"Made It Myself" Mini Stagecoach

Made It Myself Mini Stagecoach FARM HOME Miscellaneous “People love it ” says Robert Hancock Ottumwa Iowa about his home-built mini stagecoach The stagecoach measures 4 ft high 2 ft wide and 5 ft long It can seat 2 small children Passengers enter through a door that’s only 2 ft tall and 12 in wide The stagecoach is painted fire hydrant red with yellow wheels and has white lettering and scroll work on both sides Hancock made everything on the unit except for the wheels “I patterned it after a photo of an old Wells Fargo stagecoach I saw in a magazine about 10 years ago It looks just like the real thing ” says Hancock “I didn’t use any plans and I didn’t build it to scale I built it entirely from stuff I’ve kept over the years and didn’t spend any money at all ” The stagecoach’s frame is made from 1 1/4-in thick plywood Leather suspension straps from an old horse harness support the body The hangers are trailer springs cut in half and bent to shape The stagecoach’s entire body is somewhat egg-shaped and bulges out from top to bottom and also curves inward toward the front and back “The body is made with 3/8-in thick bendable plywood It only bends one way so making the compound curves was rather difficult ” says Hancock “It took a lot of bending ” The inside upholstery is from an old Chevy car The driver’s seat is covered with black material from the seat out of a diesel locomotive Canvas covers the back luggage compartments The luggage rack on top of the stagecoach was cut from a hog panel The stagecoach’s windows have roll-up coverings made from hog skin “A friend gave me a chunk of hog skin which I cut out to cover the windows ” says Hancock Making the lettering and scroll work on the stagecoach body was a challenging job “First I made a pattern out of cardboard Then I painted the body red and used a white felt pen to do the lettering and scroll work ” says Hancock Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Robert Hancock 6465 River Rd Ottumwa Iowa 52501 ph 641 652-3383

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