JDave Say

Pack 3 , stage 28 is the radiator assembly all these parts are plastic with plenty of detail quite an easy issue to do really , only a small note and that is assembly is ok providing you have plenty of light to work with as all these parts are black which makes studying the assembly guide carefully essential, the two silver pipes are not used at this stage so pop them in your safe place ,, stage 29 finishing and fitting the engine is definitely one of those stages where you need to give yourselves plenty of time calm your nerves make a cuppa take the dog for a walk etc ideally you could do with no distractions, this stage is well noted from the previous release of this wonderful bus basically it one of those stages your going to remember for quite a while but can be done with patience and also gives you a great sense of accomplishment too , noted are especially the black injector pipes and the other black and silver pipes they are fragile and they have labels attached to them to help guide you to where they go on the engine , I cut the white labels off one by one very close to the black pipes then eased the rest of label off the pipe not easy without breaking them but again can be done with care , once the engine is finished you can then attach it to the chassis again orientation is the key to success here especially with the front cross member and it’s at this point that you can also add the black pipe for the power steering part number 25i ,, and the radiator and silver pipes etc , , stage 30 is the full exhaust system once sorted you have almost completed the running gear of your bus ,, and you’ll soon be onto pack 4 👍😊

Pack 3 , stage 25 is starting to build the wonderful AEC Engine with the crankcase and sump flywheel exhaust etc , my notes on this is part number 25i the black power steering pipe it’s very fragile and my advice would be to store away with your other fragile parts obviously this is only in my opinion and you have a choice to build as you like and you are free to use my opinion or not ,,, again the build is a mix of plastic and metal parts and gives you an idea of the size of the engine , stage 26 , is more assembling of the engine and lots more detail is added and by the time this stage is finished it really brings home that this engine has already got lots of detail and tells us there’s more detail to come in a later issue , stage 27 , well what can I say at this stage things really begin to get together we add more length the chassis with the front subframes and we also add the front axel making your bus a rolling chassis which sits on all 6 of its wheels for the first time , points to note would be the axel unscrewing the shock absorbers that has to be done to fix the axel to the chassis the screw holes are hidden by the shock absorbers and are located at the side of the springs , once completed this stage gives great pleasure as you have something major to show ,

Pack 3 stages 22 , 23 , 24 ,stage 22 is the assembly of the drive unit quite an easy stage and gives you a feel of the super detailed plastic parts and also this is when we get a free pair of tweezers to , stage 23 we receive more detail parts for the chassis and we get to fit them onto the chassis , my point of note here would be with part 23D it’s a very fragile plastic pipe that fixes between the gearbox and the tank I have put this piece in my safe box for adding later in the build as it’s fragile and vulnerable and easily broken off when working on the chassis I’ll remind everyone about these small fragile parts at a later stage but for now it’s best if it’s put somewhere safe and easily found for later ( i use a plastic ice cream tub with a lid for the bits n bobs that I keep safe for later on in the build ) , stage 24 the gearbox and connections , this is a mix of metal and plastic parts and my notes here are the black pipes they are a fiddle but once in place I didn’t find this stage too bad , we fix the gearbox to the chassis too and my tip would be make sure you’ve got the orientation correct when fitting to chassis as it can be a little confusing as we’re having to turn the chassis over a few times during these few stages .

Pack 3 starts with stage 21 putting together the last of the two rear wheels and fitting to the off side rear of the chassis which then completes the work for the rear wheels , just a note of caution and that is personally I did leave the rear wheel covers off for the time being and I put them in a safe place for later fitting , this is because I have experienced the rear wheels coming loose with them only being held in place with a single central screw and the fact that you have to physically handle the chassis quite a fair bit and they have in the past needed tightening on several occasions and removing the caps can be quite difficult so I’ve found it helpful to leave them off for the time being but please put them safe for later fitting .

Hi wyatt , as far as I know the red for the wheels is INDIA red , I’ve actually been trying to find a colour code match to it in model paints so then I could give a more in depth answer, I’ve asked around and I am sure someone will know , it maybe worth taking one of the wheels of the model to a model shop who are specialist in the different model paints to ask their advice , sorry I can’t be more specific at this moment , best wishes , JDave .

