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

[Dan Vadas]

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

 

 

  Danny

 

 

[Eddie]

Hey howya goin Danny mate, looking good mate looking good, I may have to try this kit at sometime, I like the handles. I couldn't get the sanding sealer from bunnings there are all sold out, Did you use sanding sealer before you painted the cabin? 

[Dan Vadas]

50 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Did you use sanding sealer before you painted the cabin?

No Eddie, I used "Splashes" brand white wood primer (brushed on), followed by sanding and an application of automotive spray primer. Sanding Sealer is meant more for a "bare" wood finish, although it works just as well under paint. If you are painting the model you could just do the same as me. Any brand of primer would do the job.

 

  Danny

[CaptainSteve]

That looks absolutely luxurious, Dan. I assume that you have modelled a scale-sized drinks-tray underneath that centre bench-seat.

[Mike Dowling]

Danny, I have finished my Conestoga Wagon so I hope you don't mind if I pinch a space on your log to show the finished article.

 

 

[Eddie]

Hey howya goin Mike mate, nicely done mate.   

[Dan Vadas]

8 hours ago, CaptainSteve said:

That looks absolutely luxurious, Dan.

Steve, this is actually a "bare bones" version of the coach - the luxurious ones were upholstered in brocade or satin . Imagine up to 12 people crammed inside .

 

3 hours ago, Mike Dowling said:

I hope you don't mind if I pinch a space on your log to show the finished article

Ha, I might have to re-title this topic to "Coaches by Danny and Mike" . No probs mate, she looks a beauty - dunno about the colours though ..... .

 

Thanks Eddie.

 

  Danny

[Mike Dowling]

Thanks Danny, the colours according to the box (!!!!!) are the traditional ones for that wagon.

[Mike Dowling]

Danny, an irrelevant question not about ships, do you reckon £150 is a good price to pay for the Haswega Sopwith ?

[Dan Vadas]

7 hours ago, Mike Dowling said:

Danny, an irrelevant question not about ships, do you reckon £150 is a good price to pay for the Hasegawa Sopwith ?

It's not bad for the 1:16 scale model Mike. The 1:8 scale ones still available are more than twice that price.

 

I've glued on the front and rear panels. It doesn't look like a lot of work, but it took me a full day to get the panels trimmed just right. I started by gluing on the bottom edge, let it dry overnight, then used fast-setting PVA to glue the rest on. I used a product named Rapi-Bond - it sets nearly as fast as thick CA but has even more strength than normal PVA :

 

  Danny

 

  Danny

[popeye the sailor]

finally I got to catch up on your log!   I tried to do it yesterday,   but the darn revolving door kicked in,  and we were in and out for the rest of the afternoon.   wonderful progress on the coach......love the interior    really nice!

 

yours looks good to Mike!  

[Dan Vadas]

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

[Eddie]

hey howya goin Danny mate, coming along nicley mate, I do like what you did with the floor.   

[Mike Dowling]

Danny, I don't know if it is of interest but I deliberately modified slightly the roofs of both my stagecoaches so that they are removable. Partly to show off the interior detail but also makes them easier to dust!!

[Dan Vadas]

5 minutes ago, Mike Dowling said:

Danny, I don't know if it is of interest but I deliberately modified slightly the roofs of both my stagecoaches so that they are removable. Partly to show off the interior detail but also makes them easier to dust!!

You can see everything inside mine if you open the doors . As for dusting - that will be my daughter-in-law's problem .

 

  Danny

[Mike Dowling]

OK,OK my doors open as well !

[Moonbug]

Love the molding Danny... I seriously started looking up mini table saws again because of it... Oy.

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

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

[Mike Dowling]

That's a great way to solder the joints, thank you very much for that, I shall definitely use it in the future.

[Dan Vadas]

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

[Eddie]

Hey howya goin Danny mate, great work you doing there can't wait to see the finished coach.   

[Mike Dowling]

Lovely brass work Danny.

[Dan Vadas]

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

[Dan Vadas]

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

[Eddie]

Hey howya goin Danny mate, wow your building yours faster then I'm building mine your making me feel so OLD.   

[Moonbug]

Great looking metal work Danny!  I really need to learn to silver solder....  

 

[Dan Vadas]

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 :
 

Quote

 

The only regular transport at this time was provided by a coach service to Wagga Wagga, Sydney and Tumut, the number of weekly services varied over the years. The Hotel served as a way station for the coaches, allowing a spell for the horses and refreshments or accommodation for passengers.

A reminder of those days when travel and communication was by stage coach was uncovered in 1981 when, during the course of repainting, the original Cobb & Co. booking office sign came to light beside the bar room door. Cobb & Co. used the front room near the bar as a booking office for a period of time.

 

Here's an old pic of the Hotel mentioned in the article, with a Cobb & Co coach in the foreground :

 

 

  Danny

[Eddie]

Hey howya goin Danny mate, you know I never knew that Australia ever had stagecoaches, I always thought it was just American thing. Great work as always mate.   

[John Allen]

That's going to be one happy grandchild!

[Dan Vadas]

Thank you John, I hope so .

 

On 08/05/2017 at 8:37 PM, Eddie said:

Hey howya goin Danny mate, you know I never knew that Australia ever had stagecoaches, I always thought it was just American thing. Great work as always mate.   

Eddie, wagons and coaches of some description were either built locally or imported (mainly from England) since the early days of settlement. The first ones were pulled by convicts. The English coaches with either no suspension or steel springs proved unsuitable for the majority of what passed for "roads" back then, as they would break down too often.

 

The first American-built Concord coach, with it's tried and proven leather "Thoroughbrace" suspension arrived in Melbourne in March 1853, due mostly to the demand for transport during the Victorian Gold Rush. Eventually they spread throughout the country, with local firms building them here based on the original design which proved well suited to Australian conditions. The bodywork of the coaches varied a lot, depending on who built them. Most Australian ones had a much "boxier" body as it was probably easier to construct.

 

  Danny