Making A Peddler’s Sleigh Model

Completed January 2011

same. Mine was of a typical Portland sleigh, and in scale 1:10.

The idea of writing a book and building a model at the same time, whilst also making every effort not to miss steps in the documentation thereof, was a nice challenge. The objective of my book was to, not only demonstrate new skills to experienced builders, but also to expose the novice model-maker to many of the different techniques used in this hobby.

Then I made yet another jig, but this one was for holding and spacing the runners. I put the knee jigs on top, positioned the runners, and clamped them securely.

After having assembled the knees, braces and runners, I let the glue dry overnight before drilling 0.7mm holes through the beams and into the length of the knees. Dressmaker pins (minus their heads) were then shoved into these holes and secured with cyanoacrylate. Only then was I satisfied with the rigidity of the undercarriage.

Basically the only difference (besides varying lengths) is that knee stays to beams have a rounded part on each end.

Both types were made from 1mm copper wire.

Lift the bent brass out of the vice jaws just enough to fit a rod having a diameter of 1mm underneath.

Using a pliers, bend the plate over the 1mm rod.

I enjoy writing, drawing, photography, and then to be able to combine all these with my favourite hobby: building models..... what an absolute blessing!  Being able to do all in one exercise was a really enjoyable experience. I did not get rich from this, but that was never the objective. My book is available online, but if you contact me directly for a copy, I’d be happy to sell you an electronic copy. 

I had no inkling to build a peddler’s sleigh.

However, when I was a member of the scalemodelhorsedrawnvehicle forum, (yes, it had a long name!) an online bookseller whom we all bought our reference books from kept asking me to write a book on how to build one of the horse drawn vehicles that we built. Eventually I agreed and decided to write a step-by-step tutorial. I really did not feel like going through the hassle of making wheels and springs and then still have to accurately document the process, so I decided on a peddler’s sleigh – itself an interesting subject. 

I based my plans on a conceptual design of 1895 and on information gathered from a trade magazine called “The Hub”, dated July 1895. No two sleighs were identical, although the designs were basically the

Needing a table of content for my book meant that I had to have a clear plan for the build sequence before I even started.

Having my build sequence, I was ready to start. The plans consisted of five pages that took long to draw because they had to be neat and also very accurate. The photo below right is of one page showing the "Parts Identification and Location"

I made another jig to help cut the knees and shape the undercarriage of the sleigh and then cut slots in the runners where the knees would fit.

The next jig I made was for stabilising the undercarriage whilst I fitted the metal works.

I carefully measure (from the plans) the exact spacing and widths of the runners, and then cut corresponding grooves (3mm deep) into the length of the selected piece of wood for the runners to rest in.

The “nuts” will be fitted to the sleigh clips once the knee stays have been fitted.

Inner Knee Stays

And so I started on the build. Don’t worry, this blog is not going to be as detailed as the book, (which consists of  74 pages, 8 ½ x 9", 130 black and white photos, and 25 diagrams!) In fact, I will mainly let the pictures show the build progression…

 

Requiring no wheels or spring sets, I started with the undercarriage.

 

I started by making a jig to help with forming the runners.

From a hard plastic that was as thick as the width of the runners, I cut out the exact bottom edge of the runner profile. Then I cut another, identical one but using the upper edge of the runner profile. Putting these two next to each other, with a 2.5mm gap between, (which is the thickness of the runners).

Taking ten 0.5mm x 3mm x 330mm veneer strips, I soaked them in hot water until they were very pliable. I then clamped the strips in the jig until dry and repeated the process for each strip. Once dry, I laminated five strips together per side to achieve the required thickness.

This was followed by securing the top beams on top of the runners jig.

To ensure runner length correctness, I modified the stability jig by attaching a scrap block of melamine 60 x 60 x 10mm.

Knee Stays To Beams

Pair the plates and put them back to back in the vice. Using the marking pen technique, mark off 1.6mm from each end on both plates.

Remove one plate and remove the outer brass from the one left in the vice. Put the untrimmed plate back, and double check the markings.

Once you have verified where the markings are, remove the trimmed plate and remove only the inner segment from the (as yet) untrimmed plate. They should fit into each other once complete.

As the undercarriage was still fragile at this stage, I made a jig to provide stability and prevent accidental breakage, as well as provide beam spacing.

This I then glued to the end of the jig, at 90 degrees.

Once the glue had dried, I centred the modified jig on the foremost beam, and then on the rearmost beam. Placing the runner tips on the edge of the now modified jig, showed a slight length discrepancy of the runners at the front end. I trimmed the runner front ends to make sure they were of equal length.

 

Keeping the undercarriage secured in their respective jigs, I proceeded with the metalwork.

I made the sleigh clips from 1mm diameter copper wire and, for nuts, I used a 2mm-wide brass strip that was 1mm thick, and long enough to fashion 50 nuts from. (Plus some spare).

I then marked off 2mm vertical lines across the width of the strip, drilled a 1mm hole in the centre of each square, and then cut off and sanded each one square.

Metalwork fitted to the undercarriage

At this point, I fitted the metalwork, and painted the undercarriage carmine red – which was the popular colour at the time.

Painted undercarriage but nuts not yet painted. These would be touched up last.

Then I started building the body and cut the required panels from 1mm beech veneer. I cut the shape of the trimming from 1mm paper card, which I then glued to the side panels

Assembled sleigh body

On to the body metalwork.

 

Hinges (I’m too lazy to paraphrase this, so the following is a direct extract from my book)

Cut eight rectangles of 5 x 10mm from 0.3 brass shim stock.  Mark off 2mm across the width, and bend the plate at this mark in a vice.

Bend the u-shaped end of the plate around a pin having a diameter of 0.5mm, being sure to “tuck” it in well.

Secure the two halves of the hinge with a brass pin.

Drill 2 holes (0.5mm diameter) in each half of the plate, 1mm from the bottom edge, and 1.5mm from each side.

Cut the sharp edge of the pin, leaving 1mm protruding. Flatten this with a pliers, or a vice so that it is wider than the hinge hole it fits into. File this down to leave only a 0.3mm stub.

Goods Railing

Once the model had been properly painted, and the paint had dried, I was ready to fit artwork. I had printed the graphics on a high quality laser printer. Then I applied a thin layer of wood glue to the back, and positioned it on the model before pressing it flat.

To simplifying the process of soldering all the pieces of the goods railing, I made another jig.

To make the standoffs, I cut 100mm off a piece of 1mm brass/copper wire (as used above) and wrapped this around an object 

having a diameter of 15mm. Then cut 13mm lengths off this coil, shaped and drilled them.

Hand Rails

Steps

Making the seat cushions was next. The sequence of photos below shows the method of inserting the pins to get the desired dimple effect on the seat.

Then I was ready to add the remaining parts to the sleigh body, followed by fitting the body to the undercarriage, and the dash to the kick plate.

Final peddler’s sleigh model!

Making and fitting the door chains

 Steps fitted to blocks 

Fitted steps (seen from below)

Fitted steps (side view)

Fitted reins holder

Fitted hitching hardware

Fitted whip holder

Fitted side brace

Fitted hand rails

Fitted goods rail

Cargo