# A new 'delivery wagon (Horse Drawn)



## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi,

I have been building a ‘delivery wagon’ – this is basically a universal wagon design that shops and businesses used for deliveries of their wares or products hence the name.

It is an open wagon optionally fitted with flared boards on top of the sides, and has a lighter version for the running gear, I built the same design for running gear on my peddlers cart which was built earlier.

The design uses a small fifth wheel with a central pole between front and rear axles with side outriggers and stiffening rods as well. The front has a double transverse spring with the rear having either two or three, the latter being an assisting spring above the axle for when the vehicle was heavily loaded. The tailgate is a drop down design, with the sides having some stiffening stays at the middle and rear of the sides, that are fitted to extensions of the underframe cross timbers, and made from paper clip wire. I found a couple of photos of a semi-derelict vehicle in Telluride, Colorado, that answered a lot of questions about the design, so, with other sources I had sufficient details to build one.

The underframe is mainly from Sintra board strip, with Plastruct square tube for the axles and small pieces of wire glued in the ends for the laser cut wheels to fit onto. The axles are stiffened up at the ends, with some extra piece of PVC foam board for the rear and the centre for the front one with extra pieces the fifth wheel (non working) is glued onto the rear of the front axle, and a stiffening strip added from my aluminum strip. The springs have a leaf made from 1mm thick aluminum; the rest are from 1mm Styrene strip, the metal one ensures that the sprigs can be bent to get the vehicle level, and the entire spring keeps its shape. The centre pole is stiffened by various pieces of metal – these are replicated by painted pieces of thick paper.

The body is made from .060 styrene with the flareboards being .040. The sides rise up at the front to produce a ‘cubby’ at the front and also provide the location of the drivers seat. The underframe is 3mm PVC foam strip, just tucked inside the side and leaving space at the rear for the rear flap to drop down. 

Various strengthening pieces are fitted to the body being made from .010 black styrene, as are the steps on the front of the vehicle. The supports under the drivers footboards are from scrap brass strip for 4mm scale etched kits from long ago! A couple of small pieces of twisted fuse wire fit one each side to the drop flap rear door to replicate the restricting chains. The vehicle had brakes – made from scrap, with some plastic coated wire for the brake blocks and 0.8mm wire for the operating rod from the front – there is both a foot brake, and a lever (parking?) brake – they are tiny! In addition there are a couple of steps fixed to the front of the underframe, made from paper clip wire and .010 styrene. 

Paint is red enamel, with the body being acrylic green, the undercoat is Humbrol matt acrylic, with ‘Royal Langnickel’ Mid green; I found this to be a bit rough, no doubt as I was using it for something outside its design purpose (the particle size of the pigment perhaps?); a good, and careful sanding cured most of it after a couple of coats of varnish , with a final one after sanding.

At the offside of the driver’s seat there is a pair of supports for a horse whip, made from a couple of pieces of tube, with a base for the lower one. The whip itself is .050 plastic rod, with a fuse wire whip, and some Evo-stik for the end of it; they were used to ensure the horse went the right way by a clacking noise behind the ears; drivers naturally became experts in using them.

Showing my age now; I can remember the Highway code booklet here in the UK had in it the signals that the horse drawn vehicle drivers used with these whips when in heavy traffic; and that is to say the least going back a long while!

The shafts are from Plastruct tube, to bend the end of them insert two small diameter pieces of copper wire to keep the bend when done; into the end are fitted a couple of loops, loops made from florists soft iron wire. The front end is filled with some scrap and sanded smooth to a hemispherical shape. They fit onto some rod, fitted with 5 small loops and a piece of .050 rod that the shafts fit onto.

The horse is a Sheliech one, who has had a repaint All the harness has being added – they do not come with any; most of it is food tray aluminum foil, pre painted before fitting, the saddle is from Styrene . The harness is the other style to the horse collar; this is a light duty vehicle so it can used the ‘breast strap style – this has a single horizontal strap round the front of the horse, with the usual set of straps at the back at the back of the horse to assist in braking the vehicle. The horse collar design I use on heavy duty vehicles. 


The driver is proud of his vehicle and horse so he has decorated the harness with brass discs (of painted styrene) The traces have a small section of chain to fit them to the swingletree, with triangular fitting at the front end of them from 0.8 mm wire. I painted it before assembly then touched up the inevitable parts that I missed. 

The driver is one of the Chinese copies with his arms folded together; he has had a hat added with my usual beer or pop can metal rim unit- this one fits over his head, is glued on, when dry the brim has the front corners turned up with some conival nose pliers and then the hat is added from filler, when almost dry add the crease in the top, and last of all add a hatband. The reins are fed with a couple of tails of them, into a hole just above his belt; careful surgery needed! If you measurements are correct he will have his feet on the footboard; I allowed for him to have a cushion so that was added and then he fitted after painting correctly.

The vehicle is glued to a base, for safety and ease of movement to outside, when required.



Here are some photos in a rather poor light - typical winter with very low weak sun, and cold outside!










Underframe, and upside down body, whilst being built.










Body, just placed in position.



















A couple of photos - the light is catching the poor paint!










The rear of the wagon, from a low position.



















A couple of photos of a loaded wagon, the load being from some of my 'props' for wagons. freight cars and the deopt!dvp










A final one - a close-up showing the location and holder for the drivers horse whip. His hat looks a bit battered, but he is (allegedly) out in all weathers. 










The dimensions of the base are 14" long and 4" wide.


Enjoy!

Yours Peter


----------



## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter

Another great freight wagon, Hehehe, pretty soon you're going to wind up with a traffic jam.


----------



## Robert (Jan 2, 2008)

As always, fantastic work and thanks for the comprehensive description. Did I miss it, what is the source of the wheels? 

Thanks 
Robert


----------



## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Robert,


I did put it in my earlier builds, the reason for that is that the maker Ted Stinson, of Northeast Narrow Gauge is temporarily otherwise engaged - his wife has MRSA, given to her when she was working in an Old People's home.


NOT at all nice!!!

He hopes to re-start the business, and I have just sent him a note to see if she is recovering - in October she was in hospital.

The wheels are their 'commercial set, they also make a set for carriages, and there is nothing else like them! 

We have some here in the UK which are a heavier pattern (greater depth of the rim etc) and these are the ones that are fitted to my drays; both the unsprung one and the spring version. The unsprung dary build is at 

http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/aff/8/aft/124158/afv/topic/Default.aspx 
.
Your USA wheels were machine made and always look remarkable thin but as they were made from Hickory that is very resilient


NENG understandably ask for an order of the kits for HDV's if you want to add some extra wheels - that I agree with so we are in a waiting game for the wholly understandable concern re his wife who will be I suspect elderly.


When a reply comes back I will let you know what he has said.

Yours Peter.


----------



## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter, As usual a very nice model. I really love all your horse drawn vehicles, something we don't see on many layouts. Thanks for posting.


----------



## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By placitassteam on 22 Dec 2012 04:21 PM 
Peter, As usual a very nice model. I really love all your horse drawn vehicles, something we don't see on many layouts. Thanks for posting.


----------