Wow James looks stunning really like the way you have captured the textures in the flooring , originally would have been a cork like material anti slip , love the replacement of the screws too in those kickplates with pins , would you be willing to share with us both the type of paint or wash that you used for the floor and size of those pins please , many thanks for sharing your photo with us 👍👍

Hi mark yes it does appear that you have a front wheel that’s extra instead of a rear wheel , am sure if you contact customer services at Agora as soon as you can they will help supply you with the correct wheel , best wishes .

Here we have stages 18 ,19, 20 which are all wheels and tyres and fitted two of them to the near side of the rear axel , these stages flew by for me I used hot water to soften the tyres about 5 minutes each tyre , this few stages where helped along with the shape of the wheel that fits inside the tyre and the fact that the tyres have to be flexible with being warmed , .. PK 2 , stages 18, 19 , 20 … , as always have fun with your build and if you get stuck we’ll try and help you as much as we can , keep building 👍😊

These next stages are just fabulous they really show you how this lovely model starts to grow both in size and weight and as the previous stage you finally see how the famous Routemaster rear suspension works in the subframe/chassis, PK 2 stages 15 ,16 ,17, .. unfortunately for some reason the photo with the second piece of chassis connected to the fist piece is missing but pretty sure that if needed I can find a photo from a previous build I did a while ago .so for the final photo in these stages I’ve added a stock photo of the chassis so far .

Rear suspension off side and near side and rear axel , a very interesting build indeed and building was fairly straight forward and shows very well how the Routemaster suspension works once added to the rest of the subframe later on in this pack …… pk2 stages 12 ,13 ,14 ,

Hi everyone , firstly seasons greetings to you all hope you’ve had a lovely festive time and personally from me I wish you all the very best of happiness ,health and wealth for 2022 , ok well here goes the build diary for pack 2 , the pack started with the steering gear for the front axel a little tricky to do if your not familiar with vehicle steering parts but found the instructions easy and very informative and for stage 11 of pack 2 I’ve added a few extra photos as follows……..pk2 stage 11 ,

Hi Joel this photo I’ve just put on is the bonnet I built a couple of weeks ago , the gap on yours appears to be slightly larger than mine and I have seen this before on other people’s builds and I have experienced this on one of our buses too , firstly the gap is not that critical at the minute if you try sitting it on top of the N/S wing does it fit almost flat as there is a little room for manoeuvre when we get further into the build later on , I do know that some people have very slightly bent theirs but also know that there is a possibility of it breaking too on the hinges, so I would suggest caution and I’d much rather you try and loosen the hinge screws then try and tighten them up whilst your putting the panels together with your fingers , hope this makes sense , we’ll definitely be reviewing this before the bonnet gets put onto the model which will not be until stage 64 , hope this helps ,

Thank you for this wyatt very much appreciated 👍😊

Hi Wyatt , yes this epic journey begins we’re setting off with a few fairly easy stages hopefully I’ve ironed out any technical problems I had now and I can settle into this fabulous build once again , I am already excited for the next pack to arrive and hopefully the little hints and tips on my videos are helpful and will enhance the red Routemaster bus we are building in this build diary, , , I’ve just heard on the grapevine that I will be doing a second bus with Agora and this second bus will be Modded with all sorts of goodies and a complete change of colour scheme to into a much needed and wanted bus livery of SOUTHEND TRANSPORT ( blue & white ) of the Essex Canvey area of England , it will represent the Last Routemaster in service with them and it was their Showbus so had some interesting features , it was registered as VLT172 and fleet number 102 , I am really excited about this and hope it has a lot of followers on all platforms , am absolutely sure this trip will be a journey of epic proportions that I hope many will enjoy and hopefully we’ll be able to help and point people in the right direction if they wish to have a go at modding their bus or even building a second bus In another livery of their choice , Dave Say .

