I have built a model of a Surrey from the plans in Garden Railways; then tried some of my figures in the built vehicle; the result - consternation! They would not fit, as they were too wide or the vehicle was too narrow. After some thought I decided that the easiest method was to widen the seats, and all the parts that were involved with them.

Therefore this is a modified model, made using the plans that were included in the October 2005 issue of Garden Railways. These are drawn from preserved vehicles in museums; and are very good drawings, BUT they do have one flaw. That is as a result of what we have available from the ‘trade’, and NOT the drawings. These drawing have supplied a much needed want, for both me and other modelers, up to about the 1920’s when horse drawn vehicles were in regular use.

That flaw is they are too small in the width of the seat, for present day figures that we have available; the vehicles from which they are drawn I think date from the late 1800’s, when people were very small; especially when and if they could be seen against our modern much larger people. For some photos of these vehicles go to Owls Head Transport Museum on the web, (www.OHTM.org/edu_col.html.), and scroll down to carriages – there are a few photo there which are quite interesting. .

This flaw applies to the width across the backsides, of many people available in the trade: yes I could make my own, but I do not think I can match the commercial ones. I use both 1/20th (Fine Folks) and Prieser; the latter are listed as 1 to 22.5 sizes, thus I hope nearer to early small people: but they are still wide across their backsides!

The master measurement I use is to take a couple of my people and measure the width across their backsides, then check with some more; thus you can ascertain a master width. This is used for the horizontal width of the seat; mine, (and yours may be different), is 52mm. Get out the calculator and work out the proportion that you need to enlarge the Garden Railways plans by, with regard to the seats and associated parts. These plans are essential for the models; they give you a lot of common parts, some staying the same size, others where seats are etc need this enlargement. My models have the shafts, springs and wheels from the plans (please get the wheels from North Eastern Narrow Gauge Models; they are laser cut and look superb; you can order them direct on the web via www.nemodel.com – I have no connection with them). Now for some sizes – the floor is 49mm wide, and 134 mm long; the seats are 52mm by 25mm, the roof is 77 mm from the upper edge of the floor; use the thicknesses shown on the plan. When the seats are fitted you can add some strips on the floor. This is what used to be fitted to some of our very early public service vehicles, and it allowed the public to have dry shoes/boots as any water could drain of their (wet) footwear.

The axles are 84mm wide, made from Plastruct plastic covered steel wire (ref. TB2),and instead of eyelets (I cannot find them over here) I use two tiny slivers of plastic tube, the smaller tube is 3mm, the larger diameter tube is 1mm this fits over the outer end of the smaller piece. These are set at 76mm between them. The same measurements are used for holding the wheel onto the axle with the measurements the other way round; the longer, larger tube is painted gold to replicate a brass fixing cap; the actual fixing is the ( virtually hidden) inside piece of the smaller tube. Add a tyre made from the paper of a large envelope to the finished and painted wheels; this will give a smooth finish to the tyre and looks like the iron tyre on the wheel. Glue it on, after colouring it with a black spirit marker, to give it a metallic sheen go over the black with a solid graphite pencil (available from art stores; they are a lacquer covered solid stick of graphite the size of a pencil, but without the wood casing). For a final touch add a small number of rusty streaks, using either acrylic drawing ink or well thinned acrylic paint.

I live in the UK; I also work in plastic as I find it easier than wood and that is my preference. I use mainly ‘60 thou’ sheet’ which is almost 1/16th inch, and the other thicknesses in proportion. The seat cushions are from 3mm thick PVC foam, which is also used in my buildings. All 1mm wire is from a plastic covered steel wire, which I find is easier to use. The fixings on the side of the floor, made from 3mm thick plastic sheet, are from small pieces of tube, with an end cap (made from a small disc of plastic) on the bottom end. Glue them to the sides, add a couple of small squares, these squares are there to enhance the area for gluing, and to replicate a fixing plate; paint them black. Ensure the glue bond is a good one, as it will receive a lot of knocks when you are building the model.

