Harold Hall
Model Making
I was asked by a friend who was a member of the St John Ambulance, and a collector of transport models, to make a model Litter as illustrated in his very early St John Ambulance manual. This, probably around 1900 vintage, comprised a canvas stretcher mounted on a two wheel cart as the picture shows. A recent search on the Internet showed that the term Litter is still used for modern equivalents. Readers who may like to delve into this piece of old medical equipment may like to follow this link.
Seeking help with making the wheels I purchased John Thompson's book "Making Model
Horse-drawn Vehicles" that included in it the plans for making a Monmouth Wagon.
This resulting in me eventually making a model of this also. There is often some
discussion as to whether such an item should be considered model engineering. There
are though 508 metal items to be made not including the links of the chain being
the only finished item that I purchased. I gained a bronze medal at the 1990 Model
Engineering Exhibition at Alexandra Palace for this model
The third cart, a Farm Tip Cart, came about as a result of being away from work for seven months and wanting something to do during this time. It was though some 12 years before it was eventually finished. The photo of the cart was included in the above book from where I gained the idea. Plans by John Thompson in 1/12th scale were obtained to enable construction to take place. When eventually finished I decided to enter it into the 2012 Model Engineering Exhibition where this time I achieved a silver medal.
John Thompson's book may not now be in print but second hand copies are to be found
on the Internet. The ISBN numbers are, ISBN-
John Thompson's many plans for carts, wagons and coaches are though still to be had. one such supplier is “Wild Horse books” No doubt there are other sources also.
This picture was taken from a rather poor quality slide. Viewers who may have slides that they would like converting to digital images should see myPhotography pages.These show that excellent results can be achieved using DIY methods from good quality images on slide.
Click on pictures for larger images
Model Carts. Harold Hall
