John Gummersall

With the inside lined, time to add the external strips that will form the curved edge. Looks like I jiggled the camera when I took this shot. Basically the strips around the sides are laid flat and the ones on the lower part of the carriage are laid on edge Now starts the process of cutting the small strips that will eventually form the curved edge. Not much to show of the process other than to say cutting the strips and laying them on edge got old really fast. Below is the completed left side. Don't need to make it too neat at almost all of it will get sanded off And the completed right side. Again, are really tedious task. Before the sanding, others have mentioned to make up the two doors so when sanding the curve there is a smooth transition between the walls and the doors. Making the door will be the next step.

Once the clips come off and excess trimmed, the inside is done except for the floor. Take you time with the thin rim around the top of the carriage (marked with black arrow). As you work your way around the top of the carriage, this area is so thin, when cutting across the grain it is very easy to split the very small thin piece of wood. Expect to have some bad words as you go around the top. Other than that, the rest of the carriage is pretty straight forward. Finished and trimmed top edge On to the floor. As mentioned earlier, the best/easiest way to lay the floor is to do it before you attach the walls. If you are like me and did not think that far ahead, the 2nd best way is to assemble most of the floor outside the carriage. I started with the outline of the floor on a sheet of paper. This was to get the general size of the floor and lay out the panels. All the panels are full length except for the two panels by each door. Those will take trimming. Once the panels are all laid out flat and lined up, slip out the paper and you will have the layout of the floor. Make sure the panels a lined up and close together. Tape them to keep them together. I would recommend some not very sticky tape such as painters tape. Does not take much to hold these planks together. At this point you can lift up the entire floor and dry fit it in the carriage. The final four panels by each door will be shaped and glued in once the floor is in. Below, floor is dry fit into the carriage. Once you see how the floor will fit into the carriage, line the floor with glue and lay the flooring done. Add whatever you have to weight it down. Note the tape is still attached at this time. Once the glue dries, 99% of your floor is complete and way easier then laying one plank at a time in the carriage. Only thing remaining is the four trimmed panels by the doors.. At this point remove the tape. It take some patience and a steady hand but these pieces are easily trimmed and glued into place. These trimmed pieces will be similar to below.

After filling in four corners then proceed to fill in the walls between the walls. Not a big deal as these are flat pieces and go in pretty easy. A more difficult area is the very thin border around the top of the carriage. These are marked by red arrows. I did not do this, but I would recommend when forming these very thin pieces, to cut them very close (a little larger) to the actual size. Than after the glue dries, it will only take sandpaper to smooth them out. In my case the pieces are way to large and I needed to use a cutter to cut away the excess. As mentioned before, these pieces are so thin, cutting them is a challenge. They tend to split just looking at them. Best to only sand them if possible. Next came the curved piece at the top of the carriage (marked with black arrows). Instructions do not mention this, but use the carriage itself as a template to create the curve. As shown below, use some card stock and trace the outside curve of the carriage. From there you will have an outline of the curve Cut that out and you have your pattern. it will be a little long, but better long than short. Just trim the ends to fit inside the carriage From you pattern it is easy to create the correct curve out of the sapelly. Insert it into the curved section of the carriage and you have a perfect fit. Excess will be trimmed later. Again, you just can not have enough clamps 🙂

Once both front/back sides are covered, you fill in both left/right sides. Instructions call for a very inaccurate way to measure for the curved sides (Part 71). At my skill level I would have really hard time making that curve match the actual curved corner in the carriage. I pondered it for a long figuring there was no way I was going to be able to make that curve match the carriage. Finally realized, and I am not sure why the instructions did not talk about this, but you already have a template that will match the curve exactly. That being the outline of the sheet wood that contained both sides of the carriage. Insert a sheet of the sapelly into the frame and you have the exact curve. Use a pencil to mark the curve and cut it out with a sharp scissors. Again, this wood is so thin a scissors works far better than even a sharp exacto knife. I am sorry I did not get a picture of the resulting piece, but it really is the exact shape of the curve. Below you see the shaped piece inserted into the corner of the carriage. Using the supplied template is really the only way to do this.. After all four corners were in place, just started going around the inside of the carriage inserting in the straight pieces. Note each piece is a little long and will be trimmed later. I think (hope) it will be easier to trim around the windows and doors later on then try to trim the pieces to make at exact fit prior to gluing them in

