Completed September 2016
Well, it’s been a few months since completing my last build, and publishing my tutorial, and here I am, starting on my next model – the Adams Express Wagon.
A BIT OF BACKGROUND ABOUT ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY.
The Adams Express Company has thrived for more than 150 years, its first 75 years as one of the nation's leading independent express companies, and in subsequent years as one of the largest closed-end investment funds. The Company's story parallels much of America's business history, from the early days of transportation and manufacturing through expansion across our continent and the oceans – contributing to the ease and speed of transporting documents, currency, and securities to today's information-based financial services industry. The express companies founded by Alvin Adams contributed to several of the great economic and social movements of the 19th century, including the westward migration, the California Gold Rush, and the Civil War.
Adams delivered the messages, documents and securities that underpinned each of these movements. By the time of the Civil War, the Company operated throughout the south with its Southern Express Company subsidiary.
[Source: www.adamsexpress.com]
Enough history.. on with the build blog!
This model was once again built from plans drawn by Ivan Collins. Research was crazy and often confusing because it turned out that there were different versions of the Adams Wagon. Light ones, heavier ones and of course, the one drawn by Ivan Collins, of which I could find no information about – except as seen on his plan. (Or what one can actually SEE on his plans, which were as always, very sparse).
Between bouts of studying, analyzing the plans, and doing research, I established my new workroom.
I put my messy tools (lathe, table saw, drill press, scroll saw and sander) in the garage!
(Strange looking back at how sparse this workshop looked back then! It looks a lot "busier" now).
Ivan Collins’ book – “Horse Drawn Days,” though not much to go by, proved to be invaluable in helping me see various parts of the Adams Express because Ivan actually chose this one model to briefly show the build progress in his book. (Mainly the rest of the book is simply photos of other models of his). You know I get hung up about being able to SEE what the HDV looks like. Well, this book helped.
Above photos, Left to Right: Weighting down the wet strips to get desired curvature.The middle photo shows how I managed to clamp the dried, curved strips to glue them securely. Finally, the middle and right photos show the clamping of the longitudinal roof slats - starting from the centre and working outward from there.
Bit of a time waster, but nonetheless, valuable lessons had been reinforced (i.e. measure, check, re-measure, recheck!)
Time for a very precarious dry-fit. There was still loads of work to be done, but it was rewarding to see something taking shape.
By this time, I had decided to use material to cover the roof. First off, I made a mock-up frame and conducted some experiments to see how best to do this. I considered using t-shirt material, calico or nylon stockings. After much experimenting, I eventually thought I knew how to cover the roof and started on the actual model’s roof frame.
I cut a piece of calico, glued it onto the frame using wood glue, then trimmed it neatly. Then I applied a layer of wood filler and sanded it smooth.
Then is where I made the mistake.
Instead of applying another layer of wood filler and sanding that down (because there were still irregularities), I applied a layer of wall primer (yes, wall primer – it makes a nice plastic-like film)
There comes a time when you realize that you did not experiment enough. The wall primer did not flow properly and to get it right meant that I would’ve had to add more, and then the whole thing would become too bulky and heavy. I tried removing the material from the fragile frame, but
alas……
As I had written in my book: “It is often easier to remake a component that you have incorrectly made, than it is to correct it!” The time had come and it was back to the drawing board.
On the upside – I seemed to be getting a handle on the silver soldering thing……
One of the (very experienced) members of the scalemodelhorsedrawnvehilce forum helped me to understand the brake mechanism. Once again, Ivan’s plans were severely lacking in this regard. It was also pointed out that, a lot of times, brakes on wagons were actually optional extras. I nonetheless but I decided to do “the art in the details” bit.
As usual: I started with the wheels. (Using Jelutong again).
32 front spokes. 36 in the back. Plus a few extra for “just in case”, taking the total to 75. Man, my finger tips hurt for more than a week!
First off, I cut the blanks. Then I lined them up and marked off the “square” bit, filed the bottom ends sharp, and then set about shaping the oval part of the spokes.
Into the garage and on to making the hubs. I figured out that a 4-jaw chuck works differently to a 3-jaw chuck in that one cannot simply adjust all at the same time. Once I got the hang of it though, it worked like a dream. Man, it is a blessing to have the right tools. (Remember I had to go to a buddy to use his lathe when making the Studebaker?)
I cut the hubs in pairs and all went relatively well. Until the end. I should have left well enough alone because I broke off one of the rings. It was not too much of a challenge to fix it though, so that is exactly what I did. (Remember, I don’t often remake things to get them perfect. I learn the lesson and remember it for next time. In this case, the lesson was to use a harder wood for sarven hubs next time).
