Alstom Citadis Spirit as Streetcar

Yeah, yeah, it's a corporate computer graphics publicity video, but two things caught my eye: first it illustrates the vehicle that OC Transpo is using in a light rail configuration in a streetcar configuration, and two, the video does have a stylized model streetcar layout vibe to it. That video down there is Alstom's spin on the vehicle for us potential OC Transpo commuters here in Ottawa. Same sort of vibe, but I had to laugh at their depiction of winter. In the video it looks like someone sprinkled some fine icing sugar on the city, but in reality, last winter we had about 312 cm of snow! And if you're wondering, yes it's all melted now :-)

A streetcar in disguise?

TTC Flexity Outlook on King St.

Often on my way to work in the morning I'll see a new OC Transpo Alstom Citadis Spirit light rail vehicle out on a test run. Although they're billed in the media as light rail vehicles, they look very streetcar like to me, and I've been wondering how many passengers they can carry in comparison to the TTC's Flexity Outlook streetcar. 

According to Wikipedia the 48.4m long version of the Alstom bought by OC Transpo will handle 300 passengers, and the 30.2m TTC Flexity clocks in at 251*. Interestingly, Wikipedia also notes that 

The [Alstom] Citadis Spirit is designed for both city-centre and suburban operation. Its 100% low-floor design has no interior steps or ramps. The vehicle can be used for both street-running allowing boarding from street or curb, and high-speed travel up to 105 km/h (65 mph). 

So since it's a modular design, some shorter configuration would allow it to run as a streetcar - a streetcar in disguise? :-)

*For PCC fans, if 2 of the TTC's old PCCs were strung together, the train would have an approximate length of 30 metres, and the 'crush load' would be around 268 passengers. The operative word here being 'crush' :-)

And on the inside it's brick

The museum's inside wall surfaces are going to be covered with Superquick brick paper. I bought a package at a train show a few years ago and it has been just laying around in the parts box waiting for a project. Wait no more!

But before the gluing got underway, the plastic walls had embossed numbers and ejector dimples that had to the sanded off to smooth their surfaces. 

White glue was used and spread on the wall as uniformly as I could. A piece of brick paper was then applied. After drying, the arch was sliced out with a brand new knife blade. The brick paper is quite thin, which makes application and cutting openings easy.

There's a lot of walls and cutting ahead, so it could be awhile before this job is done.

Painting with Cap

Found in Action Comics #335 (Mar '66)  & Detective Comics #349 (Mar '66)

Vince is a fount of knowledge; no question about that. He asked me if I remembered the series Cap's Hobby Hints that ran in DC comics in the '60s and sent me a link to some examples. Much to my shame I hadn't see this before, but my shame was short lived :-) The wonders of the internet let me fill in those nasty gaps in my education. 

Found in Adventure Comics #342 (Mar '66)  & Metamorpho #5 (Mar - Apr '66)

Anyway, I latched onto these two as they show how to use a wire coat hanger as a paint stand that we were talking about a few days ago. That technique probably wasn't something unique to Revell, it just seemed so when pre-teen me stumbled across it back in the '70s.

A little more painting at the Museum

I applied some thin, light washes of grey and black to bring out the mortar lines a bit, and tone down the wall colour. I didn't apply too much because I didn't want the museum to appear to have been neglected, just a little used.