Hi everyone well here we are with the official build diary for pack 1 stages 1 to 10 , stage one as well as the lovely parts we received a little screwdriver to help us along the way with the build , I personally use wera screwdrivers PH0 , PH00 and PH000 but I also use this little screwdriver too as it’s really handy for getting into small spaces , I’ve built this first pack live on my YouTube channel which I believe has been shared to this group but if you wish to view this it’s available on ,( D S Models & Vintage ) , I also have a Facebook group dedicated to this Routemaster build with approximately 450 members which is ( Build the ROUTEMASTER Model 1:12 Scale ) and there is a wealth of information on there ranging from a simple modification to the more complex plus lots of historical facts and lots of friendly like minded builders of similar models etc , as I’ve built this fabulous bus model nearly three years ago now I’ve also picked up a few hints and tips on both building it and modifying and a few of the tips are included in my YouTube videos , at this point I must point out that I am no expert when it comes to technical issues with computers etc but I am keen to try , you’ll also notice that I use oil on the screws that screw into metal parts that’s just normal 3 in 1 oil available almost anywhere , all that’s needed on that score is to place screw on the end of your screwdriver magnetic of course then simply dip the end of your screw into the oil you only need the tiniest bit it honestly makes the job easier and less risk of breaking the screws in the parts these screws that go into metal are marked on the little bags with an M and for screws going into plastic they are marked with a P , so to follow this text is the Build diary photos , I’ll try to answer your questions as we go along or point you in the right direction for help etc , I sincerely hope you enjoyed this journey with me .

Not got mine yet won’t be long now though 👍😊

Hi Wyatt yep everything is ready to go just need a bus and we’ll be on our way , you know what they say ,, you wait for one bus then all of a sudden two appear , looking forward to the journey with you all 👍

Hi everyone, welcome to what's going to be the most wonderful journey of history and adventure as you join us in this build diary for the iconic LONDON TRANSPORT ROUTEMASTER BUS RM857 in 1\12 scale , hop aboard and together we'll share the journey of nostalgia we'll find out why this incredible bus lasted for so long not only in London but all around great Britain and abroad too , for 60 years this fabulous bus not only proved itself to be a great people mover, it also won the hearts of many as a world beating design in public transport and now thanks to AGORA MODELS we can now replicate this lovely bus as a 1\12 scale model of the classic AEC Routemaster Bus in all its glory of the shiny red paintwork the super detailed interior and engine its working lights sounds and even the classic bell , so ding ding and hold on tight please and hope you enjoy the ride .

Hi wyatt , thank you so much , the Shillibeer Omnibus one is actually my good lady wife’s bus she built it I painted it lots of work involved in that one but just something we had to do as we know the ex owner of this exact real bus that this lovely model represents and have seen it in real life when it was in this livery since then though the owner sold it and it’s now in the safe hands of another bus enthusiast who has recently painted it back to the London Red livery but he has said that he wants to put it back into the Shillibeer livery for when the celebrations begin of the first London bus service by George Shillibeer in a couple of years time ,, lol the knight bus is actually based on the RT London bus the one before the Routemaster and even though that would be fun to build it would also compromise two of the agora routemasters and probably beyond my capabilities. , I have a couple of ideas for the YouTube one that we’ll be building and quite a few modding ideas to try too and the possibility of quests on to if we do a livestream special variety , Dave .

Hi wyatt , thank you for the cool welcome , yes indeed it is me in the latest newsletter , thank you so much for your kind comments, I am very excited about this wonderful journey I hope we’ll all enjoy together with this superb model , it’s going to be an epic build and with a few surprises along the way too .Dave

Hi everyone so who’s looking forward to the classic Routemaster Bus Build , this fabulous large scale 1/12 model is a superb model definitely one of the best if not the best bus models I’ve seen and built that represents the iconic and world famous AEC London Routemaster Bus , from it’s shining red exterior to its warm and homely interior it’s instantly recognisable with just about everyone, this bus model has all the wow factor too with working lights ,bells and sounds a real showstopper to add to anyone’s collection which makes a great talking point especially when you can open the bonnet and have a look at its beautiful AEC 9.6lt Engine , the model is based on the real bus RM857 built in 1961 which is in private ownership preservation by an enthusiast and is regularly used on vintage vehicle rallies in England , the model we will be building will represent the real bus when it was in service in 1966 on the famous route 11 around London , i am looking forward to joining you on this build journey , hold on tight now please ,Ding Ding