# the simplest vehicle - a buckboard



## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi, 



I have been making a ‘very simple vehicle’ – a buckboard, which as you will know is basically a set of planks and a seat – in my case the base is 5 planks wide. 



Other things managed to get in the way of the building so it took a bit longer than I thought, but here we are – the vehicle bed is 4.5 inches by 1.75 inches, and made from 1.5mm styrene sheet. The plan came off the web for the body, and it also provided a side view. I added a set of Northeast Narrow gauge wheels. 



The axles are from 3mm square hollow Plastruct tube with some of their coated steel wire through the middle to add some stiffness and to fix the wheels to; they keep the arc shape that the axles have. This is an early vehicle as I wanted it so there are no springs for the vehicle, though as can be seen there are a pair for the seat. Later ones could have solid seats and springs at each end. 



To ensure that over time is does not assume a deep downwards curve (a sure sign of old age for the vehicle!) I cheated and in the center underneath it has a 1mm brass strip glued there! 



The bed has a couple of 0.8mm wire side rails to ‘tie down’ any loads the timber is fixed the others are built for this and the other vehicle I have (& expect to build) so are loose. The seat is basically 1mm thick styrene, with 0.004 aluminum for the center leaf and top and bottom are added two .5mm styrene strips. The base cushion is 3mm Sintra board; the upper seat back is held on with paper clip wire, and has a 1.5mm styrene cushion, under the seat is a small locker and at the rear is a cross piece to hold any load and to stop it moving forwards. The ‘dash’is ‘pre-curved’ 1mm styrene and the grooved for painting in two colors. The 0.8mm wire is again used this time for the handrails and top loop for the reins – ‘fun to glue on! To make a start I used contact cement and to stiffen that there was then a coat or two of superglue; the ‘dash’ itself, after painting and varnishing was glued against a 1mm square strip in front, and there are 3 (aluminum strip brackets added at the rear. 



The shafts are Plastruct 4mm tube, with scrap copper wire stiffening at the bends, the scrap wire also make the loops for the rear ends of the shafts. 



The horse is a Schliech one repainted to a deeper, and richer red brown, fitted with my own (3 thou aluminum strip, from the trays that ‘ French chocolate marbled Brioches’ come in !) harness with 3 widths of the strips which are pre-painted before use.


I have finished it as varnished natural wood finish – a base color, and then overlaid with ‘chestnut’ colored ink to add some variation for the entire vehicle; the seats are (after dimpling) painted a slightly darker color. The crates etc are from scrap Sintra, board and styrene, after painting the planks are lined out and then painted and weathered to all sorts of shades for some variation, the barrel is a bought one and is actually plaster!. All have been varnished with Johnsons’s Klear’. 



The vehicle, for safety and easy of carrying/placing, has been glued to a stiff 5mm thick base, that is 12”long x 3.5”wide. It was taken outside for some photos (the almost continuous rain we have here has stopped for a while, and here are some of the results. 



The other vehicles are a buggy, which was one if the first horse drawn vehicles that I built, and the ‘First Pickup’ which was just before this one. They are all basically the same size.










A low down photo of the new buckboard











Buckboard & behind is the buggy










Buckboard loaded up










top view of the buggy (in the foreground) and the loaded buckboard.










Three vehicles together.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter; 

Very nice models. Thank you for sharing them. 

My Grandfather Larish started his route selling W. T. Raleigh Products for the farm and home using a buckboard and two horses during the early years of the twentieth century. He would be gone five days at a time while he worked his route, and probably slept in hay lofts or paid rent (in trade) for a spare bedroom at the last farm he made on a particular day. I remember seeing a "tin type" sepia photo of his rig when I was a child. The horses were each wearing an elaborate knitted covering over their necks and ears, with tassels at the tip of each ear to help them switch away the flies. I still have his change maker. It has about four patent dates on it, with the latest being 1917. 

I was accustomed to using a lot of Raleigh products as a child. Amusingly, the Raleigh's chicken dip was not for flavoring one's McNuggets. The farmer was supposed to place a pan of the chicken dip at the bottom of the ramp to the chicken coop. This way the hens would have to walk or run through the chicken dip, and the product would delouse them. 

Your models bring back memories of a time I never experienced, but do recognize from old family photos. 

