Well we're closing in, I think, on the last puzzle
of this whole mud wagon body rebuild project.
Last week, remember, we bent the bows for the top
I do have four that I have selected that are pretty uniform.
When I lay them up along side, this was the initial first three
and then this one was out of the second pair.
It matches pretty well. I did do a littel bit of adjusting,
but they're all pretty uniform now.
So from this seat base height, to the top
generally inside they'll run from 46" to 48 inches
Your two seat extension top buggies, your surreys
generally are in that 46" area. I've done a number of
Abbot and Downing Yellowstone Park style coaches,
those tend to be, from the seat base to the roof, at 48"
So, somewhere in this 46" to 48 inches is where I need to end up.
with this top as well.
So I'm thinking to attach the top to this front driver's box,
the iron is going to come down outside, and curve in, and probably bolt to this rear
driver's box frame in this area here.
From this seat base, to the seat base of the driver's box,
I have at 22 and a half inches,
right at 22 and a quarter,
so roughly 22 inches.
So, if I'm gong to go up 48 inches,
from the seat base up to the top, is going to be 26 inches,
So my irons, as I bolt it here and come up, I'm going to use this seat base
as the calculating number of how far to go up,
and to calculate just how tall my irons need to be
that's going to come up to the top, that my top framework is going to actually bolt to.
So as this comes down and begins to go straight again here,
from the top of the bow, it looks like to be,
I'm guessing maybe in this eight to nine area.
These bows are one inch thick, so from the inside of this bow,
I'm thinking I'm going to come down eight inches with this solid panel
inside of this framework for this front and rear bow for this top.
So I'm going to just kind of mock this up a little bit,
of where this bow would go.
If I set this from the top down to nine inches,
that's going to give me and inset,
from the bottom of this top bow, of eight inches.
Then, from the picture of this mail coach,
with the woman standing on the sidewalk unloading
the mail bags, as I look at that picture,
it looks like there is a lateral that goes from front to back,
that;s going to come in just underneath this
inset board here,
something like so. And one on each side.
So I'm guessing this is kind of the mock up of what
front bow and rear bow would look like.
So then the question is, how do I joint in my legs
that comes down to the side of the driver's box,
and will eventually be down to the rear seat,
where am I going to put that joint work?
From the bottom of this inset, and then I have a two inch
piece that's going to come down for my laterals,
somewhere in here, I don't want my joint work to be up in that,
so I'm thinking maybe I'm going to do a lap joint,
kind of in here, and maybe four inches.
I could do it that way. I could do the converse, the other direction.
I'm not sure if that would really make a difference.
And then my iron work is going to come up.
I'm thinking just to this point here.
I'll have a taper on the end. I'm going to use three eighths by one and a half iron,
taper it out, so I'll have a bolt that will go through this joint,
and possibly a bolt that will go through this joint
and then on down to the driver's box, or to the rear passenger's seat.
So over all length of my bow looks like
maybe fifteen inches?
I have nineteen overall length, so I have plenty of room here.
I think I'll trim these off at 15" in length.
So I'll lay a straight edge out here
so I can get a good measurement for this other leg.
If I measure across my bows at that point,
I'm at 53 inches. which that's pretty acceptable.
Especially for the seat arm rails for the rear seat.
The arm rails themselves on this rear seat
are 49 and a half, so the irons for my rear seat
are going to bolt to the seat floor,
come up and they'll come out to a ninety, and then up,
and it looks again, from the picture of this
stage that's unloading the mail,
that the wood will set inside the metal framework
the metal framework as it comes up.
There's a pretty clear picture of this coach from the rear view,
on the right hand side, that seems to indicate that this upright wood
is on the inside of the iron.
And that the iron is, it's not real clear, but it looks like it ends
right in this area here.
So that will allow a bolt to go through this lateral framework,
as well as my lap joint.
So that's where I'm kind of drawing these conclusions from,
on possibly how this top was built, back then.
So for the iron on the rear seat,
it's going to be fastened in front here of the rear seat back,
so it's going to have to angle
back, just a bit, in order for the rear edge of the top,
to be back over behind the back of the seat,
to allow for a drip rail that will clear the back seat.
So this won't be able to set vertical, straight up and down,
It'll actually have to have a little rear lean to it,
as it comes out
somewhat in this pattern.
So in trying to calculate the iron for the front driver's seat,
I'm going to come down about eleven inches to this point,
well, I'm going to be 26 inches from the top,
down to the base of the seat,
so from the base of the seat up, that iron needs to be
in the area of seventeen inches.
And then, it'll be the additional,
whatever it takes, to curve into the driver's box and then come down.
Maybe six inches?
The I'm going to come out,
and then bend up to the top. So I'll have another
ten, eleven inches in there possibly. I'll probably allow a foot.
Six inches, another six inches, come out,
go up seventeen inches, and when I get this kind of fitted in,
I'll do my final adjustments for that top height.
Then for my rear seat, I want to end up with 48 inches overall,
but I'm going to come down nine inches.
and then come down to my seat base,
and I have to allow for this curl out and up.
These are a little more right angle bends.
On the end of this iron, as it comes down, makes a bend over,
and instead of running straight out,
it puts the two bolts in line here,
which doesn't give it a lot of strength, I'm going to put a
toe, curl, on the end of this, which will give more stability,
front and back, on this rear iron.
So, I debated on this front iron,
coming around in a gradual curve. I need to come out six inches.
I have forty one on my seat base. I need to be fifty three overall,
so I've got a twelve inch difference, so I need to come out six inches on both sides.
So if I do a gradual bend like this,
my upright piece has to stop in about this area.
If I come out at a ninety, and do a tighter bend,
then my upright support for my bow can come clear down in to here.
So this is what I think I'll do. So with this style here, I need to be 30 inches in length.
And then on my rear side, on the back bow,
I'm going to start out on my rear at a 48 inch piece,
and my front iron at 30 inch piece.
Well, I guess I have the prerogative to change my mind.
This was the first option. And I thought about this option.
And then I changed my mind. I'm going to do
this option.
This is the same angle as the side arms on the rear seat.
And then I'm going to do kind of a tighter bend right here.
I couldn't see any reason why this had to be a ninety degree bend.
So I changed my mind again.
And I'll come out here.
So that's the angle that I made this iron at.
So now I just need to make this curve up,
so this comes out six inches from the side of the driver's box.
We'll see if we can get that to work.
Well, I think the height of this bow for the top,
it's pretty close to what the pictures are showing.
Kind of right in this shoulder, neck area.
You can see I've got this bow leaned back enough that
I don't think it will interfere with the driver.
And I can lean on the back here,
and I don't have the board in here yet,
but I think it's going to work
The back bow, I'm not quite so sure yet.
Now the framework for this back bow, I do have it leaned back enough
to where I think the back edge of the bow is going to clear the back of the seat.
I do have this joint here bent enough to where
this is angling back,
but I'm wondering if maybe I should do it a little more
to lay this iron back closer to this framework to the seat.
It would bring this back about another inch,
and then I would be able to take this iron and actually
straighten it up. It would have a little of a lean to it,
but not as much as it has right now.
If I brought this back another inch ,
it would, in effect, put this too far back,
but then I could , in this bend here, I could straighten that back up
and have a little straighter framework here to my top
and still be able to clear the back of my seat.
So I think we're headed in the right direction,
I just need to do some tweaking. Like I said, easier said than done.
I'll not bother you with all that,
but I think from the next step here, I can go ahead
and put my lateral, and get my two center bows
framed in as well, and
maybe get this top completed.
Nest week.
I appreciate you following along. Thanks for watching!