Joel's Bus Build

[Richard Gregory]

Looks good, now I know were the small portrait adverts go.

[Joel]

Well the work progresses. I've been bogged down painting/repainting figures. I bought a few dollhouse 1/12 figures and I did manage to find the Hachette set. Takes me about a day or two per figure. Lots of layers and shadows. They each have irises and shiny sclera. 

[Giddykippa]

5 hours ago, Joel said:

Well the work progresses. I've been bogged down painting/repainting figures. I bought a few dollhouse 1/12 figures and I did manage to find the Hachette set. Takes me about a day or two per figure. Lots of layers and shadows. They each have irises and shiny sclera. 

wow your attention to detail is amazing can't wait to see the finished bus... are you on the 12mth plan or the 24mth ?

[Joel]

12 months so just the last 3 to go. Just got #10 and finishing up #9.

[Giddykippa]

wish i had your talent

[Joel]

You are too kind. So much to learn. Love this kit.

[Joel]

Well finally finished most of the characters aboard the bus. I also worked on a couple of really obvious problems: the screw jutting out into the stairwell and the lighting over the stairs having no proper back and being visible from above. I had to remove the "wings" from the lamp shade and glue it in place then insert the LED and patch with filler. The stairwell was easy - just a touch with the dremel and some paint. Needs a second coat but I'm much ,ore pleased.

[Giddykippa]

looks fantastic

[Joel]

Thanks for that. Now comes the hard part. Gotta figure out some way of replacing all the screws with rivet heads.

 

[Giddykippa]

15 minutes ago, Joel said:

Thanks for that. Now comes the hard part. Gotta figure out some way of replacing all the screws with rivet heads.

 

you mean the outer panels ? that's gonna be some task

[Joel]

Ah Rivets.... Well I've been working hard on this one. I looked for premade rivet strips and they are available but would cost almost as much as the entire model. I next tried my standard ponce wheel

 

even if I could get the wheel to run straight with a jig the resulting rivets were mere suggestions and not nice clear rivets. 

[Joel]

Trial number 3 I downloaded some STL of real rivets and shrunk them down and then printed dozens of rivets using a resin printer. Fantastic results but getting them to reliably stick to the plastic or metal strips or drill multiple holes in a straight line was very time consuming. I ended up using them for the windows and a few places where needed but for  the majority this was not a realistic option. 

[Joel]

And the winner is.... I built a jig out of two pieces of plexiglass. I glued in a couple of guides to keep the strip styrene straight and using a drill press drilled a series of holes the size of a pin. I went completely through the upper piece of plexiglass and about .05" into the lower. I then took a bunch of regular pins and rounded off their tips with a dremel tool. I put in a strip of styrene and then using a small hammer or piece of wood whacked the pin into each hole until the strip was done. Then primed and painted.

[Joel]

After epoxying on the various panels I am now trying to glue on these plastic strips with a bit of cyanoacrylate. Her is a small corner started:

[Giddykippa]

6 minutes ago, Joel said:

After epoxying on the various panels I am now trying to glue on these plastic strips with a bit of cyanoacrylate. Her is a small corner started:

Wow your attention to detail is astounding that looks so much better than screws im looking forward to how you tackle the roof

[Joel]

Well GiddyKippa I finally started the roof. I am using 1/8  1/2 round and then the 1/8" rivet strips on each side. I've seen similar on Real Routemaster roofs. Also added two more in keeping with the real roofs. Quite easy and way better than the staggered row of screws provided.

[Giddykippa]

WOW what a difference that makes you would think you were looking at the real bus i take my hat off to you joel the work you have put in to your bus is nothing short of amazing

[Giddykippa]

11 hours ago, Joel said:

Well GiddyKippa I finally started the roof. I am using 1/8  1/2 round and then the 1/8" rivet strips on each side. I've seen similar on Real Routemaster roofs. Also added two more in keeping with the real roofs. Quite easy and way better than the staggered row of screws provided.

you should've videoed your build that would've been fascinating to watch

[Joel]

Here's the completed roof and an almost complete side view.

[Giddykippa]

2 hours ago, Joel said:

Here's the completed roof and an almost complete side view.

that looks phenomenal i can't understand why they didn't supply strips like that for the roof  it is a million times better how did you hold all the panels in place did you glue them ?

[Joel]

Yes just glue. I used 2 part epoxy and screwed the panels in place (every second or third screw) when set I removed the screws and then attached the styrene strip (prepainted) using cyanoacrylate. Way easier than I thought it would be. The 1/2 rounds on the roof were the trickiest as the didn't want to bend so much so I used a heat gun to decrease the stress on the glue. I had to be careful not to melt the model windows. If I was doing it again I would make a form and form each roof rib before painting and applying to the model. 

[Giddykippa]

21 minutes ago, Joel said:

Yes just glue. I used 2 part epoxy and screwed the panels in place (every second or third screw) when set I removed the screws and then attached the styrene strip (prepainted) using cyanoacrylate. Way easier than I thought it would be. The 1/2 rounds on the roof were the trickiest as the didn't want to bend so much so I used a heat gun to decrease the stress on the glue. I had to be careful not to melt the model windows. If I was doing it again I would make a form and form each roof rib before painting and applying to the model. 

i thought maybe that would be the way still a massive task what paint did you use ? it's a perfect match

[Joel]

I used Tamiya Red #8. I actually had trouble matching until I changed the primer to a very pale grey. Worked way better.