# A moving (or storage) company van



## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi, Finally the next vehicle is arguable the largest (general use) horse drawn van you could see – it’s a ‘removal/storage company’ van, with I think a sleeping compartment behind the driver – this is quite huge, and most fortuitously the ’Hobbies’ wheels are just right for it!  Well my local ‘hamlet’ has to grow, so such a van is a necessity – it will also make a good looking load for a flatcar, now I will have to incorporate an end loading dock to unload.
 
Still under construction, again is made from styrene.  The front turntable is done, and is larger than the previous vans version. The front axle frame is next, then the rear axle, the springs are quite large so I will have to cut some more strips to make them; being aluminum you can ‘tweak’ them to get the vehicles looking right. This is a two horse vehicle so there is a central pole. Twin sets of horse harness are another reason for making it into a ‘load’. Though underneath it there will be the pole and its assorted bits. 

This is where I am up to at the moment.










 
 
The body from the front, showing the seat, and the opening for the '(?)sleeper'(?)  
 
 








   
The rear with the large doors, there is a step attached to the chassis, and I will also add a couple of access steps on each (rear) corner in due course.  








 
The underside of the front which has a planked inside: this gives some strength and stiffness to the 1/2mm thick roof, the top of it has some paper strips, and over the front a rainstrip fitted already, and the top half of the turntable is located in position.
 
The other half of the turntable is next, and all the quite deep (multiple leaves) springs need cutting then the rear axle. The description of these vehicle mentions that some of them were very colorful with a large painting on the sides – Mmm, we will have to see, watch this space, the ellipses are made, well one version of them, but that is all so far, much more work to do on this monster.
 
The size of it by the way is body length 13 feet, height of body 7 feet, and 4.75 feet wide, that is slightly wider than most horse drawn vehicles which are 4 or 4.5 feet wide.


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## Matt Vogt (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: And a second horse drawn van under construction.*

That looks great, Peter!
Can't wait to see the finished product! 




Keep us posted!

Matt 

Edit: Sorry, I keep getting you confused with Pete Thorton.


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi,

The main parts of the moving van are now finished, it still needs some decals which, just for a change are almost designed, but will have to wait for more items to fill some sheets for Stan to work his magic on.

Since the first photos I have moved the turntable unit right to the front, and added some extra bits to the lower half of the turntable unit; I have temporarily fixed both portions together though the could be put together so that they would move if required. The central pole is detachable, and has a couple of loops at the front, to which two horses would have a strap, from the lower front of the collar or breast straps, to them, and there is a third one underneath, the latter one is to attach the reins/straps for a third horse, in front of the two together.

All the supports on the front of the van are cut from paper clip wire, which have been carefully straightened (use a pair of pliers several times) and then glued together, the steps both on the supports and the upper half of the turntable are from .010 styrene card, use black for these and most of the painting of them is done. The access hatch to the interior has a piece of canvas on it: this is made from a piece of tissue that has been crumpled up, and then glued on to the styrene card shell, and painted. The interior would be too narrow for a sleeper, even allowing for people being muich smaller in height than now. So it will be just for access I think. 

I found a very useful multi page PDF on the web – put in to your favourite search engine ‘Fulton & Walker, Philadelphia’, and it will come up. There are 41 pages in the PDF and some of those are plans, which are very useful, the turntable dimensions came from here.

That PDF does give me plenty of information for other vehicles as well. The PDF has a side view of one of these vans and mentions that these large vans were well known for having paintings on the sides, which I think were intended to give people something to remember them. It also gave me a chance to add a couple: after some more internet trawling I had a couple of views of Colorado mountains that would fit the sides onto which I had worked out an ellipse that fitted nicely onto the side. Fix the ellipse on with some temporary glue, pencil around it, then to the line add a couple of strips of 1/2mm square styrene per side that will give you the shape for you to fill with your design.

One side is of Maroon Bells, and the other is of Mount


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Peter, 
Once again, great detail fantastic model. Reminds me of the wagon Dorothy got into before the tornado sent her to OZ.


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter, 

Your work is absolutely outstanding! I can only imagine what you would do if you lived on this side of the ocean.....the overland stage, or a 20 mule team borax train? 

By the way, milk was still house delivered in horse drawn wagons as late as 1940 in some cities here in the U.S. Were they similar to ones used over there? I don't think I've ever seen a photo of what was used in the U.K. during that period.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice Peter! Beautiful work.


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Richard Smith on 05/16/2009 10:20 AM
Peter, 

Your work is absolutely outstanding! I can only imagine what you would do if you lived on this side of the ocean.....the overland stage, or a 20 mule team borax train? 

By the way, milk was still house delivered in horse drawn wagons as late as 1940 in some cities here in the U.S. Were they similar to ones used over there? I don't think I've ever seen a photo of what was used in the U.K. during that period.


Hi Richard, Yes we had horses delivering milk till about 1955, or so some used on car/van wheels (pneumatic tyres so a smoother ride - mainly for the milk!) here are links both to a 1920's milk float which had a very low floor.

http://www.britishdrivingsociety.co.uk/images/History%20gallery/REACHING%20OUT1000.jpg

Floats were mainly used for churns, but with a jug to ladle it out of the churn, and into the buyers jug, could be used for local deliveries as well. Some has an ornamental brass covered churn for advertising.


http://www.britishdrivingsociety.co.uk/images/History%20gallery/Horse%20drawn%20milk1000.jpg 


A larger vehicle built in 1932 that lasted till about 1955 when the Co-op stopped using horses, note the bottles hygiene has started to be used = less germs from a multi use jug. 

This one has the intermediate style of wheels they have a rubber tire fitted, but it is solid. The float has metal tyres

The drivers were rumored not to like pneumatic tyres as they made the steering 'dead' no doubt as they area on the road was larger that a horse drawn vehicles wheels, but as above a better = less bottles smashed

Battery electric vehicles started to appear in about 1947 but due to 'no money' after the war it would be the fifties before they appeared in any numbers. They needed short milk rounds due to low battery life at first. The drivers needed to drive then - horses knew they way and stopped when needed!

The first were 3 wheeled, which means that they would have found every hole possible and they then gained the fourth wheel. Here is a link to a model of the 4 wheeled type, the large box between the wheels is the battery box.

https://www.ediecast.co.uk/images/products/em76638_2.jpg

Finally, no Borax team, (I do not know of anyone making mules, and 20 sets of harness are a bit much!) but there may be a mud wagon, & I have a Papo stagecoach already! The 4 horses supplied look to be more like ponies to me, and so they may be replaced. 
Thank you to all for the kind comments.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Are you sure that is a "moving van"... looks more like the traveling sales wagon for Prof. G. P. Enswiler, (Esq.) 'Universal Panecea' Snake Oil.


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter, 

Thanks for the photo links. Believe it or not that first one was even before _my _time. hehe! The wagons all look quite different from the ones I remember here. The van part looked more like that on your model except it was lower inside and the driver could step right off the front end. 

The 20 mule team was offered as a plastic kit in 1/4" scale I believe about 1960 or so. Besides the mules it had two borax wagons and a water wagon bringing up the rear. Be pretty long critter in largescale.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Beautiful, Peter. Very, very nice.....


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## Rich Schiffman (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter,

Your wagon accomplishments are like jewels for your RR. I look forward to your next creation. Bravo!!!


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Outstanding Peter. I continue to enjoy your work and unique modeling ideas.

Doc


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## Matt Vogt (Jan 2, 2008)

Excellent work, Peter! That's a beautiful creation! 

Thanks so much for the link! It is a gold mine for horse-drawn vehicles! 

Matt


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