1:76 Ford R1114

[D6150]

I'm not sure if these have featured here before, but I recently found the Nimbus range of 1:76 card bus kits on EvilBay. 

This tied-in with a project I've looked at before for a model of an Alexander bodied Ford R1114. This will be based on the Nimbus Leyland Leopard, which I will hopefully be adding windows and an interior to. The main external differences are to the front panel, to suit the Ford's front-mounted engine. 

Fords were quite popular with the Scottish Bus Group in the 1970's and early 80's, replacing the rear engined Albion Viking. Northern Scottish ran around 170 of them I think, and they seem to have worked fairly well as low cost lightweight buses on mainly rural routes. 

If this project goes well, I may be tempted to do a model of the unique volvo B57 that was trialled as a possible replacement for the Ford's in the early 1980's. This lasted into the 1990's with Stagecoach Bluebird in Aberdeen. 

Ken 

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by D6150
Bad spelling...

[Johann Marsbar]

I didn't realise you could still get those kits!

I've got a selection of unmade kits of various types from about 30 years ago sitting in a drawer here somewhere as the bus company I worked for at the time commissioned a selection of vehicles from them.  I did make a few of them at the time but never bothered completing the rest of the things......

[D6150]

3 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

I didn't realise you could still get those kits!

I've got a selection of unmade kits of various types from about 30 years ago sitting in a drawer here somewhere as the bus company I worked for at the time commissioned a selection of vehicles from them.  I did make a few of them at the time but never bothered completing the rest of the things......

Thanks for this. I'm not sure if these are new tbh, the seller seems to specialise in old stock. Lots 1960s and 70s Airfix kits and the like. 

Thanks 

Ken. 

[64F]

This is a bold starting point compared with using the EFE diecast, so I wish you well.  There wasn't much to to distinguish Y-type bodied Ford from a contemporary Leopard apart from panel/cover locations, although the final 15 R1014s got a weird little grille to accommodate the radiator.

 

SBG had 124 11m Fords with Alexander AYS body, over half of these being for Northern.  I've never heard them well spoken of though - the R-Series was a crude chassis at the best of times, and as the Alexander body was substantially heavier than a Duple or Plaxton coach body they were apparently underpowered.  Can't have been much fun in the hills!

 

[D6150]

On 03/04/2023 at 14:09, 64F said:

This is a bold starting point compared with using the EFE diecast, so I wish you well.  There wasn't much to to distinguish Y-type bodied Ford from a contemporary Leopard apart from panel/cover locations, although the final 15 R1014s got a weird little grille to accommodate the radiator.

 

SBG had 124 11m Fords with Alexander AYS body, over half of these being for Northern.  I've never heard them well spoken of though - the R-Series was a crude chassis at the best of times, and as the Alexander body was substantially heavier than a Duple or Plaxton coach body they were apparently underpowered.  Can't have been much fun in the hills!

 

Thanks for this. 

 

Unfortunately the price of EFE y-types is generally higher than I'd like for a bit of a cut and shut exercise. We'll see how I get on. 

 

My parents still remember a trip to London on an Alexander bodied Ford in the early 70's. It was a last minute substitute for the regular motorway coach, and not well suited to the overnight run from Aberdeen to London (bus seats and plenty of noise).... 

 

Thanks 

 

Ken 

[D6150]

A quick update from me, rather than leaving the thread to drift... 

I suspect you could well use the Nimbus kits as the basis of conversions, etc. However (and it's a big one), this is a fair bit beyond my current abilities. The bits of the kit I started ended up as a mess of card and super glue, and I even stuck my fingers together at one point... 

Time for plan B.

On the plus side, I do have a set of 1:76 wheels from RTI with the correct hub design for a Ford. So if I can find a cheap EFE Y type a model of the R1114 could still be possible. 

Ho-hum. 

[64F]

On 28/04/2023 at 20:55, D6150 said:

A quick update from me, rather than leaving the thread to drift... 

I suspect you could well use the Nimbus kits as the basis of conversions, etc. However (and it's a big one), this is a fair bit beyond my current abilities. The bits of the kit I started ended up as a mess of card and super glue, and I even stuck my fingers together at one point... 

Time for plan B.

On the plus side, I do have a set of 1:76 wheels from RTI with the correct hub design for a Ford. So if I can find a cheap EFE Y type a model of the R1114 could still be possible. 

Ho-hum. 

