54mm Scratchbuilt Hansom Cab - buckling down to it

[perdu]

A while ago I asked where would it be suitable to pop in my models of horse power of a different nature


And having been sent hereabouts I wonder if you'd be interested in the Hansom Cab I'm slowly making?

I first became interested in horse drawn transport nigh on forty years ago (36 ish) when I made a diorama of an nineteenth century narrow boat in one of the many canals that hydrate the brick canyons of my beloved old Brummagem

This still features on the club tables when IPMS Brum display (last outing was Sunday at Cosford, still draws interested punters) and spurred on I decided to have a go at some of the local transport of those days

I saw a picture of a delivery cart outside a pub in Digbeth (in Birmingham, so local to me) that later became a Ford Car dealers shop

It went from 'The Old Leather Bottle' to Hangar Ford in about a hundred years and it was that which drew me in

It's gone now sadly but was close to the Bird's Custard factory

Anyway I drew some rough dimensions from the photo and made the cart and its cargo of soft drinks crates and whipped the horse out of an Esci German horse and cart set




Afterwards I added to the set with a horse drawn Coal Waggon, lots of pictures around of those let me make drawings quite easily and I made this and painted it with the old style Humbrol Railway colours

They look 'right' from the start being suitably semi shiny without needing toning down, the modern Railways colours seem different of course

Any road up, as we say, here's the coal waggon, the sacks were carved from a chunk of solidified Milliput and before painting the scales balanced...

No horse here yet, still waiting tacking up after all this time



I needed to refurbish these before they could go to a club table for display so I did a few repairs including respringing them both and had a job matching up the colours to old paints

Funny that



So to now, I fancied making a Hansom Cab to go into a potential dio with those two and with the aid of the wonders of internettery I was able to work out a basic design then resize it to 54mm

Back in the early eighties there wasn't a lot of easily found info, we are so rich in information nowadays I think we often take it all for granted

Me? I rejoice, look how easy it is to get the sizing right



having sorted that I set about making the wheels

No wheels = no cab, simples

60 thou plasticard and a compass cutter




And hubs became a problem because of a dearth of Merit station accessory 'large barrels' which were ideal for cartwheel hubs in the eighties

I can't find the things anywhere even in specialist railway model emporia, so I made them in my minidrill with layers of 60 thou glued together



If you like this I will add some more tomorrow


night all

Edited September 18, 2016 by perdu

[Codger]

Sure we like it. Beautiful work, unusual subjects and some scratchbuilding.

Bring it on Lost One!

[hendie]

I was wondering when this was going to show up!

As Codger said - unusual subjects and scratch building.... what's not to like ??? (I particularly like that one in the first shot - just looks so natural)

Great work - let's see more!

[keefr22]

I was wondering when this was going to show up!

Me too, about time Bill!

What's not to like, a great subject that will be treated to some excellent perdu style modelling!

Do carry on....!!

Keith

PS, couldn't make Cossie as it was no.2 grandaughters first birthday party. And the Nats is looking 50/50 this year as swmbo is retiring that week! So I don't know when I'll get to see that narrow boat dio of yours. Any chance of some pics?

[perdu]

OK Keith, next time I get into it's cupboard I'll take some piccies

I'm glad you like it so far

[keefr22]

Ta Bill!

[sharknose156]

Very original and creative, and from scratch so YES please keep them coming...

and with the horses, whether steam horses or manure horses, personally i love both

[perdu]

OK then as some of you are content to let me bore you with yet another slow burn of a build

(been into this since before I began those Jaguars, but slowly)

I showed the wheel rims under construction and I hope no one expects me to slap fellowes together to build up rims and spokes like the real thing, I might have considered that thirty five years ago when I had decent eyesight - not now

Here's the hub being introduced to the square unshaved spokes on a templated piece of CD case

I love old CD cases

Mmmm

Pushed around and set up to be length trimmed by lifting off the bedway by other lengths of square Evergreen then cut off

Then sixteen spokes were glued to the hub using the packing pieces to set the height

centred, trimmed and glued to the rims the spokes then got 'shaved/ with my Swann Morton spokeshave tool

Time to build a cab

From the rough sketches I obtained the shapes for the cab floor and foot kick panel and seat and cut them out of white stuff

Using an angled template cut from a tool I used in an earlier build for a different task and a handy blob of Plasticene I got the floor and kick panel stuck together

A pair of familiar shapes were cut out and bunged on

Whereupon a slight frown appeared on my normally unfurrowed brow

"That does not look like what I imaginated it would when I began this game a hundred years ago!" I said

What do you lot think?

