Bringing the Siku Bombardier tram to life in Casualized HO-9

I've had it in my mind for a long time to motorize Siku's Bombardier toy tram (SIKU 1895). In Toronto it seems to be marketed as a toy version of the TTC's iconic streetcar manufactured by Bombardier.

Siku Bombardier tram, SIKU 1895, straight out of the box

The box says it's HO scale, and I believe it, but it is a casualized representation of the vehicle. Ok, it is a children's toy so play value down on the carpet is more important than the fussy desires of an adult modeller. However, the shells are nicely detailed, and I thought they'd make for a rather decent casualized HO-9 vehicle for running around the Centennial Experimental Farm layout, or simply posing for scenic photos.

A TTC Bombardier streetcar as seen in Feb 2019

I started the motorization and casualization back in the fall of 2022. I thought it was going to be a rather easy conversion, but I was very wrong. There was a lot of trial and error before I even came close to getting it to run trouble free laps. At one point I was so frustrated I parked the project and only gave it another go just after last Christmas. Even though it now runs, and doesn't look too bad, I'm not completely satisfied with the approach I've taken. I'd say it's good enough for what I want, but it could be much better. What follows are some rather loose notes on how the build proceeded so I have a record in case I try this conversion again, or someone else is interested in learning from my mistakes.

The Siku toy taken apart

The toy is held together with 2 screws on the bottom of each chassis. Once removed the shells and baffle are easy to pry off the chassises. Now the fun begins.

Preparing the shells for re-spraying with white paint

I decided to work on some cosmetic changes first. The oversize Bombardier logo was the first thing to go. I rubbed it off with an abrasive track cleaning block and an assortment of fine sanding sticks. The damaged areas were then masked off and resprayed with white paint.

About 1/3 the way through construction

The above photo is a bit deceiving because a lot of work has been done at this point besides re-painting the shells. As I mentioned in the beginning, there was a lot of trial and error during construction and I didn't photograph many intermediary steps. I'll note a few things in the above photo:

1. A big rectangular hole has been cut into the forward chassis for accepting the Kato 11-109 drive unit that powers this thing. It was cut out with a disc cutter in my Dremel motor tool. If you're going to do this wear safety glasses, and go slow. Once the hole is cut it needs to be cleaned up with files.

2. The forward interior insert needs to be cut up to match the hole in the chassis. At this stage both interior inserts were painted black.

3. There's a long and complex story about the trailer's wheels. I'll try and be brief. Although the model is more-or-less HO scale, the wheels aren't even close to standard HO gauge, or standard 9mm N gauge either. There was going to be lots of work fitting standard HO-9 or N gauge wheels to the trailer, and after much head scratching I decided just to grind off the wheel flanges and pull the trailer along the road with the power car as if it were a truck's trailer. For running on Kato Unitram track this works ok. And it turns out since the wheel sets are close to N gauge, the track rails inadvertently help keep the trailer more-or-less tracking the power unit when in motion. That does increase rolling resistance, but the power unit appears to have more than enough umph to handle it. More on wheels, tracking, and turning radius a little further on.

4. Speaking of wheel sets, the toy wheel set that would go into the back end of the power car was eventually left off. Only the trailer incorporates those ground down toy wheel sets. The only wheels on the power car are those on the Kato drive unit.

There's a lot of equipment on the roof

5. The shell roofs were enhanced a little with a few extra mechanical looking boxes glued on and everything up there was painted with some greys and blacks. There probably needs to be a bit of weathering applied.

Styrene blocks were used as motor supports

One of the trickiest parts of construction was installing the Kato drive unit. Obviously the couplers and their supports were cut off before starting. Again, there was a lot of trial and error in measuring and fitting styrene blocks to the chassis and power unit until I got the heights and positions just right. In the above photo those blocks numbered 21 and 25 have been previously glued to the power unit and the resulting structure is being epoxied into the chassis. Those styrene strips on the track are there to temporarily lift the chassis to the correct height until the glue dries. Ground clearance is something like 1.5 mm - very low.

The forward power unit is loaded with weights

From this point on there was lots of testing on the track. Again, lots of trial and error, but here's what I hope is a summary:

1. The power unit was loaded down with 'a lot' of weight: a strip of chicklet style 1/4 oz weights plus an old lead fishing weight (which can't be used to fish because of the lead) pounded a bit flat. The trailer has a bit of a bumpy ride and the extra weight up front helps keep the power unit's wheels in contact with the track in the presence of this transferred shaking motion. I probably should have added a little extra weight to the trailer - not as much as up front - to help it roll a little better. Maybe next time.

2. The only strong - aka, metal - 'connection' between the trailer and power unit are the two flaps sitting one atop the other. Note that there's no positive mechanical connection. It's the weight of the power unit that maintains the connection through the flap to the trailer.

