Model Railways/Buses (1 Viewer)

Oct 9, 2021
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got another vyking from stockwell open day to replace my old one, quite chuffed about it
guess which one i bought (i think the answer is pretty obvious, it's the left one)
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SprattyHeath

When in doubt, flat out
Nov 27, 2016
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Recently, I went down to the Stockwell Garage Open Day Event and there were quite a selection of models from various stalls. Me of course couldn't resist the opportunity to grab some bargains to add to my collection.

As you can see i'm quite a fan of the EFE RM castings. But there are also two Northcord castings of the MMC, and one being in the striking Macmillan livery.
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Picked this pair up yesterday. I paid £25 for the ALX400/Dennis Trident, it is unboxed and I need to reattach a wing mirror, however those are minor issues and for £25 you really can't argue. On the other hand that Volvo Olympain Palatine 2 'thing' cost £5 and don't worry, it will be getting plenty of TLC!

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Oct 9, 2021
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decided to photograph the 2 (presentable looking) b7tl's in my collection
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also while i'm at it, finally got around to posting photos of the second model i bought from stockwell, a dennis condor. what i find interesting about this model is the detail, with poseable wheels, opening engine cover and even etched grilles showing the air conditioning.

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(also just wanted to add, the nearside mirror wasn't on the bus when i bought it, which apparently made it cost 30 quid. cheaper than a lot of other condors i see online.)
 
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decided to photograph the 2 (presentable looking) b7tl's in my collection
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also while i'm at it, finally got around to posting photos of the second model i bought from stockwell, a dennis condor. what i find interesting about this model is the detail, with poseable wheels, opening engine cover and even etched grilles showing the air conditioning.

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(also just wanted to add, the nearside mirror wasn't on the bus when i bought it, which apparently made it cost 30 quid. cheaper than a lot of other condors i see online.)
Those are some stunning models, especially the Condor! Some of the HK models have stunning details, I saw a NWFB Olympian for sale with so many little details that made the model that extra bit more realistic!
 
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Oct 9, 2021
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starting the first of my series of model repairs is this scania omnicity. considering my age when i got this i'm surprised it's not in worse shape (unlike my enviro 400 which was bought at the same time and yet suffered a worse fate). however the mirrors are damaged (especially the nearside one) and there is some minor damage to the glazing.
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luckily there were some spare omnicity mirrors being sold by iwan's bus bits. they're not from the same model but they still work nonetheless.
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one mirror replacement later, the bus is looking a lot smarter now. the colours between the two mirrors don't match, but i'm happy with it as is. future plans are to reblind and replate to an omnicity from the london sovereign fleet, as i grew up with those.
may as well give some information about the cmnl omnicity:
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in january 2013, cmnl released ukbus 9006, a scania omnicity in london united livery on route 10, to king's cross.
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600 models were issued, making these models very rare (and as such, very expensive!) so it's probably a good thing this model is in as good of a shape as it is right now.
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the real bus, YP59 OEZ, has since been withdrawn and sold to belle vue coaches. personally i think cmnl have done an absolute stellar job as always with replicating this bus, what with the amount of detail on both the exterior and interior.
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unfortunately this model does suffer some problems, like for instance some of the interior grab rails have deformed in shape a bit. interior faults seem to be a common problem with these omnicities, which is a shame (on the plus side, a loose front grab rail devalued one model to a much more affordable price).
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another problem (imo) with these models is how dark the rear lights are, this photo had to be taken with a flash just to showcase the lights.
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one thing i like though is that this bus' blinds have depth to them, really does make the model stand out and more realistic.
anyway that's it for this very long post, also wanted to showcase my new studio for photography (it's really just some sheets of paper blu-tacked together).
 