I stuck the back panels on, well you have to try maybe it will look more like when, when

but it's no good

Just too wide at the bottom although I am happy with the upper section of the cab's cabin

ho hum off to work we go, re-measure the foot well base and trim and close up the body again

Narrowed and floor pan trimmed to suit, a new floor panel needs making now because there got to be room for Dobbin, if if you had a childhood like mine Black Beauty or Ginger

Here before the new floor goes in

The familiar graceful tapered front and rear view now catered for

When I began my research for this I realised that doing a Hansom Cab for a diorama of Birmingham was entirely right

Although we may have mental images of foggy evenings in lamp-lit London Town with Mr Holmes and Dr Watson scurrying off in hot-tish pursuit the Hansom was designed first by the Architect who designed and built Birmingham's classic Greek temple style Town Hall and like many another great inventions and devices made in Brum they were sent all over the world

He sold the patent for a few thousand pounds it's said but was never very (massively!) wealthy, quite a guy in fact

Lots of Evergreen half round strip made detailing reasonably easy as this rear view shows

Because I like to use plastic when I'm doing structures and because bending plastic rod gives me the possibility of it unbending at a later date I prefer to cut bent shapes out of solid polycard from thick sizes that can be carved to suit

Here are the front spring mounts that will be attached to the front of the cart spring units and will have flat fishplates to bolt them to the floor

here with the fishplates attached

Here I have made the main rear spring and cab chassis mounts from flat card pieces that are later 'stiffened' with a skin of cyano so they wont fail when the weight of the cab is hung from them

I think I'll shut up now with a shot of the interior being made

The qulting on the back wall was done by rubbing a pewter burnishing tool on a sheet of thin plasticard that has lines drawn on it in diamond shapes

By rubbing in between each of the lines distortion makes the quilt bulges lift out of the flat placky

The quilt buttons are added with a minute drop of PVA at each crossover point

The different wooden strips are in place and though it doesn't show the leathercloth side walls have been simulated by giving each of them a burnishing to stop them being flat, I expect that to be 'just' apparent at the end

The hole in the rear wall is where you'd pay the cabbie his bit of cash, a tanner maybe for a short journey

The front arch of the roof is in place though the roof is off at the moment

The two plasticene items are the bucks I used to mould the seat and backrest on the sheet I popped into my Lego-alike block casting box

Coming next

Melchie and I try to track down a hoss

And a roundhead officer gets demoted

And the cab gets a roof and I will be getting down to the cut for a very ancient photo-opportunity

Later friends

Edited April 10, 2016 by perdu

[keefr22]

Excellent post Bill, I enjoyed that! Some really good scratchbuilding (as expected!) & it's all coming along really nicely - those wheels are brilliant!

Looking forward to more!

Keith

[hendie]

Love it Bill - such a joy to see something different on these pages. keep it coming

[Murdo]

Aaaaah! Luvverly!

[Fastcat]

Lovely work Bill, model making at it's best and a fascinating insight into how it's done.

Looking forward to the rest.

Dave

[perdu]

Well I didn't get down to the cut for those pictures sorry Keith, off to London tomorrow for the Tuesday Classic cars meet so I doubt I'll get them done tomorrow either

Bummer I know but the run to the Ace has been on the calendar for a while now and I don't want to disappoint my fellow Midgeteer with whom I'm doing a small convoy

This week though, promise

Now I ended yesterday with a mention of getting the General on board with a search for dobbin, so here's a small tale

I obtained the Airfix Cavalier/Roundhead from their old Collectors Series (if you're watching Matt can we have these back please?)

