I have chronicled my construction of this kit from start to finish in this thread. There are several builds shown at various websites, but no one has really shown in detail the problems they have encountered and how they have fixed those problems. I have tried to show all the steps in my build, warts and all. This is a large project and sometimes seemingly trivial conditions can have big consequences later. It is also hard to understand how some pieces fit and when it is a good time to install a part and when it is best to wait until later. I recommend you read this thread from beginning to end before you begin. I have gone back to past posts and have added information learned at a later date that would be best implimented in the earlier post. Although I am not sure if I have covered them all. If you have any questions, ask them here, I will answer them to the best of my ability. If a detail picture is needed so you can see how it goes together, I will try to provide the picture. It will take a long time to build and you will encounter problems that will frustrate you. It is simply the nature of the kit. I recommend you use a plastic model adhesive that provides a very strong bond. You will need to push and pull the building into shape. If your bond between pieces is not strong enough, you will most likely pull it apart at the seams. It is a big project and I applaud Trix for making it available, but keep in mind there are problems related to how parts fit that will need to be addressed and corrected. But once you have finished, you will have a structure for your layout that will inspire awe in everyone who sees it.

15 June 2015




I have been talking about this for the past couple days now.

Here is what I bought:

The basic kit (Trix #66115) and the adder (Trix 66117) to extend the basic kit to full scale




...and an assortment of Faller elevated bridges and arcades



I bought it all from one private seller at Ebay.de. Based on what he had for sale (other structure kits too) I believe this was the start of an unfulfilled layout. The Faller pieces will go on the shelf for now until I figure out how to incorporate the station into a layout and then I will decide and build those pieces that will work.

This is the inside of the basic kit. The packaging has been a source of some grief. I'll explain that a little later.



This is my construction surface, a former table tennis table. Tomorrow I will be cutting a board a little larger than the station footprint so I can move it around without damaging it.



I have the base pieces glued together and am in the process of building the "sandstone" walls. I intend to get the walls erected and then spray paint the structure. I will install the platform that supports the track after the walls are painted and I have fit the window and door treatments which attach from the inside. With the platform out of the way, that will be much easier.

Assembly has been slow, I expected that. I scrape all mold part line seams first after cleaning up the sprue bits once the pieces are cut from the trees. For me, part lines diminish the overall feel and pleasure I expect to get each time I see it once complete. A tedious process that pays big dividends in the end. The assembly process has been made more difficult with the packaging. All the pieces have been simply placed in the box one atop the other. This causes pieces to sag over time from the weight applied and that they are sometimes unsupported by the piece below it. This makes gluing two pieces together at a corner harder. I wish they had separated the box into compartments with dividers so all the weight was not carried by the part(s) below. I have heated some pieces with a hot air gun to straighten them. This helps a lot, but isn't perfect. So I am forced to glue the pieces In two or more gluing operations. I am not using CA glue at this point. That will come later to join two painted pieces together. I am at this step since all the plastic is naked, using Testor's Liquid cement #3502. I discovered this 35-40 years ago in my formative model building years. I like how it goes on, it dries faster than tube glue and provides a superior bond, "welding" the parts solidly together. A short time after I found it, Scale Modeller rated it their top glue, particularly noting the strength of the joint. This is important because you sometimes need to clamp a part into position due to the distortion. Without a solid bond, it would break away from the adjacent part.

This pic shows what I mean:



The gap you see should not be there, but the twist in the pieces opens the seams. So I must glue one side into place. wait for the bond to completely dry then clamp it into place and glue the next side. I have been able to pull them into shape, but it is an element to the assembly I did not anticipate. Once it is all in place, I will scrape and smooth the seams of the adjoining parts. I am lining up details on the adjoining parts and not the edges. I can fix the edges, details that do not line up from one part to another though is something I can not correct.

Dinner, back in a few...

These pieces are at each end along the long side.



You are seeing the inside and outside of two identical pieces and then a left and right side. As you can see, the "glass" is sandwiched between two parts, an inside and outside of the wall segment. I had to do a lot of scraping to get the one to fit into the other without binding. Every part is tested before gluing. These four wall segments required I install the glass sooner than I would have liked. I wished I could avoid it, but not on these four pieces nor four more that flank the sides of the center. You will see those next. I have a second kit (yep, I know, a bit crazy) so I will use the window openings in a piece from that kit to create a mask to protect the windows when I paint the walls. These parts are ready for assembly.

This is one of the center sections.



A few hours alone in just this, doesn't seem like much does it? This is where the distorted parts are causing me the slow going. The two (mirror) parts on the left and right are glued, then once the glue has set completely it is clamped against the next part and glued with another long wait.

So it is slow and a times tedious, but I am enjoying myself. So far, no challenge has been insurmountable, my attitude is subject to change though if the difficulty increases.

Edit: See edit note a bottom of post #26 before you start to assemble the center sections.

