[johnnie52]

The weather is starting to cool down some and while the typical Florida afternoon storms are still dumping huge amounts of water on everything, and the lightening is still lighting up the sky, I can at least get out to the shop and work without dying of heat stroke. So I figured that just for grins and giggles, I'd give it another shot at posting a build. :laughing:

If you happened to read my inquiry in another post located here:

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f2/build-not-build-54582/

Then you must be wondering what the heck this old man has brewing in that semi-brain dead mind of his. (for those who don't know, when a person suffers a stroke, a portion of their brain actually dies from lack of blood. I've had two strokes, so I am officially semi-brain dead)

As I mentioned in my hints, I spent my teen and young adult years during the muscle car era when it seemed like every other TV show, rock band, and teenager had some kind of car that just set your juices flowing. You could walk into any dealership and drive out with a 400 HP, ground shaking, 12 second, monster that was totally street legal and had a full new car factory warranty! Brand new, mine only cost me $8,000.00 with every option in the book which was expensive for those days, but it was an Oldsmobile after all. :laughing:

As I read through Kenbo and Buggyman's first joint build of a Conestoga wagon ( http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f13/kenbo-buggymans-1st-build-thread-42392/ ), I said to myself that it would be fun to make something like that. However, I did not want to simply copy them. I went looking for plans to build a stage coach and could not find any that the seller actually had in stock.

On one of the searches I made, Google offered up this bit from my own past. As you can see, it is part stage coach, part extreme hot rod, and for those who remember the band in the video, it was Paul Revere and the Raider's official show car!

While I won't guarantee there will be any fancy Heptagons, or an extremely detailed chassis, I can tell you that in trying to recreate this I'll be putting myself to the test in ways I have never attempted before. So please accept my invitation to read along as I either succeed or fail right here on the pages of Woodworking Talk.

Perhaps we'll all learn something along the way.

Meanwhile enjoy this blast from my past....

 

[wood_chucker]

Tease!!

 

[tc65]

Reserving my place

 

[Dominick]

I'm pulling up a seat for this one johnnie.
This is gonna be good, weird and bizarre all at the same time. Laughing!!!!!
If you can pull this off? Then I think your brain is working just fine. If not? Then I can understand.
Bring it!!!!

 

[info]

Johnnie what all tools and eqe you all use for these type builds ?
I have a TS, 8 inch jointer, 13 inch planer and drill press
Thanks

 

[johnnie52]

Johnnie what all tools and eqe you all use for these type builds ?
I have a TS, 8 inch jointer, 13 inch planer and drill press
Thanks

To be honest I haven't thought that far ahead yet. I know I probably will NOT use my table saw except to cut down some stock from larger pieces. I know I'll be using a scroll saw, maybe a band saw, carving knifes, a Dremel tool, and I'll have to finally break down and buy a lathe. That's all I know for sure at this time.

The first tool I'll be using is a caliper to take measurements and then AutoCAD to make up some drawings to work from. You'll see why in my next post.

 

[info]

Thanks . I see you all doing these builds . Looks fun .
. Would I need to start with a scroll saw first ? If so what kind ?
Thank you

 

[info]

U guys are so awesome on these builds

 

[chopnhack]

Can't think of any better way to stretch and rebuild the brain :thumbsup: :smile:

 

[buggyman1]

Ok, this is so cool. You've fried my brain too. About time you stepped-up to the plate. I can't wait to see what you come up with. This is gonna be the thread of the millennium.

 

[johnnie52]

Well the adventure begins.

As you can probably guess, there are no plans available, nor do I happen to have the real car sitting in my yard to go out and measure. So I did the next best thing. I located a local hobby shop that could get me the AMT model of the car and ship it to my house. The model arrived today. It is in 1:25 scale, which is smaller than I want to make from wood, so I'll be spending a couple of days hunting through my on hand wood scraps for materials, measuring the plastic parts and drawing things at a larger scale.

Looking at all the parts that go into just the plastic kit is a little scary, but when you figure in how many things that are molded into the plastic that I'll need to make as separate wooden parts this thing takes on a whole new degree of scary!