He was chosen because he was astride a fairly steady mount as you can see here

He didnt know it but he was also about to become a full body donor too, time warp to the nineteenth century in store for me-laddo

of which more later

The horse looked a tad too active for my needs as I am making a cab awaiting custom so I determined that I needed a fair bit of leg chicanery

I decided to save a horse for later by casting the halves in resin and then I'd have something to hack about, I needed the casting practice anyway so it was decided to go ahead

(If Airfix still produced these kits I would just buy them, they were a marvellous bargain back in the day and I used lots of them making figures from the Charge Of The Light Brigade following the Airfix mag articles - so needs must)

Anyway the casting process gave me this

Which cleaned up and filed to depth gave me this

Now these legs are way off what I needed so some surgery ensued

You can see that the casting procedure I used left a lot of extra 'leg' to carve away but I'm not a true sophisticate in these matters

Anyway, I have my trusty Swann-Mortons to hand

The front near leg is too far back for a resting pose so I used some of my last remaining piece of precious Slater's Plastic Rod (from the seventies, they dont make it with this grade of very hard plastic any more) to make an armature, a bit more went into the rear off leg's bendy bit with the hoof on it to give me the stance I wanted

I was going to use MIlliput to make legs to stand on for him

And 'et voila' here's a horse standing still

Posing in this picture with the seat I have made for the cabbie, hope he's comfy on it

I bain't a changing it now

And now to where the General comes in

We were generally ( ) chatting at the Sutton Modeller's show, this and that as you do when he asked how the Hansom was coming along (told you I've been taking my time with this didnt I?)

I said I'd been doing this to get a dobbin but I was wishing I could have got my sticky hands on one of the Airfix Bengal Lancer kits because the horse in that would have been ideal

So he said the Airfix out of the box chaps were at the show, maybe they know of a Lancer going spare

Hence the madcap gallop around the show, peering onto trade stands and seeking the Airfix johnnies like a Blue Steel after launch

We eventually found them on the stand tucked away round a secluded corner

And no they didnt have a spare...

Sorry if you hoped they had, you didnt hope it more than me

As for the driver, I decided to use the Roundhead head because he was clean shaven and the Cavalier was uber hirsute

I have made his legs come together more than when they were due to be riding a horse and other various indignities performed upon his person

I am no great shakes at figures so he will remain a peripheral figure for a while, I have possible painting lessons coming soon at a club meeting

Please cross all loose extremities for that as a ha'porth tar situation looms if not

back to the ranch

I mentioned yesterday that I had quilted the back ground cloth but I hadn't found the relevant pic then to show you

Here is the quilt, ready to fit

Bulged by burnishing it with Mrs P's Pewter embosser from the days she delighted in doing crafts

I'm glad I saved it

Rub the back between each line to get the bulgy look, using that nail polishing file/buffer pad as a soft resistance

Cracking on

Here is the driver's seat base structure going on

Dobbin looks on interestedly

Here is the underside view showing the suspension support bracketry and the driver's seat box built up

The shafts have been cut from the solid 60 thou plasticard (no bending that way of course) and we're coming along nicely

The rear cross frame and support bracket is now in place and supporting the springs (ignore that misting of blackl I indulged myself when I had an airbrush cup with a stray dash of black inside)

I think I will leave off now and pick up again on Thursday

Night and thanks for looking and commenting, I understand this isnt everyone's cup of English Breakfast

[keefr22]

Well I didn't get down to the cut for those pictures sorry Keith, off to London tomorrow for the Tuesday Classic cars meet so I doubt I'll get them done tomorrow either

Bummer I know but the run to the Ace has been on the calendar for a while now and I don't want to disappoint my fellow Midgeteer with whom I'm doing a small convoy

This week though, promise

Don't worry Bill, whenever you have chance, don't go making any special efforts. Enjoy the trip to the Ace - that should be fun!

I like Dobbin, fine looking 'Oss! I like all the rest of it too, coming along very nicely indeed!

Keith

[hendie]

Thoroughly entertaining Bill - thanks.

I understand this isnt everyone's cup of English Breakfast

You may well be right on the subject matter*, but I can't resist a good bit of scratch building. Anyways... while I admit to not getting overexcited at the thought of a horse drawn cart, I do find the fact that it's so far off the beaten path for this forum very refreshing indeed.

* actually, I found myself googling hansom cabs just the other day after reading your posts

[Brandy]

Lovely work on this, very impressed with Dobbin too! I did a Napoleonic cavalryman when I was a kid and it's still one of my favourites!

Ian

[perdu]

Thank you Ian, glad you like it

I admit it's more than a tad idiosyncratic but what the heck, it keeps me off the streets making a racket

Anyway, I did make it down to the dark ages before there was colour to get near the narrow boat dio

"It was quiet down there as Jim Garret began sorting this ropes as Effie tended the horse before the days graft began"

it looked quite idyllic

it wasn't!

