My new project - London K class trolleybus in 1/43

[Mister Spoons]

 

As I currently don't have space for a layout I'm building more compact items; the alternatives would be modelling in a smaller scale which with my eyesight would not be too satisfying, or sacrificing originality for display space, and the Idea of building a 1SUB or a 1HAL has lilited appeal; I did consider building a G23 stock car, as used on the old South Acton shuttle, but although it ran only about 2 miles from where I lived as a kid I have no recollections of it - I do however remember the London trolleys on routes 657 and 667, and chose to model the K class (as used on the 657) as the treatment around the front windows was simpler; if this model is a success perhaps my next model will be the L3 a la 667.....

 

The sides have been cut from 30 thou plastikard using modified drawings I bought maybe 20 years ago and recently came across, the nearside platform area has not been cut out yet to protect a very fragile piece between the real wheelarch and platform....

 

I'll post more images as work progresses

 

Regards

 

Dave

[ThePurplePrimer]

Watching this one with interest

[Tony Davis]

Wonderful - I used to love Trolleybuses, this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/8050359@N07/5232514764/ shows the bus stop where I used to board with my mum when we went to visit my nan.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Tony

[Mister Spoons]

 

Have made some progress with the trolley;

 

lower deck floor cut, along with front and rear bulkheads; I'm quite pleased with the rear panel too.

 

If you look closely at the offside side I've added the drivers door lock and drivers step.

 

As I have a couple of days off this week I'm hoping to have something three dimensional to show for it!

 

Regards

 

Dave

Edited March 25, 2014 by Mister Spoons

[Mister Spoons]

Hi all,

 

Its been a few days since my last post, and I've now started assembly; I'm now working in three dimensions!

 

 

 

 

I'm very pleased with the front lower panel and am now going to start on the upper deck front; I'll create a laminate as with the lower deck - there's three layers on that.7

 

As for the rear corners, I shall be using 10 thou plastikard for the curved panels from inside the shell and skim from the outside with car body filler, which sands at a similar rate to the styrene sheet;

 

I've created the destination blinds and adverts and I've just had a scan of an original blind set sent to me which I will have a play with too.

 

Regards

 

Dave

[Mister Spoons]

When the Plastic Weld fumes get too much I'm working on these

 

 

the original file is far too big to post here so this is a much smaller jpeg, the file I am working on is huge; I'm using .bmp format and scaling on the printer for clarity and crisp lines, I've got two different sets to choose from, and will upload the other when it's finished.  A mixture of Kingsway John's 1/24 posters that he drew for the Revell Routemaster kit, and my own homegrown efforts. The blinds I am particularly pleased with - my initial try at these was less than satisfactory but these are OK. Some of the colours are slightly modified from the real thing as when printed there was a noticeable dither effect, too much like a grainy newspaper photograph........

[Suddaby]

Following this with interest - looks really good so far. I wondered if you have a photo we can see of the real thing? Kevin

Edited April 1, 2014 by Suddaby

[Tigermoth]

Excellent job.

[Mister Spoons]

 

 

 

This is the same type as I am modelling; you can ride the real thing at the East Anglia Transport Museum too!

[Suddaby]

Thanks for that Mr S. I love those 6 wheelers. We didn't have any in Hull, though we did have the Coronations, which were quite revolutionary for the time. Unfortunately we didn't see them in East Hull on routes 64 and 68. One of the occupational hazards of travelling that way was North Bridge, over the River Hull. Trolleys frequently de-wired, and we'd be sat on the bridge in the dark while the conductor sorted it out, with his long bamboo pole.

 

Kevin

[micknich2003]

 Kevin, here is a "Coronation" trolley, and unusualy on Princes Avenue route. You will remember the area from the "Posh" school you went to. I remember Botanic Crossing from when I worked in the shop Jan 1966 to Feb 1969.

[SRman]

I am still awaiting arrival of a Little Bus Company resin K2 trolleybus kit in 4mm scale. Much easier than a scratchbuild in 7mm scale but any research the OP has done or information supplied here by others may be of help to me when mine arrives!  

[Mister Spoons]

@ Suddaby; there's a real presence on the road with the six-wheelers, far more than a four-wheeler of the same dimensions - compare a London RML with a Trolleybus and you will see what I mean!