Best regards, 
David Meashey


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## rhyman (Apr 19, 2009)

Peter,
Thank you for the excellent photos of your buckboard models. It is always amazing to see the amount of detail you put into your great models. I think that most people forget just how important animal-drawn buckboards, wagons and carriages were to the economy in the days before motorized vehicles. In many places, they even served long after motorized vehicles were common. Here are a few photo examples from the late '30s - early '40s era taken in Georgia, Kentucky, Colorado, and Texas:





































Just in case anyone wants to know the source for these historical photos, here is a link to the American Memory section of the Library of Congress where you can find lots of great photos to inspire your modelling:

Library of Congress Photos

The color photographs of the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Collection include scenes of rural and small-town life, migrant labor, and the effects of the Great Depression. A significant number of the color photographs concern the mobilization effort for World War II and portray aircraft manufacturing, military training, and the nation's railroads. The 1,600 color photographs produced by the FSA and OWI photographers are less well known and far less extensive than the 164,000 black-and-white photographs in the collection.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter; 

I can no longer edit my post above, or I would have added this as a postscript. I also remember that as a child in Palmyra, PA in the 1950s, the rag man still made his rounds in a one-horse wagon with a roof over the driver's section. He would keep up a sing-song cry of "Rags - Paper!" while the horse slowly clip-clopped down the street. The horse already knew the route, and the reins just hung loose on the wagon's dash. If anyone came out with rags or paper to sell, the horse knew to stop without any indication from its driver. 

Also, there were Amish buggies to be seen in Lebanon, PA, and sometimes in Palmyra. 

Best, 
David Meashey


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Fantastic work on the buggies and wagons, Peter! 

David, thanks for posting your info of those bygone times!


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Fabulous, Peter.... Back in the Old West again....


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## rdamurphy (Jan 3, 2008)

Wonderful models! The detail is excellent, and very accurate. 

I like your reference to the "dash" board. Given modern vehicles' use of the word, I doubt many know what the word "dash" actually means and why the dashboard was so important.. 

LOL! 

Robert


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## Bob Pero (Jan 13, 2008)

Very nice. You definitely have the "gift"


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Amazing detail and realistic! Do you have any construction pics?


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi,


Thank you for the kind comments they are much appreciated.

A reply for Dave Meashey - those trips that your grandfather made were quite something; those covers for the horses can be seen in some photos, and were I think a summer thing to assist in as you say keeping off the flies and assiting in keeping the horse(s) cool; two horses I think due to the length of the journey and the load they were pulling?

The chicken dip system is still used when we had a foot & mouth outbreak that was the system used but for humans! They had baths of disinfectant which you walked through (wearing wellintons).

The horses were very intelligent - when used on the milk carts they knew the whole route and stopped and started were necessary. A comment from an Australian friend who used a buckboard to go to school, said the same - the horse was turned loose to forage for himself during school time but was back when the school finished. He also said that the 'simple' design with no springs had a better ride that the 'sprung one that came later - that had a couple of springs across the vehicle and the body was hung off them; it would make the whole vehicle higher as well. I adjusted the arc of the axles till I had mine sitting level, due to different wheel diameters from the drawing. The stiff wire in the center of the axles keeps the arc.

There is a drawing of the unsprung version in the Dover Publications book- 'American Carriages, Sleighs, Sulkies and Carts. That has a solid seat - I changed that to the sprung version.


You mention the cover (on the rag & bone cart) for the driver - those were being used on railway vehicles over here in England and were 2 foot long, from a drawing that I have that is dated 1920.


Thanks for the extra information.


Rhyman - thanks for the link to the photos 

RDAMurphy - Yes the 'dash' kept off the mud and other things giving protection to the riders, especially when there was more than one horse/mule being used.

Jimtyp - Alas no, due to both its simplicity, and as the styrene is all white there would not be much details seen. The 1.5mm deck is one piece scored for the planks and underneath are four cross pieces, one each very close to the ends, and two for under the seat; nestled in the center is the brass strip - all the pieces are 1mm thick, the front one is the location for the fifth wheel, which is the same design as the Tin Lizzie Crafts - two semicircles with one slightly longer to allow it to be fixed to the front axle. The rest is as my post; in addition there are a couple of hanks of thickish cotton, colored with paint (2 colors for variety) to replicate some fixing ropes that are dumped in front of the load protector below the rear of the seat, on the deck, wrapped around some scrap and a small amount of glue to fix them and stop the unraveling. I have a plentiful collection of small crates etc for very variable loads - all from scrap. 

Thank you for the comments.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter; 

Yes, I'm sure he had two horses because of the load and distances involved - Though they would seem small to us today. He probably sold more of the heavier products for livestock care at that time. By the time I came along, the sales were more in the areas of patent medicines, cosmetics, and things for the kitchen. I would help my Grandfather stock the shelves and also restock items in the automobile - which had its rear seat removed to allow room for the Raleigh products. His last auto was a 1959 Chevy Belleaire. 

I'll be offline for over 8 days, and unable to answer other posts. 

Best, 
David Meashey


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