Next come bending the cover over the carriage structure. Instructions calls to start at one end and slowly with CA glue bend the wood over the cover. To me that seemed kind of hard and i am not a big fan of CA glue when wood glue would work. To me the easiest way to ben the cover over the structure was to slightly dampen the cover - both sides. Find the middle of the sheet and clamp the carriage to it. I then used a heat gun to soften the wood (not sure that was necessary) and slowly bent each side up at the same time. Again, make sure the carriage is securely clamped to the center of the wood sheet. At that point l the sheet is up over both sides, clamp it well and let it dry overnight. Next day remove the clamps. The cover sheet will flop down some, but can easily be bent back. Add some wood glue to all glue spots and clamp well. Again wait over night for the glue to really set up. In addition to clamps, some rubber bands were added at the curve to make sure it was also well glued. Next day when clamps are removed all is good Used an exacto knife and sand paper to remove the excess wood. I forget exactly what happened here with the gouges, but it had nothing to do with bending the wood. I seem to remember "trying to be cute" and "Fast" with the wood trimming and these gouges were the result. Not a big deal. A little wood filler and all is good with the world On to lining the inside of the carriage with the really thin .06mm sapelly wood. That is really thin... it splits and cracks just looking at it. I found one was that worked for me in cutting the sapelly was to use a sharp scissors. It is especially hard on both sides of the carriage as the sides are curved. So you have to shape the wood and it can be a challange do to the wood being so thin. Once side complete Second side complete. I am not too worried about the middle piece on the left being a little short. In the end, when the floor is laid and seats added, that little gap will not be seen. However, there really was no excuse for that piece being short.... other than lack of skill on my part 🙂

Next step call for gluing the floor between the curved walls. Instructions say to do this like it is not big deal. And for a more experienced modeler maybe it is obvious. I spent way too many hours successfully discovering all the ways not to do it. May issue is the fact that the wall are not yet secure, so gluing on the bottom proved challenging. Anyway secret (for me anyway) was to use double sided tape. Tape holds the sides steady while the top is glued. Here again, ways not to do it. I initially used some 30 lbs double sided tape. As soon as I stuck on the first piece, I knew I was in trouble. Tape was way too strong and I felt I would break the piece trying to get it off the tape. I then used some 6 lbs tape. Again too strong, but that is was I used. After glue dried, with a putty knife I slowly worked off the pieces. If you have some plan double sided tape around, you might try that. I may or may not be strong enough, but it is worth a try. All it has to do is keep the base from moving around while you glue on the floor. A few pictures showing the floor being glued onto the carriage. With the base secure due to the tape, it was pretty straight forward. And finally gluing on the two straight beams

Final step for the frame is to add the previously assembled wheels and haul pole. And the frame is complete At this point the frame is complete.. It will be set aside, at the speed I build models, for a very long time while the carriage is built. Not required, but I choose to pre-bend the bottom half of the carriage by wetting it and using the outline the upper curved beams, let it sit over night. with both side pre-bent I joined them with the upper curved beams. At this point the instructions call to "glue on the floor".... Prior to doing that I drew some lines on the floor to give me a line of reference when later laying the floor beams. Lines are not any particular distance apart. They are just there to give a line of reference when laying the floor beams in a later step.

Really nice work so far...... Who says you can not have too many clamps? 🙂

Creating the four frame exterior and interior brackets. This involves curling over the ends of each bracket and then inserting the interior bracket inside the exterior bracket. Note the resulting hole in the end of the combined brackets will eventually need to be able to fit a 1.5 rod. Before you are finished, make sure you can fit a 1.5 rod in the rolled hole at the end of the combined bracket. This will save you a headache later on. Making the suspension spring links, instructions call to use the etched brass parts and 1.5mm brass rod and attach them with CA glue. My problem was that the holes in the etched brass parts was a little larger then 1.5mm. Not sure the CA glue would really fill the gap and hold tight. Instead I used a tab of epoxy to hold the 1.5mm brass pieces. Epoxy not because there would be any stress on these joint, but more for it was thick enough to fill the gap. All would be painted black in the end anyway Bracket clamps attached to the frame after painting them yellow And then adding the black suspension springs via the suspension spring brackets

Next item is to figure out where the brake bar is located on the frame. Instructions call for it to be 24mm back from the front stabilizer. Not sure I would trust that measurement - especially with my modeling skills... Instead I temporarily put on the rear wheels, and with a toothpick holding up the brake struts, it is pretty easy to see where the brake bar should be located. Basically above the holes in the brake struts. Instructions do not call to cut a little channel in the three lengthwise beams, but the brackets (that attach the brake bar) are too small to fit around the brake bar, so you really have no choice. From the measurement above, mark the lengthwise beams adjacent to the holes, and with a drill bit, create a little channel to hole the brake bar. Use the brackets that are used to attach the brake bar as a guide as to how deep the channel needs to be. When all is done, brake bar should easily fit into the three lengthwise beams. Brake bar only now needs some blackening. Next the three brake bar rails were formed to shape and located on the three lengthwise beams. Again temporarily attach the rear wheels and position the brake to locate the position if the brake bar rails. Once located, blacken them and nail to the beams. Next came the suspension springs. In order to get close to the actual curve I used the "actual size" diagram to form the curve. I put the "actual size" in quotes as I assume do to camera angles and what not, the pictures are not really actual size. I mentioned the earlier, the picture are close but in reality a little larger then actual size. But close enough in this case. After soaking the suspension springs, who says you can not every have enough clamps? Let it dry over night, and you have your suspension springs Paint them black, add the fitting on the ends. Not the fastening wires in the end of each spring. Instructions state they are the 10mm wire bent over and thru the spring. On the other side of the spring the end are soldered and sanded, and eventually painted black Below is the other side. The four wire ends have been soldered and sanded smooth. Just need to touch up the black paint.

