Concord Stagecoach by Dan Vadas - FINISHED - Model Trailways - 1:12 scale - circa 1862 "Cobb & Co"

[mathewp]

Good to see you back Dan. Nice work. I'm not sure working brakes are period accurate, because every movie I've seen they never do. They somehow always break with a young damsel aboard on a runaway stagecoach. Funny that. May be I watch too many westerns. Bullet holes in the sides could work. Maybe a few arrows. Have fun with her.

Matt.

[Dan Vadas]

Thanks Jan, Eddie and Matt.

 

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it forces you to do a fully detailed  interior: no smudgy windows to hide sloppy benches

 

Interior is fully detailed anyway Jan. And the windows are merely rolled up canvas .

 

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are you going to use the same colour as the box?

 

Nope Eddie, I'm doing the Aussie version circa 1862. The main body colour is Maroon with cream wheels.

 

  Danny

[Mike Dowling]

As if !!!!!

[Mike Dowling]

Oops, that reply got mixed up somehow. The 'as if' bit was meant to convey that there is no way that Dan wouldn't make the interior gorgeous as well.

[popeye the sailor]

I see you made some great progress since I last looked in Danny    the frame is look'in really nice.........nice work on the sides too.   working door latches sound like a cool idea.

[Elijah]

Hello Danny! This is a really nice looking build! Did you sand the laser char off and stain the laser cut parts before using then? Also, do you chemically blacken all the metal parts?

[Paul Jarman]

Nice work Danny,

I may just consider buying one of these kits. I did not realise they were so detailed.

[Dan Vadas]

Thanks Mike, popeye, Elijah and Paul. Comments are always appreciated .

 

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Did you sand the laser char off and stain the laser cut parts before using then? Also, do you chemically blacken all the metal parts?

I stained the pieces with "Feast Watson" brand Oak coloured stain.

 

There is hardly any char to speak of, it's the best laser cutting I've come across in a kit. It just needs a quick wipe over with 150 grit to remove the tiny "tags" of which there are usually only two per piece, and also to roughen the gluing edge a touch :

This is the only piece I regarded as just OK, with a small amount of char - a sheet of 1/16" ply that only contained 4 pieces. In another kit this one would have been regarded as one of the better ones :

Yes, I chemically blackened the brass and Britannia Metal pieces. The Britannia didn't blacken a lot, just enough to take the "newness" out of the pieces. I can't recall the name of the chemical - it was given to me by gjdale. If you're reading this Grant, perhaps you could remind me .

 

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I did not realise they were so detailed.

Paul, don't expect working door locks in the kit - they are my own doing . All in all though, an excellent kit .

 

  Danny

[Jim Lad]

Well, of course you'd put in working door locks, Danny!

 

John

[Eddie]

Hey howya goin Danny, I have to agree with John not making working door locks is just unprofessional.  

[John Allen]

On 4/13/2017 at 1:56 AM, amateur said:

It's a pity that this company only does American coaches an wagons. No European counterpart available.

 

I believe OCCRE has a small selection of wagons and trams, they look good but  no nothing of there quality.

 

Looks good Danny!

[Mike Dowling]

To pop in my six penny  worth Occre trams are really good, the two horse drawn carriages not so good.

[JohnB40]

Hi Dan,

I am really enjoying watching your progress on the stage,as I have with your other builds. I too have side tracked for a while from shipbuilding and ordered Model Trailways Chuck Wagon. I look forward to its arrival and starting a new project that won't take years to finish. I have a question on your wheel construction...What adhesives did you use?

 Regards, John  

[Dan Vadas]

3 hours ago, JohnB40 said:

I have a question on your wheel construction...What adhesives did you use?

Thanks John, just white PVA wood glue. The aluminium wheel hubs don't really do more than hold the spokes in place - the spokes are glued to each other. No problems with anything not sticking .

 

  Danny

[mtaylor]

I swear that you're an old car racer, Danny... Just can't leave anything stock.        Looking great and that lock is something else....in a good way.

[Eddie]

Hey howya goin Danny mate, could you tell me the diameter of the back wheel thanks.  

[Dan Vadas]

On 22/04/2017 at 8:24 AM, mtaylor said:

I swear that you're an old car racer, Danny... Just can't leave anything stock.

Hmm, let's see Mark .....

 

1964 Holden panel van - 192 Cu In, Triple Stromberg carbs, 35/75 cam, worked head etc :

 

 

1965 Holden Premier, 214 cub in, triple dual-throat Weber carbs, 40/80 cam, 12-port head, tuned headers, 4-speed gearbox, etc

1977 A9X Holden Torana, 5 litre V8, dual Weber carbs, big cam, worked heads, tuned headers, etc. I had two more similar ones to this - the last one had a 340 cu in V8 and a 9" Ford rear axle, full-on suspension, 15" x 10" wheels and a heap of other goodies. It would have left Peter Brock's Bathurst 1000 winning car for dead - top speed of over 170mph.

 

 

SWB Bedford van, with a thumping 454 cu in Chevy. Stock unit had a 1.2 litre 4 cylinder engine :

LWB Bedford with a 5 litre Holden V8 - 400 + hp. Also had a fully chromed Jag rear end :

 

You could say I was a bit of a racer in my youth .

 

Eddie - stagecoach's back wheel diameter is 130mm.

 

  Danny

[Dan Vadas]

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

[Dan Vadas]

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

[JohnB40]

  " just white PVA wood glue. The aluminium wheel hubs don't really do more than hold the spokes in place - the spokes are glued to each other. No problems with anything not sticking "

 

   Thanks Dan.... The Chuck Wagon kit arrived today. I'm looking forward to getting started tomorrow.

[Mike Dowling]

Looking really nice Danny. Did you hand paint or use an air brush? Your seat sanding looks like a good job, boring but good. At least you don't have to put millions of nails in to simulate buttoning. Now that was fun!

[Dan Vadas]

57 minutes ago, Mike Dowling said:

Did you hand paint or use an air brush?

Mike, I used a spray can. Maroon Enamel.

 

  Danny

[Dan Vadas]

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

[Eddie]

Hey howya goin Danny mate, nicely done looks great.  

[cristikc]

Hi Dan. Glad to see you back again, and hope that your health will be OK from now.

Wait for new good logs from you.

All the best from Cristi

[Dan Vadas]

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

[Moonbug]

Nice work on the doors Danny.   The doors on the AL kit ended up being so thick that it took quite a bit of work sanding and maneuvering to fit them somewhere between being able to function, and having too much gap between the door and the door 'jam'.  

[Mike Dowling]

I had a problem with the AL doors as well Bug but, we got there in the end!!

 

Smashing work Danny, the upholstery is looking good. Why did you decide not to cover everything? I suspect the supplied material was too thick ?

[Dan Vadas]

4 hours ago, Mike Dowling said:

I suspect the supplied material was too thick ?

Mike, there was no supplied material for the upholstery - I've done it as per kit instructions. I'm guessing they couldn't find anything suitable to cover it with.

 

  Danny

[Eddie]

Hey howya goin Danny mate, you mean people who ride in your stagecoach have to sit on the hard wood and not soft cushion seats