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

[Mister Spoons]

 

I've completed and installed the staircase, platform and toolbox; I've also cut, painted and weathered the lower saloon floor from the same planking embossed plasticard.

 

Also in the picture is the backs of the long seats over the rear wheelarches - these accommodated five people each side, and the odd tapered things on wire are the sidelights; I bought in some whitemetal castings (sold as reproduction headlights for Dinky Toys prewar range) and they were crude and far too large - I had a pack of plastcard rod of the correct diameter and using my Dremel with a length of rod in the chuck, I then turned these lights down to a tapered torpedo shape with files and emery boards. The wire is inserted in to a 0.65mm hole - drilled by hand using a drillbit in the handle of an Excel knife. The wire was left over length to allow for ease of painting.

 

 

A better pic of the staircase assembly in situ - I applied my homegrown decal before mounting the staircase, Ceptic uploaded an excellent image of the staircase of 1253 showing the times that passengers were permitted to stand, and rules on carrying luggage - see post 53......

[Mister Spoons]

Although not easy to see in this picture, the lower deck side windows have had the main glazing fitted; the strips were fitted using some strong double-sided tape; I didn't want to risk solvent based glues for fear of damaging the sides, and superglue can fog clear material badly; the tape is clear, clean and strong!

 

The half drops will be fitted from the outside once the frames are painted

 

 

The rear long seats have also been installed, visible through the side windows.....

 

 

and from a birds-eye view..... note the fare chart has been fitted too.....

 

I've also made and painted the front foglamp from a piece of rod, to create the rim I used a drillbit slightly smaller than the rod and once the paint is dry a drop of epoxy glue should form a convincing lens.... no pic of this currently, I'll upload a photo once it's complete and fitted

Edited May 20, 2014 by Mister Spoons

[ThePurplePrimer]

I am really enjoying watching this come together - thanks for sharing the build.

[Mister Spoons]

@ ThePurplePrimer; glad that you are onboard! I look at the model and see flaws, but it is a learning curve in some respects for me, using new materials and methods, but all in all I'm enjoying the process too!

 

 

A couple of shots of latest progress - I've installed the half-drop panes on the lower deck; the half-drops on the K class were always in bays 2 and 3, I nearly fitted one in bay 1 which is narrower..... The reason for this curious arrangement is that the earlier models (up to class F) had a half width bulkhead at the front, which within a matter of months was found to be a serious defect causing weakness in the body structure; LT embarked on a process of installing a full-width bulkhead, and in the process the first window pillar was thicker, reducing the window width. All early vehicles were so fitted with one exception. The K Class was essentially identical to F Class, apart from a lower valance over the platform entrance which was also to improve structural integrity - both classes were all-Leyland construction, and so although the K was built with the full bulkhead, the drop glasses were installed in this fashion.

 

 

The individual glasses are cut, and then edged with a silver paint pen - new technology for me! They were attached into the frames with a tiny amount of quick-setting epoxy, and any shininess inside the frames retouched once dry with the Humbrol #67 used to paint the recesses.

 

 

I have also attached the sidelamps and inserted the foglight, I'm quite pleased with these

 

I'll be continuing with the lower deck glazing - cab side windows next, and the bulkhead window, as well as the rear platform window; this will be cut so it fits into the frame almost flush with the rear exterior panel, and will have the customary 'Trolleybus' decal applied like so:

 

[Mister Spoons]

A little update, literally! Compare the image below with the similar shot above in my previous post;

 

 

the logo on the front has troubled me as it is wonderfully crisp - the word Trolleybus is completely readable, but only blue and gold, the original logo has the inner quarters in red..... a few minutes with a Staedler Lumocolor marker has produced a good result.... 0.4mm tip and available in useful colours too.

 

 

 

I've also fitted the rear glazing, both the platform and emergency exit, using a plug-in glazing method..

 

 

 

Little chance of any progress until the weekend alas; two long shifts tomorrow and Friday but unless Mrs. Spoons has any objections I'll spend a little time over the weekend...

Edited May 21, 2014 by Mister Spoons

[Londontram]

Coming on well Mr Spoons, very much enjoying this build. Not sure where you are but I'm only 10 miles from the EATM so if you need any extra info on any detail or photo's let me know and I can nip over there. Regards Steve

[ozzyo]

Hello Mister Spoons,

 

first off may I say a cracking build. Somehow I think that we in the UK lost the plot a bit with public transport, trolley buses half bus half tram, with modern batteries they could have run off the wires with less pollution etc. But that was not to be.

