Concord Stagecoach by bobandlucy - Model Trailways - 1:12 scale

[bobandlucy]

I enjoyed building the Doctor's Buggy so much that I ordered the Concord Stagecoach and am well into it at this time.

 

Picture of finished model from the manual:

I see opportunity for lots of scratch-made doodads!

 

Starting the undercarriage:

 

Pins are soldered to the U-straps to simulate bolts:

 

 

Made a mistake in reducing the width and length of the wooden part of this axle assembly because the drawings showed them as matching. . .

This resulted in a poor fit of the U-straps as well as not providing enough stand-off for the wheels; I'll need to add material somehow:

 

Waiting on a couple of missing parts to continue with the undercarriage. So I assembled the wheels.

The wheels have a carved scalloped design between the spokes. Not easy to make these uniform in plywood!

 

I finished painted one wheel. The red and black decoration is done with Sharpie pens, which quickly stopped flowing

when used on painted wood. The decorations also came out somewhat wobbly. If I can do better on the other wheels,

I may re-do this one. The decorations are supposed to be on both sides of the wheel, but I may decide not to do them inboard. . . 

 

 

 

Edited February 5 by bobandlucy

[bobandlucy]

Leaving the undercarriage/running gear aside for awhile, I started constructing the coach body. The process is very similar

to ship building; vertical pieces are added to outer framework, faired, then horizontal pieces added and faired:

 

The vertical framing members are held at the proper height off the work surface by sacrificial extensions, which are later removed.

Very clever. Designer Bob Crane, who also designed the Doctor's Buggy completed earlier, has done good work on both models.

 

   

 

Exterior paneling added to one side, will need minor filling/sanding:

 

 

Extensions removed at interior:

 

 

Very enjoyable project thus far.

 

                                              

 

Edited July 19 by bobandlucy

[bobandlucy]

I've not been good about updating this log. Jumping around a lot, as I do- but shaping all of the seat and side cushions took quite a while. . . 

 

Today I joined the sides to the bottom, which took a certain amount of swearing, but I'm happy enough with  the results:

 

 

 

 

Was hoping to make the doors operable, but after many tries, was happy enough just to get them in as fixed in place. The compound curves make this very tricky indeed.

 

Work will continue on the undercarriage, which is very complex considering this time period, but for now I am enjoying the coach body more. . .

 

 

 

 

Edited July 6 by bobandlucy

[bobandlucy]

Got the seats installed. I think it looks pretty good, except the bare wood of the seat and backrest bases can be seen between some of the cushions where spacing had to be adjusted. If I were to do over, I'd paint stripes before gluing on the cushions. I don't think this will be real noticeable after the cabin is completed, and the view inside will be only from the sides.

 

Edited July 19 by bobandlucy

[bobandlucy]

Planked the roof, and covered with provided cloth to simulate canvas. I used Mod Podge (new to me, mentioned in the manual) as the adhesive. Feels really solid now.

 

 

Added rub rails to the roof and painted flat black:

 

 

Made the passenger sway straps. I've been putting this off because initially I did not understand the instructions, but after re-reading a few hundred times it finally sunk into what remains of my grey matter. These four straps were my days work, and they are yet to be installed. The strap material is thin fibrous gasket material and is used to simulate leather. After assembly I gave them a wash of thinned paint, same as used for the "leather" seats inside the cabin. 

 

 

 

 

I had soldered the baggage rails earlier, and this represents a big step forward for me. I chemically blackened them yesterday and  am very pleased with the results:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 19 by bobandlucy

[Canute]

Nicely done rails and belts.

[bobandlucy]

11 hours ago, Canute said:

Nicely done rails and belts.

Thanks very much.

b

 

[tmj]

Very nice work! Are you going to spring for a team of horses to go with this coach and your Doctor's Buggy? That would look really, really 'sweet'!

[Tankerman]

I strongly recommend the Model Trailways Harness Kits and Horses, they really enhance the model.

Edited July 25 by Tankerman

[tmj]

5 hours ago, Tankerman said:

I strongly recommend the Model Trailways Harness Kits and Horses, they really enhance the model.

Now "THAT's" what I'm talking about! "Beautiful work, beautiful display! It can't get any better than 'this' unless Model Trailways starts putting real hair on their horses! 

  

Edited July 24 by tmj

[bobandlucy]

1 hour ago, tmj said:

Now "THAT's" what I'm talking about! "Beautiful work, beautiful display! It can't get any better than 'this' unless Model Trailways starts putting real hair on their horses! 

  

The horses/harnesses do look very nice. I'm not sure if I'll do them, but I will consider. . .