The trailer connection casting is discarded

The reason for this setup  is the trailer has to be loosely connected to the power unit so that trailer motions don't transfer to the power unit and cause it to lose contact with the rails.

This also meant that the metal castings in the toy that connect the two shells had to be discarded because they made the connection between the two far too rigid. The tail would literally wag the dog when this thing was in motion with the metal connection castings in place and locked together.

Ok, well as you see in the photo on the side the trailer casting was discarded, but I kept the one on the power unit as it provides just a little weight over the flap connection to hold things in place. 

Toy's baffle is not very flexible at all

The other piece that had to go was the baffle that covers the connection between the two cars. It's far too rigid and prevents the cars rotating with respect to each other. 

Again, after lots of trial and error, I improvised a new baffle by slicing the ends off the old one and replacing the middle with a piece of micro fibre eyeglass wipe. The wipe was blackened with a Sharpie pen, glued over the baffle ends, and then whole thing was inserted and glued between the cars. 

Before running, the new baffle needs to be carefully folded so it will open and close cleanly as the vehicle goes around curves and doesn't prevent the cars from freely rotating. After a lot of test runs I'm thinking the micro fibre baffle might be replaced by either a silk, mylar, or very thin plastic one to further improve the baffle's flexibility. I like the visual texture of the micro fibre, so maybe it'll be a silk one to try and retain some of that look.

Underside of the power unit

All these special provisions - removal of the toy's cast metal shell connector, replacement baffle, wheels with ground off flanges that run on the road surface, flap only connection between the cars - are needed because I'm trying to make the little vehicle run over curves that are far to tight for it, and because the connections between the cars, and between the cars and rail, are too numerous and too rigid. A moving vehicle needs flexibility to negotiate its travels and deal with upsets. A moving model needs that too. The basic toy doesn't because it's designed so junior can't break it - in that regard, it's a champ :-)

I know, I've skipped over some items like arms to the overhead wiring and new decals as they're relatively straight forward compared to the mechanical work.

Operationally, it's finicky to get set up and running. It has to be handled very gently when placing it on the track because the cars aren't really connected together by anything other than a thin piece of cloth. And that cloth has to be carefully folded so that it flexes in just the right way and doesn't cause the streetcar to stall on curves. But, once those are dealt with, it's smooth running, and I like the way it looks on the farm.

Overall, it's ok, but needs a lot of refinement: more flexible baffle, smoother running wheels in the trailer, and some sort of secure mechanical connection between the cars just to name a few. Another job for the future :-)

Measuring up for overhead wire support poles

I finished laying down the static grass along the perimeter where the poles for the overhead wire will go. I'm keen on making those poles so I thought I'd do some measuring to begin figuring out their dimensions.

The first thing was to line up the fleet on the track to estimate how high the wire needs to be above the road. It's looking like 65mm.

All three of those cars have been fitted with Kato N-scale drive units and are in varying states of operability. Over on the right is the Hong Kong tram, centre is the Jigger (pulled from the paint shop for this photo), and on the left is the my secret Siku Bombardier tram conversion (I'll do a full post on it sometime in the future; it sort of runs, but still needs a lot more work) I started last fall before going whole hog on the ELM book .

Well, I need to get back to inserting commas.

Putting on some weight

The Jigger was turning out to be a rather lightweight model and was having trouble going through a slightly uneven switch. It didn't have enough momentum at low speeds to just power through.

To fix this I stuck small weights, each about 7g, to the chassis, just above each pair of wheels. I picked up that strip of weights many years ago at George's Trains, and they've come in handy on a variety of projects. Looks like I'm now down to my last four. I need to get some more. 

The weights are visible through the windows, but my plan is to use some smoked plastic for window glass so the interior is obscured.

The model runs much better now, and it's onto finishing the front and back ends of the chassis.

Hacking Kato's Unitram track, Part 2

Compared to the last hack, this one is not for the faint hearted. I used a cut-off wheel in my Dremel to round the track corners on the observatory end of the layout, and to cut a standard piece of 4-7/8" straight track in half to square off the layout end on Carling Avenue. Sanding sticks were used to cleanup the cuts. I think the round corners are going to need a little underneath support to keep the track flat once it's laid on the sheet foam base.

One other thing: the layout's dimensions are now pretty close to 100 cm long by 50 cm wide, which seems a good size for this thing.

And one last thing: it should be clear that any and all warranties are now well and truly voided :-)

Loonar Module scheduled to appear in Voie Libre #112

From Voie Libre #111, Oct/Nov/Dec 2022

Some shameless self-promotion: The Loonar Module is planned to appear in issue #112, Jan/Feb/Mar 2023, of Voie Libre. Never seen before photos! New text full of startling revelations! Don't be disappointed, reserve yours today!