 

@ SRMan, is Tony taking orders for his LBC K class again, or is it a pre-order situation?

 

If you need any info on London trolleys just ask! I've a pretty comprehensive archive of books and diagrams and I am in touch with the author of some definitive LT trolleybus books, who has kindly sent me some wonderful scans of original blinds from Isleworth Depot, and has invited me to visit him, which I am looking forward to; his knowledge of the subject is vast and in tremendous detail.

 

Meanwhile here is a couple of pics of progress; the rear end has been filled and smoothed, it still needs work but that will be once the shell is in primer. I'm currently working on the front upper deck section and then it will be the front and rear domes. These will be integral to the body to minimise joints in the model, the central section of the roof can then be simply 'plugged in', but that will be the final stage of assembly. My plan is to complete the shell, prime, do any remedial work, and then paint the shell. This can then be put on one side for the paint to properly harden while making the interior components, seats, staircase etc.

 

I'm going to use the PC Models trolley pole kits and build the roof detail as this separate unit, with gantry, trolley planks and ventilators etc.

 

 

 

Regards

 

Dave

[Jon Fitness]

I'll be following this with interest. I'm currently ploughing through the construction of a 1:43 Wistow Models PD1kit in brass. It looks like if I want any further buses in this scale scratchbuilding is the only option as kit manufacturers seem blind to 1:43 scale.
I'll be making notes!!  
Cheers
Jon.F.

Edited April 2, 2014 by Jon Fitness

[Mister Spoons]

 

 

Last shot of the day, I'll not have too much time for things plasticky until the weekend now but I think progress has been good today, front 'tween decks panel and headlight shells done

[Suddaby]

Copy of Botanic crossing.jpg

 Kevin, here is a "Coronation" trolley, and unusualy on Princes Avenue route. You will remember the area from the "Posh" school you went to. I remember Botanic Crossing from when I worked in the shop Jan 1966 to Feb 1969.

I do indeed remember the area Mick, having spent a number of years "imprisoned" just round the corner. Seem to think you spent most of your time fending off my thieving colleagues!!! I don't think I ever got to ride a Coronation, as I lived Holderness Road, and Grandma lived up Anlaby Road, later Hessle Road - routes 64/68, 69, 70. Happy days!

Hope your keeping well and looking forward to retirement.

 

Nice to see it coming together Spoons!

 

Kevin

Edited April 2, 2014 by Suddaby

[Mister Spoons]

If anyone is interested in seeing the K-Class in its natural environment here's a little film of trolleybuses in the area I lived in, just a few minutes walk from the Chiswick flyover, I remember a couple of occasions where the poles departed the wires, flying in all directions, as the 657 and 667 came off the roundabout heading towards Kew Bridge. Must have been either a problem with the overhead, or driver speed! This location is shown on the film, as the vehicles approach a brown building on the right hand side which was the GPO Telephone Exchange - about 18 seconds from the beginning. The background music is old radio themes, I think the first piece was Housewifes Choice on the BBC Light Programme, or as they said then, 'The laite progrem'.

 

Anyway, enjoy!

.

[chrisf]

This is so evocative!  I lived in Acton until 1962 and went to school in Hammersmith. My journey was on routes 660 and 666 and the school was on routes 667 and 655.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Chris

[Mister Spoons]

Glad you enjoyed it Chris! If my current model meets expectations my next trolley will be a Class L3 as used on the 667; more streamlined at the front top deck, and a few detail differences. The real thing was substantially different under the skin to the K, being of chassisless construction. After that I'd like to do the C2 class which ran on the 660/666, with streamlined rear wheel spats....

 

Can't find a picture of the real thing but have a look at Broadway Clives page here: http://www.ipernity.com/doc/broadwayclive/18097977

 

 

Super stuff!

[bobster]

This is great Dave - First class modelling.

 

Cheers, Bob.

[IGRL]

Lovely work. Interesting subject.

[Suddaby]

Hi Mr S,

 

Wondered what you are going to use for wheels?

Do you plan to motorise it?

Where did you/do you get the PC trolley poles from?

 

Sorry questions questions. 

 

Thanks.

 

Kevin.

