# a new (horsedrawn) ore wagon



## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi,

Amongst other things I have been building a horsedrawn ore carrier; this is basically a variant of the large American Freight Wagon, (have a look on the Web for the Ketchum freight wagons, the ‘Images’ are best). My layout is supposedly set in Colorado in the 1880s, so one was needed) being slightly lower in height than those, and without the canvas top.

It is made from stryene 2mm thick, with some 5mm thick PVC foam for the chassis: the size of the box is 7” long x 2.5” wide and 3” high. The wheels are from Hobby’s – really the front ones are too small but they are not made in any larger size. The ‘load’ is made from polystyrene packaging, with some garden grit for the ‘ore’ glued on with Aleene’s thick PVA glue; the ends of the block are stepped or cut at a slope to make it easier to load or remove. 



The strapping is strips of thick writing paper colored and then glued in position, and when dry varnished to keep it down; the outsides have some .8mm wire as stiffeners. The seat sits on 2mm wide 4 thou thick ‘lager can metal’ 3 leaf springs.



The chassis is somewhat ‘generic’ primarily due to the front wheels being too small, which needed some alterations to it but the general effect is there – the front bar for the horses is not yet made. Strapping is the same as box.



The colour is not yet complete it needs to be darker, and have some dust/dirt added. I think the same comment could be used as was said to be used for the newly completed ‘private owner’ wagons here in the UK – we finish them off to look good, and what do the owners/colliery do – fill up it with dirty old coal! (but substitute ore for coal). 



















A couple of photos of the body in undercoat - a lot more pait layers will be needed later










The chassis loosely put together.


Time passed and I completed the vehicle and its two shire horses - they required as much time as the building of the vehicle they are pulling!


The ore wagon is now finished; I weathered it with several thin layers of paint;’ some are acrylic, but the first was oil based’ this stops the later acrylic layers softening the original colour.

The oil paint is a Rembrandt (artists oil colours) called 'ashphaltum', ref number 414; it sounds like it should a blackish colour – its not it is a deep brown, (rather like Burnt Umber) let it down with turps or white spirit, and apply it, plank by plank so they can all be different colours; if done in the late evening it can dry overnight, as it does take some time to dry.

The inside is also given a coat and then more, and darker coats than the outside. The outside can be given acrylic washes to suit your choice, don't forget that you need to add some Windex to the mix to kill the surface tension and allow it to lie down correctly.

All the colour washes will look darker when wet and applied than when they are dry.

3 small signs,printed off, from the computer were added and also weathered down.

To the rear door I added two small bits of chain, and another pair were added to hold the crossbar for the large brake shoes - both are twisted 10 amp fuse wire. 

The figure is the ‘lad’ from the Chinese via EvilBay, he is a scale five feet tall; he has had some serious surgery – both arm were adjusted, and a hand replaced as I lost it!. A jacket has been fitted (from heavy paper, with new cuffs, tiny bits of rod for buttons, and a new collar fill the little circles on the arms (I think they are meant to indicate a jumper), and a paper strip belt and buckle The shoes were made into boots, and a hat made from the metal tube from Voltarol (though Tomato Puree is almost as good!) for the brim – it is easier to bend the edges and some thin lead foil (from the Military Modellers shops, it is about 7 thou thick for the hat, when dry fill the void with filler and shape to suit when drying. When painted add a hatband from heavy paper. He has a cushion to sit on with a second one both from plasticard with creases added via a burr in a minidrill.

The Schliech Shire horses have been fully harnessed – they come without any.A local discount supermarket (in the UK) Aldi ‘French (chocolate, or Vanilla) filled Brioche bread provides the basic material for the harness is the aluminum tray that the bread sits in; this is very thin and much easier to cut that the chicken trays (that are also saved for other purposes) the strips are 3, 2 and 1.5mm wide, plus paper for the lower belly band; colour it to suit; the rest after flattening the edges of the strips by drawing them against the edge of a scalpel blade handle, are coloured with a permanent felt tip marker pen. The edges will need to be re-coloured as it will rub off when being fitted – this was an experiment; it needs some more thought, paint is almost as bad for coming off the edges!

