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Post by truckabilly on Mar 10, 2013 17:33:00 GMT -5
I started to work on the London double-decker bus. Buses are not my favourite modeling objects but this old red half-bonneted double-decker is something else. Even though they no longer take passengers on regular lines, they still are the part of London atmosphere to me. When the Revell o/G kit appeared on the market, I did not hesitate. When the postman brought the giant box, I thought that Revell made a mistake and sent me an LCD TV set instead. The box rested on my wardrobe for a while but I could not resisit anymore. So, here I go. The kit has some shortcomings but in general I think it makes a nice replica of the legendary bus. The bottom side is simplified in Italeri´s new concept manner. But I think that the highlight of this kit is somewhere else and I can live with that . On the other hand, some modifications are inevitable for me. I will change the grille for the see-through PE mesh from CTM. And that is where I have to deal with the first shortcoming of the kit and that is the radiator. It is as wide as the grille itself in the kit while the real bus has only a square like radiator. A supporting structure is very well visible under the driver´s cab. I cut off a part of the radiator just as the corresponding PE parts and put them all together. I was not carefull enough when I superglued the PE mesh to the plastic radiator and the surfacer later on revealed the imperfections. With the radiator off the vehicle you can see the front supporting structure quite well. I tried to replicate the part for my model using the Evergreen "I" beam 1/4" (6.4 mm). The kit comes with two engine option. The kit says Leyland O.600 for British engine but I suspect it is the AEC AV590 9.6 L, actually. The other option is Scania engine installed in Routemaster buses in reaction to legal emission limits in 1996. My choice was simple. British bus - British engine. This one represents the original quite well. I only added the diesel jets and tubing and some hoses. Like I said before, the whole bottom part is simplified and one of the features was unacceptable for me. The Panhard rod is ending... nowhere! Even though I have no idea how the real joint looks like, I made at least some sort of connection to the vehicle. The bottom side is painted silver but it is quite flat and featureless on the model. So, my next step will be adding some grime to it. This is the engine placed in its bay. So, that was the start. I hope I will post some progress soon. Jarda
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Post by truckabilly on Mar 12, 2013 18:03:16 GMT -5
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ewaskew
Local Delivery Truck Driver
Posts: 206
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Post by ewaskew on Mar 12, 2013 19:43:33 GMT -5
Looking good man
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2013 20:42:05 GMT -5
Great looking bus!
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78kw
Local Delivery Truck Driver
Posts: 120
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Post by 78kw on Mar 14, 2013 14:20:18 GMT -5
Nice work so far
Sent from my SPH-D710 using proboards
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Post by truckabilly on Mar 15, 2013 3:36:26 GMT -5
Thanks a lot guys. For this build I am using the photo etched parts by the Czech Truck Model Team. Their set includes a few parts that are identical to the ones offered by the Revell label. But the CTM set is more extensive. The truth is that it doubled the price of the kit for me. On the other hand, the kit itself was quite cheap and the PE parts improve the look of some details in a great way. This pair of pictures shows the sheets untouched. Some of the parts improve the details in the driver´s cab. It took some thinking how to place the control box under the ceiling. I had to use a square channel to give the box a full form and also cut off some of the ceiling details so that the box would fit. The PE set provides a few pieces of mesh to cover the heating channels on both decks. Unfortunatelly, they are a bit wider than the channels. It would be quite easy to glue them flat and leave the edges overreach. The view will be blocked by the seats from most angles anyway. But I chose more difficult way. I slightly bended the edges. In consequence the mesh is lifted above the channel surface and makes the space feeling underneath it. This complicated the glueing process a bit as the the glue hold only the sharp edges of the mesh parts. They are no longer as even as they were at the begining. The length of the heating channel includes two or three peices of mesh. Here is the joint between two pieces. This one is a kick protection cover under the seat. Thanks for looking. Comments and criticism welcome. Jarda
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Post by signature600 on Mar 15, 2013 19:08:45 GMT -5
Jarda Comments or criticism ...... ok here are a couple for you Comments , great job on the detail and weathering, the photo etch sure is bringing the kit to life, it's just unfortunate that it is expensive, and having said that you do get what you pay for..... Criticism.... only one..... the updates are not fast enough Look forward to more.,....
