Stagecoach Build - By Artesanía Latina

I ran into another problem with the supplied parts. The directions call for straight rods to make several parts but they give you a coil of wire. There is no way I can draw out 2mm wire into a straight rod. Just to heavy. If anyone is contemplating this kit I would order some 1mm, 1.5mm, and 2mm rod as I just did. The best I could do is the blackened rod in the center of the photo. Will wait until my order gets here to continue.
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STGCS said:
Hey Snowy: Well I've made a huge mistake on the first page of the instructions and it's not something I can recover from. When I made my jig for the wheels I miscalculated the layout and the wheel spokes are not equally distant from each other. I didn't notice it until the big wheels were complete. The difference really showed up when I started the small wheels. I corrected those and while no one will probably ever notice it, it will drive me crazy every time I look at it. Hopefully this will help your build as well as the other errors that will surly follow.

Ciao Charlie
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Well we can just blame it on the trainee or apprentice working in the wheel shop at the factory. :confused:

I am sure if you emailed the company they will send you replacement parts, to allow for the Old Man in the shop to fix the rookies mistakes.
 
Kurt Konrath said:
Well we can just blame it on the trainee or apprentice working in the wheel shop at the factory. :confused:

I am sure if you emailed the company they will send you replacement parts, to allow for the Old Man in the shop to fix the rookies mistakes.
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We learn by our mistakes, hopefully. No one had noticed it until I opened my big mouth. ;)
 
If you don't need a long wire, you can roll it on a hard/flat surface by pressing using a flat file.
 
got tired of fighting heavy wire. i can usually put one end in a vice and pull a piece straight but not with 2mm wire . i need a long piece that runs through three brackets so has to be very straight or jams when turning. will try your suggestion on smaller wire. thanks.
 
Completed part one of the coach suspension. I'm learning this build if not for the beginning modeler. Takes a lot of reading back and forth several pages ahead to get things correct. The photos in the directions are a little on the blurry side and several dimensions are not stated. The full page photo is almost to scale so some measurements can be taken from there. Still, in all a fun and challenging kit.

Stagecoach 21.jpgStagecoach 22.jpgStagecoach 23.jpg
 
Things are moving along without to many problems. Put the box together with no problems. Just have to be careful to keep things square and straight. The coach box has a thin piece of plywood covering the outside and it needs to be dampened with water and formed with heat. I used an iron I applied wing covering on my R/C gliders.

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After assembly the edges are trimmed.
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Next is covering all the inside walls with VERY thin walnut, .6mm. I had problems trimming the edged after glueing the parts in place, especially when trying to trim across the grain. I soaked the edges with thin CA which helped but still needed to do some patching.
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Gluing in small pieces after squaring up the split with a tiny chisel then carefully sanding to shape.
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The floor covering uses thin narrow strips so I built sections outside the box, (pun intended) and installed in three larger pieces. Trying to work inside a small box was difficult with big hands so everything that can be done on a jig is very useful.
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The interior almost completed.
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The sides of the coach "bulge" out, and they have an interesting way to achieve it. By gluing 2 x 5 mm basswood strips on edge and then sanding them down to the shape of the bulge. Several strips have a slight bend but putting the curve on the wide side of the strip needed some soaking in water and then heating to bend them to shape.

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The best way to glue in the strips was to use syringes and thin CA. it really flowed along the edge of the strip and cleaning the syringe by flushing it several times with acetone was easy.
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Side one completed. I'll do the sanding after I finish side two.
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Finally done with most of the thin Sapelly. That stuff is very hard to work with. The slightest bend will split it along the grain. Cutting across the grain is even harder. You have to cut half way across then turn it around and finish the cut from the opposet side. If not the edge where the knife completes the cut will cause a long split along the grain.

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