Dan Vadas

Thanks John, and welcome home .
 
The Bridge is quite complex. So far it's taken me over a week to get as far as I have below. Here are the pieces that make up the framing :

 
There are also a number of platforms attached to the sides :



 
Lots of small fittings, some of which I have no idea about their function :


 
There are also a few stairs :



 
Some overall pics of my current progress :


 
And finally one to give an idea of scale :

 
Danny

Here are the pics of the finished model :







 
I'm taking a break from building ships for a while. My next project is a free download of a Card model - a vintage Yamaha YA-1 motorbike. I'll put up some pics of my progress in Shore Leave.
 
Danny

Pics of the show can be found by clicking HERE.
 
Danny

Hi all,
 
Just some latest news about my model of HMS Hood - she took out "Best in Show" at the annual Port Macquarie Model Show. I took the half-finished model there last year, this year it was of course finished. I also took all the Card models I've built since then. A couple of pics of the show will follow tomorrow when I get home.
 
Cheers, Danny

I've made the rails on which the whole train will be mounted. I used some ballast and "grass" from Woodland Scenics. The rest is two add-on laser cut paper kits from Modelik, very detailed and complete with plates and bolts :















Danny

Hi all, and thanks to all the guys who commented and Liked this build. Now that it's finished I guess I'd better post the final pics - I'd forgotten about them  :








 






 


Danny

There's also a Beer Wagon in progress at the moment  . I've made 2.5 metres of highly detailed rails (in two pieces for easier transport) which will hold the lot.


Danny

There's also a Beer Wagon in progress at the moment  . I've made 2.5 metres of highly detailed rails (in two pieces for easier transport) which will hold the lot.


Danny

Hi all, and thanks to all the guys who commented and Liked this build. Now that it's finished I guess I'd better post the final pics - I'd forgotten about them  :








 






 


Danny

Yeah, I know . But as I said at the beginning of the log - I don't know anything about building stagecoaches, so I went with the kit directions .
 
BTW - not a bad replica of my model that they have in the bank's museum .
 
Danny

A few minor things added, like the Running Gear, Brake Lever and Wheels and she's all done and FINISHED. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out :
 



 
  Danny

Thanks guys .
 
On the home run now - fitting the Thoroughbraces to the body. They went on a lot easier than I was expecting :
 

The brace brackets pinned and expoxied with slow-set :
 


 
Somehow I managed to lose the threaded bar for the main swivel that attaches the Running Gear to the Chassis . I made a new bolt by cutting two threads with an Xacto blade, while rolling the bar at a slight angle. It took me about 1/2 an hour, but it worked :
 


 
The Thoroughbraces were then attached to the stirrups :
 


I'd forgotten to fit the two Brace Irons - not as bad as it seemed at first, I only had to remove the centre pins and managed to slip the ends under their pins :
 


 
  Danny

I've fitted all the Brasswork. I know it looks a bit "blingy" (the pics don't do it justice), but my grandson should like it. He's only 5 years old, and not all that into historical accuracy yet :
 





 
  Danny

I've made up the Boot Leathers, using the kit-supplied "leather" material. Wayne and Mike, I see what you meant about the stuff curling when painted . I'm hoping I can rectify the situation.
 

I've also made the various straps. The buckles came in the PE set :
 

 
I painted the boots in a colour called Koala Grey. I think it will look quite good when all is completed - the kit pics show a similar colour, though they claim to have given the "leather" a wash of dilute Burnt Umber.
 
I chose the colour because it's about the same colour as our Koala Bears. It was a little publicised fact that Koala Bears were used to make the boot leathers - they were a lot cheaper than cattle and tasted foul to boot. If word of this had got out the Wildlife Conservationists of the time would have been up in arms .
 
  Danny
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
P.S. I'm pulling your leg about the Koalas being used for the Leathers - none were harmed either in the original production run, or in the making of this model . Although I'm not kidding about their taste (I prefer cow any day). Lucky for the Koalas, or they would have gone the way of the Dodo .And I don't think there would have been a single Wildlife Conservationist anywhere in the world back then .

Thanks for looking in again Eddie and Bug .
 
While there are relatively few of the major components fitted to the body I thought it might be a good idea to add the Decals. The Kit came with the usual American ones - "Wells Fargo", "Butterfield Overland Stage", "U.S. Mail" etc. I modified these a bit to give my coach the Aussie flavour by cutting out individual letters and re-arranging them. Fortunately I was only short by two "B"s which I made from a couple of spare "D"s. The decals will get a coat of Minwax when they are properly set :
 


 
One of the most famous towns in Australia is Gundagai, which was immortalised in Banjo Patterson's poem "The Dog on the Tucker Box" and the song "On the Road to Gundagai". What more fitting town for a destination?
 

 
I did a bit of research and found an article about early Gundagai, just to make sure that Cobb & Co actually had a route to the town. They sure did :
 
Here's an old pic of the Hotel mentioned in the article, with a Cobb & Co coach in the foreground :
 

 
  Danny

A tricky bit - I had to rivet these seat brackets together so they could actually work. I used 0.7mm soft brass wire held in my vice and tapped the ends down with a small hammer :
 


 
  Danny

Thanks Eddie and Mike.
 
