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| the first pickup - (horsedrawn vehicle) - Scratchbuilding. - More Practical Help - Your Model Railway Club | ||||||||||
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peterbunce Full Member
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Hi, I have started a new horsedrawn vehicle - its quite small, being only 5” long for the body. Another website calls one of these ‘the first pickup’, which is correct but the correct name is ‘carriage builders delivery wagon’ which is much more descriptive. That name is the one used in the Dover Publications book which shows a very slightly diagonal view of one – the drawing comes form the Hub magazine of 1894. I had sufficient to start and most importantly the wheels were in stock (laser cut from the USA). The body was worked out and at only a scale 3 foot wide I knew that I would not be able to fit a couple of figures side by side with ease (even the small Chinese copies); so the body has been widened to 3 foot six wide. The first thing to find was a piece of tube for the inverted semicircle that the body has to allow to front wheels to ‘tuck under’ this is very useful in tight areas. That is a very old piece of tube from the centre of a roll of 2” wide gummed tape! It has been ‘in stock’ for ‘something or other’ for a very long time indeed, and I only used half of it. The rest of the body has been made from plasticard with holes where need to equalize pressure. The cupboard door shapes were scored in before assembly – there are no handles – I envisage the driver using a ‘carriage key’ , like the older railway carriages had, and are still used on the Festiniog Railway. Why ‘The world’s first pickup’? Another use for this vehicle is to collect disabled vehicles for repair – there will be some hooks on the rear crossbar of the body – these were used to tow such vehicles to the factory. The vehicle is to be completed for a single horse, with American style shafts (made from tube). The vehicle has a double cupboard at the rear of the seat with a turtleback top and doors opening into the open body; I have fitted an internal strengthening frame here on the assumption that sometimes heavy loads would have been carried, and the frame would also add strength to the vehicle. The drawings are incomplete so I have taken some liberties with my design. But it is still conforming to the side view that I worked from. The roof over the seat has been made with solid sides - where the radii is at its sharpest – made from strips of (scrap) PVC foam sanded to shape, with cross pieces; as a result of the variable curvature the centre portion was then planked with 5mm wide strips of .020mm plasticard; the edges were filled and the whole roof sanded to get a reasonable shape, a side piece was then added to finish of the (supposedly canvas covered) roof. Some extra pieces were needed to keep things in order – bit once assembled they will not be seen The top surface was painted with Masonry paint to which some talc had been added; this gives some e3xtra ‘body’ to the paint and assist in filling in the (still) rough parts, repeat if necessary. The four vertical supports for the roof are started with 1.5mm square section; the rear one are glued to the rear inside corners of the cupboards (before the lid for them is fitted), and the front ones have a simple reduction in with to allow them to be fitted to the inside of the seat area. When dry, and having fitted the curved top to the cupboards (cut out slots for the pillars and also the seat supports – those being made from plain, not plastic covered paper clips. They are increased in size by a couple of strips of .020 which makes them much stronger, Finally there are 3 cross pieces two sides and one at the rear – these are the bases for the drop down rubberised canvas weather curtains that are later fitted here. The under edges of the roof have 4 small depressions for the tops of the pillars to fit into in due course. That’s all for now - here are 3 photos of most of the work done so far – enjoy!  A side view with a ruler to show the size  Rear view (there is a drop flap for the rear made)  Top view of body with the underside of the roof above. Yours Peter |
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Petermac Admin 
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peterbunce wrote:
One ...................two .................th.............no, hang on, go back a bit ............ One...................two .................th .........................no, still not there ..................  One ..........................two...........................th.............nope, I give up - where have you hidden the third photo............. ?   ____________________ 'Petermac |
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peterbunce Full Member
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Hi Petermac, Ooops, I had some trouble loading the post, but evidently didn't check it properly - my apologies - now rectified. It was a bit late at night! Yours Peter |
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Robert Legacy Member 
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I can see that we have another cracker in the making. Something else for me to look forward to.
____________________ Barchester |
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SRman Member 
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That looks very promising, Peter. Your plastic work looks very finely done. Since I am "into" road vehicles of all eras, I will be following this with great interest.
____________________ Jeff Lynn, Amateur layabout, Professional Lurker, Thread hijacker extraordinaire |
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Petermac Admin
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peterbunce wrote: Hi Petermac,  - RLW has a lot to answer for .................As has already been said Peter, some cracking modelling there. It looks a highly complex design with all those diffcult curves but it's already looking great.  ____________________ 'Petermac |
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Robert Legacy Member
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I have moved this topic to the Scratchbuilding section Peter because that's certainly what it is. I would also like to put the topic in the Forum Index for permanent reference but I would like a more specific title to help people when they are searching in the index, or do you think the existing title is perfectly adequate.
