Estate coach in 006.5: fitting out...

So the estate railway coach, based on the Motor Rail and Tramcar Co Ltd examples built for the Dalmunzie estate in Scotland, needs fitting out and so I'd pondered all day how to tackle the distinctive tramway style seating...

This is the type of seat where the back can fold either way depending on your preference and travelling direction. If I produce a kit in 009 these will be etched, but in this scratchbuild I wanted something quicker than an etch design can be turned around in... I looked in my bits box and found some plastic (Cooper Craft?) and etched (Shire Scenes) GWR benches from my long defunct childhood OO scale layout -not quite what I was looking for... I looked online at other suppliers, as well as looking for a tram modelling supplier to no avail. It would have to be scratchbuilt, not something I relished when I needed two pretty identical seats.

However I needn't have worried! I decided on a design having sketched out an idea on paper, to have the armwrest and sides formed in one piece, use plastic microstrip for the cross beams and then more rod for the pivoted back upright. I have used 0.6mm brass rod, and after forming one armwrest I used this as a template to make four more identical ones. The back support is also 0.6mm rod. The cross pieces are a square section of microstrip, probably about 0.5x0.5mm. I assembled these carefully with superglue.

Remember you need to have two pairs, with the back supports in the opposite positions to create the two seats! When finished I used a section of microstrip to represent the back rest, which also allowed me to stand them in the car to check size and appearance. You might also notice that I've shaped the roof, this was done with a nail sanding stick which allows a more consistent smooth edge as it's a firm sanding surface to work with. This will be fixed in place once the seats and interior are complete.

I'm happy with how they look - if you compare to photos of the coach at Dalmunzie they look a fair enough representation and once painted and weathered will look the part. Hopefully they'll be robust enough for careful handling. I may add a seated figure to them as well at some point in the future.

I now need to add the slatted seat bases, deciding on whether to model these short enough for the backs to be operated, or cheat and run them in front of the seat back bars straight onto the cross beam of the ends. The floors then need wooden slats between the seats on the floor, presumably for grip, and some foot-steps adding in 0.6mm brass rod. The corners of the sides need small triangular fillets adding, and possible some 'curved bits' adding to represent the coach as built - it wasn't a workmans coach, but an estate railway coach, so was finished in varnished wood - so had some little details included. More soon...