Making the rims was a breeze on my new (1957) lathe. I made a holder and attached the block of wood for the rims to this. Then I squared it off, marked the ring sizes and cut them. Final separation was carefully done using a jeweler’s saw. Not much to do after that.
As I had not made a set of wheels in three years, I battled a bit when making these.
Nonetheless, I finished them, having made them as follows:
First off, I drew a pie chart to calculate the spoke spacing on the rim. Then I made a spider jig for positioning the spokes. I used my lathe to cut the hollow for holding the hub. I first put pins on either side of each spoke, but soon realized that I only needed one as a guide per spoke. So I did that.
Using the spider jig, I fitted every odd-numbered spoke first and allowed the glue to dry. Then I shaped the remaining spokes, fitted them, and left them for the glue to dry. In the meantime, the hub rings kept breaking. So I fixed them. Most annoying. Then I marked off where the rim cut the spokes to get the required length.
Using another jig, I sanded each spoke to the required length.
(Note that I had inserted pins through the rim and into each spoke to keep it aligned, strengthen it, and “just for in case”).
My old saying remains – “no wheels, no model”. As I was determined to learn to solder, I continued with the tyres. “No wheels, no model”.
Making the tyres.
First off, the easy part. Cutting the strips. I used to use brass for making the tyres, but after having used mild steel strapping on the Studebaker Sprinkler wagon, I decided that I would not be using brass again. Mild steel simply LOOKS better and is also easier to work with.
So I set about cutting the strips using a tin snips, filed them to required width, marked them and cut them a bit longer than required. Then silver soldered them together. A few flops, a few redos, and eventually WHEELS!!
Fifth wheels used to really baffle me, but by this time, I understood them, their purpose and how they work, so it was easier to make them, despite the one on this wagon being different to anything I had encountered before. Nothing much to say here about the construction. Look. Examine. Look. Study. Draw. Cut. File. VIOLA!! 5th wheel woodworks.
Next I had to make 1mm threaded nuts and bolts. (and some more silver soldering practice).
Next up, the springs.…..
I hate making spring simply because I usually battle getting all leafs exactly to the same width. So I decided to make a jig to cut them all to the same size. It is simple to see how I made this from the photo to the right.
The idea was to be able to cut strips of uniform width with
minimal sanding required later on. Sadly this did not work as expected and I got as far as 8mm of the 1200mm required– I think the 1mm brass was too much for the Dremel, despite using a jeweler's grade diamond cutting disc. I smelt something burning so stopped. I decided to continue doing do it the long, boring way…. No wonder I hate making springs…….
Well, I suppose the Progression of a Model should include the flops and well as the successes. So here goes:
I bought blades for cutting 0.8-2mm steel for my jig saw and experimented with various jigs.
I then used masonite (a mistake) and glued wood strips on top to guide the metal strip. This did not work well as the metal tended to jump, so I cut a block to
hold it down. This jig only lasted for 400mm and the entire contraption tore itself off the masonite.
The next one I made was more solid as I cut it entirely from wood – glued and screwed in position.
This method worked well but I noticed something was out so I measured the resultant strip. It was 5.8mm instead of 5mm.
Closer inspection proved that the jig saw blade was very loose (the device is 27 years old!)
I then decided to test my hand at simply cutting the strip along a marked line using the (still) mounted jig saw. This proved successful, with a surprisingly smooth cut.
Eventually I ended up cutting all the spring blades very carefully (and using earplugs!!) by using the jig saw mounted upside down – WITHOUT all the fancy jigs and stuff. Just a simple flat board. Cutting at a rate of 15 minutes per metre, it was much quicker than using a hand saw of any sorts. The clean-up filing required was minimal too.
Having taken 35 hours over 7 weeks, I finally had completed spring sets and was glad to be able to put that behind me…..
After having bent each spring blade to fit the previous blade, (starting with the longest one) and having drilled a hole in the centre of each, and tapped the bottom blade, I inserted a screw to hold them all together. Then I wanted to solder the spring packs together and that is where the fun started and I ended up with a black mess of solder and flux and no joined brass!
I had spent a lot of time traveling at that time and read “The Complete Metalsmith” by Tim Mc Creight on the plane. (Excellent reference book!)
Therein, I read that one can use hydrochloric acid to clean up the black mess tat I had made. Which I did.
Then I set about fixing the shape of the spring pack again. The brass bent more readily and I suddenly realized the meaning of the word “ANNEALLED”!! wow! The brass had annealed through all the heating and cooling, and as such was now more malleable and I was able to more easily shape the spring packs..