 

The main reason for my post is to ask about the full width bulkhead behind the driver. If that is the case, what was the space on the nearside used for? As it looks like there is no access (is that correct) from the inside or from the outside apart from the drives door. Was it just an equipment area?

 

Fascinating vehicles I don't think that I've seen one in use, must get to see one soon. Keep up the good work.

 

OzzyO.

[SRman]

Some earlier builds (C class, for example) started off with a curved bulkhead that wrapped around the driver's cab area and had a double seat in what became the vacant area later.

I read somewhere that this was too distracting for the drivers so the bulkheads were modified to go straight across and no passengers were seated next to the drivers after that.

 

The Pirate Models 4mm 'generic' pre-war kit used to include both types of bulkhead as well as alternative front louvre/grille panels and alternative rear wheel arch treatments.

[Mister Spoons]

Evening folks; no progress on 1058 today but wanted to say thanks to Steve aka Londontram for the kind offer; I may well take you up on your offer - I'd like to visit myself if Mrs. S is agreeable to the idea, but will drop you a line!

 

@ ozzyo; when the earlier classes were rebuilt some of the electrical equipment was relocated from along the chassis members - if you have a look in one of the many excellent books on LT trolleys you can see that there were access flaps on both sides of the vehicles, whereas on K type onwards the hatches are offside only; the contactors were the main item moved, resited in the big brown cabinet here:

 

 

 

The bulkhead window behind the cabinet was a halfdrop which the crews would generally leave open for a good old chinwag!

 

@SRMan; That seat next to the driver would have been my 'target seat', to the extent of ejecting schoolkids, pensioners etc and scowling malevolently at any occupant choosing not to move! You are correct in regarding the driver no longer being distracted being a factor in the rebuild, but if you are able to see a copy of Ken Blacker's London Trolleybus, Part One, it goes into immense detail on what was done and why - a lack of testing of the one prototype being the cause - the first large order was placed only two months after number 62 was received! They didn't make the same mistake with the all-conquering RM; however.... despite having RM1 for around three YEARS before the first batch were ordered, there were serious issues with RMs, not least suspect brakes and a gearbox problem leading to the new buses being nicknamed 'Jerkmasters'. The effect of this lack of proper testing of the trolleybus was that within a very short time there were windscreens fracturing, and as the batteries were then in the very front of the cab just behind the screens, there were issues with the battery carriers breaking up! The bodies on the earliest trolleys had been constructed very skimpily to save weight and the remedial work added 3/4cwt to each vehicle, which could only be accomplished without losing capacity because the weight regulations had been relaxed in 1936. LT's desire to keep the massive cost of the remedial work in terms of labour, materials and time off the road from Joe Public and to retain confidence in the trolleybus as a safe, reliable modern replacement for the 30-year old trams led to the distraction aspect - and that conductors would be less likely to spend their time chatting to the man up front being publicly the main reason for the change, and gains in structural integrity being a secondary benefit...... The pictures in the book show the extent of the work involved; Fulwell Depot had a production line dealing with nine trolleys at a time! Ken Blacker's books are highly recommended; I still have his original LT Trolleybus book from 1975, and the more recent two volume book is still available - probably quite cheaply on Ebay....

 

I'm still keeping an eye open for the Pirate Models kit; as you say, you could build so many variants from this kit, and they did make up well. I had a good few of these, but all mine were in postwar guise with bulkheads!

 

Cheers for now guys

 

David

 

PS: Just noticed the green window frames in the cab and bulkhead are green; a quick repaint of those areas in the model is top of the agenda - I'm glad I was too knackered to glaze the cab last night!

Edited May 22, 2014 by Mister Spoons

[SRman]

Looking at those interior cab pics, I can't help wondering if the green is, in fact, cerulean blue (which appeared green anyway!), as used on the underground stock of those times. It seems to have the bluish tint to it.

 

Thanks for all that extra information, David.  When I built my Pirate kit many years ago, I did it as a C in post-war condition, with the full-width bulkhead. I made a few mistakes with the build, including using a superglue that promptly frosted all the glazing inside. Fortunately, those same glues, when used with white metal, tend to be rather brittle, so some years later I cracked one side off the model and cleaned all the glazing with cotton buds and an IPA/water mix, before regluing the side back on ... with two-pack epoxy, this time!

