Monday 16 September 2013

Scratchbuilt Cart (How to)

Dead easy, dead cheap.

Tools and bits needed;
Old CD case, set square,  small pliers, hobby knife, sandpaper, some Cocktail sticks, thin Card, needle, some woodglue, plastic glue and paint. (oh,  an some spare wheels)
Cut out the shapes for the wagon. Basically I did this by eye, first the base of the wagon, then the sides and then the end pieces..no measuring, just making sure I got the pieces cut with roughly right angled sides.(apart from the two end pieces ..:-D)
Using the sharp knife and the set square, score lines to represent Planks. Using the needle re-score to make the lines deeper. Sand down and then use the needle to remove and dust that´s got into the grooves (don´t worry if the needle Slips causing Scratching, this dissappears when painted)
Glue the base of the wagon to the thin Card using woodglue. The sanded surface of the plastic bonds really well with the card. Why the card? This makes a good surface to attach the axle and shafts later.
Next stage when the glue has dried, cut away the excess card, and glue the sides onto the base.
To make the struts for the sides, use the pliers to gently "snap" them  off. Best to score the plastic at least three times for very thin pieces.
Next the wheels and shafts. Halfway through the build I decided on using different wheels.
Basically, the toothpicks are cut to length, two for the shafts and one for the axle.The shafts I made by removing one side of the toothpicks to give a flat surface to glue them to the base.
Paint all the parts, and glue on. Just visible on the bottom of the footboard I´ve added a couple of small supports.
Wagon finished! :-D
All in all it took just under an hour to make this one and cost...? Nothing?

22 comments:

  1. Good tutorial Paul even I could understand it, now make it is another thing though!

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    1. Thanks Fran. It really is a doddle. If the parts were properly measured, then used as a template it wouldn´t take Long to make a whole stack of them. Prob would be then that they would all look to similar, but as Robert has suggested for something like a Group of Roman carrobalista that would be perfect.

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  2. Smart work Paul. By an uncanny coincidence I had planned to start making some carts today. Spooky!

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  3. That's an absolutely cracking build sir, well done!
    (Consider the idea well and truly nicked)

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  4. Excellent idea! Reminds me, I have some extra mules and scorpion bolt throwers. I think this is a fix for my roman army needing mobile artillery. Must add to my list of projects.

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    1. Thanks Robert...It would be good for making a Roman carroballista..now there´s an idea!! Thanks :-D

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  5. Great work my friend , is perfect .
    Congratulation .

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  6. Great work! What brand of glue did you use? From my experience, different plastics need different glues.

    --Chris

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    1. Thanks Chris,
      Revell contacta. The plastic the CD cases are made from is very similar to the plastic used by model kits, a wee bit denser/harder but it glues exceptionally well. I´ve been using them (CD cases) for basing for a while now, either attaching the bods direct to the surface with Pattex 100 and then filling in around them with sand/PVA mixture or putting sand/woodglue mix direct onto the plastic and then using pattex to attach the bods when the basing is finished. The best CD cases to use are the ones that if you put a bit of pressure on the closed case it cracks, the ones that take that sort of pressure means the plastic is a bit thick, but both are useable, same type of plastic, just one is thicker and a bit more effort is required to cut it.

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  7. Really nice scratch-building work, Mr. Bods.

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  8. Great tuto, thanks for sharing!

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  9. Definitely need to try this out. Thank you for the tutorial.

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  10. Really great tutorial Paul! Thanks for sharing, it looks fantastic!

    PS: Do you still have all your fingers after cutting the plastic? I find it strange that there is no blood on it! :-D

    Greetings
    Peter

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  11. Impressive work !
    and thanks!

    It seems that it's your case, but I'm too lazy for doing scratch-build stuff with plans, templates, etc...
    This way is quite easier and quicker and it works !!

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  12. Spare Wheels? That's cheating! If you've got cocktail sticks...you've got spokes...Now - using a pair of dividers, carefully cut-out a wheel-rim...or two!

    Hugh, laughing!

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  13. Now that's bloody good, you are a clever ol' bugger Paul!

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  14. Very good tutorial for this excellent cart.

    Thanks!

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  15. You do make it look easy, but I'm not deceived. If I tried this, it would turn out cattywampus, even if I used a measuring tape!

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