I had also read in the same book that one can use cyanoacrylate to bond metal – so I though “what the heck” and tried it. Magic. All good. No soldering required. I had spent 3hrs making the first spring pack (bending and bonding) – the second one took 15 minutes because I simply annealed the pack first, bent the leafs simultaneously, the super-glued it, filed it all neat and VIOLA!! Done! Persistence had paid off.
Then for the side springs – which were a bit more tricky because I had to shift the centre on each.
Then I took a break and made various axle parts
Because it looked pretty tricky to make, I decided to make the roof next and to work my way down from there. Referencing Ivan Collins’ “Horse Power Days”, I first made a template for the curved part then constructed the roof from there.
I soaked the wood (I used South African pine because it is easier to cut to 3x2mm strips from without it breaking) and clamped this to the template.
It was indeed tricky and took a long time to make.
The photos below show the building of the roof structure.
However, as is my custom, I’ll share my flops too.
When dry fitting the hood to the body parts, I realized that the cabin section was too wide – by a WHOPPING 7mm! Ouch!!
Weighing the various options, I decided to cut only the cabin part off, cut 7mm out of the centre to make it narrower, rejoin it, then refit it to the roof.
I started on the drawings in my study, before relocating to the workshop. What a joy!
Roof template
Side planks
Clamping all planks to the template
At that point, I was faced with a major challenge: I had NO idea what (or how) to construct the actual covering for the roof.
I again tried my hand at some sort of joinery. Here are some photos of the wagon box.
This called for using different grades of solder so that some parts could be soldered later without the first parts coming loose. I used a Dremel torch.
Remaking of the roof took long (22hrs - excluding glue-drying time) and hit my motivation hard when I had to restart, but here is the progress.
This time around, I measured, cut, and filed each beam, each cross plank, very carefully before gluing. Even at the gluing stage, I measured again and again before and after fitment. Each one being 1.5mm from the next.
So this time around, the frame was as good as I would be able to get it.
Not having a thickness-sander, and remembering that one of the snags last time was because the thickness of the slats was not uniform, I opted to make them from hard card that I cut in strips and laminated for rigidity and solidity. It worked perfectly! (Now I know why the late great master model builder, Ivan Collins, used card in some of his models). Gluing time between each slat was also a lot quicker.
Blemishes and cracks were once again fixed and smoothed using my ever-beloved wood filler. I must add though, that I have found a better product – Polyfilla Fine Crack filler. It’s super smooth, does not crack or shrink when dry, and when you sand it, it turns to powder. Really gives a nice finish and is easy to use.
And there you have it. The roof: Take II. (Probably better than the previous one?)
Then the covering.
This time I used a test jig. It was exactly the width and madse from the same materials as the actual roof, but only a quarter of the length. I covered this with a wet piece of calico (or unbleached muslin, whatever you choose to call it) and stretched it taut. However, once dry, it had wrinkled.
So I made a new jig, and started again. This a time stretching the material absolutely as tight as possible. Fewer wrinkles.
Without loosening the material, I wet it again ever so slightly, and pulled it sideways, then clamped that side. (previously I had only clamped the y-axis. This time I clamped the x-axis too (if you want to put it that way).
Again, it wrinkled. Less so, but still wrinkled. Not good enough. I became determined to succeed.
Anyway… I tried about 5 times then, not getting the hang of it, and concerned that I might end up having to remake the roof AGAIN, (plus getting a bit miffed by this time), I decided to explore the use of model aircraft silk-span.
My engineer friend also happens to build model aircraft and was able to help me. I used a product called SIG Koverall http://www.sigmfg.com/IndexText/SIGKV001.html. Normally one would use SIG Stix-it to apply the material to the frame, but I used Balsaloc with much success.
This I’d learnt (the hard way, of course):
Nut hole size = <(diameter of the wire) – (pitch)> where “pitch” is the distance between the points on the thread.
To find the pitch, turn the tap into the corresponding dye hole, and read that number. Then measure the PITCH. Now you know what size wire to use, plus what size hole to drill for the nuts.
Then drill the flippin hole that size!!!!
Needless to say, my threaded rods did not fit the nuts by ever so slightly. I fixed this by redoing the rods.
Here is how I made the u-bolts for the spring packs (Remember how I battled with those on the Studebaker Sprinkler wagon??? Plastic? What was I thinking!!! Hahahahaha!!!!!)
Time to do some priming
Here are some photos showing the seat making progression. (A quick and easy job). When gluing the sides, I found that by applying a liberal amount of wood glue, and pressing the material firmly into it so that it came through, I was able to get a very nice finish indeed.
Time for some painting.