The curved silver pieces are hames, and made from 1mm diameter copper wire (from scrap single conductor style electric wire, with the brass spheres on the ends being layers of glue. They are fixed to the collars which are a base of plasticard and 4 x 3mm strips of PVC solid foam bent on the 3mm dimension – that way it will bend otherwise it will snap, shaped where required, and glued down; to make them larger a thin 1.5 mm strip is glued underneath and shaped to a smooth shape. Four (10 amp fuse wire) hooks per side are fitted with one pair having some small discs added as well, all shaped with a pair of (well used) round nose pliers. 

The horses are fixed to the centre shaft at the front , with a couple of whipple trees (4mm strip with 3 fuse wire hooks each, for the rear fixings and a couple of straps at the front. both whipple trees have 3 hooks each - fuse wire as before with round nose pliers.

All is fixed (and it weighs close to a couple of pounds (mainly the Shires make the weight)), to a base, and then the 1.5mm reins added which are joined together so there are only a couple of reins for the driver to get hold of, and fed up to him (having fixed him in position) they are glued inside his left hand; the right hand has a horse whip – that is a bit of .050 rod, with a paper strip for the leather handle, and some thin wire for the strip and a ‘clacker’ on the end from glue.

I have reduced slightly the height of the load so the upper plank can now be seen when it is loaded up.

Finally here are some photos taken inside of the finished vehicle





















a couple of photos takemn inside - the color is slightly too red, but is close 



















The photographer has found a ladder and taken a couple of views from a higher point showing the load in position.










Back down to ground level with another view of a quite imposing vehicle. 










Finally a view of the inside of the body with plenty of 'muck' visible.

Enjoy!

Yours Peter.


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## harvey (Dec 30, 2008)

Peter, 
The wagon is awesome, but the horses oh my goodness...absolutely outstanding. They look so alive and I'm sure if they were outside you'd see their breath. 
A fabulous model. 
Thanks for posting this. 
Cheers,


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Simply fantastic job, Peter! Love it! 

I'd like to find your source for wheels, but I couldn't find them at hobby.uk.com. Any other hints? 

Cliff


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Beautiful!


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## Nutz-n-Bolts (Aug 12, 2010)

Incredible Peter!









Your attention to detail is second to none. I have learned so much about wagon construction from your posts. This is my favorite of them all. I would say that's because of the subject matter. Well done, thanks for posting.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Great work, Peter! As I may have said before, I think you've chosen to model an interesting era.


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Beautiful addition to your wagon series Peter. I love your attention to detail.

Doc


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Great job Peter!!








You know, I've always been curious about how the brakes were rigged on various kinds of wagons and buggies.







This particular wagon looks pretty straightforward - rope connects brake handle to fulcrum, fulcrum tensions shoes against wheels. Other kinds of brakes though are not so readily apparent in how they function. I'd be interested in seeing photos of the brake rigging of the various types you've built. Thanks.


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By CliffyJ on 19 Oct 2013 01:51 PM 
Simply fantastic job, Peter! Love it! 

I'd like to find your source for wheels, but I couldn't find them at hobby.uk.com. Any other hints? 

Cliff 


Hi Cliff,

You have been caught by the dreaded apostrophe! where is a link http://hobby.uk.com/horse-drawn-vehicles/cart-wheels.html They do not show any illusrations though so here is the key HW1 id 4 wheel - 2 small 2 large - like I used on this vehicle; HW2 is 4 large ones; HW3 is 4 smallones.

They also sell some dome headed axle pins (HW7) but I use panel pins and glue them on so the will not move.

In the USA Northeast Narrow Gauge (http://www.nemodel.com/shop/agora.cgi?product=tlc) used to sell, if you bought a kit some superb laser cut wheels; alas his wife caught MRSA and now I get no reply from him by e-mail


Here is what the NENG wheel look like - on a buckboard I built










Your American wheels always look very fine - much more so than ours in the UK - they were machine made from Hickory I think and thus could stand up to a lot of heavy use as that wood will accept shocks very well; its a pity that the source seems to have stopped - I used a lot. UK made wheels are the size or style of heavy duty wheels - so OK for this vehicle.

Yours Peter.


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Dwight,


This vehicle used steel rods (not rope that would stretch too much) and underneath there is a torque tube that applies the brakes.

Like you, I like 'getting it right', this vehicle uses the same basic style of the Big Blue (US Army wagon ) and the prairie schooner/general freight/farmers wagon. 