I wouldn't mind doing another of the Pirate kits myself, if I can get one at a reasonable price. I do have a couple of the Q1s to build too, but they are way down in the queue of kits for me to finish.

Edited May 22, 2014 by SRman

[Jon Fitness]

This is a lovely build. The freedom that scratchbuilding has given you means you can adapt everything to go together in the right order for painting and interior fitments. The decals you have made are also excellent and I am envious of your depth of subject knowledge and vision to "see" the finished article from the start point!

The 1;43 PD2 I'm building has stalled for the time being as I try to work out what remaining mods are needed to represent the real thing, how to make and fit them and in what order!

Super stuff indeed

Jon F

[Mister Spoons]

 

@ SRMan; I do believe you are right - it does look suspiciously like Cerulean!

 

@ Jon Fitness - I am thoroughly enjoying the build; the has been a couple of challenges and there's certainly things I would do far differently should I build another trolley.... I am looking at my Sunstar RM right now thinking '1/24 scale L3 would be nice', but I have to keep such thoughts from Mrs. Spoons in case she stoves my head in with the iron!

 

I'll be honest, my 'build plan' is primarily based on many years of building white metal kits and the various problems encountered with these - some early kits had the upper and lower decks assembled separately, as with the prototypes, which caused highly visible unsightly joints; it only took a couple of disappointments with this type of model to develop a 'one piece side' approach and join the sides together, modifying other parts to suit. When installing seats I attach them to a strip before putting in the models as it is far easier to ensure everything is spaced properly and at the right height, and most of my ideas (such as having voids in roofs and so on) were as a result of learning at the 'School of Hard Knocks' such as discovering that slender window pillars will warp if subject to the weight of a roof composed of solid car body filler.....

 

I'll post a pic of my Brussels tram built using a similar method, being a single deck car meant I could use the 'floor in last' technique where you build the shell from the roof down, paint throughout, then glaze, add front and rear platforms,plus drivers cab. Then finally the main chassis, complete with seats etc. & bogies is inserted. A good method, but not really suited to traditional double deckers as the tumblehome prevents you from using single piece floors. It would work better on the modern straight-sided types but there's little chance of me ever building such an abomination......

 

I've been interested in London Trolleys for as long as I can remember and have a fair amount of reference material which always helps, the vehicle I chose to model was selected because I had a number of photos both exterior and interior which were taken within a short timespan, many in the final week of the trolleys; this could be established by the yellow 'Buses for Trolleybuses' signs on traction poles which generally appeared a week or two prior to each stage of abandonment. It's therefore possible to say that a picture of 1058 on 657 that shows these labels was taken between say, 1st and 8th of may 1962, and a very fair assumption that a picture of the vehicle with the same adverts on but without those yellow signs must have been taken not long before. I could therefore say that my model will be in the condition it was in at the end of April to the last day of operation.... I am a detail freak!!!!

[nigelb]

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!

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeItlv6Ry-s

I live in East acton  now and  use  London Transport a lot  around this area  I  never realised  that  there were still trollybuses  when the chiswick flyover was  built  

[Mister Spoons]

I live in East acton  now and  use  London Transport a lot  around this area  I  never realised  that  there were still trollybuses  when the chiswick flyover was  built

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mikesbuspages.com%2F1271-657(2).jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mikesbuspages.com%2Flondontransport.htm&h=491&w=800&tbnid=dG5nt2bBeoUOnM%3A&zoom=1&docid=v-zFjKjbcwygtM&itg=1&ei=qY2AU_K8KIGYO4m4gPAJ&tbm=isch&ved=0CHcQMygaMBo&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=481&page=2&start=19&ndsp=24

 

The remains of the mountings that held the troughing that the trolleywires ran in were in situ until some repair works were carried out in the 1990's, it's a long time ago but I'm pretty sure that most of these bits and bobs were on the eastern side of the roundabout......

[Mister Spoons]

just a couple of 'bits & bats' done over the past couple of days - the wheels and tyres arrived and I bought two different sizes of tyre that both fit the hub; the 24mm OD size looks best as the 21mm do not fill the wheelarches....