Edited by user 15 June 2015 15:08:38(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Hi Matt,

You have a great building project with many challenges. I'm sure it will look great when it will be ready. I can only dream about this kind of large buildings as they could not fit my small layout with mostly curved tracks. And if I have some straight tracks on my mainlines they are very close to walls or are bridges so no way I can have a large station building. But life generally and with MRR is full of compromises... I can live without one, but I'm very glad you have this project and will follow your progress with great passion.

Thanks for posting this with photos .

Regards,
Janne

Edited by user 18 January 2014 10:56:46(UTC)  | Reason: typos

Waiting again for glue to dry, so I worked this



Two pieces glued together, the capstone that sits at the top of each entrance. The seam has been scraped and then sanded until the seam disappears. Once painted it will look like one solid piece of sandstone and not a model with a mold line. Nothing difficult, but you will literally whittle away a lot of time cleaning the castings. Every part once ready for paint will be scrutinized and any missed or uneven seams will be cleaned up before paint.

Hi Janne,
I bought into their advertising claiming that although it is large, since the public/people part of the station and the track platform are stacked one atop the other, the footprint isn't as large as a traditional station. I hope they are right.

One of the center entrance panels now has the sandstone completed.
I am liking the way it looks.







The roof and capstone have just been set in place to see how well the roof fits and how it looks.

Now to build another. It should go a little faster. The instructions are 16 pages long. This seems like a lot, but 2 pages are unrelated to construction and the remaining pages are just pictures of completed segments with the parts identified by number. There is no direction on what order to do the pieces in that segment. So I cut all the parts for a segment from the sprues (you may have noticed the pencil marks numbering the parts), clean the castings and then examine and test fit, trying to determine how they go together and what would be the best sequence. The centers have many sub-assemblies and at times, it's hard to visualize the completed assembly.

Back in a few days when I have a new section to report on. They will be the walls with the large glass panels.

Edit: See post #80. If your towers are not square, this is the time to fix them. If they are not square, you will have trouble with the seam between roof panels. I would not glue in the grey roof panel yet, do that after you paint. But be sure to test fit the piece and make sure you do not have to squeeze it to put it into place. If you do, then push the towers apart or remove material as needed until it does fit without pinching. Also see edit note in post #26.

Edited by user 27 June 2015 03:32:40(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Hi Matt,



Great project you have there. The lower castle-like structure is the symbol of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, where the prototype is standing. I love both, city and station building, which for me is the most beautiful one in entire Germany.

Greetz - Ak

Hi Matt,

Great work so far. From my learnings of the kit gleaned from the Marklin B&G a few years back, the kit does not go together easily and a bit of filing and fettling is required.
If you are going to weather it, it would be good to do that before fitting the window glass I think
Also Rick knows the right sort of glue to use so you don't fry the window glass which is such an important part of this kit. I just keep forgetting what it's called, not having built any kits recently


From my posting in your other thread ; -

Hamburg Dammtor station does indeed only have four tracks, two mainline and two S Bahn. I intend to represent the S Bahn lines just, without Catenery ( Cause the S Bahn is powered from a ground level third rail, not unlike a well known modelleisenbahn system, we all know and most of us love )

I will add some pics to this post when I get a moment

Good luck and take your time but, it sounds as tho your on the right track (puns excluded )

edit; sorry I see you've got the painting/weathering in hand

see below. I couldn't remember where I'd seen it.

This deleted post is restored by moderator.
Dear Mulldog Lemon, restoring your deleted posts is a lot of work for the moderators, so please stop deleting your posts !!

Edited by moderator 29 March 2014 08:30:23(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Hi Matt,

You called? Here comes photographic evidence of the catenary inside and - since it might help to understand the situation inside - in front of the station:

http://images.fotocommun...69-9eb9-b1e5a601598b.jpg
http://www.eriksmail.de/...C241003Dammtor190210.jpg
http://www.eriksmail.de/.../474554Dammtor141208.jpg
http://www.bahnbilder.de...-bahn-hamburg-329298.jpg
http://www.eriksmail.de/...00003Dammtor2p040109.jpg
http://www.eriksmail.de/...72535Dammtor1p211208.jpg
http://img820.imageshack...9721/103235dammtorkl.jpg
http://www.hamburger-bah...HH-Dammtor-mit-Halle.JPG
http://www.reflektion.in..._100807_1_sb-hh_1000.jpg
http://imageshack.us/pho...170131chambdammtor8.jpg/
http://www.trainslide.co...29ewd-s-bahn-hamburg.jpg

Speaking of eras: The three-car electric multiple unit Hamburg S-Bahn train DRG Class ET 171 (since 1968 DB Class 471/871) being fed by the third rail was running through Hamburg-Dammtor from the 1940s until 2001.