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Oct 9, 2021
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if you guessed 'a model' then you're correct!
(alternatively if you also guessed 'an enviro 400' you're also correct)
review incoming
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this is cmnl's ukbus 6020, an enviro 400 hybrid model produced in september 2008 (camera cameo in the display case).
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operated by metroline travel, this bus is in the 'green leaves' livery. much more appealing than the small "hybrid" lettering written on later production enviro 400h's! note the various logos and messages written around the bus.
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1368 models were produced, making this the more common model of the 3 prototype hybrids (the other 2 only had 888 models made).
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the real bus, teh915, was one of five buses sent to metroline. teh915 was the first prototype hybrid to enter service in july 2008, with the rest of the prototypes entering service later in december.
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there are a few differences between this bus and the later prototypes, one of the big ones being the inclusion of an emergency exit door. this technically makes the bus a 'one of a kind' (perfect for preservation; that is, if anyone knows where it's gone to).
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shot of the rear, featuring a little message about the benefits of this bus. i love how cmnl have gone the extra mile and modified the rear glazing to feature the distinct 'moustache' on the vehicle. the rear lights also have a slightly orange tint to them, fairly sure this is intentional as i have another model with the same lights.
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and yes, the rear bonnet does open. what makes this feature better is that cmnl have again modified the engine bay to represent the electric generator and such (i can certainly see why these are worth so much now).
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the interior is also picked out with blue seating and orange handrails; certainly curious as to why they opted for such a vivid shade of orange, makes it look like a stagecoach vehicle! there is also small bits of glazing for the stairwell and the driver's screen (the latter of which can be seen better in the image below).
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full view of the front, with 'hybrid technology' in place of where the operator's logo would be. it is depicted as running on route 16, a route which the hybrids would operate on for most of their time in london.

overall this bus is really quite stunning. the level of detail put into this model is on another level, modifying certain parts to try and further capture the looks of the real things (if it were for example made by a certain company whose name starts with a 'c' and ends with a 'orgi' they'd have probably smacked on the livery over the details and changed the masking of the rear glazing). i do have a couple of takeaways though: the emergency exit door is really just a regular window made shorter in height and a door tampo printed on. the single door models of the enviro 400 do feature properly modelled emergency exit doors, not sure why cmnl would modify the engine bay but not change the glazing slightly. some of the printing is also quite iffy; the offside grille for instance, looks quite weird not being in the usual place, and the vent below? whilst the correct shape is printed, another vent can be seen peeking out behind it. really quite peculiar. apart from those though, fantastic bus.

future plans may be to reblind it, however i am considering leaving it as it is due to how sought after these models are.
that's the end of this very lengthy post, also used this to test out the photo background again, however using different light and editing the pictures later.
 
Oct 9, 2021
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after a long few months of no internet, i'm back!
here's a little compilation of my model bus endeavours over the past winter.
firstly, i ordered some more spare parts from iwan's bus bits: citaro and omnicity mirrors. these models have been improved massively now that they've received some brand new parts.
here's the before...
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...and here's the after:
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a few months later and i come back from the london festival of railway modelling with a variety of models, one of which being this corgi volvo olympian. here it is lined up next to my slightly bigger alx500, a gift from my dad.
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the same night, i applied another advert to my wright eclipse gemini. wanted to go for another 2000s ad, so i once again turned to lbrt transfers. here it is with the advert applied.
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getting closer to the present, "Project 322" has begun. to get the ball rolling, i got a sunrise models alx200 and chopped off the middle to make a shorter version as ordered by connex for the 322 and 315. here it is mid-chopping.
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at the same time, i received a face-lifted enviro 200 front bumper, in order to help convert my enviro 200 into a go ahead london sel used on the 322. right now it is being stripped to be repainted, but here it is with the face-lift bumper applied.
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and now we're at the present day (well, few days ago). from the romford garage open day, i got a metroline mcw metrobus and... a model.
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for now, let's look at the metrobus. it's a corgi release, and i must say it does look quite nice. the adverts definitely help bring this model to life, although it is slightly ruined by the very prominent join line between the decks. the windows near the front have fogged or frosted up, idk what the previous owner has done to them (as this is pre-owned) but that's definitely not normal.
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however, it doesn't bother me that much, the livery completely outweighs the downsides.
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in case you couldn't tell, the other model is the spirit of london e400 mmc from model bus collection. i haven't taken the model out of the box yet, but i can already tell it's a looker and another hit from northcord.
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i should start a blog judging by how big these posts are getting. anyway, that's all from me right now, i'll probably do another one of these in the summer. i'll end off with a picture of my current (boxed) collection.
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