 

 

The fronts have the centre hubs polished (painted silver using that miracle of modern science, the paint pen) and the rears are painted brown (using an old-school brush..)as per prototype - Leyland built trolleys had painted rear hubs and AEC vehicles had bright metal, as pointed out by PhilJ W a few pages back.

 

 

 

I've also made the roof ventilators; if you take a look at Ceptics post #53 there's a pic of 1253 at the LT museum, the ventilators of which have seen better days....

The ones I have made look slightly chunky and I may take off the bottom layer of plasticard to reduce this slightly - they have not been glued to the roof yet.... each ventilator has seven separate pieces!

 

Off to Carlton Colville tomorrow which I am looking forward to; Mrs Spoons just expects a good fish and chip supper for her patience!

Edited May 25, 2014 by Mister Spoons

[Strathwood]

Fantastic job, I spent a lot of time as small lad sitting on the front seats upstairs on the 657 during school holidays as my grandmother was clippie on the route, she went to Hounslow Garage when the route went over to Routemasters on the 117. Great stuff indeed.

 

Kevin

[alant]

Really looking the part now. Where did you get the wheels and tyres from in the end?

[Mister Spoons]

After an excellent day at the East Anglia Transport Museum yesterday I'll be spending some time on 1058; although none of the Londoners were running I was given access to all the LT trolleys to take a huge number of pictures, I concentrated on the cab equipment and now have sufficient detail to make an effort at this area; When you have three vehicles of different classes next to each other you can see the differences as well as the similarities! The roof vents on K class 1201 are in much better shape than on 1253 (LT Museum) and I'll not mess with my ones, they look 'right'.

 

796 is partially stripped for repainting externally, the interior has already been retrimmed; although the log has not been updated recently there's some info here:

 

http://796.trolleybus.net/gallery.html

 

796 has been retrimmed using the familiar RT moquette; vehicles overhauled at Charlton generally received this and those attended to at Fulwell got the green pattern I have used. Hugh Taylor drew my attention to a picture of 1058 with a mixture of brown moquette on a couple of elements and green on the rest, which I'll pretend I haven't seen! Apparently this happened when some seating elements were replaced, either with used cushions from withdrawn vehicles, or retrimmed by FW when the last overhaul had been done at Charlton.

 

Mrs Spoons got her fish supper - however we stopped in Bushey at our usual chippie (The Catch) on the way home, as the ones we found in Lowestoft were somewhat.... pungent; the smell of oil was pervasive; the whole place smelled of fish oil. I said that Kuwait must smell of oil too, but we agreed it's probably less fishy there!

 

@ Strathwood; It's really strange when you revisit places from childhood; Kew Bridge seems to have very few buildings as they were in the 70's and 80's, There's due to be another massive redevelopment when Brentford FC have the new stadium built in the area- yet Isleworth Depot still looks quite the same apart from the shutters on the front, it's a self-storage place now,

 

@ alant; wheels and tyres are from Kingfisher Models, I bought hubs KW9 which are intended for AEC lorries but the profile is good, not too bulbous, and the step rings look good too - Wobbly-jowled Colonels will be quivering indignantly 'AEC hubs on a Leyland? OUTRAGEOUS!' but I say 'If they look right, then they are right', and they do look good. I thought the tyres maybe a little heavily detailed but having seen real tyres up close they are pretty ok; I may thin the detail down on one and see, the pattern is the same on both sides of the tyre so if I do mess up I can conceal my error by turning the tyre around........ If only the rest of life was that simple.

Edited May 27, 2014 by Mister Spoons

[Mister Spoons]

 

Slow progress but satisfying; as the build progresses it's quite fiddly stuff, such as this platform bulkhead window; as with the platform and emergency exit I've used a little plug of glazing cut to size-ish and then pared down a sliver at a time until a snug fit is achieved - then a tiny brush loaded with UPVA glue which dries clear; this is diluted with water so it gets drawn into the joint.....

 

 

Same approach was used to glaze the front bulkhead, additionally I drew the halfdrop on the nearside..... I generally try to avoid flash photography on close-ups of models as it is quite unflattering, every flaw is highlighted!

 

 

Another complex component that required a lot of fiddling with to fit tidily, the contactor cabinet which fits in the nearside of the drivers cab, it butts up against the bulkhead and front side panel over the wheelarch, and the front of the original has this panelled effect; it was basically a wooden cabinet on which the front opened.