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78kw
Local Delivery Truck Driver
Posts: 120
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Post by 78kw on Mar 17, 2013 20:02:28 GMT -5
The PE set really adds to it. Nice job so far.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using proboards
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Post by ultraliner9 on Mar 21, 2013 16:05:06 GMT -5
My gosh you sure are sparing no expense on this bus.
Keep up the fantastic work I look forward to seeing more of this wonderful project.
John
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Post by truckabilly on Mar 21, 2013 17:41:04 GMT -5
Thank you for your kind comments. I am afraid, I am as fast with my updates as I can be. And it is going to get worse because I changed my job and I lost my free mornings. But here is the latest update. The quality of the parts is fairly good. I had to use putty on a few parts only. Like these window rims marked with pins. This pocket is located behind the front ventilation grid. Since I am using the PE grid, I had to take some care of this area. The parts on the pictures are upside down. That is how I took the pics for lighting reasons. When I turned the images around in my picture manager program, they did not look good. So, I left them the way they were taken. The driver´s cab is painted and weathered. The weathering may seem to be overdone but it will fade when the cab shell is closed. I added a holding stripe to the fire extinguisher. The driver´s seat is upholstered with imitation leather. Fabrics are wearing through on some places and patches are on the others. It was the first time I tried a thing like that. I could have done better. The seat is attached to the back wall with a window in place. I added one more detail to the engine. It is a flat plate with "ON-FUEL-OFF" sign on the fuel valve. Even though it is a decal I did not apply it the way the decals usually are applied. The valve is much too small for that. I just cut the decal out, painted its back with black colour, made a round hole in the middle and placed it onto the tube entering the fuel valve. I stole this idea from Adam Norenberg of UK. I hope ho won´t sue me. That is all the update that I got for today. Jarda
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Post by truckabilly on Mar 24, 2013 13:16:25 GMT -5
I painted the inside panels with revell 331 as the instructions say so. Unfortunatelly, some debris got into the colour while spraying. I have to add yet another layer. This photo was taken after I cleaned the debris off with a fine sand paper. The floors are painted as well. They also need some care to get the final coat. I was afraid of the seats as there are too many of them in the bus. Cleaning the 32 fragile seat frames is not exactly my idea of modelling. But I finished it without damaging a single frame. The wheels should be painted also revell 331 per instructions. I did not follow them this time. I used revell 37 instead, tinted by a few drops of humbrol 62. The clear lacquer and dark wash will follow. Pens are my favourite items to put in the cabs of my models. These are a bit off scale but I could not resist. I almost forgot to add a pair of cables running from the steering column to the dahsboard. Their sag is not quite right as could not get the tweezers in the cab the way I needed. Now it takes just painting and painting before I can proceed with another assembling. Jarda
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78kw
Local Delivery Truck Driver
Posts: 120
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Post by 78kw on Mar 25, 2013 17:30:07 GMT -5
Nice job on the details.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using proboards
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mart
Local Delivery Truck Driver
Posts: 346
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Post by mart on Mar 26, 2013 15:36:49 GMT -5
Boy, Your work is very impressiv!
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pat
Local Delivery Truck Driver
w/model kw 1982model i drove 2up between perth & kunnanura. 120tonne of prawns on board
Posts: 326
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Post by pat on Mar 30, 2013 4:03:24 GMT -5
i was goin to get me one of these but now not so sure. great work though.
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Post by truckabilly on Mar 30, 2013 16:37:26 GMT -5
Thank you. I was thinking of the best way to paint the seat frames. I did not like the idea of using sivler metallic per instructions as the real frames and grab handles are chromed. So, alclad chrome was the otion for me. Alclad chrome and red humbrol as the seat frames are combined this way. But that required a gloss black undercoat. I sprayed the black over all the frames at once. But I took a different approach for alclad. To minimize the loss of expensive color I sprayed the frames one by one. Then I took a brush and painted the red parts of the frames. The seats are ready for the paint booth too. I numbered each seat on the underside to keep the track of where they belong. I already started painting the seats. I will take the pics when they are finished. I hope I won´t mess the decals. Jarda
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