Rapido to announce 1/76 UK bus at scan party

[royaloak]

has anyone said Guy Wulfrunian?

[adb968008]

You can do that with Faller:

 

https://www.faller.de/App/WebObjects/XSeMIPS.woa/cms/page/pid.14.18.39.48/lg.en/ecm.p/car-system.html

 

You can have "pointwork" to change route stop start etc.

 

Keith

The one I saw didn't need point work or magnets.

 

It was radio controlled, with steering, just like model helicopters, and probably a lot cheaper than the Faller system.

One of the aspects of driving it was the need to control steering, and of course could go anywhere.

[RANGERS]

has anyone said Guy Wulfrunian?

A pal of mine who maintained them at West Riding never actually said that, although he did say something about them, it sounded like he was questioning their parentage...

[phil_sutters]

The one I saw didn't need point work or magnets.

 

It was radio controlled, with steering, just like model helicopters, and probably a lot cheaper than the Faller system.

One of the aspects of driving it was the need to control steering, and of course could go anywhere.

There is a thread here on radio controlled controlled vehicles - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/116390-small-radio-controlled-trucks/

[melmerby]

The one I saw didn't need point work or magnets.

 

It was radio controlled, with steering, just like model helicopters, and probably a lot cheaper than the Faller system.

One of the aspects of driving it was the need to control steering, and of course could go anywhere.

Sounds like it needs too much human input to me.

Just think of the problems with model railways if there was no track and the trains could go anywhere

 

Keith

[royaloak]

A pal of mine who maintained them at West Riding never actually said that, although he did say something about them, it sounded like he was questioning their parentage...

I used to be a driver for West Riding at Wakefield but well after the Wulfs had departed, it was Sherpas, National 1 and 2s, Lynxes, VRs and Olympians for me.

[RANGERS]

I used to be a driver for West Riding at Wakefield but well after the Wulfs had departed, it was Sherpas, National 1 and 2s, Lynxes, VRs and Olympians for me.

Your timing was impeccable, although if you had had the pleasure on a regular basis, you'd probably also have an Olympic gold for arm wrestling. Such was the effort required to keep them in roughly the direction you wanted to go, West Riding drivers of that era were never ones to be messed with, including the women!

[coachmann]

Quite why people thing a new entrant into the model bus world would produce a Routemaster or Atlantean or Leyland bodied PD2 or Bristol K, models that have been done to death already, is beyond me.

 

Anbrico etc barely touched on the pre-war Municipal buses and so EFE and Corgi didn't either. No doubt they were sending built up kits to China for copying.  But considering so many municipal fleets were still running pre-war buses during the time when BR was still into the early logo and had only just adopted the late logo, it surprises me why we see so few representative buses. Leyland TD5 with Leyland body would be a good start but I doubt that will happen.

Edited April 28, 2017 by coachmann

[melmerby]

  Leyland TD5 with Leyland body would be a good start but I doubt that will happen.

 

Is there one at Wythall?

 

Keith

[dibber25]

Quite why people thing a new entrant into the model bus world would produce a Routemaster or Atlantean or Leyland bodied PD2 or Bristol K, models that have been done to death already, is beyond me.

 

Anbrico etc barely touched on the pre-war Municipal buses and so EFE and Corgi didn't either. No doubt they were sending built up kits to China for copying.  But considering so many municipal fleets were still running pre-war buses during the time when BR was still into the early logo and had only just adopted the late logo, it surprises me why we see so few representative buses. Leyland TD5 with Leyland body would be a good start but I doubt that will happen.

You're right, of course, but........Jason has been known to take on something that's already available IF he thinks he can do a MUCH better job of it - the Budd RDC, for instance and the F-40PH. Nevertheless, I think it'll be something that's readily related to the West Midlands at the time he was living and studying there. For once, I haven't the slightest inkling what that might be. (CJL)

[ian]

I think there might be a clue here:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/118446-jasons-2017-mystery-tour/page-4&do=findComment&comment=2579780

 

Or is it just another Rapido red herring?

[Hilux5972]

I think there might be a clue here:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/118446-jasons-2017-mystery-tour/page-4&do=findComment&comment=2579780

 

Or is it just another Rapido red herring?

I hope it's not, that's an ugly bus! A classic Routemaster is what deserves a model like no other!

[gc4946]

In 2003, he was studying for a PhD at the University of Birmingham

 

http://cprailmmsub.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/interview-with-jason-shron-of-rapido.html

 

Possible candidates for vehicles could be:

 

Metrobus

Leyland Lynx

Dennis Trident/ALX400 bodywork

low-floor Optare Spectra

Volvo B10BLE/Wright bodywork

 

Fleetlines were withdrawn by 1997 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/8050359@N07/5373375347

Edited April 29, 2017 by gc4946

[wombatofludham]

I hope it's not, that's an ugly bus! A classic Routemaster is what deserves a model like no other!

 

Heresy! The Rotmaster is an over-rated over engineered heap.  The Birmingham Standard is iconic even if the WMPTE used them to replace our beloved trolleybuses in Walsall!

[RussellD]

I think there might be a clue here:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/118446-jasons-2017-mystery-tour/page-4&do=findComment&comment=2579780

 

Or is it just another Rapido red herring?

 

The "New look" Birmingham standard buses have already been produced in 1:76, see http://www.forwardmodels.net/ although they seem to have gone very quiet recently.

[37114]

I would love it to be a WMPTE Fleetline but suspect a D9 will win the day..

[melmerby]

I would love it to be a WMPTE Fleetline but suspect a D9 will win the day..

Here's a list of sorts of what has been around in the past:

http://www.modelbuszone.co.uk/efe/operators/westmididx.html

http://www.modelbuszone.co.uk/efe/operators/midlandredidx.html

 

Keith

[TheSignalEngineer]

I would love it to be a WMPTE Fleetline but suspect a D9 will win the day..

Or a D7? Don't know of a model of that available and an earlier timeframe than the D9. Around from about 1956.

[John M Upton]

It'll be another Routemaster.

 

Yawn.....

[roythebus]

Whilst I agree with the sentiment, having spent 30+ years in road transport I would have to say its exceptionally rare for a bus to be referred to by its body builder and even when it is, its usually coaches which are referred to as such. Where operators have their own model references - RM, TD etc - they would be used but this now seems to have fallen out of fashion. More often than not its a Dennis, Volvo etc. More modern vehicles may be referred to by their model name - Pointer, Enviro etc - but very rarely is it anything else.

 

As I think I'm right in saying you could count the number of KSWs bodied by anyone other than ECW on the fingers of one hand, and still have enough fingers left to accurately keep tally of the number of rings on the Olympic flag, I think its fair to say KSW pretty much says what it is!

 

I recently rebuilt GKE68 , ex Chatham & District, a 1939 Bristol K5G with Weymann bodywork.

 

As some have said, you can't really say "I'd like a nice Atlantean"; the body styles were totally different from one operator to another, even with the same operator when different batches ere built. Probably the only "universal" buses were the Tilling group post-war Bristol buses with Eastern Coach Works bodies, but even then there were detail differences. At least these were seen all over the country, even venturing into London with Eastern National and Thames Valley. Later "common" buses would be Leyland Nationals, Metrobuses and Titans. Olympians had a variety of body styles. Midland Red buses were only found in well, the Midland Red area, except of course their motorway coaches.

 

There's been so many models of the RT and RM buses I don't think another would sell that well.

[Dave47549]

Fleetlines were withdrawn by 1997 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/8050359@N07/5373375347

 

Correction, three survived to the following year. The last two went in July '98.

Edited May 1, 2017 by Dave47549

[rapidotrains]

has anyone said Guy Wulfrunian?

 

I sincerely hope ours would run better.....

[rapidotrains]

Here's some insight into our bus launch from the horse's mouth, as I am (shamefully) the only British bus enthusiast at Rapido. I'm working to convert Bill, and then I will move on to the rest of them.

 

I think that whatever we produce is bound to disappoint a lot of people as it's not "their" bus. Say we choose to produce a PD2, there are so many body variations that our MCW-bodied PD2 could bear absolutely no resemblance to an all-Leyland PD2. There really was such a huge variety. I can usually spot a PD3 or a Regent V or one of the other obvious buses at a glance, but with a lot of buses you actually need to know the fleet numbers in order to tell what the heck that bus is beyond it being a Daimler or a Leyland or whatever.

 

The goal of this first model is to produce a slightly more obscure bus that will get us noticed in the British bus market, and then we can produce something with wider appeal. Say we did want to tackle a Routemaster, as one has never been produced from a 3D scan and I genuinely think we can beat every model except the 1:24 Sun Star (which is a work of art, not a model). If it were our first model, people would take a "wait and see" approach. But if we've already impressed the heck out of my fellow bus enthusiasts with something a bit less mainstream, then they would know to order our Routemaster when we announce it.

 

Most British buses have been done in some sort of model form, so I won't pretend that our first model has never been done before. But, like the Class 156 we're making for RealTrack, Rapido is not afraid to say "we can do a lot better than the competition."

 

-Jason

 

[SRman]

Since many of the classic buses used a common wheelbase, it would be possible to produce that MCW PD2 Jason mentioned, but allow for AEC, Guy and Daimler variations, exposed radiators or 'tin' fronts without compromising the model's basis.

I would like to see a really accurate RT, myself. Although EFE's model has saturated that market, it is a 1990s model with recessed windows and windscreens, moulded platform handrails, thick central assembly pillars and the top deck front window/roof profile has never quite convinced me (I have modified some of my models to correct this). The Routemaster has some similar compromises, and lacks the panel detail below the lower deck side windows. The RM family moulds were revised by EFE later, but that made the front upper deck windows look too shallow and the metal 'land' above them too deep. Corgi OOC's version of the RM has the panelling but still misses something in appearance. As such, both RT and RM families could be improved upon, but I cannot answer whether the market would stand yet another model of either type.

If I am going to guess a model, from Jason's comments and other clues, I would plump for the D9, which is also a model done by OOC. I may be totally wrong ... I hope!

The mention earlier of pre-war types soldiering on well into the later 1950s is also a good point but the bodies on many of these varied considerably in style, even from the same body builders. Add to that that quite a few pre-war chassis were given post-war bodies to replace time-expired or war-damaged bodies, and it would be difficult to select a widely appealing prototype to model. Don;t get me wrong, though: I would love to see some pre-war types produced.

[mikeharvey22]

 

 

The goal of this first model is to produce a slightly more obscure bus that will get us noticed in the British bus market, and then we can produce something with wider appeal.

 

-Jason

 

There is one of these Park Royal bodied Dennis Lancets lurking near to Wythall. The last half cab coaches delivered to East Kent.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/welshpete2007/9805026964

Edited May 3, 2017 by mikeharvey22