 

 

Sharp-eyed viewers will have spotted the bulkhead window frames are now (Cerulean) green!

[Mister Spoons]

 

Contactor cabinet is now in matt brown; when it's dry a coat of satin brown will go on, followed by a couple of details with the silver paint pen.

 

I've also spent a 'pleasant' hour soldering up the steering wheel from wire - I couldn't find a whitemetal casting in the right diameter with 4 spokes so it's diy time!

 

Bit of an aroma of burnt fingertip but job done......

[peter220950]

What scares me about this project is that I keep forgetting it's only 1/43rd, I know how unflattering the camera can be, but I keep thinking I'm looking at a 1/8th scale model.

 

Your finish is superb, as it the 'clean' finish to everything, no hairs, no dust, no glue, no marks. When it's completed it would be great to see it against something else 1/43rd, like a wagon, as a point of reference to make it even more awesome, and make us even more jealous of your skill.

[Mister Spoons]

Thanks Peter, I'll put up a pic alongside my Brussels PCC which was built some years ago for a comparison, I have to say that so far I am really happy with 1058, I have temporarily fitted the wheels on plain axles; the reason being that the lower extremities, bottoms of the mudguards etc, were showing slight wear to the paint, so having remedied this, I thought that it would be a good idea to prevent the issue recurring.....

 

 

 

 

I'll be working on the motorisation aspect once the physical build is complete, I think I mentioned that I'll be doing something along the lines of the Faller Car System which others have used to add movement to 1/72 scale diecast buses and trolleys which have about the same weight as my trolley. The intention is that it will be a separate chassis type of thing, so I can perfect the concept without potentially damaging 1058.... I intend to build the chassis in brass and I can add a weight equivalent to the model for testing etc......

[SRman]

This is really looking good, now. Of course, you realise you have put me to shame: here you've built and nearly finished a complete vehicle from scratch, where I haven't even finished a 4mm scale kit (several kits, actually!) I started two years ago!

By the time I get my act together, you will have a whole fleet of motorised 1:43 trolleybuses going.

 

Brilliant work and also very useful showing us the little constructional details.

[Mister Spoons]

 

I've been working on the drivers cab today; no progress yesterday as I had to set up our new phones; my wife is now grinning like the proverbial Cheshire Cat over her iPhone 5S in gold, I however have gone for the more subtle approach and stuck with the Samsung range, Galaxy 5 in black - the camera is quite superb for pictures of 1058, but I have downsized them to a manageable 800x600.....

 

The cab floor and toeboard (angled section with pedals)is complete and after many test fittings has been given a coat of Revell Aqua Color 09 Anthracite, the steering column has been completed - the rectangular thing on the front is the heater; compare this comfort with the open cab on the contemporary diesel STL; I know which working environment I'd rather be in!

 

 

Viewed from the front..... The box on the stick is the base of the drivers seat; here's a view of 1253 at the LT Museum avec dodgy drivers seat;

 

 

And a more general view of cab equipment on 1201 at EATM, with a far more welcoming seat!

 

 

The handbrake is made too - just two pieces of 0.5mm wire, cut, bent and glued together with cyano. Once it's painted it should look pretty good.

 

Once the floor is installed I'll glaze the drivers side windows and build the switch panel - the angled one on the front right of the cab, and before the floor goes in I will add the round brown thing in that top corner too..... When the trolleys were built they had a rather anachronistic bulb horn; I believe this was a police regulation imposed on LT and there was also an electric horn too, the button is visible on the slanted panel, bottom right.

 

I'm unsure when the bulb horn requirement ceased, but there is a picture in one of my books showing the bulb horn still there in 1941, but the Q1 of 1948 were delivered without, so I'm guessing either wartime or early postwar..... The brown round thing is a blanking plate where the bulb horn used to be situated.

 

PS: I've just noticed the difference in heaters on 1201 and 1253 - I'm pleased to say that 1058 has the square-ish type as modelled.... just visible peeking over the lower edge of the drivers screen in this monochrome view taken near the end of operations at Youngs Corner

 

Edited June 1, 2014 by Mister Spoons

[Nobby (John)]

Absolutely fantastic, I have been following this since the 1st post. 5* modelling......