Whew! Being shameless takes a lot out of a guy. But seriously, if you go to the note indicated by the * in "Coming soon* in #112" you'll see it reads "*Subject to change". Hopefully, there aren't any lineup changes. I've got my fingers crossed.

Updating the Jigger's truck frames

The Jigger's external truck frames look a lot like ladders so the next step was to build up a pair of those ladders from styrene strips for attaching to either side of the Kato power truck.

My frame ladders aren't superdetailed. They're just meant to give an impression of the truck's frame. I was rather surprised by how much this simple addition did to change the look of the vehicle. 

I also added a strip of styrene to the bottom of each side of the body to close the visual gap between the body's lower edge and the top of the power truck. This addition deviates from the prototype, but eliminates an unsightly gap between the body and truck.

Hacking Kato's Unitram track, Part 1

'Cut' indicates where the track corners need to be sliced off

This is a trivial one: a slice had to be cut off the left and right curves on the inner loop track in order to connect the outer loop track to the switches.

A nice thing about these switches is they can be configured for either routing power in the direction of the switch setting or not. They come from the factory set to power routing. With power routing enabled and both switches set to run a trolley around the outer loop, the inner loop isn't powered and vice versa. No extra wiring is required to disable power to those loops to create 'parking spots'.

One drawback though is that a Unitram switch's manual control switches both tracks at the same time. I don't know if there's a modification to somehow control each track switch individually. Another drawback is that the switches on both ends need to be properly set to cut power to a desired loop - setting just one doesn't do the job. These things need more investigation.

It’s gonna need wheelie bars!

Coming soon in HO-9 from Hot Rod Trolleys: The Jigger. Classic Tyco Trolley Gay Nineties styling with its languid 8 window body chopped to a sporty 6. Under the floor boards lurks a fearsome Kato 11-104 drive from their N Pocket Line. Tuner-ville trolleys watch your tracks! There’s a new Skipper in town.

Planning the Lost Observatory Loop

After many iterations of Kato Unitram track fiddling, the LOL III

Planning seems like a rather highfalutin word for developing my thoughts for a little layout inspired by Ottawa's Central Experimental Farm trolley line. Calling it a layout doesn't seem right either. It's more of a little diorama with a trolley loop. And come to think of it, I'm misusing the word diorama. Classify it as you will, I'm naming it the Lost Observatory Loop.

I was going to write some lengthy post on all the ideas and iterations that went into planning this layout, but as I thought about it I realized there were only a couple of points which I think might be generally applicable, so I'll focus on those.

For developing ideas I find it useful to use a sketchbook. I particularly like the 5.5" x 8.5" spiral bound format. I find larger sizes a bit intimidating - all that blank space on a page demands to be filled even if the idea I want to play with is just a small one. I like using a soft 4B or 6B pencil because I feel they allow for a wide range of marks, although I'll use anything on hand if necessary. I rarely use an eraser; I just draw over any mistakes. Also, to help overcome 'getting started' anxiety, I'll open the book at some random blank page and start to work. I don't like the feel of rigidly starting at page one and marching through the book page-by-page to the end - there's something grim about that, and the book doesn't have so many pages that I won't be able to find my work again when I return to it. Also, the quasi-random organization helps me think.

6 of the 20 or so pages devoted to working out ideas for the LOL III

For me planning is trying to find a composition that somehow balances the features I want the layout to incorporate. In this case the main features are: things I like about the CEF, especially around the trolley line; a loop for the trolley (or trollies) to run on; lots of scope for trying modelling techniques I haven't tried before (like making stone walls for buildings and deciduous trees); uses mainly materials I have on hand; shouldn't take more than a year to build; be relatively small, light, and transportable; and most importantly: be fun to build! So far I've been working on a design for a little over a year.

The Tyco trolley is a little too wide.

One aspect I kept going back and forth on was track: standard or narrow gauge? I had settled on HO-scale. I finally decided on HO-9 making use of Kato's N-gauge Unitram track.

When I first saw Unitram track several years ago I was entranced. I bought up a lot thinking I would build an N-scale homage to Toronto's streetcars called Tor-N-to. Time has gone on, and I realize Tor-N-to is never going to happen, although I still love that Unitram track, especially the switches.

Last year's test of the HO-9 Hong Kong tram running along Unitram track in an HO scale street scene convinced me some sort of HO-9 streetcar layout was itching to be built - I just wasn't sure what it would be. 

Although, here's the problem with using Unitram track this way: 2 HO-scale trams can't pass each other because the tracks are too close together. I figured if I incorporated an internal passing track this problem would be minimized. Well, ok, I could make thinner trollies, but that isn't going to happen - I'll need to go to a 1/24 scale hot rod customizing school first to practice my body modification skills :-)

So, in the end there was lots of back-and-forth between trying various Unitram configurations and sketchbook ideas until I settled on a track plan. Frankly, for all the time I spent thinking about this layout, the plan is a dead simple one I've played with many times before, so I don't know what all the planning fuss was about. Anyway, I can now see the basics of the thing, and have settled some questions, so I guess that's what planning is about.

