London Country 480 Routemaster - the old school bus!

[Guest]

Thought my eyes were playing tricks so I used a colour picker function in Photoshop.

The areas between the chrome window trims in the picture (the area between the yellow of the roof and the burgandy of the panels) is the same grey as the seat backs.

The green seems to be the outer colour seen through the window.

Is this what you meant?

I agree the moulding is a little off though.

[Guest]

...and there's more...

Here you can see the lower deck with the focus on the end partition which has been suitably dirtied up and scratched, scuffed and dented. As kids we used to put our feet up on the front wall so thats how it got to be such a mess You can also see the paint chipping on the gearbox cover under the heater outlet, plus the generally dirty state of the wooden slatted flooring.

Next is the same lower deck but this time the focus is toward the rear and you can see the scraped differential cover and various ending strips

The sats have also been dirtied up but its not obvious in the photos. next is the end panel which still has to have the window fitted

This green is Tamiya XF 26 which I think is a very good match for a version of the London Country Green used int he early 70s. It isnt' a perfect match but then again this bus has been out in the sun, had cement dust all over it so the colour will vary. Check out the period photos I posted earlier and you'll see what I mean. I'm not a believer is getting the authentic colours EXACTLY right as they would only EVER be perfect right out from the factory. Sunlight and dirt will affect the colour as will the particular lighting conditions.

The conductors cubby hole. I haven't put any signage in the panel yet, so the transparency hasn't been put on either. I'm almost tempted to leave it off as I remember the buses often had the glass missing and just a timetable sheet stuck up in place. Need to dirty up the luggage space as well - I mean REALLY dirty

Inside rear panel which has had a dark wash added to pick out the joint strips. I checked contemporary photos ans these were trhe same dark burgundy and not metalic like some of the others.

The lower deck roof. This is a more yellowy colour than the instructions recommend because - well thats how I remember it and some of the photos show it. Other photos show white internal roof but I think those are the later reconditioned ones from the 90s where they put in fluorescent strips

The lights have been given a silver outer ring with a matt white bulb. One thing that is missing on the kit is the string pull for the "ding ding" so that will HAVE to be added as that was one of the most fun things about the routemaster, being able to pull the string to make the bell go ding to get it to stop at your bus stop The roof also needs a wash to bring out the joint strips a bit better.

Finally the radiator grill has been replaced with photo-etch:

I used Aber photoetch diamond mesh for the radiator grille which looked to be about the right density.

Ding ding move down the bus please there will be another along in a while...

[papa 695]

really liking the work going into this build Andrew

[flyjoe180]

Andrew, this is fantastic, superb work so far, look forward to seeing more soon. You can almost hear the kids yelling and screaming on that bus!

[Guest]

This a very serious work, in all the ways & senses, Andrew

[Wendall]

This is awesome Andrew. I'm really enjoying watching this come together.

Jason

[Guest]

Moving along from the last post, here we have the front of the bus painted and weathered...

and the side view showing the driver's door. Its a shame they don't give you the option of having the driver's door open!

Next is the dents I've added into the roof - particularly at the front!

The purple is the masking fluid going on to help with the paint chipping and wear later. This amount of damage is not excessive, but usually found at the front, particularly on the kerb side from impacts with tree branches and so on.

The windows have been masked up to allow painting the opening mechanisms and frames:

Lots of windows!!!

Finally in this update, I've been working on the figures that will populate the bus interior, so let us first start with the conductor:

Here you see him with the first fittong of the belts for the ticket mahcine and change bag. These were all made from tamiya tape. The wide straps will be painted black and I'll be adding some silver clasps and hooks using some leftover cockpit PE from the spares box. I'm quite pleased with how the ticket machine came out. I salvaged some scraps from the spares box, including some old PE for the really small details.

The rest of the passengers are a motley assortment:

The faces have received and initial oil wash, which will need some touching up to remove the various "black eyes" that some of them appear to have acquired! The shinyness is from the oil washes they've received after the matt paint had been applied. There are two versions of the same figure, but I'll put one upstiars and one downstairs to keep them apart so its less noticable. Pity there aren't any more sitting dwon figures in this collection. Personally I think the bloke in the hat is rather supicious, sitting with his hands in his pockets liek that with so many women around!!!

[Guest]

Yep! How many people!

Excellent work so far. The conductor is spot on!

[Guest]

This is looking amazing, and coming together a lot quicker than mine!!!!

Cheers, Andrew

[flyjoe180]

Great work, those figures are all very nicely done

[papa 695]

Very nice work on the figures Andrew should really bring the bus to life when completed

[Guest]

Been a busy week so thought I'd take a few snaps to record the progress. Since I last posted, the lower desck has been completed, its roof added and the upper deck added. The figures have been finished and put in place. The wheels have also been attached and the underside weathered using washes and pigments. The underside of the rear deck has been extensively "muddied up has have the wheel arches.

I've built up a simple base using an old picture frame with plaster of paris infil, a layer of black emery paper to represent the tarmac road, some milliput to put kerbstones in and then black stained claycrete to represent the tarmac coated pavement. Some leaf litter and grasses have been added to give it a bit more life.

The outer panels have been primed, silvered, kleared, hairsprayed, overcoated and then distressed. They have now been assembled around the core and weathered some more.

Yet to do: windows need putting in and decals need sorting out. Having some issues witht he decals - the yellow text isn't thick enough to show up over the green paint. I'm goign to try again on the works colour printer on transparency mode to see if I can get it to lay down a thicker payer of ink.

So now for the photos - they were taken quickly so alignment is a bit out in a couple of them and the lighting a bit dodgy!

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This is a seriously dirty bus

I think I might have overdone the distressed paintwork on the upper deck panels, but the photos I found really do show the paintwork in as pitiful a condition!

[Guest]

Very nice so far!

You are nearly to finish...

[flyjoe180]

This is awesome

[eddiesolo]

I looked through this thread and thought I had commented...obviously not. This is a wonderful build, really looks the photograph, excellent weathering and the figures add life to the model.

Superb build and a fave for me.

Si