JDave Say

Build the Agora 1/12 scale classic Routemaster RM857 stages 120 and 121 the final stages of this wonderful large scale museum quality model of Londons iconic world wide known bus , ok so in these final stages we have the side advertising stickers and the indicators and the mirrors and front stickers and the windscreen wiper , my notes are that it’s suggested that you could very very carefully lay the bus on its side on something that’s very soft such as a build cushion or a thick towel etc I use this method and have had some great results but I must stress that if you don’t feel confident to do this without injury to yourself or your beautiful model then please don’t this model is very heavy and can easily slip out of your hands and you wouldn’t want to risk scratches on that lovely red paintwork , so with that caution in mind there is another way to apply your side adverts , find some magnetic paper or tape and you could stick the tape or magnetic paper to the back of your adverts and then carefully apply them to your model , on your model just as the real bus there is a advertisement guide strip that’s just below the upper deck window strip the top of your advert should align with that strip for the length of the advert along each side of the bus , one of my reasons for suggesting the magnetic tape to put your adverts on with is because at a later date you may wish to change them for other adverts that are available elsewhere , ok onto the indicators at the front corners of the bus these indicators are ment to be loose they are mounted in real life in rubber and bend backwards if the hit anything and rarely break off , ok so the very last stage then is 121 is the mirrors for the front corners the windscreen wiper and front stickers , the window wiper is plastic and needs care to attach to the drivers window , the stickers are as I mentioned above for you to choose how you apply , and the corner drivers mirrors are a tad fiddly and because they stick out a little make them vulnerable to breakage and when you’ve attached all the above items , congratulations you have built a Beautiful British iconic Double Decker London Transport Routemaster bus , your model came with some black plastic blocks to stand your model on to display it at its best some fellow builders of this wonderful bus have enhanced their pride and joy by adding wooden plinths , mirrors to see the underside , underside lighting , remote control and power mods , dust covers , display cabinets and even a Bluetooth remote and many many more modifications are available , so sit back and give yourselves a very well earned pat on the back and enjoy your model , and watch out shortly for my modded Southend Transport Routemaster build series coming soon .

Build the classic Routemaster pack 12 stage 119 fitting the battery box door inner and outer , no screws are needed in this stage hurray , ok so the internal black plastic battery door simply fits into the bottom tabs and then hinges up and the catch fits into the top of the battery box and then the red metal panel fits over the magnets with the panel strip at the bottom and then we’re on to the closing last two stages of this beautiful model .

Build the classic Routemaster pack 12 stages 117 & 118 off side lower deck panels with the iconic ( London Transport ) fleet name transfers , ok so these two stages more or less mirror the near side lower panels except for a couple of things which are different to the near side mainly in stage 117 the difference is the two extra holes in the panel one for the fuel filler cap and the other for the oil reservoir filler cap with the opening hatch panel , the other small difference is where the cab fits and the front wheel arch , again the only different screws we use is the KM ones for the drivers step , stage 118 is the panel over the rear wheel arch and up to the battery box and this my friends concludes all the screwed on panels and only now leaves small details to be added to your model in the next few stages including the battery box door which is held in place with magnets and the the mirrors and front indicators and external advert stickers .

Build the classic Routemaster pack 12 stages 114 / 115/ 116 offside upper deck panels, ok here we go the last side that you’ll be putting panels on your bus is this one I actually didn’t film these stages as there where pretty much the same as the other side of the bus but I did take a few photos of this Side , you’ll probably find this side is a little more difficult to line up the holes in the panels especially near to the rear of the bus on the last upper deck panel , I had to file a little corner that wouldn’t fit probably on the panel itself but once these are fitted there’s only a couple more panels to go on this side ,

Build the Routemaster pack 12 stage’s 112 and 113 the near side lower deck panels ( London Transport ) in these stage’s we have the two lower deck panels with the beautiful gold traditional London Transport transfers on and all the legal lettering, as with all the panels it’s worth taking your time and enjoying the build it certainly is screwmagedham with all the NM red screws that have to go in but that’s half the fun , I use a small magnetic mat to put the screws on before I attempt to put the on the bus I also use a Wera PH0 with a 40mm shaft to apply these screws to the bus but realistically it’s personal choice as to which screwdriver you prefer and are comfortable with . On the front panel you’ll find the step which has to be the correct way round to fit and is screwed in with different screws ( KM ) and you’ll also have the garage / route number plate holders for the D 13 , you’ll probably be used to finding the panel strips by now but just in case your not the panel strips are all numbered on the backs which of course are matched up with the numbers in the instructions , in the back panel the wheel arch is the first to be screwed in but I’d suggest you don’t tighten it fully until it’s all lined up with the other panels you’ll also have a gold screw to put in the letter T on the transfer, once this stage is finished you’ve got one complete side of the bus finally finished with only a few small details remaining and you can then move onto the off side or other side of the bus for more panel work , .

Build the classic Routemaster pack 12 stage 111 the rear near side destination panel and blind and strips , in this stage it’s the last of the upper deck near side panel but includes the blind etc for over the rear platform entrance , note that the sticky pads where actually stuck on the wrong side therefore they have given us extra pads to stick on the correct side as per these instructions in stage 111 which sticks the light pad to the back of the blind this is then held in place with four mm screws that screw into the frame then the panel goes over this to surround the destination blind , unfortunately for those of us who would like to modify their model with a different destination you’d need to remove the printed surface of the acrylic to perhaps put a modded blind behind the glass , I’ll be attempting to do several mods to the blue and white Routemaster that am building and hopefully we’ll be covering this area too with a possible mod .

