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1:32ish DAF DB250LF/Alexander ALX400


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Hi, this is my first time posting on here, so i'll give a quick introduction: I'm Alex, from the West Midlands, and I'm a massive bus & plane nut, so it's only to be expected that my first project would be a bus...

 

Kit being used: Airfix 1:32 1910 B Type Omnibus (Kit No. A06443)

Modifications: Literally everything under the sun, i'd expect...

Box Art (Airfix Kit No. A06443)

 

As a bus nut, one of my all time favourites is the DB250LF/ALX400, first produced by DAF & Alexander in the form of the DLA class of vehicles for London, the first one being R101 GNW, delivered in 1998, as one of the first low floor double deckers in the UK, the first were also DB250LF's, however, these had Optare Spectra bodywork. So I wanted a bus model in my collection, why didn't I just buy a diecast one and convert it to match the one I wanted to do? Well, for starters, that'd be way too easy! Where's the fun in just repainting something?

I'd had the 1910 Omnibus in my stash since Christmas 2015, and it was in too poorer shape to do anything with it really, warped parts were my main problem, so it was left to gather dust while I thought of something to do with it, but then, around Christmas 2016, it struck me (literally, it fell off my shelf!), when I saw a photo of a preserved DLA, 6250 (DLA225, a later one), in its custom turquoise livery, that I thought i'd like to do that.

So since then, I've been gathering photos of DLAs, and using them to draw up some rough guides to the interior...

 

First things first, the history of the vehicle I intend to do:

X425 FGP was the 225th DLA class vehicle delivered to London, new to Tottenham Garage on 20th December 2000 (making the bus younger than me! I was born in Jan 2000!) for route 243, transferring away to Enfield in October 2003, but returning home to Tottenham in early 2010. It was withdrawn, along its other 290 some odd sister ships, in early 2013, being converted to single door, for transfer to Arriva Southern Counties, arriving in October 2013, as fleet no. 6250, based at Tunbridge Wells, in Kent. It was withdrawn in October 2016, being acquired for preservation the next day, where it now resides.

The story of the DLA's always interested me, since I became a bus spotter, as it shows, to me at least, how Arriva took vehicles that were mid life, and reused them elsewhere, especially as a reasonable number of the DLA's ended up near me, in Wolverhampton, with Arriva Midlands, including two of '225s sisters, X502 GGO (DLA230) & X436 FGP (DLA236), as well as being absolutely brilliant vehicles, second only to NXWM's DB250LF/Spectra's!

Photo:

Arriva Midlands DAF DB250LF/Alexander ALX400 4786 (S212 JUA) (Withdrawn)

Arriva Midlands DLA12, now withdrawn, although in service as 4786, working a 10B from Codsall to Wolverhampton in August 2016.

 

Anyway, rambling aside, lets get started:

 

I went through the kit, seeing if I could find anything that might help me do the interior, and I did, so here's my list of things I could use:

 - Seats (although resembling benches, I reckon with a bit of work, they could be made to resemble the seats on X425...)

 - Mudguards (for the compound curve on the cab front)

 - A sidewall (for the rear of the cab wall)

 - Chassis frames (may be usable for the underside, perhaps...)

 - Steering wheel

 - Floor

Not a particularly long list, but 90 years of development tends to do that to vehicles! So it was time to get started, only after about 5 sheets of plasticard were purchased, and even then, I don't think that'll be enough....

Scale Drawing & first components

A selection of the components I will be using to construct the DLA

 

I will get some work done on it tomorrow, hopefully, and should have a fully built cab by the end of the week, I can but hope!

Also, apologies for the poor quality photos, my camera isn't too good in low light!

 

Alex, signing out!

 

Postscript: Anyone interested in this project, go show your support for the people preserving the real DLA225, they're doing a phenomenal job so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing it completed!

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/6250preservation/

 

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I've had a look at those, and I may be investing in one at a later date, but for the time being, i'll keep with what I've got!

 

Anyway, so the cab & interior are on the backburner while I wait for my friend to produce the 3D Printed seats & iBus transmitter, that I will eventually use. But, after a short jaunt up to my local Hobbycraft this afternoon, I now have the materials I needed to produce the bodywork, which included:

2x sheets of Balsa Wood

2x sheets of clear PVC

How all of that came to just shy of £25, I will never know!?

 

So, I was home at 7, as usual, and it was time to make a start on the big bus, and this was done first by getting the stickers of the balsa (just a peeve of mine, not structural in any way!), then by drawing out the shape of the kerbside onto the first sheet

Bodywork components

Ready to start, just need to draw it on...

 

2 hours later...