Dig that funky trackwork

Soon after motorizing the Hong Kong tram I started to wonder about the feasibility a small HO-9 streetcar layout built with Kato's Unitram track. I could have got out the pencils and rulers and measured things to do my wondering, but instead I got out the track and buildings and tram and ran a test. I videoed it and posted some stills back in December. The video seemed a little sterile, but I've recently learned how to add a music track with some of Youtube's fee free audio. So, here's the test, jazzed up with a funky soundtrack :-)

Oh, the test results? Things look good, but the tram is a bit too wide, and two can't pass each other without colliding. Still though, I kind of like the idea. Or, maybe it's just the music :-)

A loop around the Unitram block

The week between Christmas and New Years is always an odd one, and this one is no different. I've had the urge to wrap up loose ideas I've put off looking at throughout the year. This is one. 

While working on motoring the Atlas Hong Kong tram, and again while drawing up the new layout, I wondered how the HO tram on an N-gauge power unit would run on the Kato Unitram track in an HO scale urban setting. It turns out it runs quite well, but I don't think trams could pass each other going in opposite directions without colliding on the centre line. These trams are just a little bit too wide for the track.

But, I think there's a layout idea in there somewhere. Maybe something with a pair of switches to create a second loop so the layout is divided into two parts. I have wanted to do something with a city part and a part similar to Ottawa's Central Experimental Farm. But, not right now. It's just an idea to play with this odd week.

Motorizing Editions Atlas' Hong Kong Tram

Editions Atlas Hong Kong tram with Kato 11-104 truck

In Voie Libre #106 I read about an interesting HO-9 tramway layout called Plage Bel Air by Frederic Mottet. The first thing that caught my attention was it was a seaside scene with a kidney bean track plan much like the LOL, only considerably smaller. The second was the use of static trams by Editions Atlas, which Mottet motorized. 

I had a look online to see what Editions Atlas had to offer, and came across an HO scale double-decker Hong Kong tram. I've admired Bachmann's OO Hong Kong tram, but haven't been able to locate one for LOL Mk II. So, even though the Editions Atlas version is unmotorized, I thought I'd buy one and try my hand at motorization. I found one on Ebay from a German seller, and for a very reasonable $US 7 shipping charge it was in my hands in a mere 5 days!

Bumper pried off

There was nothing conceptually difficult about this project. In fact the hardest part was the most fundamental: figuring out how to get the body and chassis separated without damage.

First thing was to pry off the front and rear bumpers. This revealed 2 holes at each end of the metal frame where the bumpers attached. 

For some dumb reason I thought these might also be holes where screws were inserted to hold on the body. I drilled them out, but the body didn't release.

It turns out the trick was that I needed to drill out the front and rear lights. Behind the light is either a screw or rivet, and once drilled out, the chassis drops out of the body. I'll need to repair those lights during final assembly, but that's not a big deal.

The toy's truck is held on with 2 screws, as is the upper deck seating. Once those items are unscrewed, you're left with the metal chassis.

Now the fun begins.

I have 2 Kato 11-104 powered chassises that I bought a few years ago thinking I'd use them to build a quasi-freelanced O-9 model of Thaddeus Lowe's personal Mount Lowe trolley. 

After lots of thought and inspection, I figured I couldn't build what I was after with these Kato units, so they've been sitting on the shelf. 

Lucky for me the Kato unit fit the Hong Kong tram quite well. 

The only modification I made was to cut off the end platforms, buffers, couplers, and railings: basically, everything outbound of the screws that hold the motor in place was cut off. This reduction in size of the power truck meant a much smaller opening needed to be cut into the toy's metal chassis.

Cutting the opening for the power truck was a big job. It took me about 4 hours of on-and-off work with a drill, dremel with cutting disks and grinding stones, files, and sanding sticks to cut a suitable rectangular opening into the chassis. I probably should have made a video of the process, but I wasn't sure if my methods were best, or even if this was going to work out. 

One important thing to note. The metal beams that connect the front and rear platforms need to cut off for the power truck to fit. However, this weakens the chassis as all that is left to connect the end platforms are those horizontal metal strips you see in the picture. Once the beams are cut off you need to make sure you handle the chassis carefully or you might accidentally bend it during further cutting operations. 

Also, make sure you wear your eye protection and work gloves when doing this job.

Once the chassis is cleaned up it's just a matter of epoxying on the power unit. I've tacked it in place with some dots of epoxy, but I need to go back and see what edges and seams could use some extra epoxy to give the whole thing better strength.

And that's the end of what I think is the most important part of converting this static toy into a not too shabby HO-9 tram. Detailing and paint are next, but to check things out I temporarily slipped the body on the chassis for a quick run around the test track.