How I Make Wagon Seats

This is an extract from my book "Making a Peddler's Sleigh Model"

Using 9 or 10mm thick medium-hard sponge, soft rubber, or compressed foam, (I used rubber from an old computer mouse pad) cut two pieces. The first one - 66 x 37mm, (for the seat part) and  the second one - 66 x 39mm (the backrest part).

[NOTE: I will refer to this material as “foam”.]

For the seat cloth, I used a material that the guy at the shop called “Dutchess satin”. It is a very fine grained, smooth cloth as used in bridal gowns. The object in selection of material is that it must be very smooth, and have no grain/pattern to speak of. Remember you are building at a reduced scale. If you can get hold of pliver (an incredibly thin leather), this would be ideal.

Cut two rectangles of 70 x 100mm each from the material.

Cut 2 rectangles of 1mm thick wood veneer to the exact size of the back of each foam piece.

Apply an even coat of contact adhesive to the bottom surface of the foam, and glue the foam to the respective matching wood rectangles.

Once the adhesive has dried and the wood is firmly attached to the bottom of the foam, apply 5mm strip of wood glue along the border of the wood side (along the long edge).

Position the long edge of the material along this glue line and press down securely. The glue should go through the material. Work it through using your fingers and allow to dry. (20 minutes should suffice).

Again apply a 5mm border to the wood, but this time on the opposite long edge. Pull the material over the sponge (keeping it taught), and press down securely. The glue should go through the material. Work it through using your fingers and allow to dry. (20 minutes should suffice).

Repeat the above glue process to the short side of the foam. Fold the material over as seen in the photo to the right (ie as though you are wrapping a gift). Apply wood glue, press, clamp, and allow to dry.

Carefully mark off using white chalk, the points of a cross-grid, 13mm apart, on the flat part of the cushions. Starting from the centre (indicated by the circle in the diagram to the right) and work your way toward the edges. Make a tiny 1mm chalk dot at each point.

(Seen in the photo below, left).

Process of folding the material along the short side

The sequence of photos above shows the method of inserting the pins to get the desired dimple effect on the seat.

Push a model ship building pin with a shaft length of 8mm, a diameter of 0.5mm, and a head diameter of 1-1.5mm perpendicularly through each “chalk spot”, so that it pierces the 1mm board at the back of the foam.

Then push it in until you have the desired depth of “dimple” in the material, and add a spot of hot glue, or superglue, or fast acting acrylic. (The idea is that it must set almost instantly!)

Do this through all the stud marks.

Carefully touch each pin head with a colour paint that matches the material you used.

Repeat the process of gluing, but this time, to the other short side.

Trim off any excess fluff and lightly touch the edges with wood glue to prevent further fraying.