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 ,

Pack 10 stage 96 the rear framework , ,and fitting of the roof ceiling and frames etc ,, wow theres lots of parts in this stage please find something to put all the parts and screws in etc so you don’t loose them as you’ll be needing them over the next few stages well this is the last of our frames to be assembled and wow there’s much to do in this stage , so adding details to the rear frame and then using the combination of the screws in the framework around the bus to to connect both the lower and upper decks together , ok the roof I think I’ve mentioned this before but if not here goes , the upper deck inner roof panels are pretty difficult to fix in place as a complete roof and I was fortunately given some invaluable advice on fixing this by my friend Alex who told me he’d thought about it and there’s no reason why this inner upper deck roof cannot be fixed in place in three sections the front section first so you can the manipulate the grab poles inside to the correct holders and then the second section and third section and then the metal framework can fix on the top , I’ve used this method and so has world of Wayne and found it very easy , so carrying on with stage 96 you will need to work around the model pushing the frame carefully into position for the screws especially around the top frame sometimes it’s easier to just loosen a few screws around the areas your working in but don’t forget to retighten these screws afterwards , another thing in this stage is the rear plastic dome if the wire is not in the correct place you will have to undo the rear plastic dome and move the wire to the cutout as in the instructions .,

Pack 10 stage 95 is the rear lower off side frame, quite a quick stage and my only thought on this is try it on your bus and make sure it fits ok with the front framework but don’t fit it yet as all the wiring has to be sorted into different colour groups and that’s in stage 98 when we actually fit this stage onto the bus , fix the window winder on to the bus as you have with all the rest and place the frame safe to one side until needed later on in the pack ,

Build the Routemaster pack 10 stages 93 and 94 I built together as 93 is the cab door and 94 is the off side front frame nearest the drivers cab , stage 93 the cab door is in fact quite a major step in your build as we finally bring together the upper and lower decks and start screwing them together in this stage and in 94 making your model super strong and sturdy , as you may have seen either on here in my photos or on the Facebook group or on my YouTube video I use a board to stand my bus on whilst working on it and also a lazy Susan to turn it around it’s very handy so long as you chock it with something to stop it turning when your working on it , stage 93 the cab door has two groves to slot into top and bottom it’s worth thinking about a tiny amount of lubricant on the sliders if it’s stiff , also whilst putting this stage together we sort a few wires out namely the destination lights at the rear please be very very careful with these as they are very delicate to handle , we also place the front destination cover over the front destination you don’t have to fit all the screws in the cover as this will be coming off at a later stage when we start to fit the front panels and then it will be refitted back on , stage 94 is the drivers side front frame and again it’s worth looking at the next frame next to it just to make sure it fits ok and there’s no paint block or anything to make sure they fit well at a later stage when we tidy the wires up ,

Pack 10 of build the classic Routemaster starts with a little advice on the bell switch see download centre pack 10 , stages 91 and 92 are the near side lower framework, I have used a very tiny amount of superglue on the silver window winders only because my models will be taken to a few shows during next summer so I needed to make sure that everything is vibration proof but normal cabinet home display use you would not need to do this ,ok so onto the frames , the frames are metal and once connected together and then to the bus it gives great strength and a proper shape to your bus , only sticking point I’ve come across in the past is it’s worth while checking the the fit of the frames is perfect before you put them on the bus as I have come across frames that need a little dressing with a gentle filing because of paint especially where they join each other but other than that quite a straight forward couple of stages and when all the frames are on which most of them are after this pack 10 you’ll start to see how heavy and solid this beautiful model is going to be .

I believe Humbrol tinlet number 103 Matt is the nearest for for the yellow band on the Routemaster it’s not a perfect match but very close .

I use Tamiya X7 Red for touching up the screw heads but make sure you stir the paint well before using it , not so sure if it works on scratches though .