 

@Tankerman I don't recognize your model as a Model Trailways offering. It looks fantastic! Could you please explain it's function and origin? Is it something you scratch-built? 

 

bob

Edited July 24 by bobandlucy

[tmj]

27 minutes ago, bobandlucy said:

I don't recognize your model as a Model Trailways offering. It looks fantastic! Could you please explain it's function and origin? Is it something you scratch-built?

What Bob asked... "I'm curious too!"

[Egilman]

6 hours ago, bobandlucy said:

I don't recognize your model as a Model Trailways offering. It looks fantastic! Could you please explain it's function and origin? Is it something you scratch-built? 

 

5 hours ago, tmj said:

What Bob asked... "I'm curious too!"

The Allerton Steam Fire Pumper (Engine) is a Model Trailways kit...

There not showing in on their site at this time as it is out of production but you can get one on the auction sites in the several hundred dollar range  ($400.00) right now which will go up as they become scarcer...

 

The Horses are Breyer Freedom Series, as sold by Model Expo, the hitch is manufactured by Model Expo, and I'm sure the pumper was pulled by a single team at some point and places in it's life, but a four horse setup would be more apropos of common practice... (Model Expo also sells a four horse harness setup)

[Tankerman]

This is a Model Trailways kit.

After following this build log I was very interested in attempting the model myself: 

The kit retailed at £450 in the UK which was more than I was prepared to pay but in the New Year Sale at Model Expo earlier this year it was on offer for $200. Even with shipping and import duty it was still a substantial saving so I bought it.

I always expect a lot of hard work where white metal is concerned ( unless it is a Model Factory Hiro 1/12th. car kit ) and sure enough I was not disappointed. The moulds were obviously reaching the end of their useful life and I spent many hours grinding and filing away excess metal, not just flash but huge lumps. In other places areas where the cast was missing I built up with low-melt solder and then filed back to shape.

Although I was very pleased with the end result I thought a team of horses would set it off nicely, I could not find any photos to tell me if it was a 2 horse or 4 horse team. I went for the 2 horse team as the overall length would fit in the display case I had.

[bobandlucy]

Thanks, @Tankerman. I now do recall seeing this kit. It does look rather fanciful. I love steam power.

 

 

 

[wefalck]

Just out of curiosity: is this actually a real fire-engine harness? They used to have special harnesses that were suspended from the ceiling in the fire-station and could be sort of just dropped onto the horses that were taken from the stables and reared up against the engine. I think they were able to get the engine on its way in a couple of minutes or so.

 

Most horse-drawn fire-engines I have seen were designed for a single team of horses. This makes a lot of sense, because it is quicker to get under way and more manoeuverable on the streets. Perhaps the situation in the USA was different with longer distances to cover in the cities and wider streets.

 

There is a short video on Youtube that shows a complete Paris firefighting team on its way to a fire:

 

 

Sorry, I didn't want to drift away the thread from its real topic ...

Edited July 25 by wefalck

[Egilman]

6 hours ago, Tankerman said:

This is a Model Trailways kit.

After following this build log I was very interested in attempting the model myself: 

The kit retailed at £450 in the UK which was more than I was prepared to pay but in the New Year Sale at Model Expo earlier this year it was on offer for $200. Even with shipping and import duty it was still a substantial saving so I bought it.

I always expect a lot of hard work where white metal is concerned ( unless it is a Model Factory Hiro 1/12th. car kit ) and sure enough I was not disappointed. The moulds were obviously reaching the end of their useful life and I spent many hours grinding and filing away excess metal, not just flash but huge lumps. In other places areas where the cast was missing I built up with low-melt solder and then filed back to shape.

Although I was very pleased with the end result I thought a team of horses would set it off nicely, I could not find any photos to tell me if it was a 2 horse or 4 horse team. I went for the 2 horse team as the overall length would fit in the display case I had.

And that is an absolutely beautiful model... Well Done...

[bobandlucy]

Finished the "running gear," ready for painting. Tricky to assemble. The holes for the "hounds" (the two curved members penetrating the axle assembly) were considerably oversized, and it took me quite a while to figure out how to shim without throwing off other critical dimensional relationships. But I did it!

 

I don't expect nicely made metal castings, so I wasn't disappointed with those supplied with this kit! Spent a good deal of time cleaning them up and then correcting the shapes. But I am a very patient modeler. . .

 

The square-headed bolts are made from "escutcheon" nails. I squeezed them into a rough square shape in a vise, them filed the top flat and cleaned up the squeeze from the underside of the head. There are quite a few of these bolts on the model, so I'm getting better at forming them as the building progresses.

 

 

 

Edited July 31 by bobandlucy