Physician's Phaeton

**mldixon** · #1 09-21-2012, 04:15 PM

Phaeton, (Phaéton), is the early 19th-century term for a sporty open carriage drawn by a single horse or a pair of horses, typically with four large wheels, very lightly sprung.

The name refers to the disastrous ride of mythical Phaëton, son of Helios, who nearly set the earth on fire while attempting to drive the chariot of the sun.

This is the Physician's Phaeton. One of the many forms of this coach that appeared in the middle to late 19th century. In about 1884 this is what the coach would have looked like. Doctors of this era were making house calls to rural America, about 84,000 of them. That's a lot of buggies.

I'm a big fan of Ivan Collins and his body of work in Oregon. So this is modeled after his style.

I am doing this one as a commissioned piece, someone told me it could not be done in paper. I only laughed at the thought of that. I lurked around on the Scale Model Horse Drawn Vehicle site, for inspiration and technique.

I have been modeling Civil War Era Vehicles for awhile but never took them to paper.This is a Cannon that I did a long time ago for a model of the limber and Napleon Cannon that was used at the time. I guess my interest in this was peaked after making my first visit to Gettysburg.

Heres the link to my sketchup model of the Cannon. Civil War Cannon by Mike - 3D Warehouse

Now for the pics of the model and some initial work

The down side to Wagon building is the spokes, the good news is that they look really good on models when there completed...

**jagolden01** · #2 09-21-2012, 04:25 PM

Great choice. In years past, my father used to restore antique carriages, wagons and sleighs. We had a doctos carriage as they're also known as.
Will be following this build!

**mldixon** · #3 09-21-2012, 04:32 PM

So here is the finish of the wheel portion of this design...

Coach wheels have about a 1.5 to 2 degree angle of draft from the center line of the hub to the outer rim.

**mldixon** · #4 09-21-2012, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jagolden01

Great choice. In years past, my father used to restore antique carriages, wagons and sleighs. We had a doctos carriage as they're also known as.
Will be following this build!

Yes they went by many names. And they were used in a variety of services. They were kinda of the fast sports cars of wagons. We have quite a few wagons here in Ky, most in Lexington at the Museum.

Sometimes I wish I lived in that era...but I think it was a hard life back then..

**silveroxide** · #5 09-21-2012, 04:43 PM

I am pleased to see another coach maker in the forum. Your techniques are a bit different from mine in the wheels but it is good to see other variations on the construction. The springs are easy to make with laminated heavy card stock. I layered the sections in the curvature and I was surprised to see that it came out very sturdy. My problem in the build, came with the convertible top. hope to see more and here is my version of the Physicians Buggy or the Amish courting buggy as it is also known. http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/a...series-137.jpg

**mldixon** · #6 09-21-2012, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silveroxide

I am pleased to see another coach maker in the forum. Your techniques are a bit different from mine in the wheels but it is good to see other variations on the construction. The springs are easy to make with laminated heavy card stock. I layered the sections in the curvature and I was surprised to see that it came out very sturdy. My problem in the build, came with the convertible top. hope to see more and here is my version of the Physicians Buggy or the Amish courting buggy as it is also known. http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/a...series-137.jpg

Hello there Silveroxide. I have been paying attention to your builds , which helped get me off dead center and proceed to building the Coach's. I was not aware that you had already modeled this, was it a scratch build? Looks great.

Wheels were a lot of fun to work out. I use Q-Tips also, but did not like them for this particular model. Q-Tip shafts are one of my favorite accessories..

I already worked out the convertible top , as I saw this as a problem area also. It is interesting how this models in 3d so easily, yet is such a nightmare to engineer into paper. I am working on trying to make it fold into the closed position.

Springs were simple enough, and yes they almost serve that purpose in cardboard.

**Bionic Modeler** · #7 09-21-2012, 05:00 PM

I was actually making wood wagon wheels for awhile and selling them to antique stores. It is a very challenging item to build. So needless to say I am impressed by your paper versions. Nice interpretations of the real thing. I look forward to the rest of the build.

**mldixon** · #8 09-21-2012, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bionic Modeler

I was actually making wood wagon wheels for awhile and selling them to antique stores. It is a very challenging item to build. So needless to say I am impressed by your paper versions. Nice interpretations of the real thing. I look forward to the rest of the build.

Yes I read a lot about wheels while researching this model. So this makes you a wheelwright.
I worked in wood for a long time myself and realize that this is the getting to the height of skill levels. Kinda like chair makers. Nothing like a whole bunch of spindles in a Windsor Rocker.

**silveroxide** · #9 09-21-2012, 05:35 PM

Actually, I did two versions of this model a while back, If you follow my thread, you will see some of the schematics I used to build it. It is scratch built but with a lot of reference material. I plan on re-doing the majority of my models to a 1/24 scale. which is small enough but allows for details. A new modeler on this site, "tailgunner" join recently and posted his horse drawn vehicle modeling site. Top notch and full of reference material and tricks as well. Check it out, you may like it too. The Scale Model Horse Drawn Vehicle Forum - Powered by vBulletin

**mldixon** · #10 09-21-2012, 05:48 PM

Already been to Tailgunners site. Great place.

I cut my teeth on wooden ship models, USS Constitution , Morgan whaling Ship, Beattle Whaleboats, etc, etc, .

When you gonna make that cannon for the Limber, that was a great build.

I could only link to the picture, the thread never showed up. Would love a link to that. By the way, who is your horse supplier? They look pretty good.