Routemaster Pack 9 stage 90 , wow this stage has to be one of the best yet we firstly build the upper deck ceiling frames and attaching them to the u/d ceiling and if you’ve done the special mod of putting your ceiling on as I suggested before you now should have the upper deck frame on top and two sides , some more wiring in this stage too where you can check that everything works but you will have to put both half’s of the bus together side by side on your workspace to do this and don’t forget to turn the switch off before plugging anything in to the circuit , the front windows and destination lights are fitted and then for you big moment of putting the two half’s of the bus together , yes it’s heavy and yes it’s a bit tricky as at this stage you have lots to think about , ok so firstly look under the top deck and find four locating pins and then look on the ceiling of the lower deck and find four locating holes these marry up but please be careful not to trap any wires and your cab will need to line up too as will the back end of the bus , it’s worthwhile taking lots of time at this stage to get things correctly lined up bearing in mind the four locating tabs between the decks , you may find that one or two wires may need to be moved slightly between the decks I have moved all my upper deck wires to the drivers side so there not sitting between the decks , also please be careful when moving your bus as at this stage the two decks aren’t screwed together yet , see you all on pack 10 👍😊

Routemaster pack 9 stage 89 , wow this was a busy stage and really gave lots of progress to our bus , firstly we finished and fitted the lower deck inner roof on making sure to get all the polls lined up with the holders in the roof and the screwing the roof down to the sides etc , this stage improves the strength of the model and certainly makes it more stable to work with although at this stage I must stress about the electrics and in particular the battery box and cables try and protect these by taping them to the bus for now so as not to snag them on anything , secondly the side frames are attached to the upper deck in this stage and in the instructions it mentions that not to tighten too much to give you a little wriggle room for when final finish starts of the framework , also noteworthy at this stage is the upper deck roof inner panel needs the lighting circuit putting in especially if you’ve put your roof together as mentioned in the last stage , after this stage you basically should have two half’s of the bus the lower deck and the upper deck and they will come together in the next stage .

Pack 9 stages 85, 86 , 87 , 88 are the upper deck outer sides framework , these four stages are building the framework for the outer sides of the upper deck , my notes are to make sure that the sliding windows are the correct way round ie the silver on the drop down window frame is upper most and the correct way facing the outside , these stages are also put together off the bus and also I advise you have a build mat or similar available from partworkupgrades so you don’t scratch your paintwork or the windows also make sure your windows stay clean too as cleaning them on the inside is impossible once fitted to the bus , we have three frames to each side and each side has to be screwed together before fitting to bus , I also advise using a tiny bit of three in one oil on the metal screws when connecting the frames together I have a magnetic screwdriver and tend to pick up the screw and just dip the end threads into oil before screwing into the frame , the frames are bent inward slightly near the front of the bus this is normal and follows the natural shape of the Routemaster , also noteworthy is the silver window winders I have used a very tiny bit of glue on mine as our bus will probably be taken to some shows so didn’t want them to vibrate off , have them all facing the same way if you can with the winding handles .

Pack 9 stages 82, 83 , and 84 are the upper deck ceiling panels , ok in the instructions it says that once the roof panels are all together we have to wait until a future stage to fit the completed roof , BUT i have a suggestion made by a friend of mine , basically he suggested that I fit the ceiling panels one by one starting with the front one , so after building the individual panels with the poll holders and the light holders and the stickers in the correct places and NOT screwing them together, the reason for this suggestion is the fact that it’s very difficult to add the completed roof section to the upper deck because you have to also line up all of the upper deck grab polls altogether at once whilst lining everything else up so making these stages very difficult and time consuming and frustrating, now don’t get me wrong here this can be done with the complete roof as I have done this in the past but certainly was taxing to say the least, anyway buy building each roof panel and fitting them individually to the upper deck is far easier to get everything lined up properly as you can get your fingers in without too much stress , I have covered this on my YouTube video and I believe there’s someone in the Facebook group that’s done it too .