feel offended by the comments. All I want to point at is that everything that went on tracks, like a train or tram, originally was deployed by ex military personnel. The tradition was well spread over Europe. Punctual from its self declared history in multiple aspects. The history event, Operation Anthropoid, dates May 1942. Think the state of public transport wasn't that deplorable yet by that time.
Just my thoughts. Hope to see some beautiful tram combinations very soon.

Kind regards,

Robert Jan

As I said before I think you have a point RJ, although to avoid the risk of pristine trams looking like new toys there will have to be some weathering, generally in the form of dusty chassis/wheels and rain-stained woodwork. The paintwork and windows will, on the other hand, look like they’ve just had a good clean. Combined I hope those two effects will look realistic enough to please both you and Glenn. But once the grenade goes off, so do the bets!

Not to please us, it should point out the quality of your phenomenal research and building qualities.

Talking about the windows, did you notice how they look in this reconstruction picture ? :

Full size

Looks like they've been partially "misted" (can't find a better word - even in French it's not easy to explain )

H.P.

Through a glass darkly eh H-P, I’d been avoiding confronting that aspect - “frosted” might be the word you seek. No denying there’s even a strip near the top of each pane which is clear by comparison. Strange no surviving contemporary trailer – in fact any tram in the museum as far as I can see – has them. The darker strip below the clear seems to have been designated for (what I believe were) small ads stuck there by passengers, they’re visible in contemporary driver trams too.

I’m baffled – trailers (unlike drivers) actually had external blinds to provide shade, rolled up in the housings above each window. Privacy? - doesn’t work very well. Ornamental? I’d have expected art-nouveau scrollwork etched round the borders, no sign of that.

So what to do about it? Even if I could get a better idea of what it is, I think it would be nigh-on impossible to replicate. Having run out of ammo I may resort to the argument that the pictured trailer was hauled into place for the Reconstruction, and that the actual trailer (which I’m portraying) had crystal-clear fenestration unless or until I can be proved wrong.

In fact I've had hesitated between "misted" and "frosted"

H.P.

Cool Tim , nice work ...............

Frenchy , that photo does have a strange look to the glass .
I noticed the shadows of the car and tram which would make the sun to the upper right of the photo . Any chance the sun could be causing that misted , frosted look in the form of glare or reflection ?

I don't know....I even thought it could be a kind of defect on the picture itself, but the "clearer strip" is visible in this other view :

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/55ffc53de4b07f44d4c86be8/t/59287ca8cd0f68ce1b652b69/1495825601511/?format=1500w

It looks like there's a similar "strip" on the other tramcar, but not as noticeable (on the "V" window).... Or maybe I'm just the only one to see it

Whatever it is, I guess Tim is right to ignore it

H.P.

With that bigger picture Frechy posted it almost looks like a reflection of the pole on the windows. Wayne

Huh , curious , Frenchy on your bigger picture , the right hand car , the one window looks lowered , no reflection and able to see into the car . Were these windows retractable , able to be raised or lowered ?

Hmmm, CA glue came in contact with the clear parts? 🤔...
or maybe... advance to 4:05 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶...

Not to get off track , so to speak and no Holy Grail photos but I did find these color Prague Summer of 1942 shots . Don't know if you've seen them ?

Here's a period picture I've just came across here. It has been taken in May 1945, after the anti-fascist insurrection in Prague :


It clearly shows "frosted" (and sliding) windows

Another tram dio idea for Tim ?



H.P.

I think I see where you’re going with that Glenn - the driver windows could be dropped but I don’t think the trailer’s could – the window catches are clearly seen in internal shots of the former, but if you look at Vida’s trailer photos on page 20 there’s no catch mechanism on the sills. Even if they did drop somehow I can’t see how the pane itself could get abraded because surely only its frame would rub against the slot sides...? It’s an almost-plausible explanation…although so is Mike’s excessive-smoking theory! If nothing else it’s the answer to how to replicate it…mmm heavyyyyyyy

Great weathering on tram 2244 H-P, never seen that one before. Why didn’t I think of that, just chuck a bunch of 1/35 bricks at ‘em. I think you posted the first & maybe 2nd colour shots way back (?) but the others are new, many thanks. As for the last one, that’s what I see when I close my eyes to sleep…