Teenage Kicks

Another adventure in time, but on this occasion a trip revisiting my own past. Late 1991/early 1992 I built my first model bus kit, a Tower Models Leyland National. Finished in my own ivory/red/grey livery it was the first of many, forming the initial backbone of a contemporary model fleet and membership of the Model Bus Federation. Those days are long gone but when Peco re-released the kit a few years ago my interest grew and I bought the kit in the Bure Valley Model Shop on our Norfolk holiday in 2019. 

As I am still between railway projects I thought it would make an interesting follow-up to the Peco Police Box build. It hasn't all been plain sailing but that is largely "me" issues rather than anything to do with the kit. In many ways the kit is quite basic but with a few adjustments it can be improved to a satisfactory standard. The main changes I have made have been to the front end, wheels and to detail the interior.

Past experience had taught me to ignore the instructions, which say to build from the floor up, and to build from the roof down with the interior units fitted from below after painting. This allows much better joining of the ends to the roof. Front end improvements have involved taking a 1mm strip from above the bumper, opening out the windscreen at either side (which will require a new screen to replace that supplied) and rounding the corners of the destination and cove panels with tiny fillets of Milliput to better represent the prototype. I have also chosen to build the model as a 'B Series' example with no roof pod and the 9 small vents on the front and nearside, all formed from tiny strips of 5 thou styrene.

On the offside I have added the fuel filler in a recess midway along the side and the footstep cutout below the emergency door. On both sides I scribed in the flap in the lower fairing behind the rear wheelarch. The wheels caused some head scratching as the kit originals that sufficed in my teenage years no longer made the mark, luckily I had a set of ABS Models Leyland wheels to hand that had lived under a modified Dinky "Yellow Pages" Atlantean (another type that formed the backbone of my model fleet). They aren't perfect but will do until/if I can source anything more accurate. I've added a very slight steer to the front axle for realism.

The interior has seen the most work. As supplied this is quite basic and many of the seats featured blowouts in the moulding. I have added a step in the doorway, correctly raised drivers seat and scratchbuilt cab detail, a nearside luggage rack, offside longditudinal seat, handrails on all standard seat backs from staples and styrene strip and modesty screens in front of the raised seating area. Several online photos were used to get these details looking correct. There are also two glass screens to add behind the driver and in front of the luggage rack, made from clear 40 thou styrene to be added after painting. Just visible in this shot are the mud flaps I have added under the floor from 20 thou styrene.

I am happy with how this project has progressed after several frustrations, the next step will be to paint everything, which may take a little longer!

Colin