Building Bus Kits

MBC STL6/1 Tree Lopper

2009-01-15T11:52:00.005Z

Many years ago I started building a LT Tree Lopper from a MBC kit. In truth these were the only STLs that I can say I saw with absolute certainty. Once every few years they would come around the Country Area routes checking for potential "Dome Denters" and they were totally unloved to the extent of leaving a trail of light blue smoke behind them!

So to the model then:-

You can see that it was never finished and has lead a bit of a "hard life" but essentially is all there just needing the glazing adding and the handrails changing from brass to fusewire.

This picture shows a typical fault where the model is either nose or tail high. This needs correcting.

And I've also got to remove that white circle as I don't really think they were ever carried.

Since building this model I've been talking to John Aldridge who tells me that these STLs had a slot in the upper deck floor so that any big branches could be dropped into the lower saloon and then taken out of the rear door later in the day. This means that the upper deck floor may well of been quite weak but the slot was protected by a "wall". One day I'll modify it!!

The LBC STL6/1

2009-01-14T15:12:00.008Z

As I mentioned earlier the LBC kit for the STL6 is VERY different to the ABS one as you can see from the photographs below. I have only really started to clean up the cast white metal underfloor, all the rest is as received.

You can see from this front three quarter view that there is a lot of cleaning up to do and also that the horizontal part of the moving window frame is missing. Quite why I don't know but that seems to be a job for Evergreen strip of some sort. I'll have to measure the body thickness to make sure that there is no protrusion inside.

A rear three quarter view of the same bus. No tidying done at all!

This is the downstairs with the WM chassis in place. Note how little real assembly work is necessary but it will cost a fortune in masking tape when I paint the seats. I normally stick the seats to a bit of wood with blue tack or its equal and paint them but here they come all moulded in one lump.
The exhaust pipe seems to be missing from the kit!

And this is the lower deck body/upper deck seating arrangements. Really the same comments as before apply except that there is an interior to paint now as well.

2009-01-09T11:09:00.002Z

Additional Transfers

Arrived in the mail today is the MBC Decals catalogue of model bus transfers. Its £2.00 but seems worth it for the contents. Now I have not reviewed the contents yet but it is fairly thick. One of the things it does reveal is a selection of destination decals for ABS, RTC, and Pirate bus and trolleybus kits.

MBC Decals live at "Cres Mor", Perranuthnoe, Penzance, Cornwall. TR20 9NR.

2009-01-07T19:38:00.002Z

ABS (ex - MBC) STL6 kit.
Here is a scan of all the parts as bought.

You can see that there are a lot of sprue ends to be trimmed and a lot of cleaning up of flash and general odds and ends before any construction can start.

The kit does have the correct wooden framed seats, well the backs are curved and don't have the continuous handrail anyway.

The MBC kit is VERY different.

2009-01-07T13:52:00.003Z

Instructions.

I thought that after describing them so fully I might as well put up the instructions to both kits so you can see the difference. So here we go:-

Little Bus Company:-

2009-01-07T13:41:00.006Z

Instructions.

I thought that after describing them so fully I might as well put up the instructions to both kits so you can see the difference. So here we go:-

ABS.

2009-01-06T14:56:00.001Z

Kit Instructions and Transfers.

Kit Instructions

Before we start building the kits its a good idea to review the kit instructions. So here goes.

The ABS (Ex – MBC) kit has a single A4 sheet, printed both sides and folded to give 4 pages of A5. A full page is given over to the type history and a further third of a page to colour notes, but only outside colours not inside. There is a layout of the seats and some instructions concerning the seating. A further third of a page is given over to a construction method. A full page is given over to an exploded diagram and the remaining page discusses how difficult a kit it was to develop, the major differences between a STL6 and STL6/1 as variations of the kit cover both although why you cannot just put both fronts and backs into the kit is beyond my understanding. No mention is made anywhere of any handrails or where to purchase suitable transfers. All round a reasonable set of instructions but incomplete.

The LBC instructions are again on a single sheet of A4 but there the similarity ends. One side gives an incomplete history of the class and a set of box contents. The other side gives a rather unhelpful set of instructions and suggests two sources of transfers, one for blinds and the other for general usage transfers. There is no colour information. Now I don't understand this as on the box front is a colour picture of two built kits, one in pre-war livery and the other in wartime livery. There is plenty of “white” on the instruction sheet so you are left asking why the colour information was not provided. There again is no information on the handrails although to be fair most are moulded onto the body.