The easiest route to a Northern Scottish Ford R1114 / Alexander Y-type would be EFE 22714, which is a "AY" type body with long-bay windows in Northern Scottish livery.  The vehicle modelled is one of the secondhand Leyland Leopards acquired in the late 1980s to replace the Fords, but with new registration and fleet numbers it could easily be changed to depict one of the dual-purpose Ford R1114 / AY-types (VRG135-144L, JSA105-112N) after they had been repainted into bus livery in the early 1980s.  Image from Flickr:

 

 

If you are looking specifically for a short-bay "AYS" type body then I'd suggest that you model one of the first batch (SRS513-527K, which were actually Ford R226s rather than R1114s) as these were the only ones to have quad headlights like the EFE model.  Despite being buses they were delivered in the predominantly cream coach livery, but received the yellow bus livery about 1980.  This might well have been the type your parents travelled on - that can't have been a comfortable journey!  Another Flickr image:

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by 64F

[RANGERS]

I was once tasked with the enviable job of finding the first four of six gears going up the box on an R1114, and then repeating the exercise again on the way down the box. Having found all four on the way up, it wasn’t quite such a success going down. Third to second was the tricky one and I doubt I’d have found it if Id still been trying now, 33 years later.

 

Needless to say, the examiner wasn’t impressed and failed me, there endeth  my relationship with the beast. I passed a few months later on a Leyland with a very slick and much more civilised six speed ZF box.

 

Thankfully the R1114 is a thing of the past and very few survive, unsurprisingly, and for that the bus and coach drivers of today should be eternally grateful!

[D6150]

Thanks both for the interesting feedback. I will keep an eye on Evilbay for a suitable donor model. 

Ford's bus and coach products seem to have largely disappeared since the early 1990's, which might not be a bad thing from the drivers perspective. I think 1 or 2 have survived from former Scottish Bus Group fleets.

 

A couple of videos I've seen on YouTube featuring an ex-Strathtay R1014 confirm the ultra-floppy gear-shift, which is at odds with ford's car products from the era.

 

Thanks 

[D6150]

So here we have an EFE AY-type in Lincolnshire Roadcar livery. I think this was released about 15 years ago, and it's a Leyland Leopard, even down to the underfloor engine moulded into the base.

The plan now is to convert this into VRG135L, an R226 new to Alexander Northern in 1972. Overall the EFE model is a fairly good match (I think!), with just a few details to alter. I'm going to try and alter the interior to include a representation of the front mounted engine. 

 

Thanks 

 

Ken 

[D6150]

Ok, so in my desire to avoid easy or obvious solutions, here's plan "C" for the R1114. 

I'm now going to use the Nimbus kit (ok  a photocopy), as a blueprint, and have cast a copy of the nose of an EFE y-type in clear resin. To be honest I've always fancied experimenting with 2-pack resin, and this seemed like a really good opportunity. 

I used plasticine as a mould, and just pushed the efe model into it. It seems to have worked fairly well if, albeit not one for the rivet counters.

The plan now is to form a box/chassis from card/plasticard, and attach the resin nose to it. Sides will be card  and the roof done with card/filler.. I've already got correct pattern wheels from Road Transport Images. 

If I can make this work (if!!!), I'm going to have a go at XSA5Y, the unique Volvo B57, and one of the Leyland Leopard based tow-buses. 

 

Thanks 

Ken

[D6150]

Ok so a bit more progress on the bus. Here's the main bit of the floor, and the chassis frame. I'm now debating whether to add air reservoirs and a fuel tank and the like, although they won't be visible once the bus is finished. 

Sides to go on next to make sure they fit ok. 

Hopefully to be finished as VRG135L, as mentioned above. There are a few photos of this bus on Flickr, and it seems to have been moved around a bit, with Huntly, Elgin and Blairgowrie depot allocations. 

[D6150]

I've given into temptation and decided to add some detail to the underside of the Ford. Slightly approximate I'm afraid, based on online copies of photos in period Ford sales brochures. So far we have a diesel tank, and the underside of the battery box, which was just in front of the rear axle on these. Presumably to aid weight distribution with the engine up at the front...

Just air reservoirs, a big air cleaner and the underside of the engine and gearbox to add. Floppy gear lever to follow in the cab...

 

Thanks 

Ken 

[D6150]

A bit more progress...

 

Air reservoirs added, along with the air filter, and boot floor structure at the back. 

 

Engine sump/gearbox housing and radiator is a separate "bit" which I'll glue in once the rest is painted. 

 

Really just the suspension, axles and prop shaft to add now, the on to the interior....

 

Thanks 

 

Ken 

[D6150]

Another quick update from me. Chassis frame and underside of the floor structure painted. Axles and suspension to go on later, plus the prop-shaft. 

I've made a start to the interior as well. I remember Northern Y-types generally having dark red vinyl on the floor, cream laminate on the sides and dark red moquette(?) seats. There may have been a bit of wood effect laminate as well, but nowhere near as much as in contemporary Duple and Plaxton products. 

 

Thanks 

Ken 

[D6150]

Ok so hopefully starting to look a bit more like a bus I hope. Sides now attached to the floor/chassis  and floor drawn out and ready to be cut and dropped in. The downside of building the bus this way is that the interior will need to be finished before the roof goes on... Maybe something to remember next time.

Quite a lot of the info on the interior of the bus has come from photos on the Angus Transport Group's excellent website. These include photos of RLS469T, one of the few remaining ex SBG Ford/Alexander buses. 

Thanks 

Ken