Add to all that the compound curve of the coach body and I may have just bitten off more than I can chew. We'll see what happens when I get there...

After all, this is supposed to be fun right?

One thing that I always enjoyed about the Raiders was that they never took themselves too seriously. Even in today's concerts, it part golden oldies, part comedy act.

 

[sanchez]

Dang Johnnie, this is gonna be cool!

 

[jharris2]

Subscribed!

 

[Kenbo]

Popcorn?



check!!!



Butt placed firmly in seat?



check!!!


Strapped in for one heck of a ride?



Checkity-check-check-check!!!!!

Bring it on Johnnie!!! Using a plastic model as your source of parts is an epic idea. Why didn't I think of that?

 

[johnnie52]

Popcorn?
Bring it on Johnnie!!! Using a plastic model as your source of parts is an epic idea. Why didn't I think of that?

Its not as easy as you might think. I would have much rather had a set of accurate plans instead of having to take all these measurements and then drawing up my own plans. Doing it this way, I don't have anyone else but myself to blame if it all turns out terribly wrong. :laughing:

(BTW Kenbo, I'm going to be leaning pretty heavily on you and Terry when I get to the parts to be turned. I've never turned anything in my life! I may even need to call on Longknife for advise.)

Johnnie what all tools and eqe you all use for these type builds ?
I have a TS, 8 inch jointer, 13 inch planer and drill press
Thanks

Yesterday INFO asked me what tools I'd be using. The only way to give a proper answer to that question is to show them as I go along.

The first stage of this build will be hidden from view as I do not know how to give an online class in drafting and design that would appeal to a bunch of wood workers. Let me just state that I'm going to be taking measurements of the plastic parts and drawing them in a design program called AutoCAD. I'll be using the tools shown below.

1. Keyboard: to enter measurements into software and issue commands to produce working drawings

2. Caliper: to take the measurements off of the plastic parts.

3. 6" Scale: Divided into 10's, 100's, 32's, and 64's of an inch. Again used to take measurements from the plastic parts.

4. Angle finder: Used to get accurate angles by matching the blade to the angle in the plastic.

5. Protractor w/ Angle finder: Used to transfer angles from the angle finder to accurate degrees (to within +/-1 degree) for entry into the design software.

6. Radius gauge set: Used to determine an accurate radius of any curves found on the plastic parts.

Using these tools, I will take measurements as accurately as I can from each plastic part. I will then enter those dimensions and angles into my software to produce a drawing that is the same size as the model. I will then try different sizes to determine just how much I want to enlarge the drawings so that the wooden parts are scaled up and my finished model ends up being well proportioned while being at least three times bigger than the plastic model.

BTW, the wires hanging over the keyboard are for my headphones which I will probably be using to listen to some PRatR tunes while I work on the drawings. :laughing:

 

[Burb]

Johnnie,


Kudos to you for recreating the paradigm. I will wholeheartedly be following this thread to see what you do, both for education & inspiration.

Mark

 

[27207]

You must have been an engineer or architect? AutoCAD is not cheap. What version?

 

[johnnie52]

You must have been an engineer or architect? AutoCAD is not cheap. What version?

I was a Mechanical Engineer specializing in factory automation. I was also a beta tester for AutoCAD when it was first being brought to market. So I had a copy back in the days when it ran on an 8088 computer (ver 6.0) and only cost a couple of hundred bucks. Kept upgrading from there at $500 (or less) every couple of years up to ACAD 2002. I'd order a copy for myself whenever the company I worked for upgraded all the systems and then pay the company. We usually got a discounted price for buying over 100 copies at a hit.

 

[27207]

I'm jealous. I took a few drafting classes in high school and we upgraded to autocad r13 my sophomore year. I loved it and was very good with the program. My teacher gave me a pirated copy of that, and of 2002 when it came out. Needless to say 2002 never ran right because of their security measures, and r13 hasn't worked for me for years. So i've sadly put it in my past. Attempted sketchup a few times, but it's just not the same.

 

[wood_chucker]

Darn my autocad class in highschool was a joke. All we did was play counterstrike every day. In hindsight I wish I had learned to use the program.