LGOC B-type London bus (Miniart)

[Paul H]

Really enjoying reading your progress on this!  I've built 1:16 kits where those sort of under chassis linkages were delicate enough, and what Miniart have done would be an insane amount of detail for 1:24, let alone 1:35...  Can't wait for the next update!

[GerryW]

I have this kit on order, along with the military version, and I'll be following your excellent work as it progresses. Even if there is no chance of me being able to repeat your detailing skills I'm sure that I can learn quite a lot from your work. 🤓

 

Gerry

 

[Torbjörn Hanö]

Just started my kit today, a pleasure to build so far. Your build, Roy, is highly inspirational. Would you reveal your recipe for the black?

[Roy vd M.]

On 4/11/2020 at 5:56 PM, Mpfiend said:

Very nice progress Roy,

I like the different shades of "black" you are using so far.

I have just received this kit and  I am following with great interest.

Can you post a link to the other site where this is being built, that you mentioned in your first post please? 

 

Best Regards

Keith.

Thanks everyone for the interest in this topic, that I had thought was digging its way into the depths of the forum. 

 

Keith, a link to the other forum I could provide, be it that it's visible upon registration only, the topic was written in Dutch and a minimum of activity is required so it's mainly intended for Dutch modellers who are looking for in-depth discussion of modelling subjects. However, if any question arises I'll be glad to answer it here  

On 4/11/2020 at 6:15 PM, limeypilot said:

Beautiful work Roy, your additions are making a very nice looking kit just that bit more special!

Thanks Ian, much appreciated! It took a looooong time to get to this point so I decided it was time for a break. I was getting annoyed with the kit so it was an excellent opportunity to pause. 

On 4/11/2020 at 6:20 PM, Paul H said:

Really enjoying reading your progress on this!  I've built 1:16 kits where those sort of under chassis linkages were delicate enough, and what Miniart have done would be an insane amount of detail for 1:24, let alone 1:35...  Can't wait for the next update!

Thanks Paul, you're right that it's quite flimsy and I wonder whether it would have been easier to just use copper wire (and for MiniArt to instruct the kit builder to do so). 

On 4/26/2020 at 10:21 AM, GerryW said:

I have this kit on order, along with the military version, and I'll be following your excellent work as it progresses. Even if there is no chance of me being able to repeat your detailing skills I'm sure that I can learn quite a lot from your work. 🤓

Gerry, you're sure you want to build TWO of these insane kits?  Thanks for the compliment... for me it has been a matter of perseverance and patience. 

On 4/28/2020 at 9:48 PM, Torbjörn Hanö said:

Just started my kit today, a pleasure to build so far. Your build, Roy, is highly inspirational. Would you reveal your recipe for the black?

Of course, no problem. The chassis-black has this formula:

 

- 71057 Vallejo Model Air Black 19x
- 71001 Vallejo Model Air White 1x
- 70510 Vallejo Gloss Varnish 3x
- Vallejo thinner 12x
- Vallejo flow improver 2x

 

The rubber of the tyres has this formula:

 

- 71057 Vallejo Model Air Black 15x
- 71001 Vallejo Model Air White 2x
- 71085 Vallejo Model Air Red 1x
- 71111 Vallejo Model Air USAF Light Blue 1x
- Vallejo thinner 10x
- Vallejo flow improver 2x

 

At the time when I took the pause the chassis didn't look black anymore...: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Torbjörn Hanö]

Thanks! Looks good anyway, black is always too stark.

[GerryW]

12 hours ago, Roy vd M. said:

Gerry, you're sure you want to build TWO of these insane kits?  Thanks for the compliment... for me it has been a matter of perseverance and patience.

Don't tell anyone else, especially Mrs. W , but I'm really planning on doing 3 versions - civilian, military with wood sides and military with glass windows. 

 

Gerry

 

[Biggu]

How is the plastic on those flimsy linkages? I have the D7 kit, and EVERY small piece breaks, VERY frustrating, so it sits on the shelf of doom, until I can figure out how to handle it. Is the plastic on this kit a little more forgiving? I LOVE their subjects, and want to build more of them, but if they are like the D7, then it will be a no go for me....