The roof has been enlarged to 145mm long by 74mm wide, still having a flat arc to it. Adjust the inner plastic perimeter frame to suit your vertical rods; in addition to the pieces on the plan I have added a centre (end to end) support, and a couple of extra cross struts. The roof itself is .030 plastic sheet, and the extra supports will stop it losing its shape over time. Above the entrances to the seats I have added a curved (1mm square plastic) rain strip, this can equally be a long strip all along the side; you can have one of each to differentiate them! I have painted my roof a light grey with some darker grey roughly washed over it. The wash is not an even layer, this is deliberate, it looks better. The fringe is made from cotton tape bought at a sewing shop – it is available in black or white. Pull out some threads as the plans instructions. Do not use ‘bias’ tape unless the names for it are different in the USA – here in the UK ‘bias’ means it is cut on the diagonal for the weave this is to stop it fraying. We want it to fray, that is what you end up with when you tease out some of the end to end threads. Do them two threads at a time otherwise they tangle. I tinted mine a light yellow (90% water 10% yellow acrylic drawing ink), this was to hopefully make it keep its colour; it made the fringe a bit stiffer and gave it a better look – now as the photos show, it looks like the wind is blowing it slightly. Another possible ribbon to use is coloured satin finish ribbon; this will give you an ‘as bought’ colour, and a very fine fringe indeed; much finer than this cotton version. When the ribbon was set I added a couple of 3mm deep pre-painted paper layers around the top edge of the ribbon, and under the edge of the roof. Mine are dark wood colour; these hide the slightly rough top edge of the ribbon, and finish it off. Paper is used rather than..010 plastic card, as it is easier to fit to the curve

For the seats I, before adding the buttons (from 1/2mm plastic discs), scribe a set of lines to replicate the stitching on them. No, it is not the very fancy designs in the books I use for reference (see my article on the buggy for details of these books) these ‘crease or joint lines’ are a simple 90 degree set; score them into the surface; if using my PVC foam, push the cutter to produce a groove. Then deepen the grooves with a file and when they are deep enough add the buttons at the crossing of the lines; this I think looks better than just having the buttons added. Paint the seats and add a final coat of satin varnish, then put them on one side to fit later. The rods for the roof, made from Plastruct TB2 are glued to the seat grab rails where they cross; this stiffens the roof rods, and also adds some stiffness to the entire model.

The shafts are also made from Plastruct tube, ref number TBFS4, fill the front end of them with a piece of toothpick (or cocktail stick) pushed in with a coating of glue. When the glue has dried the end can be rounded off easily. The other end which is curved needs a 35mm long piece of copper wire inserted into the hollow centre; I use the copper conductor cable from some of our mains cable. This is fed in to the straight tube with a coating of glue, after making one end into an ‘eye’ with a pair of round nose pliers; the ‘eye’ is additional to the 35mm. The tube with a centre of copper wire can be easily bent, and will stay in the shape you want as a result of the internal wire. The cross piece between the shafts has another piece on top of it, this is tapered towards each end; this is where the horse reins fit to, and it can be either flat or round in section. Lift it slightly off the bottom piece with a plastic tube spacer through the centre pin, and make and glue a couple of tiny (.013) brass wire hooks at the ends. When I was fitting a horse, I found that the shafts fitted better if they were curved in plan. That way they fitted around the horse better, thus allowing me to fit the straps easier. Any curving like this is best done as required so you can tailor them to your fit own horses. The entire undercarriage is as the plans. The pivot is made from a couple of pieces of 1mm plastic, and I use a small, about 10BA, say 1.5mm or so diameter for the pivot. Glue a shortened bolt into the top plate, then in due course a nut can be fed on from the bottom. Do not paint the parts of the plates that rub together, leave them plain plastic so if required they can move easily.

