Earlier this year, I advised that Mr D was going to make a match stick model of a horse drawn tip tray that we saw in the historical village in Wagin, WA.  Well, here it is, 2000 matches later, finally finished.  He started it in Wagin in January this year, and finished it this week in Hatton Vale, Lockyer Valley, Queensland.  We are hoping to donate it to the Gatton Transport Museum.

Thanks B&A, he put a lot into it.  The hardest part was sourcing craft products as we travelled through remote areas of WA and NT.

Thanks D&D,  will let you know how it goes - maybe we could arrange to meet half way!

The museum already have one of Mr D's models - a Cobb & Co Coach which also won grand champion at the Caboolture show a few years back  (pic attached)

Hi Dunmowin

Nice work, detail is great, beaut picture.

Thank you. Ralph.

Hi Dunmowin

Nice work, great detail and photo. Ralph

News today is that the Gatton Transport Museum want to the tip tray buggy to add to our collection there.  Mr D is tickled pink.

Very well done indeed .. !

Agree with all the others - brilliant.   Can you tell me how big/long/wide.   Thanks 

Thanks Jonathon,

Thanks Texas. 

The buggy's dimensions are 350 mil long, 170 wide, 150 high, wheels outside diameter 130. Scale is 1:12.  The cobb and co coach is also 1:12, can't measure in now cos it is in a museum.

Thanks Rob49

Patience comes with being on the road full time, sometimes you just have to stay put for a while, so this keeps Mr D's brain and fingers occupied.  He has to work the whole thing out as there are no patterns or instructions.  His men's shed consists of a board to glue the match sticks on, various small tools, i.e. dremel, pin drill, small hammer, aquadhere, very sharp knife, sand paper, soldering iron, oh, of course, matchsticks, and paint.

Pick a subject, photo graph and measure it, divide each measurement by 12 and start on one section, i.e. the draw bar, or the base of the cart, and just build on.  Just copy the photos.  Wheels  (yes they are also made out of match sticks) are the biggest challenge (our secret for the time being)  All the metal work is brass that can be soldered.

Simple exercise might be an out door dunny, or an old water tank.  Not hard, just need to put it all together.

Next challenge might be a timber jinker, or a furphy, just have to find one to photograph.

Thanks Woody N Sue, some people can paint, some write, Mr D makes models out of match sticks!  There is something in everyone, we just have to find it.

Just read another post by you, did not realise you make the little metal structures.  Well done.

Took the tip tray buggy to the Gatton Transport Museum yesterday to add to our collection. 

-- Edited by Dunmowin on Wednesday 19th of November 2014 09:59:12 PM

I am absolutely blown away with your models.

You are a real artisan .Well done .

Bluesman.

Bluesman, I see you are in Brisbane.  Go out for a drive to Gatton Transport Museum, and see them in real life.  Mr D thanks you for your kind words.

Good luck with the bics troopy, but make sure you colour coordinate.

Paul, Mr D found a good primer that fills the "gaps" when he is working on his models (after he has sanded the bits) 

Mr D

Yes  I do need a wood filler  ...what is a good type ? 

I need a colouring dye . May be food dye in the (white) wood filler

I am very appreciative of some help .

I am keen to know about the dremel  and what it is used for  with  the matchsticks ?

I  have a dremel that has a few small drill bits and little grinding disks in  the kit  

but I was thinking of getting some sort of a cutter , cutting sticks one stick at a time  is a bit much,

the other option is a wide wood chisel to chop a few sticks at a time.

There is so much to learn when it comes to stick modeling. 

Cheers from Paul

Am I doing it  Right.  ?

 stick bending.   !

the 90 mm pipe  is as far as I can bend the sticks 

i would like to go smaller .

rolling the sticks a little flat  helps to get a better bbending 

It will be a long te before  I get to fashion a wagon wheel. .

Bender

ma piece of scrap  pipe and s rap timber , some twine , and two clomps  just to get max bend on pipe

Seems to work 

The match sticks dont like to bend too far 

Soaking the sticks for two days or more.

  ?

Learning how is  time consuming 

A couple of bits of small timber ,  saw cuts to stick matches in  

then bend with second  bit of timber 

this timber has saw cuts  which I did not use ( practice cuts)

A good wood filler ....PREP 4 in 1....From Bunnings.

Why do you need food dye?.. are you going to eat it?...its timber. treat it like wood...treat the model the same as the full size original.

The Dremel is for drilling and shaping...I wish I had genuine one....I do all my shaping by hand.

Cutting the sticks....I think we are making models in different ways.....you make models.....I make Model Replicas...

So...I measure the item to be copied, divide each piece by 12. This gives me the size of my finished object.

For instance, I am making a timber jinker. The centre pole is 5.7 meters long...150 x 100 ml thick

Next I divide all those measurements by 12...so I make a pole 475 ml long ....12.5 x 8.3ml thick.

I do this by gluing many sticks together...with wood glue...clamp them tight, leave to dry...

when dry ....I can cut to length with a small hack saw...I use a junior hack saw.

then sand the pole smooth...until it looks like a piece of wood...not a lot of matchsticks glued together..

next...wood filler....then paint...

that is one piece of the jinker made.

now go on to the next piece...

I have like a production line going....when one piece has the glue drying. I can sand another piece.. or paint another. or measure another. and so on

when all pieces are made, I start assembling the jinker, just like the real thing, only 1 in 12 scale.

it is very interesting. just choose a subject that is simple to start with.. an old fashioned timber wheel barrow would be good.