[harveyb258]

Lovely bit of weathering there, Roy. 

It gives it so much more depth and realism. I like.

 

[Torbjörn Hanö]

On 03/05/2020 at 17:36, Biggu said:

How is the plastic on those flimsy linkages? I have the D7 kit, and EVERY small piece breaks, VERY frustrating, so it sits on the shelf of doom, until I can figure out how to handle it. Is the plastic on this kit a little more forgiving? I LOVE their subjects, and want to build more of them, but if they are like the D7, then it will be a no go for me....

The plastic is indeed very soft, but that makes it more forgiving. I hope I'm not kicking in open doors with this post, I'm still a newbie in this forum. I use my DSPIAE cutter (review here:) 

It doesn't warp the plastic, so even small parts come off undamaged. (And the feel of cutting is beyond describing, it just moves through the plastic without resistance.) I then nip off the rest of the stub with my Tamiya sprue cutter, and "shave" off what's left with a hobby knife, using a finger for support under the delicate plastic. Finally, I "paint" the plastic with liquid cement, stroking it lengthwise, to smooth out any imperfections. I'm finished with all of the fragile parts now and haven't broken a single one of them.

[Roy vd M.]

Thanks guys for your kind replies! 

 

@Biggu I can't say the plastic is very easily processed. The thinnest / longest parts are cut using a micro saw. Most other parts can be used using a high quality sprue cutter such as the one referred to by @Torbjörn Hanö. Regular sprue cutters will destroy the parts. Because I prefer the kit parts to be ultra smooth (my fingernails act as judges), after cutting I file them and only then do I sand them. The thin long parts such as linkages can be more easily replaced by copper or brass wire. 

 

If you're not after perfection in smoothness, things go much easier and faster. I'll never forget spending one hour (=one hour!) cleaning one extremely delicate part. I understand your frustration. 

 

 

108. Weathering still required on radiator and wheels.

 

 

Spent time: 78H.

[GerryW]

Beautiful work to date.

 

A question if I may. Shouldn't the tyres be a somewhat grey colour? Black tyres weren't common until somewhat later as mentioned in this thread.

 

Gerry

[Biggu]

Roy, as per the advice given I did order a set of the Dspaie cutters, but due to this virus thing, they said it will take some time to get to Canada............ I likely won't see them until late August or September.... but that's ok, I will learn new techniques here, and have something to look forward to..... thanks for the info, I do order the D7 with the blade.....

Jeff

[Roy vd M.]

Thanks for all the likes gents!

 

 

On 6/10/2020 at 10:59 AM, GerryW said:

Beautiful work to date.

 

A question if I may. Shouldn't the tyres be a somewhat grey colour? Black tyres weren't common until somewhat later as mentioned in this thread.

 

Gerry

 

Before making the tyre colour choice I had searched for photographs and videos of the time and although I have found some evidence that some buses were fitted with slightly lighter grey tyres, most of what I saw resembled dark grey c.q. black. In the thread you refer to (thank you for that, interesting read), Black Knight -whose opinion I respect- says this: 

 

Hard rubber solid tyres were vulcanised to the wheel rim and could range from a dark grey to black.

 

In the referenced thread, Das Abteilung says: 

 

Period photos suggest from colour contrast that the majority of pneumatic tyres in WW1 were still grey, but that solid tyres were black.  Understandable as the carbon black increased the tensile strength 10-12 times, a considerable advantage for solid tyres.

 

The tyres on the LGOC B-type bus were hard rubber solid tyres, so anything between dark grey to black should suit it. Also the new tyres (modern restauration) are of dark grey-blackish colour. 

 

So I'm quite confident that the tyres are of approximately time period-correct colour. 

 

Here's a video of London traffic in 1914 to 1918. Lots of LGOC buses in view all the time, the city had around 2500 of them buzzing around. There are motorcars with white tyres which clearly differ from the LGOC tyres. Some LGOC's seem to have different coloured rear tyres (a tad lighter grey) but most of them appear to have dark grey tyres. 