Enjoy - Ak

Hi Matt,

I took lots of inside pics, both the Train Hall and downstairs, as well as close up of the oiutside of the building.
The Catenary inside is conventional wire. The S Bahn is three rail at ground level, with the solid third rail on the RH side of track.
Where the Catenary exits the hall the bottom pieces of glass are in deed missing to allow for the splash shield if that is what it is called. Have a look, just a few samples !

Matt note the inside wall by that S bahn Zug, it appears to be conventional bricks but they may have been put there in the 1990 rebuild ?

The second center section is going much easier than the first. The knowledge gleened from the first helps, but this center section has much less distortion.

I noticed that too. Trix has reproduced that on the end pieces. It was one of the segments that sandwiched the window glass. What is also interesting is the center section has the brick laid in an arc to meet the main window. Trix did not do that there. They have a brick panel that glued to the inside, but the side panels (also brick) are just vertical and do not follow the curve of the window. I also think they just put them in so you would not see the unfinished insides of the "towers" when you peered through the glass. These panels do not even come all the way out to meet the brick panel glued inside the center panel. There is a gap of about 1/8 inch. This though will be in the corner where you would not be able to see it through the window.

The big question, is the brick on the inside the same color as the sandstone? It looks close.

I now have the wall pieces completed and ready to glue together.



Since everything on the kit fits so tight, I test fit each window and door opening to make sure the frame would fit and that there was some clearance for the paint. Every opening need to be scraped. All the mold part lines have been scraped and sanded and the pieces have been washed to remove the mold release. I knew I wasn't going to be able to wash it once all the pieces were joined together.

Gosh - you can really see how big it's on the last photos!

It looks great - looking forward to see the progress

Brgds - Lasse

Good work, Matt! I took on that project a year or two ago. It is a big kit! I took some pictures of the station when I was in Hamburg a few years ago. I tried to duplicate the fluorescent lights using some Brawa (I think) N scale lights ans some Plastruct channels. After installation I got the channels straighter by pulling some tension on them.



I also integrated the catenary into the structure.

-Ron

Matt:

The only negative I found to the catenary was that I could not use the scalloped clear curtain at the ends of the station.

Excellent effort Matt

This will be a marvel once finished and half your luck.

After nagging the other half finally get approval to get one for myself and its been pulled, out of production. (Still making the "N" version apparently)

I'm SOOOOOO jealous. Unless I fluke one on eBay looks like I'm out of luck. Kicking myself for not buying it a couple of years ago when I saw the set here (in Oz) for $700.

Your one of the lucky few.

Looking great Matt.

Regards,

PJ

I now have both end windows installed.



I needed to pull the walls together with a string on both sides, so I decided to use the Testors liquid cement here due to the strength. The stone walls had paint on the beveled surface that contacts the end walls, so I scrapped off the paint with a knife. For the grey end walls themselves, before painting, I masked the bevel that contacts the stone walls and the surface to which the window glues. This left them clean for the liquid cement. Scraping and cleaning up the outside steel structure pieces of the windows took an hour alone each side, but I do like the way they look. Very industrial. I will lightly weather the ends with rust. I do not want the building to look neglected, but I do not want it looking brand new either.





All that is left now are the ribs that support the roof, the roof itself and the awnings over the entrances.

Looks magnificent Matt

Regards,

PJ

I'm starting to wonder if the issues you (and others) are having with the construction is behind the reason they pulled this marvellous kit. (in HO at least)

No more snow in your back yard !

Hi Matt,

Did you try to heat the wire with a hot air gun or similar when bending them ?

Just a thought.

I got my new catenary wire. Every piece worked fine this time around. The others must have been from a bad run of wire. I also decided now would be a good time to install the track. So I bought some 2200 K-track straights, painted them to simulate rust and put seven down for each track. I also cut both rails and the third rail at the center of the station and brought wires down through the station. I am not sure what size of track blocks I may need, so I wanted to build into it as much flexibility as possible. I wired up two pieces of track and plugged them into each end of each track and then ran a Swiss loko with it's narrow panto wiper back and forth to check that the catenary wire was properly located.







I cross braced the catenary wires. The pieces were very long and there was a lot of sideways movement in the wire. I am thinking the catenary hangers I fabricated do not permit enough pull on the wire to keep it taught. I did not want to have a train get stuck if a pantograph came off and fouled in the catenary wire.

I also needed to think about how I am going to support the catenary wire outside of the station. The wire is 8mm lower than the normal mounting height. So I reconfigured some cantenary tower masts with the cross wire placement located 8mm lower. This will get the catenary into and out of the station. After that, I will bring the wire back up to the normal height. I may do tower masts at 4mm too so the transition would not be so abrupt.



Just the roof now. I am trying to figure a way to clamp the roof trusses to the sidewalls while the glue dries. The curve in the pieces doesn't provide many clamping options.

Edited by user 08 June 2014 12:38:40(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified