On the Bus!
Entry posted by KH1
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No blog for months and now another one - just like ..........
Have been meaning to add a bit more road transport at the town end in fact I actually fancy a traffic jam just to show how efficient the railway if! Getting WW1 period vehicles is in 1:43 is not easy, so tired of waiting for me to get around to a complete scratch build I was seduced by a Corgie Thornycroft bus. This is unusual in that it is actually 1:43 but is I think based on a 1925 model. The other big problem is that I absolutely hate seeing shiny die cast models on otherwise very good layouts - drastic action was called for.
Unfortunately I just got stuck into it and forgot to take a before pic but if you are really interested a quick search on Corgie Thornycroft J type should work - it was a rather nasty brown!
It did not give in easily but I soon had a rather alarming number of bits which when attacked with Nitromors ended up like this;
I have used the London Transport Museums 'battle bus' as a reference and have made various modifications to make it resemble this more closely and to make the detail much finer. First the easy bit - boarding the windows;
Then I hacked off various bits such as the railings on the top and wheel arches and have replaced these with much finer versions soldered up from brass and Nickle Silver. Next up were the wheels which were far to modern being full of air! After a good trawl through my junk box I was not able to find any suitable wagon wheels so out with various pieces of brass tube and rod. Unfortunately cutting the tube was not as easy as I would have liked. I had intended to part them off on the lathe but my parting tool was completely blunt and is refusing to be persuaded to be otherwise. I ordered a new indexable version but took too long to arrive so improvised. I cut the rims and tyres as close as best I could with a hack saw then faced off on end in the lathe. With a flat bit I then drilled a scrap piece of timber to the appropriate depth and then filled away until the tube was flush with the timber. Not exactly precision engineering but got it to .1mm which I was more than pleased with.
I really regretted having started this when it came to soldering the spokes but I think the end result is rather good. Next pic shows the wheels united with the chassis. The bonnet has been re-profiled and the massively over scale cab front has been replaced;
Only mud guards, head lamps, rear wheels, steering wheel, gear lever and a bit of painting to go!
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