Much research showed that the Adams Express Company wagons were known for their green bodies on top of red undercarriages. I was unable to find a single reference to the 2-shaded green one in Ivan Collins’ book, (“Historical Vehicles in Miniature – the Genius of Ivan Collins”) so I decided to paint mine a uniform dark green.
Before I could continue, I had to fit the roof. I was however not too happy with it though as it seemed to be making a big bubble just behind the start of the hood. So……. Contrary to what I usually do, and all in the interest of becoming more skilled as a model builder…… yes, you guessed right – I decided to redo it. I was determined to get it 100% right and before I could continue with any other part of the wagon, the roof had to be fitted.
I started out by making the frame to fit the cavity behind the cab section. (The panels would ultimately hang inside this).
I measured the width, divided that by 2, and subtracted 2.5mm for the hanging. I used 2mm x 0.5mm brass strips for the panel frames, silver soldering the required lengths together.
Then I attached the hanging loops, and lastly the loops for the lock. (Also silver soldered).
I pasted some masking tape over the mesh to keep it together and cut an EXACT template from card stock to fit inside the frame. Then I cut the mesh, and dry fitted it.
After carefully sanding the tips of the stainless steel mesh, I tinned the inside surface of the brass frame, and positioned the mesh inside the frame.
Theo (my engineer friend mentor) had taught me about the importance of using copious amounts of flux to solder effectively. This made the job so much easier. So, when soldering the mesh to the panels, I used lots of flux, then simply dabbed some solder here and there, moved the iron (a normal 30W soldering iron) and watched it flow.
After having made the second panel, I decided the first one looked lousy, and remade it. Never thought I’d see the day when I remake something that I initially thought looked “OK”.
NOTE: I did lots of dry fitting, and card stock templates were invaluable.
The brakinge system.
Once again, Ivan Collin’s sketches had dumbfounded me with their lack of detail, and in one instance, weren’t even drawn accurately!! After my own analysis, Bill from the forum helped me understand the mechanics, and sent me some sketches of the parts of the brake system that I did not understand. I truly appreciated his inputs as without them, this model would not be a scale model but some slap-together wagon instead! The art is in the detail.
Meshworks.
This took much persistence and patience!
After much searching, I finally located and bought a section of stainless steel woven mesh. It was woven mesh but not quite the right design. In the photo on the wildhorsebooks website, and also in “Historical Vehicles in Miniature”, it seemed as though the mesh is in fact EXPANDED mesh, but the woven mesh was the best I could find. However, at 1mm, the holes were too small, and I had to look for one with larger holes.
Then my mentor friend, Theo (the patent engineer) told me of a wastepaper basket that he had seen at the local supermarket. So of course I went and looked, and immediately bought it! It was made of expanded mesh, and only cost me 5% of what I had already spent, and the mesh was PERFECT!! Plus, it was already painted, making it easier to paint red later on.
Further research showed photos of a different Adams Express wagon (it became very obvious that there were numerous designs of Adams wagons in use back in the days), and I saw that the mesh on that one was in fact woven Mesh. Upon ULTRA careful examination of the small photos in “Horse Drawn Days”, I was able to verify that the mesh is INDEED woven mesh. My wife liked the wastepaper bin, so I gave it to her.
I then went and bought a length of woven mesh (stainless steel – all I could find) with the right size holes and strands.
Because I had not fitted the roof yet, I was unable to measure the side mesh panels 100% accurately, and because they are smaller, I decided to start with the door panels that separate the cab from the rest of the wagon.
I was pleased to be able to put that behind me and move on!
I decided to shift my focus back to the undercarriage again.
Spring U-bolts with scale THREADED nuts and bolts!!
I once again practiced on my template, and it worked! No prizes for guessing what I eventually used for covering the roof…. Take note for anyone wanting to use this method: all blemishes will be highlighted by the tightly spun silk-span. I had to take great care in smoothing down ALL surfaces and edges. Here is the end result after I had sprayed it with a few coats of matt black from a rattle can.
Once again Ivan Collins’ plans were lackinindetail and do not show how the small panel doors fitted to the frame (which I naturally assumed existed because it makes sense that there would be a frame). I designed my own hanging mechanism, as seen in the photos above.
Initially they looked skew, but that would be sorted out once the wagon frame was stronger.
Brake pads
All the various brake components excluding the brake arms. (primered)
The assembly.
(Large photos are for anyone who battles to undertsand the mechanics of the brake system).
But first, I had to paint everything.
Despite still not having come across any reference to one having such a colour scheme, I changed my mind regarding the two-toned green wagon. I accepted the painting challenge, and painted my Adams in the same vein as Ivan Collins’ 2-shaded green seen in “Historical Vehicles in Miniature – the Genius of Ivan Collins”. I hope the colour is
accurate as lighting used in the photos
I hadto work from leave much to be
desired.
