A curved end passenger carriage

[gregh]

I came across this cute little prototype and thought – “that’s just what my indoor line needs to complete its passenger fleet.”

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/RRwAAOSw ... -l1600.jpg

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The model would need to be around 200mm long with a wheel base of 100mm to fit on my line. So I downloaded the pic and checked that it seemed to be OK for that size.

I cut the curvy sides from 1mm styrene sheet and the floor from 2mm.

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The inside of the walls has ‘slots’ which the plastic ‘glass’ slots into (as the final construction step after all painting)

Then I glued the curved ends of 0.5mm styrene onto those sides. Then I glued 1mm balsa strips on the styrene ends to simulate timber.
The roof is all balsa and push-fits inside the sides.

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[gregh]

continuing......

Then I made a decision which made a lot of work for me, and hasn’t really turned out as I hoped.
The sides of the prototype have many raised timber sections and lower flats all one colour. But I decided to make the inner flats a blue colour with the raised sections painted cream.
So I painted both sides blue all over and at the same time cut lots of 0.5 mm strips for the different width raised sections, and painted them cream.

After allowing the paint to dry for days to ensure I could apply pressure, I then had to scrape the blue paint from where I would glue the strips, as the styrene glue does not easily take through the paint.

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Then the long job of gluing the strips on !!!

I made the frame from my usual 8mm thick pine wood. With the axles mounts just built up from styrene.

A few decals printed and it’s finished, ready to join the fleet on the indoor Claymine Branch.

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[Peter Butler]

I love it Greg, what a little cracker and a beautiful paint job too!

[ge_rik]

Really quirky....

Rik

[Old Man Aaron]

Unusual is always a good thing. Nice work.

[Phil.P]

Love it!

Phil.P

[Andrew]

What a wonderful carriage, beautifully modelled.

It reminds me of Colonel Stephens' lines here in the UK, which often operated with an eclectic collection of second or third-hand stock - I'm thinking of the KESR's royal carriage, for example.

What's the story behind the real thing?

Cheers,

Andrew

[Peter Butler]

Andrew,
I researched this earlier when Greg mentioned his intention to build the carriage. It was built by Timothy Hackworth in 1838 for the Director of the General Mining Association of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Canada. It is also known as the 'Brides Car' as it is said it carried his new bride to their home following their marriage.
I love it and Greg has made a great job of it.

[Lonsdaler]

A really interesting carriage with a fascinating background supplied by Peter. Something that may be worth trying 'for next time' - paint the main body as you have done, then use 'canopy glue*' to apply the overlays. No need to remove base paint. It doesn't react with the paint but does adhere well. It is a trick I learned from Mr Butler of this parish!
* it's used by aircraft modellers to fix the clear canopies to their aircraft hence the name. Available in the UK from Deluxe Materials, but I'm sure there will be an Aussie equivalent.