Build the Routemaster pack 11 stage’s 109 and 110 are near side upper deck panels one thing to note is looking at the back of all the strips they are all numbered which helps identify them as to where they go on the build and as all the other panels to complete the bus are in the next pack I’ll see you all shortly in pack 12 take care all .

Build the Routemaster pack 11 stages 107 & 108 rear wall panel details and fixing rear wall to bus with lights and indicators etc , building these two stages makes the rear of the bus absolutely complete and finished and looks absolutely stunning as far as the back of a bus is concerned and definitely not ugly at all as the old saying goes , my notes are make sure you get the indicator lights the right way and once you try fitting the panel switch the lights on just in case when fitting to the frame it shorts then you can insulate with tape etc before final fixing .

Build the Routemaster pack 11 stage’s 105 and 106 rear upper deck destination blind and panel and rear upper deck emergency door , the rear destination needs the light pad fixing to the inside back panel and again test to see if it lights up ok , lots more of the NM screws and two small yellow strips too , the emergency door has two hinges and a handle that opens which is correct to the real bus ,

Build the Routemaster pack 11 stages 103 and 104 are the rear domed roof panel and the front corner panels either side of the front destination, I’ve put these two stages together as it’s easier to explain and when done is very impressive care is needed with your screwdriver as the paintwork scratches very easily again slow and steady wins the race giving yourself plenty of time for all those NM screws and getting your panels lined up correctly , I pretty much did most of the near side of the bus panels prerecorded on YouTube as needed lots of concentration I also laid the bus on its side very carefully laid on the large build cushion from one of the partworks accessory company’s ,( just a warning at this stage and right through to the finish of your bus build its very heavy ) and needs handling with care , extras that I use for the build are a strong board a build cushion and a lazy Susan and a model building lamp ,

Build the Routemaster pack 11 stage 102 is arranging the wiring and fitting the rear framework of the bus and most of the parts that are supplied with this stage will be used in the next stage 103 ie the rear roof panel etc , this stage ( 102 ) is fitting the last of our framework to the rear of the bus , my advice is as always take your time on this stage it’s crucial to get it right because of the fit of the panels in the next stage and future ones as if the framework isn’t right the panels on your bus won’t line up properly and also it’s a good idea whilst putting the frame on the turn on your electronics and the lights just to check that nothing shorts out on your lighting circuit with all the lights that run through the metal framework etc also it’s a good time to check if you need the N cable extension that’s supplied for the upper deck lights before connecting the frames, I used some insulation tape on the green bar that hold the stop and tail lights but still managed to have a short on just one of the rear back light screws when I put the outer panel on so it’s quite sensitive to shorting out .

Build the Routemaster pack 11 starts with stage 101 the front grill and front rain shields , the front grill is just below the destination blind and when opened it allows access to the thumb wheel that when moved makes the destination at the front of your bus to scroll up or down depending on your choice of destination , unfortunately as yet there is no method to change the destination both at the rear entrance door or on the rear of the bus but this could change in the near future depending on the commercial modding company’s, I’ll keep you updated on that one .

Pack 10 stages 99 and 100 , the third roof panel and the finishing strips and front window trim , we’re motoring along now another roof panel and strips and front trim , carefully does it now slow and steady wins the race so they tell me , this pack was full on wow it’s certainly coming along now and heck she’s really heavy too , happy building everyone see you in pack 11 😊.

Pack 10 stage 98 organising the wiring and another roof panel and fixing rear lower off side frame, wow this stage is a busy one even I had some help for this stage by my friend Alex ( Horlixs ) whilst I was building this stage live on YouTube , gosh certainly was a full on stage lots to do but at last we do sort the majority of the wiring out , so before this stage look at the back of the framework to check where the wires run behind the frame , once the wires are grouped into there respective colours and in the correct position with the frame it’s a case of attaching the frame and hopefully the homework we did before with testing if the frame would fit has payed off and you’ll be able to line everything up and using the screws from the earlier stages to fix to the bus , then we’re onto the next roof panel and take great care when fitting this ,

Ok so pack 10 stage 97 and yes we have a beautiful red front roof panel rain shields , one of my notes was the rain shields are in two lots 4 of them ( f2 ) are lower deck and 6 of them (f1 ) are upper deck , you’ll also need the rear interior platform wall from stage 60 and the rear window from the last stage , fixing the rear platform wall onto the bus is a little easier if you have the rear of the bus close to the edge of your work bench or alternately you can place a build cushion and carefully lay the bus on its side and fit on that way to access the underside screws , the handrails inside need checking for alignment , then we’re onto the front roof panel and strip , ok at this stage it’s worth taking lots of time as scratch’s can easily happen to your panels , so with your model sturdy and not able to move around easily I use two hands mostly to enter the screw into the panels then when I’ve got a few in all over the panel to make sure it’s lined up then I start to tighten them and finish the stage it’s time consuming but very satisfying once all the screws are in properly, then onto the rain shields on the opening windows ,