The whole family lived in that six foot by six foot space, the bed folded away when out of use as did the table

Jim's tea cup sits empty after breaking fast, the huge teapot behind it is full enough for another when the horse gets going

Their lad Tom has already run along the towpath to ready the first lock towards Coventry

That load of coal needs dropping before Jim can get another load

I got interested in the far back days of the industrial revolution after reading a book about Birmingham's industrial past, Quality Chase is the story of a man who started out as nothing but became the kind of man who built empires, in his case from gathering items that would become antiques

Hence these models got their inspiration

I decided to make the dio after building the boat and the family, which might show

As does the fact I'm not much 'cop' at dios

Because there is a cross canal ahead the horse has been taken off the rope and Effie is about to walk him over the bridge so he can be reconnected to the barge

All the painting on the model is by hand, lettering as well as traditional panel patterns were supplemented with the castles and roses associated with all British canal art both inside and out

The far bank of 'the cut' has some typical 'waste land' items including the ubiquitous sheet of un-needed corrugated iron and a scrappy growing Birch tree making its push for survival

The water is ordinary Polyfilla painted with gouache paints and then given three coats (Slowly) of Ronseal Gloss Varnish

This was about thirty four or so years ago so Ronseal Varnish was the best glossyness I could find

I'd probably use it now too

I still have a tin awaiting

Ropes were hand wound by reverse twisting strong sewing thread and letting it entwine and couple up and make 'rope alike'

Figures and horse were something like Fujimi 1/48 scale figures, I think but cannot confirm it

Hope some of you guys like this

Try to get some more Hansom stuff aboard next

Edited April 13, 2016 by perdu

[keefr22]

Bill, I think that is quite superb! I think it's a great idea that was brilliantly executed - that hand lettering is just so in keeping with the real things! Cracking stuff! I hope I can get to see it for real one day, many thanks indeed for taking the time to get the pics done!

Hope you had a good run to the Ace yesterday!

This was about thirty four or so years ago so Ronseal Varnish was the best glossyness I could find

I'd probably use it now too

It does what it says on the tin - you can see that on your water!

Ta again

keith

[perdu]

Ta Keith

The Ace was 'just what they say on the tin' too

Lots of good looking classics

and my Midget too of course

maybe half a dozen Caterfields/West Hams two big Zodiacs assorted Yank Iron and a couple of nice little Alfas with lots of other nice motors

My favourite of the night (Lara my Midge excepted) was a Crayford Allegro

I mean who would think to take huge amounts of dosh, and an Allegro, to Crayford and invite ridicule?

Whoever it was the car was testament to his bravery, all the panel and door gaps were perfect and there was no sign of 'extra work' that sometimes becomes apparent as darkness falls and artificial light shows up cracks and patches

Great night, if anyone who likes Classic cars (and sausages, their Bangers And Mash is legendary) should make getting to The Ace Cafe on the North Circular an aim at least once (second Tuesday every month)

Edited April 13, 2016 by perdu

[Murdo]

That canal scene is absolutely superb!!!

[Tzulscha]

Nice subject.

Not something one sees everyday certainly.

(well, not 'round these parts!)

I almost understood the commentary too!

Just an ignorant yank here...

Good show sir!

[hendie]

I got no words!

[perdu]

Cheers, I gotta admit that even now I get that little 'frisson' when folks, walking past the stand, do that "Oh Mabel look at that" thing, then stop and look more deeply

I have a feeling that most model displays NEED a stopper or people just keep on processing 'to the next stand'

Luckily many of my quirky ones have that effect

(yes I am still pleased with it even after all these years)

[perdu]

"Oh look out, it's 'im again I wonder what's he up to today?"

I thought I'd pop back with a bit more of the horse and cart that I left behind at the beginning of the week

I had to make the shafts to pop on the front of the cab and that needed two pieces of 60 thou, a vice, a modelling knife and a pencil

I marked out the basic curves of the shafts on one face and cut out both at once

These were trimmed to length and stuck to the upper frame at the front

Bracing irons would need adding as well as the 'splash screens' that stop the passengers getting covered in exhaust products, as you will imagine horse exhaust products can be a bit.. Blerrrgh!