Started working on the brake bar... For me, this proved to be more of a challenge that it should have been. Process starts out drilling two 1mm holes in a 2mm round bar. After measuring where the holes were to be places, I filed a flat spot to help the bit not to wander. Instructions talk about using a punch to also help steady the bit. I found that pretty hard to do. Even putting the bar in a vise, it just would not hold steady to take the punch. Instead I finally got the holes drilled by using a very slow speed on the drill and a stead hand. By slowly drilling the hole it was easier to get the bit not to wander and start the hole. Once the hole was started, with steady pressure, bit when through. Secret here is take it slow Formed the brake bar into the correct position, and made the brake hooks cut from 1mm wire and soldered them into the brake bar then attached the brake lever onto the brake bar

Next add the metal (?) straps to the steering bars. As before I choose to make these out of card stock and paint them. and applied/painted to the steering bars. To me it really looks like metal and a whole lot easier to make. Start making the haul beams by blacking the fittings Trimming and forming the haul beams was relative simple with some sand paper and final assemble Applied to the steering bars building the brake system starting with the brake struts.. One hole in one end and two holes in the other end Add the struts to the brake bar.

Next came the rear axle. Start with the 9x9mm square wood and drill a 5mm hole in each end and insert the 5mm dowel. At the end of the 5mm dowel drill a 2mm hole and insert the 2mm dowel. Paint it up and put aside for later steps Started working on the steering struts When gluing the struts together, instructions call to make the gap 5.5mm in order for the haul bar (5.0m) to easily slide. Prior to gluing the struts together I temporarily inserted two of the brass strips to accommodate for the extra .5mm... Having done that, I am not sure that is necessary. In fact I wish I had not allowed for that extra space. Haul bar can still easily fit between the struts and can move around. I really hated to see the extra .5mm gap. In a later picture I will show the haul bar inserted and the gap showing - ugh Glued with the strips removed. In the below picture the three straps with the pins showing are all made of card stock and painted. The side clamps are the brass strips. As mentioned earlier, it really is hard to tell the difference and the card stock is a whole lot easier to work with. Next came the haul bar - again card stock instead of the suggested blacked brass. Attach the steering struts to the front wheel bracket. This calls for slitting the front wheel bracket and laying in the steering struts so the lay flush. Lay the steering struts on to of the front wheel bracket 45mm back from the haul bar. This is where the steering struts should be inserted into the haul bar. You can also use the full diagram to help with the placement. Make some lines on each side of the front wheel bracket and start cutting. After some cutting, filing, and sanding the struts should lay even in the front wheel bracket. Below shows the two parts about to be joined, And all assembled

Starting to assemble the beams and suspension stabilizers. I am assuming that it will be imperative to insure this structure is perfectly square (or as perfect as I can get it at my still level). There weights seemed to do the trick Resulting in a "fairly" straight suspension

Next step was to create clefts in the beams and in the suspension stabilizers. Instructions call to use a fine hack saw, with clamps and steel ruler. Clamp the pieces and then using the saw make the clefts. Here is where my lack of skill started to show up. Making a straight cleft in the suspension stabilizers was pretty easy as those part are wide, but making a straight cleft in the three beams, for me anyway, was really hard. First off the beams are very narrow so there is not much for the metal ruler to grab on to. As such when I started the saw cuts the beam would tend to move on me. Also, in my case, the beams were not perfectly straight. There was an ever to small bend to them. Had to look really close to see the bend, but it was there. End result, while the saw cut was in the middle of the strip at both ends, the slight bend in the middle ended up with the cleft off center. It looked horrible. Had to go through the process of soaking and straightening out the strips. Below you see my attempt at clamping the thin strips. I ended up using the sticking side of duct tape to help hold the stirp in place as I made the cut. Unless you really are confident in making these cleft cuts, I would suggest getting of additional 3/16" strips (closest to 5mm) and practice, practice, practice before you make the attempt on the real wood. I did not think this would be a hard task and I ended up wrecking the 3 pieces of mahogany supplied with the kit. At that point I acquired the additional 3/16" strips for practice and eventual strips. Dumb you get early Smart you get late 🙂 Also, it mentions using a fine backsaw. I would suggest starting with a fine backsaw, but the eventual cleft will be "too fine". For the cleft to show up better it is best to follow up the fine backsaw line with a thicker saw resulting is a thicker cleft. Again, unless your wood is perfectly straight and you are really confident in making the cleft lines..... practice practice practice Four strips of supplied mahogany Resulting clefts in the beams and suspension stabilizers - after a lot of cursing and 'redo's After painting them yellow