Two of the moldings I cut earlier from Castello need bending to follow the line of the side. I soaked them overnight and placed them in this simple jig to dry. They are slightly over-bent as they will straighten a touch when removed :
 

 
  Danny

Hi all,
 
I've finished all the Brass work for now, just a couple of brackets left to do. I cleaned the flux off by soaking the pieces in vinegar for a few hours, then polished them using a buffing wheel in my Dremel :
 



 
The real coach had a tarred canvas roof to help with waterproofing. The kit supplied a piece of cotton for this. I ran a bead of normal PVA glue around the edges of the roof, then gave the rest of it a wash of diluted PVA, placed the cotton onto the roof, and finished off with another coat of dilute PVA. After the glue dried I trimmed the edges with a new Xacto blade. Then I used black wood stain to simulate the tar. I'll experiment with a topcoat of semi-gloss clear over it on a piece of scrap. This would prevent a lot of dust building up (I hope ). The lighting makes it look like grey, but it's actually PROPER black :
 


 
  Danny

I've put the topcoat on the rest of the body - pics will come tomorrow.
 
While waiting for the paint to harden I've made up all the Brasswork - two pieces for the sides of the roof and two for the sides of the driver's seat. These pics were taken straight after silver soldering, a fair bit of cleaning up will follow, as I intend to polish the brass instead of blackening :

To make this joint I filed halfway through both pieces - this brought them out level with each other instead of merely placing the vertical in front or behind the horizontal piece. It also made it easier to solder :
 

I had a lot of trouble with my gas torch - what should have taken me an hour or so to silver solder took me most of the day. Maybe I should replace that 8-year-old refill can?
 
To make the fancy bends at each end of the pieces the kit supplied a Jig. Here's how it works, the pics are self-explanitory :
 





 
  Danny

Thanks Popeye.
 
I found out that the interior floor was covered by an oiled canvas. First I had to remove the Jump Seats again, using Isopropyl alcohol.
 
I made the canvas up by taping a piece of fine-weave Egyptian cotton to a large flat plastic lid, painting it with thinned PVA glue which I let dry thoroughly. I turned the piece over and painted the other side and let it dry too. I could then easily trim the piece to fit with an Xacto knife. I used a wash of the thinned glue and a bead of normal thickness PVA on the two ends under the seats to hold it down. Fits beautifully :
 

 
Next job was to fit the roof sheeting. The kit supplied 1/16" x 1/2 " battens for this, but they were two pieces short (total of 4 the length of the roof) ! Not happy . Luckily I had plenty of spare Basswood strips left over from previous models, but only 1/4" wide so I had to do a lot more work than I should have. I stained the underside of it first :
 


The roof after trimming and sanding :
 

I've digressed a bit and made up some molding using my Byrnes table saw to cover the roof seam. The roof will be covered by a ""tarred" canvas, and I figured this would be the best way to finish it off :
 

 
 

I've also filled the seams on the end panels, and spot-primed any other bits that had sustained a bit of damage - I'll recoat the entire cabin when all is completed :

 
  Danny

Dunno about that Eddie, it looks comfy enough to me . The sides are permanently fixed on, and so are the seats :
 


 
  Danny
 
 

Thanks Eddie and Cristi.
 
I've fitted the upholstery to the cabin sides and doors :
 

Last job for this phase is hinging the doors and finessing the door locks. Here are the hinges epoxied in and swinging :
 



And just to prove that the door locks do actually work :


I had a few minor problems after epoxying the hinges in, mainly on one door that didn't quite want to close without a bit of sanding to the edge - a bit of touch-up paint will be needed, but no big deal. One lock mortise also needed re-positioning slightly. Without actually fitting the doors properly it was nearly impossible to predict what would happen later .
 
  Danny

Hi all,
 
After some thought (too much ) and a couple of changes of mind (Black and Burnt Umber - both got "lost" inside the cabin) I finally settled on a colour for the upholstery. If I'd have just used Clearcoat it would have turned out nearly the same . I was after the colour of the "leather" supplied with the kit, and I reckon I got it pretty close. A piece of the "leather" is on the left in the 1st pic.
 
I used artist's Acrylics, brushed on. The formula is : 2 parts White, 1 part each of Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre, and 1/2 a part of Sap Green. The pieces are just freshly painted, they'll dry a bit darker.
 
A tip : To save trying to exactly match the colour in case of a touch-up being needed, I put the remaining paint in the fridge - it'll stay useable for months .
 


 
  Danny

And now for one of the most tedious pieces of the model - the Upholstery. This is about as much fun as tying the Ratlines on a HMS Victory (well, maybe a Brig ).
 
48 parts in the seats, each one needs rounding off from flat stock. The individual pieces are then glued to a base :

The seats assembled and ready for primer :

There are 7 pieces of upholstery for the Jump Seats, Driver's Seat and rooftop Passenger Seat. There are also 24 panels for the sides and doors. All these pieces needed rounding off as well, and three of the door panels had to be recessed out for the internal escutcheon plates :

 
  Danny

Hi all,
 
A bit of progress in the last week. I've prepped and glued on all the Moldings to the sides and doors :


Constructed and painted the Floor :

And Painted the sides and doors. The lighting doesn't do the finish any justice - the colour is quite a bit darker in reality, and the reflections make it look a lot rougher than it really is. Very hard to get a high-gloss finish to come up well in the pics :


The custom-made external door handle and escutcheon plate :

 
  Danny