ambulance volante pt 2
Jul. 27th, 2010 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nid_dabeilleMy ambulance volante is finished! Voila!
Here is the finished mattress on its moveable platform on wheels. What cunning little wheels! They might be anachronistic, but I found it's rather difficult to get or make tiny tiny casters. Hardware was my biggest limitation (and the hardware budget), so I had to make some little compromises. Still, my ambulance knows it's only a model, not a real ambulance volante. It's quite self-aware in that respect.
I had to make quite a few compromises and guesses, in fact, because there is no very detailed description of the ambulance's construction - or at least, no two descriptions that exactly agree with each other. I also strongly suspect there have been things misinterpreted in translations, and probably assumptions made on the part of historic authors that their readers would know what they were talking about without going into detail. There are also not many historic images. I've worked from about a dozen texts in English, French and Spanish, and about 20 images, some historic and some modern. So I'm sure I didn't get it all exactly right, but I feel mostly satisfied.
The mattress would slide of the ambulance to be used as a stretcher, or occasionally as an operating table on the ground to dress wounds if the ground was too muddy. It would have a horsehair mattress and bolster covered in leather.
Undercarriage in progress. I ended up switching out these springs for ones I made with thicker, stronger brass. Larrey designed the wagon to be suspended from springs to avoid jostling the wounded, especially since it would have to drive over rough terrain on the battlefield, already churned up by wagons and artillery.
Finished! The main compartment hangs from leather straps suspended from the springs.
There are doors at the front and back.
There is a folding ladder held by chains.
It drops down to allow access to the compartment.
The mattress sliding out
The amublance volante in its native habitat.
Ambulance with small unimpressed cat.
.
Here is the finished mattress on its moveable platform on wheels. What cunning little wheels! They might be anachronistic, but I found it's rather difficult to get or make tiny tiny casters. Hardware was my biggest limitation (and the hardware budget), so I had to make some little compromises. Still, my ambulance knows it's only a model, not a real ambulance volante. It's quite self-aware in that respect.
I had to make quite a few compromises and guesses, in fact, because there is no very detailed description of the ambulance's construction - or at least, no two descriptions that exactly agree with each other. I also strongly suspect there have been things misinterpreted in translations, and probably assumptions made on the part of historic authors that their readers would know what they were talking about without going into detail. There are also not many historic images. I've worked from about a dozen texts in English, French and Spanish, and about 20 images, some historic and some modern. So I'm sure I didn't get it all exactly right, but I feel mostly satisfied.
The mattress would slide of the ambulance to be used as a stretcher, or occasionally as an operating table on the ground to dress wounds if the ground was too muddy. It would have a horsehair mattress and bolster covered in leather.
Undercarriage in progress. I ended up switching out these springs for ones I made with thicker, stronger brass. Larrey designed the wagon to be suspended from springs to avoid jostling the wounded, especially since it would have to drive over rough terrain on the battlefield, already churned up by wagons and artillery.
Finished! The main compartment hangs from leather straps suspended from the springs.
There are doors at the front and back.
There is a folding ladder held by chains.
It drops down to allow access to the compartment.
The mattress sliding out
The amublance volante in its native habitat.
Ambulance with small unimpressed cat.
.
