Scale model horse drawn vehicles

[Greenie]

I like to make 'scale model horse drawn vehicles', been doing it for about 20 yrs now.

Here's one I liked the look of and had to make the drawings to be able to make the model.

A 1/8th scale model of a Sydney Brass Sulky, so named because of all the extra brass that is all over the original vehicle.
It was such a 'flash' type of vehicle the young knob headed blokes would sell their left testicle to own one, the other favorites of these vehicles were the prostitutes of Old Sydney town around 1900 to about 1920. The whores used to parade around Sydney with their pimps driving, just showing of their wares to the customers.
Today these vehicles hold a special place for the annual city shows, think Sydney Royal Easter, Melbourne Royal Show and the Brisbane Exhibition.
They make an excellent show stopping piece these days.

Came across this vehicle and new that I would have to make a model of it.
Took hundreds of photos and pages of measurements, just to be able to get the drawing as close as I could possibly make it, to the original sized vehicle.
I use Tasmanian Myrtle for all the models I make as the grain on this timber has to be seen to be believed, absolutely no grain pore holes in the timber and when painted, no furry bits are left sticking up, it's just like painting plastic. Marvelous stuff actually.
It is all scratch built with most nuts and bolts hand made, the pinstriping is all done with CorelDraw and then used an ALPS MD5500 printer to make the waterslide decals that are all over the model. I also use brass, aluminium, acrylic and anything that incorporated into the model, as when it's painted nobody can see what you have used anyway.

Here's a photo of the full sized vehicle.

And here is an old advert for this type of vehicle.

Now for a few pictures of the process of making the model.

Now for the finished model -----------------

Any queries then please ask ------------------

 

[Aunt Bea]

Thank you for the amazing photos!

They remind me of highly prized salesman's samples.

 

[hawkdon]

Very nice...well done!!!!!

 

[Ebony]

Fantastic!
Looks like you've spent lots of time and effort

 

[Meanderer]

@Greenie Welcome, and thanks for hitching your sulky to our Senior Forums! Your skills at miniaturizing vehicles are amazing! I found it difficult to differentiate between your scale models and the real thing. When you get a chance, visit the Introductions Section to share a little about yourself. I hope you find what you are looking for here!

Mary Willsallen driving her Sydney sulky, pulled by Marden Nicola, 1970s

 

[Gaer]

WO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O! i stumbled upon this thread by accident, and am BLOWN AWAY!
THESE ARE INCREDIBLE!!!!!! You are SO TALENTED!!!!!!
ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!

 

[Bellbird]

They are brilliant, I would love to have that skill. I am in the vintage machinery club in the area, I have a few model cars, Chevy,Ford, etc. I have a 1976 Triumph TC , 6cycl,auto, which gets driven now and then. I've managed to pick up 4 wagon/implement wheels which I have along the fence line.
It would be amazing to have one of the 'carts' on display on my lawn or the next best thing, a model.

 

[Greenie]

Here's another Sulky, this time it's a 1/12th scale model of a Bent Shaft Sulky, or Brisbane Sulky, as it was very popular in Brisbane, Qld.


I used the drawings from "The Australasian Coachbuilder and Wheelwright", published on June 15, 1911.
These drawings were used by the manufactures of the full sized vehicle and they show every nut and bolt that is required in the manufacture of the vehicle.
I made the model the same size as the drawing, the drawing is done 1 inch to the foot, or, 1/12th scale, easy as , eh.

First photo is of the original drawing, then followed by different photos of the model.

Please enjoy the viewing and any questions, then please ask.

 

[Greenie]

Had to make this two posts ------------------

 

[palides2021]

Incredible talent in making these models! Do you exhibit them in any art gallery or historical museum? Also, these would make good topics to share with high school students. Just a thought. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[bowmore]

I agree they are definitely museum quality.

 

[Greenie]

So here’s another addition to the cupboard, it’s "a 1/8th scale Exercising Cart", or, you can use its popular name today, a ’Spider’, for very obvious reasons. No drawings were available for this type of vehicle, so I had to take heaps of measurements and lots of photos of the original vehicle, to use as reference material for the required drawings. Back home and started to do the drawings for it on the computer, when they looked correct, I started into it, this took about about 4 months from start, to finish making it.

Every square nut and coach bolt is hand made, I use square rod for making the square nuts and Tobin Bronze rods for making the coach bolts, the only screws that were store bought for this model, are the 1.2mm X 6mm countersunk screws that hold the brass channel to the two piece wooden wheel fellies, everything else is hand made. The paint is just enamel house paint and the decals are home made as well, on an ALPS MD 5500 printer. The tyres are store bought ' hydraulic O rings', the rubber tyres should be a squarish section, could not get the appropriate sizes, so had to settle for round "O" rings instead. The axle is a chunk of keysteel of the appropriate size and given a bit of reworking to get it to look correct, turned down each end and threaded each end as well, to hold each wheel to the axle.
The first photo is of the original vehicle, then the drawing I had to make before I could even start on it.

A series of photos then show the progression of the model and then the finished item.
Have a look at the following photos and if anybody has any questions, then please ask ——————

 

[Greenie]