Both kits suffer from not having a set of drawings to enable a builder to cut out a set of glazing from the material provided . This has always been a serious omission on bus kits and as the buying costs rise it wants addressing. Eventually I'll add a printable drawing of the glazing. It will only be of one set mind. This could prove interesting as already it appears that the kits will produce vehicles obstensively identical but of two different lengths. I'll also do a scrap drawing showing where to fit the visible handrails.

Transfers.

Now transfers for STL's can be obtained from the following places:-

Fox Transfers.
4, Hill Lane Close,
Markfield Industrial Estate,
Markfield,
Leicestershire.
LE67 9PN
01530 242801/245618

http://www.fox-transfers.co.uk

Modelmaster Decals
31 Crown Street
Ayr.
Scotland
KA8 8AG
01292 289770 (10:00 am to 5:00 pm only)

http://www.modelmasterdecals.com/index.htm

Bus Stop Models,
Shop 12 South Harrow Market,
Northolt Road,
Harrow,
HA2 0EU.
Currently Thursday to Saturday
020 8423 9573

http://www.busstopmodels.co.uk/

If you want something really special then look here as these guys are specialist printers:-

http://www.wessextransfers.com/products.htm

Now it might also be that Graham Orchard, who developed the Model Bus Company range, still has transfers for his bus kits. He lived somewhere in Cornwall so if somebody has been in contact with him recently and confirm this it might be nice. Model Road and Rail seem to have disappeared completely and are just selling toys via eBay.

Of course as a base you could use the excellent transfers that come with the old Tower Models RT kits. The transfers were always MUCH better than the kits! The only problem being that the adverts post date the withdrawals of the STLs but that is up to the builder.

Of course there are people I have left out so leave a comment and I'll happily add anybody relevant

2009-01-02T12:40:00.002Z

Reference Books etc

I suppose the best reference is the STL site on Ian's Bus Stop. Go to:-

http://freespace.virgin.net/ian.smith/buses/index.htm

which does have the advantage of being updated as more information becomes available. There is a magnificent set of photographs of one of the STL6 tree loppers as preserved in there but there are quite a few places to look in this site.

The next reference has to be Ken Blackers book on the STLs. This must rank as the definitive book. However, don't overlook Buses Annual. The 1969 issue has a STL6 in original colours as its frontispiece and a fairly good article on STLs while the 1973 issue has a precis of Ken Blackers book.

The London Bus File series of books by Ken Glazier are quite helpful. The ones that interest me are the post war ones and they are very good. I've also just started investigating the “London Transport Buses and Coaches” series. There seems to be one for every year from 1946 up to 1962 but currently I only have the 1956 book and the STL6 series had all gone then. The “London Transport in the 19xx's” series does not seem to feature Country Buses over well so I wouldn't bother with them for STL6's. And here we come to the problem. STL6 buses do not seem to have been heavily photographed so any additions to this listing would be very welcome.

2008-12-29T12:38:00.003Z

STL6 & STL6/1 Body Swaps and substitutions

So I've been looking at Ian's Bus Stop on the net and it's readily apparent that a number of nasty things happened to the Country Area STL's. Unusually no float bodies were built for either the Chiswick or Addlestone batches so 139 buses had no direct substitute bodies. This was dealt with by the simple expedient of separating 4 of the STL6 and two of the STL6/1 bodies from their chassis and creating a float that way. Their place seems to have been taken by STL 14/1 bodies. This happened in 1939 and affected STL6's 993, 1001, 1003 and STL6/1 1465 & 1477. In 1942 1469 received a STL6 body as did 1501 &1504. In 1944 STL 986 became a STL6/1 and had WOODEN seats. After the war when things were even less simple as London Transport tried to keep as many serviceable buses on the road as possible. So in 1947 STL's 1009, 1017,1021& 1056 all received STL6/1 bodies while in 1948 STL 1008 got a roofbox body as did 1029, 1935 and 1038 while 1011 got a STL14/1 body. STL1023 was even luckier as it got a STL12 body but with no roofbox. As the Country Area used the roofboxes/numberboxes rather than painted them over this must have been a bit inconvenient! Now the next thing is registration numbers against bonnet numbers. You should bear in mind that pre-war buses seem to have been STLXXXXb and coaches TXXXc. This was dropped at sometime, probably 1939 as there were no real coaches left after that point as they seem to become ambulances or USAAF canteens.

