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Birmingham City Transport buses - what colours for the livery?


bootneck

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Hello everyone,

 

I am trying to find the correct modelling colours, especially Vallejo, for the cream and blue livery of BCT buses.  Can anyone please advise me of what the actual colours were, and what their Vallejo equivalents might be?

 

cheers,
Mike

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See if thse guy's can help

 

https://www.wythall.org.uk/wm.asp

 

phoenix paints or fleetmaster paints for 'matched' * colours

 

https://www.phoenix-paints.co.uk/products/search/west midland

 

https://dorsetmodelbuses.co.uk/bus-livery-colours/municipal-pte-england-wales/p-t-e-england/

 

* no connection to either & can't vouch for accuracy

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Lonewolf, a poster on another site made the Revell Routemaster in Birmingham City livery.

Saw his model at Gaydon Truck Modellers Show a few years back. Did a lovely job on it.

If you can find his post you might be able to PM him about the colours.

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1 hour ago, Noel Smith said:

Lonewolf, a poster on another site made the Revell Routemaster in Birmingham City livery.

Saw his model at Gaydon Truck Modellers Show a few years back. Did a lovely job on it.

If you can find his post you might be able to PM him about the colours.

Found the post.

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Hi Mike,

                    I'm not sure that they did. I know they used Daimler, Guy and Leyland but I think the Routemaster was designed for London Transport. They did use an AEC Bridgemaster but that's a different thing.

I'm not a keen follower of buses so perhaps someone with more knowledge than me can give a definitive answer although Ido come from Birmingham!

 

Dave

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Hi Dave,

 

I did check and can confirm that BCT did not have Routemasters; however, wolfman's model is stunning.   I suppose I can call myself a Brummie, especially at heart, as I moved there when I was three and didn't leave until I joined up.   I have only recently become a civilian vehicle modelling fan and anything that might have been found in and around Birmingham interests me.  I would like make a bus model, of the BCT era, but at my chosen scale of 1:35.  Obviously, there is precious little available in kit form at that scale; therefore, it will have to be scratchbuilt or conversion.

 

cheers,
Mike

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6 hours ago, bootneck said:

Thanks bpf,  I didn't realise that Birmingham used Routemasters.  Thanks for the link. :thumbsup:

 

Mike

I think he says Routemasters weren't used but it was just to represent the buses his mother rode. Look in the write up, something about it.

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Yes, I also really enjoyed riding the buses in Birmingham; upstairs at the front if possible.   I doubt if people had 'favourite' routes (or did they? :hmmm:) but mine would have been the number 8 Inner Circle; number 11 Outer Circle and number 62 out to Lickey Hills.  :fool:

 

Mike

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Upstairs was good but no place for a non-smoker! My routes were the No.96 Lodge Road (Town and work), the No.8 to Aston (home) and the No9 (school). Plus others of course but not as often.

 

Dave

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  • 1 month later...

Just noticed this Mike, I  tend to wobble away with blinkers on or I would have seen it, sorry.

 

BCT colours should be easy but...

 

Firstly the bus modelling paints available are not quite right to my eye, the cream is more like custard and the blue is matched to a later colour than the very dark almost black colour we Brummies were used to. Their blue is a WMPTE lighter shade for the livery just before it went to silver based fleet colours.

 

for my old Brummie horse bus livery I, like you, took a look at Vallejo's huge colour range and chose "Aged White" for the lightish cream.

 

But the very dark blue which has notes of green as well as dark and black based wasn't an easy "take" but for that in the end I chose "Glossy Sea Blue".

 

Basically the same blue as my US Marines H-19, which I doubt many eyes would notice a difference to the bus's schemes.

 

This

 

P1010019.jpg

 

You'll see that the blue has very close notes to the Brummy bus schemes like this 'un.

P1010378.jpg

 

 

Another victim

P1010380.jpg

 

As you can just see, the bus is a Guy Arab, migod I loved those buses.

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Hi Bill,

 

I never noticed what type of bus I was travelling on, I just really enjoyed getting out on the road in them; upstairs at the front of course. My favourite being the 62 to Lickey Hills.

 

I have been making a sort of start on a single decker bus but progress is slow due to not knowing what goes underneath.  I joined the Leyland Society and read all their on-line mags but didn't find much detail.

 

Here's my guesstimation so far:

spacer.png

 

cheers,
Mike

 

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I remember liking the Arabs because they were noticeably newer than the pre-war (maybe even just post- Great war vintage) rattly heaps that were also running at the time.

 

I will be fair to BCT all of the Corporation's buses were very well maintained, but a lad likes to keep up, no?

 

I think you would benefit from taking a trip to Wythall and the museum which is full of fascinating buses, much as my one time visit to The Helicopter museum is carved into my psyche.

 

Your bus is already looking a viable prospect Mike, under the skin?

 

Wythall.

 

I had a couple of favourite routes but that was because they were everyday journeys

 

The 1A from College Rd to Brum via Moseley and Hagley Rd and Broad St. My very first school was just off Broad St, where the ICC is now and my grammar school was on Hagley Rd, such a pleasure to be on the bus without having to go to school. :)

 

My other significant favourite route was the 29A, from Springfield Rd to town passing the other school I attended but more important the bus for a night out in town and inevitably missing the last bus so having to walk home.

 

Bag of chips, sorted!  👍

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4 hours ago, bootneck said:

Hi Bill,

 

I never noticed what type of bus I was travelling on, I just really enjoyed getting out on the road in them; upstairs at the front of course. My favourite being the 62 to Lickey Hills.

 

I have been making a sort of start on a single decker bus but progress is slow due to not knowing what goes underneath.  I joined the Leyland Society and read all their on-line mags but didn't find much detail.

 

Here's my guesstimation so far:

spacer.png

 

cheers,
Mike

 

 

Not sure if this is the same model, but there are some photos of the oily bits on this auction listing: 

https://www.handh.co.uk/auction/lot/314-1947-leyland-tiger-ps1-single-deck-bus/?lot=51685&sd=1

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11 hours ago, Six97s said:

 

Not sure if this is the same model, but there are some photos of the oily bits on this auction listing: 

https://www.handh.co.uk/auction/lot/314-1947-leyland-tiger-ps1-single-deck-bus/?lot=51685&sd=1

I haven't found anything better so far and those images of a PS1 will be very useful indeed, thank you for the link.   One aspect that I am trying to identify on the PS2, is whether there is a raised floor section over the rear axles.  I had received some excellent photos from Paul but that internal area at the rear isn't so clear.

 

I would like to find out if the PS2 has a stepped area over the axles, like this one on the PS1, or whether the floor is flat throughout.

spacer.png

 

cheers,

Mike

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  • 2 weeks later...

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