A scan be seen above, I finished off the body paint-job by painting the interior of the body panels a lighter green (by hand).
And this wagon is operated by…….
I used vinyl for all the pin striping and lettering.
Despite thinking that it would be plain sailing once all parts had been made, I had my fair share of setbacks and challenges.
There was a bit of a problem when I checked for levelness Using my mini spirit level, I remedied this by bending the (front and back) side springs (upward at the rear, downward in the front). That seemed to do the trick – but meant that I had to touchup the associated painting again. At least the wagon bed was level.
After I had fitted the side panels, I fitted the floor and undercarriage. However, I could then no longer see inside so as to fit the studs into the floor straps where they go up behind the bulkhead. Bummer.
I did however manage to get the studs into the extreme ends because I had previously drilled holes for this purpose. By bending the straps I could somehow see inside to fit the end ones.
Then I made the mistake and fixed the floor and undercarriage, thinking that I’d get to the others later. MISTAKE! With my arm inside the back of the wagon, I could not see where to fit the pins. I should probably have first fitted all the studs before fitting
After that, it was plain sailing.
I fitted the back doors last so as not to damage the paint. That is, after having touched up all the paintwork. (and there was a LOT of touching up that needed to be done!) Chips happen.
Stats:
Actual working hours: 426.5 (excluding glue/paint drying time)
Started March 2011
Ended June 2012
New skills learnt: making threaded nuts and bolts; silver soldering.
New habits learnt – remake a part until it’s right!
Old habit neglected – check, recheck and check again!!
Thank you for your interest in my progression of the Adams Express wagon.
It had been a good decision to remake the roof and I was much happier with the way it ended up. After 4 coats of primer, and having stood for three weeks, it still showed no sign of shrinkage or wrinkling. So I concluded that it was done correctly this time around!!
Finally I had completed the mesh panels for the sides. They had been very challenging to make (wire mesh has a life of its own) and at one stage, I almost dumped the whole wagon in the waste bin. As it turned out, I actually remade two of them!
These panels were constructed in the same manner as the front little doors – except that I decided to use 1mm thick brass – as opposed to
The back doors proved to be the trickiest of all the meshwork and it is just as well I left them for last because doing so had given ample time for practicing!
I again used 1mm brass for the frame, but made the door post sides from 0.5mm brass (that I angled to ensure a proper fit), and 1mm for the top and bottom parts.
First I made the door frames and put loops in the sides, followed by fitting the hanging sides to the doorframe, INSIDE the wagon cavity. Then I made the outer frames of the actual doors. Finally dry fitting them to test for opening ability and fit. So far, so good.
I made templates for the insides
Fitted the centre cross braces (for the lock). I remade this four times before I had a perfect fit (at least, I think so).
Again measured against the templates. I was taking no chances this time.
After having soldered the solid panels into position, (Up to this point, I had only used silver solder in making these doors) and of course, measuring again for fit, I finally lead-soldering the mesh. Then it was a simple matter of cleaning up. (The photo is deceptive. The sides are actually very straight!)
I ascribe the secret of my success in the making of the back doors the fact that I constantly fitted, measured and refitted to ensure accuracy of the build. This, combined with the extensive use of templates and dry fitting, led to a pair of doors that I was happy with.
I cleaned up and primed all the meshworks. I used Special Metals Primer, made by Hammerite, which was special primer designed specifically for non-ferrous metals. I carefully brush-painted them and, at 30 minutes per mesh frame, this took a bit of time.
Tailgate
As had become typical of this build, I had to do some serious researching on the tailgate section as the plans (as usual) did not show the detail. I found the right info in Hitch Wagons for City Driving. Though research is interesting, too much however, becomes tedious!
I painted the body, fitted the roof, and touching up the roof paint a bit.
I was very happy with the result. The effort had paid off.
the 0.5 as used for the front panels. The reason being that 1mm strips are sturdier and easier to work with than 0.5mm in terms of maintaining straightness and (obviously) the rigidity.
For practical reasons, I decided to complete the undercarriage assembly before assembling the rest. Doing so, would make it easier to get into the body cavity for fitting the parts that go there.
the floorboards and undercarriage – but I did not want to risk damaging the straps which were only 0.5mm thick. So I left well enough alone. (Nobody has ever noticed, and I had also forgotten about it until now. In fact, with the doors fitted, the missing pins in the floor straps were not that obvious after all).
And of course there I was again faced with the consequences of not checking first.
And here she is (FINALLY): Adams Express Wagon (cc1900), scale 1:10. complete:
some old fashioned fun with the camera.....