Stagecoach 1848 by John Bartley - FINISHED - Artesania Latina - 1/10

[Canute]

Yeah, John Wayne on the roof with a Winchester rifle ala "Stagecoach" with Andy Devine driving 6 horses to Tombstone.

[mtaylor]

21 hours ago, Canute said:

Yeah, John Wayne on the roof with a Winchester rifle ala "Stagecoach" with Andy Devine driving 6 horses to Tombstone.

And most of the movies, the "gunner" had a shotgun and pistol.  No rifle.

[Canute]

usually the gunner was protecting the coach and occupants. Rifles were unwieldy. How often did they get pursued across salt flats by the native tribes? It's just Hollywood's version of history. And J.W' first starring vehicles. I'm a fan of old JW.

[Egilman]

14 minutes ago, Canute said:

It's just Hollywood's version of history

Yep, you cannot believe anything from Hollywood about history, for them it's all about the story and not the facts...

The term "Riding Shotgun" came from Hollywood.. In reality, there weren't many stagecoaches that carried Money, Gold or Bullion... According to Hollywood, almost all of them did.... the "Wild West" wasn't really as wild as it is made out to be over the decades of hollywood...

[CDW]

Just now, Egilman said:

Yep, you cannot believe anything from Hollywood about history, for them it's all about the story and not the facts...

The term "Riding Shotgun" came from Hollywood.. In reality, there weren't many stagecoaches that carried Money, Gold or Bullion... According to Hollywood, almost all of them did.... the "Wild West" wasn't really as wild as it is made out to be over the decades of hollywood...

Most people wouldn't realize it, but old Florida was about as wild as wild could be when it was opened to settlers. Besides the bandits and outlaws, the environment was hostile to say the least. I know because my family was part of it and the tales were passed down to we children. Even then, stories might have been embellished or altered to some degree. I do know my family herded and sold cattle for gold and had to transport that gold back home across rugged terrain and guard against bandits. All done with wagons and horses. 

 

Oh, and I should have added, this was at a time when there were no lawmen roaming about to help. A single federal marshall made a circuit from town to town picking up prisoners arrested and held/jailed by ordinary citizens. Many outlaws and bandits, maybe most, never made it into custody. They were dealt with on the spot. As a matter of fact, many settlers came during period when congress initiated the Armed Occupation Act. Settlers who came were required to arm themselves and defend themselves because no support infrastructure was in place. Not until much, much later did that happen. Decades.

Edited January 20, 2023 by CDW

[Canute]

I remember the cattle ranch around Avon Park Gunnery Range. They roamed at will and once we got a cow running threw the tactics area. The Range Control Officer yelled himself hoarse trying to keep our guys from releasing any ordnance. Unfortunately, the cow took a hit and Uncle Sam bought a cow that was KBA -killed by air..We were pretty bummed by that.

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, CDW said:

As a matter of fact, many settlers came during period when congress initiated the Armed Occupation Act. Settlers who came were required to arm themselves and defend themselves because no support infrastructure was in place. Not until much, much later did that happen. Decades.

Absolutely... There was no law and everyone had to defend themselves... Where people gathered, it was a very polite society...

Everyone helped everyone else as well for the most part, survival was an everyday thing back then, they didn't have time for all the social engineering tomfoolery we now deal with today...

[Egilman]

27 minutes ago, Canute said:

I remember the cattle ranch around Avon Park Gunnery Range.

That's free range territory, it happens from time to time....

[bartley]

Decorations and Embellishments:

 

Although these are not in the plans I have seen some pictures of Wells Fargo coaches with scrolls below the side windows and in other places.  I have made these before from brass plate for scrolls on ship models but for some reason I had much more trouble this time.

 

Anyway here is the final result:

 

Now it is finally time to attach the cabin to the chassis.  This was constructed at the beinning of this project.  As a reminder here it is:

 

I have made up four brackets like these to clamp onto the simulated leather straps which constitute the suspension

 

 

So next time the chassis will be attached.

 

John

[CDW]

Turning out a magnificent piece of history. I admire your work on it.

[bartley]

On 3/12/2023 at 12:45 PM, CDW said:

Turning out a magnificent piece of history. I admire your work on it.

Thanks for your kind words, CDW and others for your likes.  Yes, an interesting period of American History - at least in the case of the Concord coach.  Stage coaches were operated in Australia as well by a company called Cobb & Co which was in fact set up by two Americans.  They were run initially to the goldfields in the 1850's and later between cities and ran well into the early 20th century since our railways were established later than yours.  However, they were of much simpler design than this one. The cabin was simply a straight planked box with no decoration, although they did sport  the Concord suspension system.

 

John

[bartley]

Attaching The cabin to the chassis:

 

Before the chassis is attached the mounting steps need to be constructed and attached.  These have several components all made from 1.5 mm brass tubing:

 

The upper (straight part is bent to shape as shown in the last picture.  The lower part is bent into a U shape/  All the parts are drilled with 1 mm holes  so that  they can be held together by the brass plate as shown in the third picture. A step is glued to the loerer part and the whole assembly attached to the under the cabin like this:

You will also notice a strengthening strap made of 3mm brass strip has been added.  The Idea of this somewhat complex arrangement is that the lower step could be folded up when not in use.

 

As yo can see the cabin needs too be mounted upside down in order to attach the chassis.  The method of attaching the simulated leather suspension can be seen here:

 

Before the front part of the chassis is attached, the Whippletrees are assembled. For those who do not know what these are they are attached to the draw-bar and are designed to spread the load of the horses.  The method of fabrication is shown below:

 

 

A sheet of 5mm cherry is cut roughly to shape and rounded as shown in the top photo.  A strip of 5mm brass is wound around the enter and two holes drilled in the ends which will take eye-bolts.  Thee whole assemble is painted ice yellow to match the rest of the chassis.

They can be seen attached to the draw-bar in the following photo

 

The harness which ran either side of the rear horses would attach to those eye-bolts.

 

 

So now with the wheels attached and the coach the right way up it looks like this:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by bartley

[BobG]

Magnificent work, John!

[Kevin]

that is lovely

[bartley]

Thank you, Bob and Kevin for your kind words.  Just a bit of luggage to go on the roof and then its complete.

 

John

[bartley]

Luggage and final tweaks:

 

A few Items of luggage such as a suitcase, a trunk and a hatbox were all constructed in essentially the same way.  A wood frame was constructed and then ech was covered with dark brown Nappa.  Hinges and detail were added an the items placed on the roof rack.

=

 

And now the completed model:-

 

Thanks for all the "likes" and comments during the course of this build.

 

John

 

 

[Egilman]

Very Nicely Done!!!

[Canute]

Your luggage and other "leather" work looks great. 👍

[mtaylor]

Beautiful model, John.

[BobG]

Your stagecoach is a work of art, John!

[bartley]

Thank you guys for your kind comments and for all the "likes".

 

It is back to ship building after this - possibly Chuck's Medway Longboat , though it is unavailable at the moment.

 

John

[bruce d]

John, that is a real beauty. 

[Landlubber Mike]

Really came out great John!  Should be the advertisement shots for the model!