I have added a rear luggage rack to this surrey, made from 2mm Plastruct (ref. TBFS3) tube, 40 mm long. Cut two pieces, bend the end of them the same way as the front shafts are done, from the pivot bar that holds the rack onto the floor. I used a 44mm long piece of the thinnest steel centred Plastruct rod – TB1. Fix the rod to the rear of the floor with a couple of copper wire loops and at the same time make a couple more, with 15mm long tails. These are fitted into the end of the TBFS 3 tube before bending it to a curve; this will give the curved section some stiffness and allow it to ‘hold’ its curve. The slats are made from 1mm plastic strip, and are 40mm long; make 4 for the central portion of the rack. For each end and at the bottom of the curve there are 3 thicker slats – they are cut from my PVC foam board, and are 2mm thick. File the ends of these to a concave curve to fit inside the two rods. Glue them in position, the first two at each end, and now check that the rack will fit onto the pivot rod with the end loops being at the extreme ends of the rod. Let the glue set, and then add the third thicker one at the bottom of the curve; the 4 thinner ones can now be added on the flat section. I sanded the ends of these to an angle so that they just fitted inside the two tubes and were flat with the top of the tubes. When the rack is complete close off the outer end of the tubes with a dab of glue.

Paint the rack and the pivot rod; mine has the rod and tubes in black with a dark wood colour for the slats. When dry fit the rod onto the back of the floor with two of the copper eyebolts and tease the ends of the rack onto it. There should be sufficient ‘give’ to allow you to gently twist the ends of the side tubes apart to slip it onto the extreme ends of the pivot rod. When the glue has dried the rack will be hanging down on the floor!

Two straps are needed: I made these from strips of aluminum foil (from food trays), 2mm wide, cut to a length of 120mm (that will leave you a small amount over|) and blacken them with a black spirit marker pen, ensuring that you cover the cut edges at the same time. These straps run upwards from the floor, through some small clips on the back of the rear seat, and at the upper edge of the top clamp roll over and come down to the rack, where they are looped round the ends of the sides.

Start by gluing one end of the strap to the floor and leave the glue to set: my straps are fixed at 41mm wide to the outside edge; they need to be as far apart as possible, so this means that they are glued just inside the lower sides of the seats. With one end fixed the free end can now be led up the rear of the seatback, gluing them to the seatback, and adding the clamps at the same time. When the glue has set they can be led down to the rack, and looped around the side tubes between the thicker end slat and the first thinner slat. Bring the free end up again and glue it to the strap coming down; you will find that a bend in the strap will be needed; being foil it will accept this bend easily. Ensure the rack is level, trim off the end of the strap, leaving sufficient to glue it onto the strap and glue both together. Again leave to set, and touch in any silver aluminum that is showing with a quick lick of paint. The bottom end, where the straps loop around the rack should have a belt buckle there; I have not added these as I have not yet worked out an easy method of making them.

Here is a small drawing of the rack; the slats are shown below the side view of the tube, they fit between the side bars. Note the length of the wire loop on the upper end; it extends down and is glued inside the tube before bending the tube to a curve.

This rack can be left as it is but the foil straps really need something to tighten them slightly; so a couple of trunks were made specifically for the rack. One is a camelback trunk, and one is that is called a ‘tin trunk’ which is actually made from steel sheeting. Check the web for illustrations of ‘trunks’ or ‘luggage’, there is also a useful book cover, the title of which is ‘Antique Trunks (Identification & Price Guide), that is for the Antique trade I believe, no I do not have the book just the cover illustration only. That is where I found some illustrations for my trunks.