[SRman]

Mister Spoons: Tony is not currently rerunning the K2 but is always open to requests - that's how he decides what models need to be rerun. In my case, I pre-ordered it last year but Tony forgot to bring it with him when he came to Australia. He still has it on the shelf so was going to send it on when he got back to Halifax. He usually comes to Melbourne for a few days each year but was unable to earlier this year or late last year. His visits are usually timed to coincide with one of our exhibitions or with the AGM of the Model Bus Association of Australia.

 

I built the L3 when that was available. I can post a pic if you wish but I don't want to detract from the main topic of the 1:43 K2.

[Mister Spoons]

 

Not much progress this week due to things of an Ikea nature rearing their ugly heads; I did manage to complete the front dome and rainshields.

 

I started with the false roof and cut it to fit between the bodysides, and shaped it carefully around the window pillars so that the front rainshields were the correct shape, and then left on one side for the bond to set. I then taped up the rainshields to prevent excess filler from sticking to them - Then I set about creating the dome.

 

This was achieved by using plastikard formers one at the back full width, this gives the correct shape to the main part of the roof, two diagonal formers to the front corners, and a central front/rear former at right angle to the first one. the dome is then built up using Isopon P38 as with the corners of the shell; thin layers are better as the filler becomes warm as it cures, the thicker the filler, the warmer it gets - which could warp the plastic! Once the filler has been built up to above the level of the formers it is shaped using a mixture of wet or dry paper, nail file sticks and diamond files. The rain shields on the real vehicle was slightly proud of the dome and creating the effect took a bit of patience!

 

I then cut the false ceiling for the rear dome which will prove even more challenging! I'll be cracking on over the next couple of evenings with any luck, as the weekend is going to be busy with the RT bus events at the museum and in London, but I hope to be on the next stage of the work on Tuesday which is going to be the front mudguards-by comparison to the domes it should be a walk in the park; but I guess it's unwise to take any thing for granted!

 

 

Watch this space!

 

Dave

Edited April 9, 2014 by Mister Spoons

[Mister Spoons]

As predicted little work was done on the trolley over the weekend and I decided to leave the rear dome until after the mudguards, so armed with a sharp blade and some outlandish thicknesses of plasticard I came up with this.....

 

 

the front mudguards are made of 30thou for the 'sides' and the centre section is a strip of 10thou which is pretty tough stuff to work surprisingly, as it has a nasty habit of splitting when you try to curve it too sharply, or make a reverse curve (i.e. an 's' shape; and often will save this act of defiance until you add solvent; shaping the curve round a former and giving it a quick dunk in very hot water does the trick, and this is what I did with my second attempt, after tossing effort number one in the bin in disgust......

 

 

 

there's some small gaps around the edges of the mudguard, particularly on the sweep at the rear of those from mudguards, which I did expect as the solvent evaporated, no big deal; a smudge of P38 will do the trick here! The rear mudguards were simple to create but time-consuming in the cutting as they are made from what I believe is 80thou; they needed to be fairly thick as the lower sections do not follow the tumblehome of the body, and the thickness of the plasticard allowed for the smooth curve to be sanded on those edges adjacent to the body sides. I have also added the holders for the running number plates on each side, and the vertical former for the rear dome. I've now got the way I'm going to proceed with this clear in my head and will most likely get stuck into the dome this evening....

 

A front view to finish, excuse my collection of bottles in the background!

 

 

@ suddaby, I have two options with wheels; either cast white metal one piece, or whitemetal hub + rubber tyre, I am also looking at the plastic nub and tyres that Corgi use on their AEC Regal bus which are quite well detailed, although I'd need to find three of the model in a swapmeet bargain bin, as only the fronts suit my purpose. The trolleypoles are coming from East Lancs Model tramway supplies; they come in kit form and you have to solder them together - I did one for my Brussels PCC and the result is quite effective - I'll need to lengthen the booms and accept that they will not be 100% accurate but they will be pretty close by the time I've butchered them! I am considering whether to motorise as I believe that a faller-type mechanism could be incorporated at even a late stage of construction, there's ample room beneath the floor for such a thing to power the forward of the two rear axles, the rearmost would be trailing - and the faller steering mechanism could easily fit under the front end and be completely hidden from most viewing angles. Sadly I don't have room for a working layout beyond the bookshelf; I do intend to fit some lighting to the model using LEDs as they run cool and will not warp the model.....

 

@ SRMan; yes, please do post a pic of the L3 trolley, I'd like to see that!