So quoting from various sources we have:-

STL6 Batch

STL959 = BLH816, 960 = 817, 961 = 830, 962 = BLH834, 963 = BLH826, 964 = BLH827, 965 = BLH824, 966 =BLH831, 967 = BLH822, 968=BLH835, 969 = BLH818, 970 = BLH823, 971 = BLH828, 972 = BLH819, 973 = BLH820, 974=BLH823, 975 = BLH829, 976 = BLH821, 977 = BLH825, 978 = BLH833, 979 = BLH836, 980 = BLH849, 981 = BLH837, 982 = BLH838, 983 = BLH839, 984 = BLH851, 985 = BLH840, 986 = BLH859, 987 = BLH 847, 988 = BLH842,
989 = BLH843, 990 = BLH860, 991 = BLH 950, 992 = BLH844, 993 = BLH845, 994 = BLH865,
995 = BLH853, 996 = BLH848, 997 = BLH855, 998 = BLH841, 999 = BLH852, 1000 = BLH846, 1001 BLH854, 1002 = BLH856, 1003 = BLH857, 1004 = BLH 862, 1005 = BLH863, 1006 = BLH869, 1007 = BLH861, 1008 = BLH864, 1009 = BLH868, 1010 = BLH866, 1011 = BLH870, 1012 = BLH889, 1013 = BLH871, 1014 = BLH867, 1015 = BLH881, 1016 = BLH884, 1017 = BLH873, 1018 = BLH872, 1019 = BLH876, 1020 = BLH877, 1021 = BLH893, 1022 = BXD526, 1023 = BLH895, 1024 = BLH876, 1025 = BLH879, 1026 = BLH874, 1027 = BLH880, 1028 = BLH892, 1029 = BLH896, 1030 = BLH894, 1031 = BLH891, 1032 = BLH897, 1033 = BLH897, 1034 = BLH875, 1035 = BLH899, 1036 = BLH882, 1037 = BLH883, 1038 = BLH900, 1039 = BLH886, 1040 = BLH887, 1041 = BLH898, 1042 = BLH888, 1043 = BLH890; 1056 = BLH503, 1057 = BLH504, 1058 = BLH501, 1059 = BLH502.

STL6/1 Batch

1464 = CXX451, 1465 = CXX452, 1466 = CXX453, 1467 = CXX454, 1468 = CXX455, 1469 = CXX456, 1470 = CXX457, 1471 = CXX458, 1472 = CXX459, 1473 = CXX460, 1474 = CXX461, 1475 = CXX462, 1476 = CXX463, 1477 = CXX464, 1478 = CXX465, 1479 = CXX466,1480 = CXX467, 1481 = CXX468, 1482 = CXX469, 1483 = CXX470 1484 = CXX471, 1485 = CXX472,1486 = CXX473, 1487 = CXX474, 1488 = CXX475 1489 = CXX476, 1490 = CXX477, 1491 = CXX478, 1492 = CXX479, 1493 = CXX480, 1494 = CXX481, 1495 = CXX482, 1496 = CXX483, 1497 = CXX484, 1498 = CXX485, 1499 = CXX486, 1500 = CXX487, 1501 = CXX488, 1502 = CXX489, 1503 = CXX490, 1504 = CXX491, 1505 = CXX492, 1506 = CXX493, 1507 = CXX494, 1508 = CXX495, 1509 = CXX496, 1510 = CXX497, 1511 = CXX498, 1512 = CXX499, 1513 = CXX500.

Differences between STL6 & STL6/1

The major differences seem to be at the front, the rear and the roof. The front display is different in as much as the Ultimate Destination is at the bottom on the STL6 and at the top on the STL6/1 although the Ultimate Destination is at the bottom on both classes at the rear. The roofs are entirely different, the Weymann construction uses far narrower sheets and presumably more roof hoops. The upper deck front windows are different. There seems to be some difference in the rear "bumper" arrangements between sub-classes although rear shots are so rare as to almost make this meaningless.
Modifications took place during the whole of the life of these buses. The first modification seems to have been the removal of the sidelights from the cantrail to the one under the windscreen and the other on the front bulkhead. There after certain vehicles lost their extended rubber mudguards for less streamlined metal fabrications. It's best to check photographs for this. Finally the STL6 class were fitted with seats over the rear wheel arches rather than luggage pens bring their carrying capacity up by 5, as 1 extra standing was allowed!

What we are trying to achieve

2008-12-27T16:11:00.003Z

What we are trying to achieve is something like this:-

which shows an ABS ex Jim Varney ST, an ABS ex GS Models Bluebird LT and an ABS ex GS Models LTL all in immediate post war colours. Note that none of these have been "refurbished".

To get there is really quite easy. All it requires is a big dollop of patience and knowing when to build bus kits and when to watch television! I recommend Radio 3 or Classic FM for bus building. You do need to be calm.

Prelude

2008-12-27T12:41:00.000Z

The idea of this blog is to chart me building bus kits in resin andwhite metal and going on about the techniques and methods that I use and develop.

I hope it will be of some use to the Model Bus fraternity which could work wonders on some existing die-casts, never mind kits.