"Low Cost 18th Century Coach For 28mm" Topic

At the swap meet last weekend I picked up three plastic wedding decoration coaches in various stages of disrepair. It looked to me that out of the three I could probably put together two carriages and certainly one. Since the price for all three was only $1 USD, it seemed a pretty safe gamble, and it looked like it would be a fun project. My plan was to keep the basic look of the carriage in terms of its structure and detail. I made the necessary repairs (gluing on a broken wheel) and I added a piece of plastic sheet beneath the fancy corded roof so the roof would be solid. I also added wire seat railing to the driver's seat and a rear luggage box that also serves as the footman's platform. Finally, I used plastic to close the windows because I didn't want to detail the interior. The driver is a London War Room Spanish tillerman I bought for 50 cents, and the footman is a figure from West Wind's Sleepy Hallow collection (when I bought the Village Elders' pack, it included two of the same figure/a man standing with a sword). I removed the Sleepy Hallow figure's head (how appropriate) and sword. I replaced the head with one from another London War Room figure. I changed the right arm using the arm of a not-much-loved figure I had already borrowed body parts from. The horses are from the Blue Moon Wagon Ho collection. I have quite a few of them available because I used 1:43 scale horses with the Wagon Ho work wagons I used with my Victorians. I've included a picture of the original coaches and a couple pictures of the completed makeover. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. Hope you like it too. Richard [URL=http://s1082.photobucket.com/user/rgarretson/media/IMG_0619_zps3fbbe9e5.jpg.html]

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Very nicely done!

Fantastic! I really like this.

Eric

Very clever, and quite inspirational!

It is amazing what some imagination, patience, and a spare-parts box can accomplish!

Thanks for the kind words. When I decided to do this project I didn't have a lot of faith in how good it would look even if I didn't botch the job because I thought it might simply been too "cute" to work with my more "serious" pieces. But now that it's done I really like it and have no trouble with the odd wheels and all the raised details (thankfully there were no hearts). I believe it will blend right in with my Blue Moon carriages. I'm a happy guy. Thanks again for taking the time to write. Richard

Very nice work. I've used the same coaches (bought at Michaels [USA] – they are party favor containers for weddings) but mine I not as fancy as yours.

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Jim

Bravo, well done.

Michael and Jim, thank you. Jim, I like the simpler sides of your carriage. Maybe I'll get lucky and find some. I'll check Michaels Arts and Crafts. I hoping that I'll bump into some standard wheels and be able to use them on one of my remaining coach bodies. That's the joy of the swap meet/you just never know what you will find. By the way, I was really surprised when I discovered that the coach roof was hinged and opened up. Really do appreciate your kindness in writing. Thank you both. Richard

What Col Campbell said.
Yes, check out the Wedding aisle at Michael's. The last time I checked, they were 8 complete sets for $10. USD I honestly don't know why I was looking in that aisle, but it may have been an alert here on TMP many years ago. Back when "Gloire" swashbuckling and Highwaymn rules were heavy on TMP…
By all means, substitute "real horses", since the provided ones are pretty flat.

The top is hinged to accept Jordan almonds and other candied party favors. (Of course, WE think that the top is hinged to accept the Eureka obese civilian with the saucy wench sitting on his lap! *gin*)
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Check out the other civilians too!

Also, check out Outpost for some fine dashing Highwaymen figures:
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do a TMP search on "Highwaymen" for a lot more compatible figures and ranges.

During the process of putting my 18th Century/Pirate collection together I found the Outpost Highwaymen and bought quite a few of them. They are great figures. I also have the Eureka lap-sitting couple in the tavern scene (pic 22) of my Pirate Gallery. And you can see a couple of the Outpost Highwaymen victims in pic 63 of that same gallery. For those interested the gallery can be seen at warin15mm.com/Pirates.html