#1
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London General B-type bus, 1:32
It has been a good while since I contributed anything of significance to the forum - I hope that I now have something which may be of interest. First some background.
During the summer I spent an enjoyable time making the the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) K-type bus designed by Richard Vyškovský for ABC magazine, and reprinted in Zlatá Kniha Vystřihovánek (The Golden Book of Paper Models). This is a slightly cartoony representation of the vehicle K424 built in 1920 and now preserved at the London Transport Museum. I had intended to complete the model unmodified, but came to the wheels and decided they were a complete non-starter. They were small wheels with huge tyres, nothing like the thin solid rubber tyres which the vehicles carried for their whole life, and which K424 still has today. Furthermore the ABC wheels are the same all round, whereas the rear wheels should be much wider and heavier in construction than the front. I made new wheels! When looking for photographs to give details of the wheels I also came across many showing the earlier B-type buses, which were the first motor bus type to be deployed in large numbers (around 2500) in London. Many were shipped to France and Belgium during the Great War as troop transport, earning the nickname "battlebus". I have wanted a model of one of these for a while, but have not been aware of one currently available other than the plastic Airfix and (I have now discovered) a wooden one by OcCre. When I came across Doug Rose's site with its excellent coloured drawings of a range of London buses including the B-type, I decided to have a try at producing my own. There will follow the resulting saga... |
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#2
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The first decision was the scale. This was easy, as the K-type is to (nominal) scale 1:32, and produced a manageable (for me) model around 200mm long, so I opted for that. I also decided right away that I would take the dimensions directly off Doug Rose's drawings. He warns that they may not be entirely accurate, but I am confident that he has done a far better job than I could ever do. I would only go from other sources where there was an obvious discrepancy, or for details which cannot be derived from elevation drawings alone. My model will thus be of B340, the example preserved at the London Transport Museum, though inevitably a somewhat free interpretation.
I'll start with a quick run-through of the story so far. The first task was to block out the major assemblies to check that they made reasonable sense. First came the lower deck, little more than a box at this stage. The upper deck took a bit longer as I had to work out the seat shapes and positioning from the very few overhead photographs available. A complication here is that the four remaining preserved/restored buses (B43, B340, B1609 and B2373) differ considerably in detail (and probably did when new), so some adjustment is required to correlate the various photographs. I didn't bother to do all the seats at this stage, just enough to be confident that they fitted and looked half reasonable. The engine housing and driver's compartment are next. |
#3
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well its looking good so far good start
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#4
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Thank you rifleman, but there's a long way to go, so we shall have to see...
--------------------------------------------------------------------- The chassis rails were next, with a simple plate to keep them apart, but no more detail at this stage. Canopies front and rear. Rear platform and stairs. All the bits so far put together dry for checking. Oops, I forgot to take that picture! |
#5
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Will be following with great interest.
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#6
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I found pictures of unrestored chassis of one of those busses preserved in Bus Museum.I could almost swear this type of wheels and chassis construction is on more than a few farm machines and industrial vehicles preserved in steam museums in Canada.It must have been used for a very long time by nearly every maker of those machines.
LGOC AEC K type bus chassis. Brooklands 18/09/11. by Lloyd Rich, on Flickr Soviet tractor featured in another thread likely also has wheels like this. Very nice rework.I'll be following this too. |
#7
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Quote:
It does seem to have been a standard style of construction for all sorts of commercial and agricultural vehicles. This is great for us as it fits well with paper. I chickened out of adding the strengthening ribs to the K-type front wheels, but as will become apparent shortly I have been a little more adventurous with the B-type. Alan |
#8
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With the first pass done and reasonably successful it was time to go back, make some modifications and add some detail. The only change to be made to the lower deck was to recess the entrance "opening" to match the face of the step up from the platform. In time I envisage opening up the windows and entrance and providing an interior, but for now the strength of the solid walls will be an advantage. I also spent some time adding lining and lettering, though this is not complete.
The rear platform and stairs needed some rework. In the case of the platform this was mostly reshaping the off (right) side where I had misinterpreted the few not-very-clear photos I had found, and adding support brackets to the step. The stairs needed a complete redesign. I found two photos (of B2373) taken from the top of the stairs looking virtually straight down, which gave me a much better idea of their configuration. In particular they showed that the front edge of the bottom step was not parallel to the edge of the platform as I had assumed, but angled back to allow more space for the passengers entering and leaving the lower saloon. In fact it is the second step whose front is parallel. |
#9
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Now to work up the chassis. Unfortunately the owners of restored buses seem strangely reluctant to turn them upside down so that people can photograph the underframe and running gear. I did find some photos of the Airfix and OcCre models, so decided on a free interpretation of those, sufficient to look plausible when mostly hidden (!)
Subsequently I found a good number of (rather small) early photographs of bare chassis on the London Transport Museum web site, which suggest a good number of improvements. However, it is unlikely that they would make any significant difference to the appearance from above, so I suspect that I shall chicken out of doing anything about them. Getting this far meant I could put most of it together, and check that it still looked plausible. The upper deck is just placed loosely, as it still needs significant revision. |
#10
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Excellent work thus far Alan
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