 

 

On 6/10/2020 at 4:42 PM, Biggu said:

Roy, as per the advice given I did order a set of the Dspaie cutters, but due to this virus thing, they said it will take some time to get to Canada............ I likely won't see them until late August or September.... but that's ok, I will learn new techniques here, and have something to look forward to..... thanks for the info, I do order the D7 with the blade.....

Jeff

Well you can safely use micro saws (for example sold through Radubstore.com), it just takes a bit longer... but you'll have a bigger chance of success! Really a modeller who builds Miniart kits can't realistically live without micro saws I think. Or they can, just in the way they can do without cutting mat. Or acrylic paint. Or an airbrush compressor (just use an inflated rubber tyre). So I'd invest in a few of those if you don't have them already. Lovely model by the way, that D7, I also have the one with blade in my stash. Not sure if I'll ever build it though...  

[GerryW]

Roy,

Thank you for taking the time to post the video, very good stuff. 

 

I ended up on the British PATHÉ YouTube channel and got stuck there for quite some time watching a whole bunch of extremely interesting videos from the period. 

 

Gerry

[Biggu]

Thanks Roy, and yes I do have the micro saws, and they work a treat, and a very light delicate hand is required sometimes, butt hat is modeling... right? I must admit, I do love the Mini Art subjects, and this build is wonderful, I look forward to each up date.....

Jeff

[Torbjörn Hanö]

Is it OK to pist pics in other people's threads? If not I'll remove this.

[Roy vd M.]

Looks great @Torbjörn Hanö, how did you paint / make the b2273 sheet on the bonnet?

 

First black paint, then sanding?

 

And upper railing = copper / brass wire? Or did you use the kit part?

[Torbjörn Hanö]

29 minutes ago, Roy vd M. said:

Looks great @Torbjörn Hanö, how did you paint / make the b2273 sheet on the bonnet?

 

First black paint, then sanding?

 

And upper railing = copper / brass wire? Or did you use the kit part?

Spot on, I painted the sheet on the bonnet with the same off black as the undercarriage, and then I sanded it. The upper railing is the the kit part, handled carefully and gently. First cut from the sprue with a DSPIAE cutter, then cut off what I could with a snipper, then "shaving' off the rest with a sharp knife. Lastly I "painted" any imperfections with liquid cement to smooth it out. Didn't break any part, actually. 

[Graeme]

On 3/20/2020 at 9:45 PM, Roy vd M. said:

Hey thanks for following guys! Brian, no idea but I think the Miniart kit probably has around 800 parts. 

 

Jeroen... did you build this too? I haven't been on this part of the forum for quite some time, having been involved in other projects... guess I'm a bit outdated as regards forum-info  

 

Thanks for following. Yeah Miniart... gotta love it (hate is totally possible and acceptable too though). 

 

 

5. Checking the valve system, to verify whether Miniart designed this the right way. 
 

 

6. It appears to be wrong in three ways. Summary: the indicated nut should be higher, the springs aren't correct for several reasons and one spring is way too high. 

 

 

13. Hour of testing makes for this result. The rings ('nuts') should be smaller and straighter but other than that, it looks better. 

 

 

Bestede tijd: 3 uur

I don’t think there is anything wrong with The different heights of the springs - it’s just been moulded as if one spring is compressed (I.e the valve is open) which is correct -it’s not possible to have all of the springs at the same length at any time as some valves wil be open and some closed

[Roy vd M.]

@Graeme Studying a video of the engine being cranked up it shows that at any given time at least three springs are decompressed and a maximum of one is compressed. 

 

Therefore, Miniart's representation is wrong (=two springs would be compressed on both sides of the engine simultaneously, so a total of four, whereas that should be a total of two out of eight). 

 

 

 

Beside that, as you can see on the above video, the positions of springs / bolts are wrong, as I described before in my post as quoted by you. 

[Ozzy]

Brilliant job so far, I've got one of these as a birthday present really looking forward to the build.