# new horse drawn vehicle built.



## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi,

I have just finished a small horsedrawn van, said to be either a ‘peddlers’ or small business (shop) van. There is a side drawing for this in the Dover Publication’s book ‘Horse Drawn Commercial Vehicles’.

When enlarged the ‘commercial wheels’ from Northeast Narrow Gauge which are laser cut. These had a .020 plastic tyre added to give them a bit more depth in the rim. The springs are aluminum strip, and the body is styrene card. The width was worked out off the plans by Northeast Narrow Gauge that appeared in the ‘Garden Railways’ magazine.

The drawing is said to represent a vehicle built by Abbot Downing – the builder of Concord Stage coaches.

I added a set of top rails to hold small boxes etc, that also necessitated a set of steps to get up there for the drive/owner; these are fitted on the left hand side of the body, a ladder was going to be too long and would get in the way of the front wheels turning. 

The chassis has a double front spring, and a chassis bar (between front and rear axles) that is the shape of a birds foot, made from .060 square strip, where the front wheels would touch there are a set of ‘rub pieces’ to protect it –the front wheels can turn under the raised area, to give a greater turning ability. This chassis style is also covered in the above book, and is not part of the NENG plans. One advantage of metal strip (NENG sell flat wire which is brass, I use aluminium as I cannot buy the brass and find it better) is that the vehickle can be levelled by carefully tweaking the springs!

The van is a (1/20th) scale length of 8 feet, and a width of 4.5 feet – quite small! The horse is by the French company ‘Papo’, and is a French draught horse – in between the large size of a shire horse and the normal (to be ridden) horse. 
Here are some photos of the vehicle 













A ground level view, the driver is a modified Carlo Spirito figure, which has had some major surgery 











Up a bit with the camera for a higher view 












Round to the rear – showing the doors and folding rear step. 











And a final view of the loaded (the boxes, made round a piece of wood or scrap plastic covered with envelope paper and varnished, are loose), the steps can just be seen on the front corner of the box body, there is a handrail, of .5mm wire that has almost disappeared. 
The whole thing for safety is fitted onto a 1.5mm (.060) board so it can be moved with ease, that locks the wheels etc., in place but before the fixing the front did turn. Horse drawn vehicles are tine & delicate!


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Beautiful work Peter, the detail on the harness is fantastic and I really like your choice of paint scheme and decoration. While the whole vehicle is great, the landau type top for the driver is very well executed. Congratulations on another well done project.


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter,

You keep coming up with the neatist projects. It looks great and will look good with the rest of your collection.

Doc


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## Rich Schiffman (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter,

I will echo Doc, you have created yet another treasure. Your carriages are superb. I look forward to your every post of a new project.


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## Dougald (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter

Another superb vehicle to add to your collection. Very nicely done!

Regards ... Doug


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

A beautiful little carriage! Looks like lots of tiney pieces and careful work. Great job!


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Super job Peter! The details are amazing! I like how realistic it looks. Thanks for sharing with pictures


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter, 

I really enjoy your posts. Besides creating models of subjects others rarely do, you execute them so beautifully. Really nice!!!


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Peter,

That is a really nice job. Like someone else has already said, I like the color scheme. The varnished-paper on the boxes looks about as authentic as can be. Thanks for posting the pixes.

Les


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## Bob Baxter (Jan 3, 2008)

A magnificent piece of work. Very original design. I love looking at the pictures. Thank you for sharing with us.


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Cool. That reminds me--I've got some wagon kits to add to my "finish by July 7th" list. Not sure if I want to thank you for jogging my memory or not, though.  Of course I do, actually. Now I just need to research wagons... 

Later, 

K


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## Matt Vogt (Jan 2, 2008)

I can't say enough about it!







(not sure what happened) 

Anyway, that's a great looking cart, Peter! I also really like the style and detail you gave it, especially the harness and packages. The added tires also make a big difference.

I've been wanting to model some sort of horse pulled vehicle for quite a while, and this is inspiring.

Thanks for taking the time to share it with us,
Matt


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Matt's obviously speechless.  

Later, 

K


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## FH&PB (Jan 2, 2008)

Excellent model! A few like that scattered around the layout will give an unmistakable turn-of-the-century feel to it. Nice work!


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Peter, 

Outstanding! Makes we want to backdate to an earlier period before the automobile took over.


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