The accompanying sketches show how the framework of a landau head is fitted up, and also a plan of the position of the hoop-sticks when fixed in place. First get out the top pillars A, A (Fig. 1), which are 2 in. thick by the width of the door pillar at the bottom or hinge end, tapering to 2 1/4 in. wide at the top, and the cant rails is, 2 1/2 in. deep, straight on the inside, to come flush with the pillars on the outside, sweeping out to the side sweep of the body; then cut the top part of the body standing pillar to a taper, to take the hinge C, so that it comes flush with the back of the pillar A, being careful to see that the face of the pillar A is kept level with the inner face of the door pillar at D, so that the glass frames will work freely. The hinges C having been turned to the proper depth so that the knuckle joint comes fair in the centre of the joint formed by the two pillars, fix them in place, keeping the outer edge 5/8 in. in from the outside of the pillar, screwing them on so that the joints line straight across both ways. The top pillars are now fitted to these hinges, temporarily at first; see that they are perfectly square from both faces. Mark off the height of the head, which should be sufficient to give a clear distance of 3ft. 6 in. from the top of the seat to underneath the hoop-stick, and fit in the cant rail B. The cant rail should not be cut until it is practically finished; it is attached to the pillars by two hinges, which are sometimes let into the top part, and at other times on the inside of the rail, according to the make of fittings used; see that each corner works square and true with the pillar, or the head will never close properly.

After the pillars and cant rails have been cleaned off to the body, they are boxed out for the glass course, marking the pillars by the course already made in the doors (which is generally about l1/2 in. wide, tapering towards the top to full 1/2 in.); it is taken out full 1/4in. deep, and should be a trifle deeper than the course in the door pillar, to allow for the body closing in; the cant rail is boxed out to line with the pillars, 7/8 in. deep. Run the quirks on the outside, cut the joint in the cant rail E, and let in the dovetail catches on the top to keep it in place. To prevent it opening whilst fitting upthe other parts, tightly fit a slip of wood in the glass course, fixing the two halves of the cant rail to it with screws. Having fixed on the pillars and cant rails for good, and having seen that they line with one another, fix on the two centre hoop-sticks F, F (Fig 3), whichare 3 in. wide by lin. thick, and are planed off at the ends so that they fit flat on top of the cant rail. The front one is kept over the joint in the cant rail until it lines with the male part of the dovetail catch, a clear space of 3/8 in. being left between the two hoop-sticks to allow room for the cloth and lace trimming on the edge.

To fit up the narrow hoop-sticks G (Fig. 3), it is necessary to fit around the top part a frame or scaffold, indicated by the dotted lines H (Figs. 1, 2, and 3); the top ones are l 1/2 in. deep by 1 in. thick, true to the side sweep of the body on the inside edge, fixed to the cant rail by a screw, in line with the top of the wide hoop-sticks already fixed. At the corners, strips I (Figs. 1 and 2) are screwed on at the top, being fixed to the back and front rails at the bottom (see Figs. 1 and 2), when the top line of the frame should have a drop of lin. from a straight line, and a sail out in length of lin. beyond the square line, both back and front. To keep the frame its proper width, two laths K, K (Fig. 2) are tacked across at the back and front, afterwards testing for correctness with a wax line. The slats L (Fig. 1) are now got out, the front and hind ones being slightly curved at the top, full lin. thick by the width of the hoop-sticks G (Fig. 3) at the top, tapering to nearly the width of the slat-iron M (Fig. 1) at the bottom; they are very slightly swept on the outside, and in fitting them up they have to rest against the framework at the top and on to the slat-iron at the bottom; this gives a twist to the two bearings, which is worked out a good bit in rounding them up. At the top they are kept 1/2 in. below the top edge of the frame, the hoop-stick making up, when let on, the remainder. The slat-sticks are rounded off at the bottom end about l|in. below the last screw-hole in the slat-iron, but should not be fixed for good until the whole is fitted up. In some cases it is necessary to fix on a small corner block behind each pillar, to carry the first narrow hoop-stick; in other cases a flap is left on the fitting, to which they are fixed. Having got them all in place, hold a long lath flat on the cent re hoop-sticks, press down each end, and see that it bears fair on each stick; should it not do so, alter the fixing on the slat-iron either up or down, as may be required. After it is correct, tack on two strips of webbing from the centre hoop-sticks over the others on to the cross rails of the body, keeping it tight and tacking to each hoop-stick; take away the frame round the body, loosen the screws in the strips in the cant rail, lower the head to see that it works all right, when the pillars should be as shown at N (Fig. 1). if all is correct, put it back in its place, securely fix the slats to the irons, put on the filling-up pieces 0 (Fig. 1) on top of the cant rail level with the hoop-stick and flush with the end of the rail, this and the top corners of the hoop-sticks being can-vased about 7in. each way, and the bottom of the slat sticks 9 in. or 10 in. up, when it is ready for the trimmer. It should be mentioned that the whole of the hoop-sticks and slats should be well rounded in to prevent the cloth or leather from being chafed, and in cases where a large front light has to be fitted the front hoop-stick is much heavier than here given.

Fig. 2.

Fitting the Head of a Landau.