These large wagons needed a system with more strength in material and leverage that the smaller vehicles- amongst other engravings a Stuedebaker high side farm wagon was used for some information.

The website http://www.lovettartillery.com/US_ARMY_Horse_Drawn_Equipment_.htm scroll down a bit has a very useful set of drawings of the above vehicle.

The rest I work out on paper before (more paper) cutting plastic to replicate it; a lot of the horse drawn vehicle books have some nice, but missing a lot of detail drawings, especially the wheels which invariably show only a few spokes!

Generally there is a off centre lever that transfers movement of a lever (or a pedal in some of the lighter vehicles) so a push (or pull in a lever) to push the brake beam and shoes onto the wheel; Quite simple, and easy to repair when required. 

Yours Peter.


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi,


Thank you for all for the kind comments - most appreciated!

Yours Peter.


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## Bob Baxter (Jan 3, 2008)

Absolutely fantastic work. Thank you for the links to the wheels. We all appreciate seeing and being inspired by your creations!


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Thank you Peter. I have tried searching the web but never got any useful results. Must have my search wording wrong.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Posted By peter bunce on 22 Oct 2013 06:54 AM 

Hi Cliff,

You have been caught by the dreaded apostrophe! where is a link http://hobby.uk.com/horse-drawn-vehicles/cart-wheels.html They do not show any illusrations though so here is the key HW1 id 4 wheel - 2 small 2 large - like I used on this vehicle; HW2 is 4 large ones; HW3 is 4 smallones.

They also sell some dome headed axle pins (HW7) but I use panel pins and glue them on so the will not move.


Hi again Peter,

I couldn't get that link to work, I'm afraid. But I found this:

http://hobby.uk.com/catalogsearch/r...amp;y=-146

These are 2 3/4, 3 1/4, 4 1/4 inches, sold in pairs, plastic. Are these completely different? Or did the apostrophe bite me again?

I just saw this vendor (I think they might only sell on ebay) that does cheap MDF wheels:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/pepperbay/m...p;_armrs=1


Thanks for your help, and again, great work -- it's inspiring.
Cliffy 

[edit]
Just noticed that Grand Line has some smaller ones (1.5", 1.3"), very inexpensive:
http://grandtline.com/products/mrr/...tails.html 

Also, Ozark Miniatures offers a pair of 1.84" white metal cannon wheels for $5.64:
http://www.ozarkminiatures.com/scri...roduct=259


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Fabulous work, Peter..... Just outstanding...


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## chuckger (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Peter, 

Very nice, a great model. Your wagon reminds me of the 20 mule team boraxo kit I built as a 14 year old. Check it out http://www.muleteamkits.com/ 

Chuck


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Cliff,


Sorry about the failed link - it worked for me but I will do it another way

Here are a couple of pix re the wheels - first part of the page that you should have seen -










NOTE that the 'moulded wheels' - UK spelling are the ones that I use not the expensive ready made ones.

Now as Hobby's have not shown them for some reason here is a photo taken on my window cill of the 2 + 2 set out of the polybag the are delivered in - the photo shows both sides; the tapered center boss is the inside.










For information, the large wheels are 70.6mm, and the small wheels are 47mm in size.

Hope that helps: I looked at the MDF wheels and I wonder why they will not deliver to the UK? Interesting!

Yours Peter.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

They look great Peter, and nicely priced. So I'm ordering some!

BTW, here's a typical ore wagon on "my" RR (the V&T):










Just eyeballing it, the rear wheels look to be about 5.5', the front about 4'; at 1/24, your wheels seem perfect here. 

Same area, but dual wagons with 12-mule teams: 











So thanks for the further info!

Another BTW, these seem different from Hobby's "cart wheels." They are a little more expensive, so they may look a little different. Sizes:

HW3 1.89" 48mm (in 1:24, 3'9") 
CW275 2.75" 70mm (in 1:24, 5'6"')
HW2 2.83" 72mm (in 1:24, 5'8")
CW325 3.25" 83mm (in 1:24, 6'6")
CW425 4.25" 114mm (in 1:24, 8'6")

Thanks again!
Cliff


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

I really enjoy all you horse drawn vehicles. You do such a wonderful job of bringing them to life. Your use of every day materials is great.


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