____________________ Barchester |
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peterbunce Full Member
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Hi Robert, Thanks for moving the new topic: would Horsedrawn vehicles be a title do you think? Admittedly the (exact) theme for my vehicles are to is American designs but the techniques are applicable for British designs in many ways. The possible next one in the queue is a spring dray - very like the photo of the L&YR vehicle posted earlier. Incidentally Slaters make a 4mm scale 'kit' for these their reference number is 4A23v Here is a (quick grabbed) photo of one and also a van body version that I built much earlier! The L& Y railway was very progressive - they used an early system of containerization using only flats which they loaded with cotton bales, covered in tarpaulins, and put them onto drays with a crane. The bales were large; so large when they arrived at Liverpool docks that the L&Y built a fleet of, for the time, quite HUGE wagons to move them: there were flats, open wagons and vans all with bogies - they needed them!  The wheels for the van I think were from Langley; the dray is pure Slater's. Yours Peter |
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Robert Legacy Member
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Horse Drawn Vehicles it is then Peter. Also Vehicles Horse Drawn and also both under Scratchbuilding with the same titles. I have to try and make it as easy as possible for members to find things. Sometimes though I forget to look in my own Index. ____________________ Barchester |
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peterbunce Full Member
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Hi, I have now built the chassis, using the isometric drawing in the Dover Publications book as a guide, and also my versions of other vehicles that are from Northeast Narrow Gauge range as well. The springs are made from one leaf of .020 aluminum with 2 or 3 more from styrene sheet; the aluminum allows the spring to keep its shape, it is roughly bent to shape before adding the extra leaves; pieces of .050 rod replicate the shackles at the ends. The rear axle is some Plastruct 3mm square styrene tube with a piece of their 1.5mm plastic covered wire through the centre, that holds the (Northeast Narrow Gauge) wheels. These have a small piece of plastic tube on the outside painted gold to replicate the brass hubs. The tyre is a piece of black painted (paint it twice to preserve it better) thick paper, glued to the outer edge as a rim, which is easier to add than styrene card, add a rough coat of silver later to add some ‘wear’ to them, then a couple of coats of varnish as well. The chassis is made from scrap PVC solid foam board cut to 3mm square strips; the metal reinforcement is strips of pop/beer cans. There are also for the rear axle a couple of stiffening wires from .8mm brass wire. In addition the springs have some rods from top to bottom – these are .75mm plastic rod painted black and glued in position. Having painted the chassis it was put on one side, whilst I finished off the body. The front axle is a slightly bent downwards piece of 2mm diameter copper tube with an elongated half circle to match the other one on the chassis I added a styrene rod pun to align them later. A couple of eyelets are fitted for the front wheels to be glued against. The body has some very small pieces of square tube added to the top of the sides to the cargo area – 3 each side – I think these (the drawing shows only two at the rear), are locations for a cross rods onto which a tarpaulin cover can be placed ; I have made my rods ‘bow shaped’ so when fitted a ‘tarp’ would be assisted in throwing off the water. The rods are a soft iron wire just under 1mm diameter, they are actually the waste part from some sparklers from last November – the rear one is unpainted so it can be more easily seen. The hooks on the verticals are made from 3 layers of pop can strip and glued onto their respective verticals – at this point I inadvertently sat on the almost complete body – I was to say the least not pleased!! However some careful restorative work eventually had it back together correctly. . The side curtains are made from thick paper rolled and glued with strips to hold them rolled, and painted and glued to the inner pre-painted strips under the roof. The colors suggested in the Dover Publications book were green with red wheels; I decided on royal blue with red wheels – the royal blue paint looked good but did not cover evenly – so a couple of coats of Navy Blue were added then the royal blue was again painted on top. The center band is a lighter blue and there will be a name added there. A vehicle like this with an open rear needs some loads – I have made 4 small crates from scrap, a couple of small barrels from my collection, and a selection of cans. Paint was first sold in cans (according to Wiki) from about 1880 so they are very new in my terms They are made from bits of old scrapped pen tubes with 4 layers of heavy paper; the top two being smaller to replicate the tin lid; the semi-circular handle is a very thin strip from the ever useful pop cans. 1 gallon cans were again from the web, about 8” diameter and 7” tall; I added some smaller ones as well, and some square and oblong cans for variety, these were also made from scrap, wrapped in paper, and have handles from pop can strip. Paint them plain silver and add some small labels to them. They are ten tins in all, and they have been fixed to some 1/2mm sheet to make them easily removable; the tarp bows are not fixed so loads can be added etc., when needed. To go on top of the turtleback roof to the cupboards there are 3 even smaller parcels, these are fitted against the square section styrene glued there to keep them still; they are fixed with ‘sticky wax’ so can be easily removed. The driver is a figure from the Schliech ‘covered wagon set and is the right size, the ‘Chinese copy figures’ (off E-bay) are the same size but are noticeably thinner, at least there is going to be some variety! The base has been painted and the vehicle is now secured to it so the camera was brought into use for some more photos – here they are.  The chassis with a 'helper' spring on the rear axle.  Body and chassis temporarily united - the main colour was not working so a repaint was done.  Some of the 'loads' made for the vehicle; these are greater than life size.  A top view of the finished vehicle with some small crates that are also for the vehicle.  A final view with a driver, and a repainted horse, both are by Schliech. The horse has the colour changed by acrylics and also Citadel inks; he has a breast harness, as a change from the 'horse collar' style. Yours Peter. |
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Robert Legacy Member
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A cracking little period piece Peter that would grace any layout of the time and place.
____________________ Barchester |
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ddolfelin Straight man to the stars. 
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Fascinating work, thank you.
____________________ http://dddioramas.webs.com/ 11 + 2 = 12 + 1 |
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