I needed somewhere for the passengers to sit so I made the two seat moulds from plasticene

Here is the mould box being prepared from building bricks, I used Blox from Wilko

I advise hanging on 'til you can get real Lego though as the Blox were a poor fit and needed a sealing layer to stop the moulding rubber decamping and heading for the hills

I had to remodel the seat upholstery but this was the set up that produced a seat and backrest, seen here unpainted

When they had been cast and removed from the mould I added 'stress' to the castings and painted them in Humbrol RC405 Green as base colour and sanded a bit more 'life' out of them, these cabs had a hard time of it

In this shot you can see the added strengtheners along the shafts and the brackets that set the shafts into the structure

The interior had to be painted then too and the windows glazed with very thin acetate and held in place with quarter round Evergreen strips, inside and out

The carts springs were made from plasticard strips and mounted between the spring irons and the cabbie's seat box has its internal structure in place

The rear suspension structure is clearly shown here, it was a single forging in real life

Here it is another carved from the thick sheet item, I do not want this to collapse on me some day when it's on display

The axle is a tube taken from the Evergreen tubes and rods set, it's amazing to think that years ago I would have had to hope that Plastruct made suitable stuff or as with the other carts make the axles from kit sprue pieces

I'll show the axle soon, there is a development on the 'wheels front' to come

And now for something...

Well, something

The cab has to have a version of weather proofing to keep the passenger(s) dry so there are a pair of doors set in front

Some cabs even had a latch that could only be opened by the cabbie on the back to prevent fare dodgers hopping it, this one doesn't

As the cabs became more sophisticated some even had brakes that could be wound on by a screw driven hand wheel

Here are the doors in progress, I had opportunities for lots of elaborate joinery on these

I resisted or they would have still been being built

This was an 'interesting time', the cab has two shapes built into the roof

The rear end has a straight edge and the front has that graceful arch which the roof itself needs to accommodate

I wasn't sure if it was gojng to work with plasticard so I was a bit dubious when I fitted it all up

Tamiya tape held it all in place as the Tamiya Extra Thin cement was drawn along the outer edges of the prepainted roof panel

I left a big overhang so the glue would have plenty of spare to seep along before it went off

This view shows the rest of the front walls that have been added to help weatherproofing and look back there

Wheels sitting on an axle

Here is the axle waiting to be u-bolted to the springs as the roof cures, I did cast a roof with the curves in it but it was going to be very difficult to make it sit astride the walls nicely so I'm glad this roof did work

If the wheels look different it's because they are

Does this look familiar?

I couldn't quite get to like the hubs and spokes I made at the start because they just looked crude so I cast around looking for a suitably round alternative

I found these in my aircraft weapons spares box

The box was someone else's collection of bombs missiles drop tanks and assorted wheel legs n stuff

Amongst the collection were four or five of the Gatling Gun thingies that hung underneath some Phantoms, not sure which kit but I suspect the venerable Matchbox F4K or M

The nose section was just what I was searching for if I took the shield device off the top edge

This first one was a practice and the edge hasn't been cleaned up properly yet but as it showed promise I tried out adding the more sophisticated spokes I'd been seeing in pictures too

That centre piece is due to have the axle hole bodged through it next, I think you will agree the hub shape is far nicer than the 'chunks of cut out plasticard' ones I had in mind when I started

Here are the new wheels in place just before the roof addition went ahead, the hubs have centre pinned axles which are being made here from different lengths of tube ready to close it off

I see a random Roundhead has edged his way into shot, soon be your turn old chap

I will leave this here after this shot

The roof is on, the framing and guttering too and the brass rails fitted round the edge

The driver is a work in progress as you see, he hasnt his head on yet

The axle u-bolts are in place now and the seat is fitted to the back box

No splash guard yet though and I will need to sort out some pictures to bring it up to date so I'll do some more over the weekend if you want any more

This weekend I'm hoping to make the man more human and do more of the detailing on the cab (which has its first coat of black now)

Have to get on with carriage lamps and other brassware too

edit to tidy apostrophes

Edited April 15, 2016 by perdu

[keefr22]

Cracking modelling again Bill! The new hubs do indeed look better & the wheels again look very good!

And I would never have thunk of making mould masters out of plasticene!

Great stuff, keep it coming!

keith