Cutting out the componentsStarting the offside

 

So that's one side mostly done, and the other started (and a fair bit of swearing when the scalpel slipped...), so I decided I'd try to match the colour on 6250, which is all over Arriva Aquamarine, with a thin Yellow relief line near the skirting panels. Unfortunately, Arriva Aquamarine looks nothing like any colours I have! So its time to do some mixing...

 

My version:

4pts Vallejo 70.966 Turquoise

2 pts Vallejo 70.838 Emerald

8 pts Vallejo 70.844 Deep Sky Blue

 

And I'm still not convinced its right, i'll get it right eventually, but at the moment, its just a basecoat, so there's that!

A start on finding surface imperfections

 

The piece of Balsa at the bottom was to test the colours, as well as my notes on them!

Also, apologies for the poor brush work, I intend to spray the real thing, but the basecoat is being hand-painted...

 

So yeah, that's my update on '225 for today, I'm intending to get more done over the weekend, as well as getting some better reference shots, hopefully '230 plays ball at Telford!

 

Alex, signing out...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not a lot of progress, but with 6th Form being what it is, that's kind of to be expected...

 

What has been done, some shaping to the balsa slabs, which now have some of the panel details added on, as well as the offside exhaust vent, which will definitely get a repaint, but my time was mostly expended into a couple of other projects, as well as gathering reference material, for a major part of my model, the interior, the seats especially, as they will be done using 3D Printing, thanks to a mate of mine willing to do it for a couple of biscuits!

Bodywork frames

 

Anyway, my reference material of '225, at the South East Bus Festival on Saturday (mental note: 4am starts, and having to be on the first train to London at 05:45 is thoroughly knackering, even for a 17 yr old!) 

 

6250 (X425 FGP) (Preserved)

6250 in Maidstone

 

Reference Shot, stairwellReference Shot, rear engine cover & tail lightsReference Shot, positioning of ventsInterior of 6250 (X425 FGP) (Preserved)

 

As I said prior, the people behind the preservation are doing a fantastic job, and I much appreciate them allowing me to photo the interior for reference, it should prove to be an invaluable reference!

 

Anyway, I hope to have more done at the next update...

Alex, signing off

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  • 2 weeks later...

One for the record here...

 

I need a magnifying glass!

 

Anyway, the cab of the beast has been built, and work is (hopefully) well under way on the seats, vents & iBus transmitter, so this'll be a brief update on what I've done, including the full cab (minus the control panel combing)

 

1:32 DB250LF cab

Made from a mudguard, a piece of the staircase, a lot of plasticard, and a little bit of glue, and swearing when i wasn't paying attention, and glued my hand to the carpet...

 

Only real work of done on it since last update, but that's got this up to date, at least.

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Bodybuilding...

 

Alright, the body is nowhere near finished, but it looks close once taped up a little bit...

Bodywork, slightly missing a few components

The guy on the roof is for a completely different project, but i thought it'd be funny to put him on the roof...

The tape is just to hold all of the components together, along with a bit of plasticene on the inside of '225

 

Interior, so far:

Complete cab (offside)

 

The black stain in my carpet is from where i accidentally spilled paint during my Dornier build...

 

So far, so good i think...

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Looks good. Can't believe some of the buses being preserved now, they are so young! 

Ill be driving for a local museums running day Sunday, they will be running 4 low floor buses that are already in preservation 

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are you certain the side frames are parallel vertically ?

I know on the ALX300 there was a 1.5° taper from the solebar to the cant rail.  It caused all sorts of havoc on the production floor 

I can't remember about the 400, it may have been parallel up to the top floor line then taper up to the cant rail.

 

Nice to see an ALX being scratch built.  I've been looking for an ALX300 for several tears now and haven't found one

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Thanks to anyone for actually putting up with my drivel on this, it is progressing, albeit ridiculously slowly, and i think i may have to message the owners of the real 6250 to check on that one Hendie, i did think it looked slightly suspect, but thought it was just my eyes! 16 years of living on routes run by ALX400's, and i'd never noticed there was an angle on them! Might be a good idea to get a new pair of glasses lol!

 

But yeah, i did a quick test fit on the parts, and found there was a slight problem with me being, to quote a mate, completely cack-handed, and accidentally breaking a forward windscreen pillar in 3 places... go me...

Internals don't fit too well, although it would help if i made the staircase part the right size... whoops, this is turning into the Fawlty Towers build...

 

But yeah, as a project, definitely my most interesting build so far, its beginning to remind me of getting started with the 72nd Tu-95, i mean, if i can tackle this, then i can do that bugger!

 

Alex, signing out

 

P.S. Rich, if its the rally I'm thinking of, i'll be there anyway, looking forward to getting another B10L in my books!

Edited by ARJ - 2901B7
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