The first is a small roundtop trunk– so called because the curved top is curved in both ways, on the web these are also called camelback, barrel stave or dometop trunks. The size is 35mm long by 24mm deep and 26mm high over the curved top. The trunk top is made from my PVC foam which allowed me to have enough depth to carve the top to shape with a rotary sanding drum. Mark it out all round and carefully sand off the waste. Then add the sides and ends which are made from plastic card scrap and leave to dry. When dry add the strapping around the corners and sides of the case, including the top which has 3 rubbing rails, there are also two that run all around the trunk sides & ends. These are .030 plasticard and the strapping is pre – painted envelope paper. Add two latches, a central lock, and a hinge rod at the back of the case. On the ends just below the join line of the top and body of the case fit a couple of lifting handles from bits of plastic card. Inside on the bottom of the curved top piece fix a small piece of lead to give the trunk some weight. Paint it the colour of your choice; mine is a dark blue, with the strapping in black. I have built this case around a block of polystyrene to keep the sides from bending inwards; this did not really work; as I had to later add a couple of pieces of thin ply to give some more stiffening. Instead I will, on the next, add some thick strips along the inside edge of the sides.

The second trunk is the steel one. This can be built with a rounded long edge on both the top and bottom, or as mine is, with a sharp right angle to the bottom edges. The measurements for this one are 39mm long 26mm body width , add 3mm for the rubbing strips, the body depth is 21mm with additional 3mm for the top and bottom rubbing rails.

This trunk is all made from PVC foam sheet. The top has the edges sanded off to make the rounded edge, and the sides and ends are glued to this. Add the detail from plastic strip 1.5mm thick the main rubbing rail at the join of the top and the main body is 2mm wide, as are the strips on the top and bottom, with the lower strip on the sides being 1mm wide. The bottom rubbing strips are in fact small squares only, as the bottom of this trunk is open. The end handles are made from .5mm wire and a fitted to plastic card bases. The three discs on the lid are for stiffening purposes on the original, and they could also contain a set of fixing bolts inside the trunk. Add the small squares and discs to replicate the locks and latches, and a couple of very small strips on the underside of the bottom edge of the lid on the rear.

Here is a small drawing of the two trunks; the right hand one has the curved top, it curves in both directions both front to back, and side to side. I used a sanding rum in my rotary tool to shape it; mark the shape out on all sides, shape on dimension, re-do your marks and shape the other dimension. Keep checking as you shape the last bits, that all is even. I added when it was complete 4 rub rails on the top surface.

The horse is a modified one from the French ‘Papo’ range and is listed as a ‘thoroughbred’; the horse is just a fraction smaller than the ‘Breyer Thoroughbred’. The head on this horse is tucked in towards its neck, which is the sort of movement a horse would do, but it would not stop there, after some thought some surgery was performed to correct this. Working from under the head, I cut through the neck/head join line with a saw, the cut line being upwards towards the front edge of the mane, or towards a line just behind the ears. Do not cut through all the way, I think my cuts are about ¾ of the way up. What you are working towards is the ability to rotate upwards the horses head. It should not be too easy, as some strength must be retained in the neck; then into the cut push a wedge shaped piece of plastic, and glue it in position when you have raised the head to what you consider to be a better position for it. This will allow many different positions to be made, depending on the position and width of the wedge. Be careful, extra can always be added, but too much will break the neck, and that is NOT what you want to happen. Glue the wedge in position using superglue (cyanoacrylate), and fill the rest of the big gap you have with filler. Do it in two sessions to allow the inner filler layers to dry off.

Here is a photo of the horse in surgery – not looking very happy!

Now restore the jowls of the jaws using a file and sanding sticks; it runs in a dropping curve and is an easy thing to replicate. When satisfied paint the big gash with a couple of coats of paint, the first will be a sealer coat, the second will begin to give some depth of colour. Continue to add paint matching the colour of the horse. I will be putting together an article on horses with more detail soon.

The entire vehicle is fixed to a 1.5mm sheet of plastic, both for protection, and to allow easy positioning outside. The photos show the base apparently curved, this is not the case it was perched on top of a dumbbell to take the photos, and assumed the curve as the ends were unsupported. The weather outside is far too cold for exterior photos, so I was working inside.

©Peter Bunce 2006