Photographs taken by me of the magazine pages are purely to illustrate the build stages, so that the entire project can be followed from the start to the completed model in issue order. The copyright of Hachette Partworks is acknowledged.

MAGAZINE ISSUE 71 - FITTING THE REAR SEATS TO THE UPPER DECK
This issue involved securing an assortment of seats from issue 65, 68 and 70 to the rear section of the upper deck flooring. Luckily, I had bagged the seats together in numbered bags so it was easy for me to get the appropriate pieces out for fitting. It was a very easy build and only took me about 10 minutes. The magazine articles continue on Route 65 between Petersham, Kingston and beyond. An interesting fact, is that the area around Ham was used in the early 20th Century for the extraction of grit, sand and gravel. When the extraction was complete, the pits were allowed to flood. After WW2, the flooded pits were used to dump rubble from bombed out housing and the land was then used for new housing. The second article describes new single decker's of the RF and GS types (two of my favourite buses).

INSTRUCTIONS ISSUE 71 - FITTING THE REAR SEATS TO THE UPPER DECK

BUILD ISSUE 71 - FITTING THE REAR SEATS TO THE UPPER DECK

MAGAZINE ISSUE 72 - CENTRAL SEATING ON THE UPPER DECK
Continuing the addition of seats to the upper deck, using seats supplied with issues 65, 66 and 68. No problems were experienced and it took me about 10 minutes to complete. The magazine articles follow Route 19 from Finsbury Park to Highbury Corner. Finsbury Park was formed in the 1850's after Londoners visiting Paris campaigned for open spaces in London which was becoming dirty, over crowded and lacking in green spaces. It was originally called Albert Park and was an area of open ground, all that was left from the once extensive Hornsey Woods. The only time I have visited Finsbury Park, is for the two Routemaster anniversary events. The final article is about the Shillibeer livery, introduced in 1979 to celebrate 150 years of omnibuses on London streets.

INSTRUCTIONS ISSUE 72 - CENTRAL SEATING ON THE UPPER DECK

BUILD ISSUE 72 - CENTRAL SEATING ON THE UPPER DECK

MAGAZINE ISSUE 73 - FRONT SEATING ON THE UPPER DECK
This issue finished the fitting of the upper deck seats to the upper deck flooring. I had no issues with the build, which again took me about 10 minutes. Securing the final section of deck to the previously assembled flooring shows the sheer size of this model. Nose to tail the upper deck flooring is on the region of 64cm (approx 25 inches)! The magazine article continues on Route 19 from Islington to Bloomsbury. The second article is entitled "Building for Buses" and describes amongst other things, the development of Aldenham Works which opened in 1952. Aldenham was originally built as a tube train depot and had been used for aircraft manufacture in WW2.

INSTRUCTIONS ISSUE 73 - FRONT SEATING ON THE UPPER DECK

BUILD ISSUE 73 - FRONT SEATING ON THE UPPER DECK

MAGAZINE ISSUE 74 - LOWER DECK CEILING FRAMEWORK
This build was probably the easiest to date and simply involved fitting the first section of the lower deck ceiling frame work to the underside of the upper deck flooring. It took me just a couple of minutes to complete, including taking the photographs! The magazine article describes the LT Museum Acton Depot, which I have visited many times. The second article follows Route 19 from Shaftesbury Avenue to Belgravia. The third article describes the Route 9 Heritage Route.

INSTRUCTIONS ISSUE 74 - LOWER DECK CEILING FRAMEWORK

BUILD ISSUE 74 - LOWER DECK CEILING FRAMEWORK

MAGAZINE ISSUE 75 - ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS
Not considering myself too good with electric matters, I was dreading this build. Having said that, I found it very straightforward. I can report that everything is working, namely LED panels, the bell (activated by pulling the bell cord). I wish I had remembered that cable C41K which I found to be too short and rerouted in Issue 66 was a known error and an extension cable came with this issue! The ceiling lights form the lower deck ceiling and the engine sound also works correctly. To see a short video with the engine sound, see the British Model Buses Facebook post dated 19th April 2020. 

The magazine articles describe the final section of Route 19 from Sloane Square to Battersea. In relatively recent times Kings Road has been famous for its fashion boutiques. The road was originally built during the reign of Charles II, as a private road for use by him to travel to his property at Kew. Courtiers and other favoured people were also allowed to use the road, but is still remained private until the reign of William IV (1830-1837). Some houses were built off the road during the 1700's and their residents were allowed to use the road, By the mid 1800's Kings Road was an important road into London and became lined with residential and commercial buildings. The Route also passes near to Battersea Park which hosted the first game of football after the Football Association formalised its rules. The second article covers buses and the Festival of Britain and describes the 4 RT buses that were sent out across Europe in 1950 to publicise the event.

INSTRUCTIONS ISSUE 75 - ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS

BUILD ISSUE 75 - ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS

MAGAZINE ISSUE 76 - UPPER DECK LIGHTING AND OTHER ELECTRICS
This build has not yet been completed.

The first magazine article describes Route 9 from The Strand to Trafalgar Square. An interesting fact is that Charing Cross is said to be the spot where all distances to London are measured to. However, Cartographers actually use the statue of Charles 1 on the roundabout where Trafalgar Square meets Whitehall (which is where the original Charing Cross stood). The Cross referred to, is said to be the places where the coffin of Queen Eleanor (wife of Edward 1) rested on its journey from Lincoln to London. The present Cross outside the station is a replacement, placed in 1875 to replace the original which was destroyed in 1647. The second article describes the Routemaster entering service and replacing the Trolleybuses. A party was held at Poplar Garage on 10th November 1959 as the first RM left the Garage just before midnight on night service 284. The last trolleybus arrived at Poplar at half past midnight and made its way past the ranks of Routemasters ready to enter service the next day.

INSTRUCTIONS ISSUE 76 - UPPER DECK LIGHTING AND OTHER ELECTRICS

BUILD ISSUE 76 - UPPER DECK LIGHTING AND OTHER ELECTRICS

MAGAZINE ISSUE 77 - SCHOOLBOY
No building in this issue as we have another passenger to travel on our bus. The boys uniform reminds me of my school days in the 60's when caps were an essential part of the uniform at my first school. The magazine articles cover the Oxford Bus Museum (a museum I have never visited). One of the photographs shows part of a Mulleys Motorways Bedford OB. I tried to persuade EFE (pre-Bachmann days) to release a model in Mulleys livery, but to no avail. Mulleys Motorways are based near to where my wife used to live when she was a girl and she used to travel on Mulleys buses to school, driven on a number of occasions by Jack Mulley. The second article follows Route 9 from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park Corner. The road Pall Mall takes its name from the game Pell-mell a lawn game similar to croquet, which was thought to have originated in Italy. The first pall-mall field opened in 1630. The field was south of what is now St James Square and the field gave its name to the road that passed along its southern side. The third article in the magazine is about congestion in the 1950's strikes. The London Bus Strike of 1958 is decsribed.

INSTRUCTIONS ISSUE 77 - SCHOOLBOY

BUILD ISSUE 77 - SCHOOLBOY

MAGAZINE ISSUE 78 - SECOND SECTION OF THE CEILING FRAMEWORK
This issue involved fitting the second section of the ceiling framework, it was as equally easy to fit as the first section in Issue 74 and only took a couple of minutes. The magazine articles follows Route 9 from Hyde Park Corner to Kensington High Street. The second article is called "The best Way to Board a Bus" and details the different experiments that took place to determine with different door layouts to determine the best design for passengers to get on and off. As a result of these experiments it was decided that the Routemaster should follow the traditional rear entrance/exit design.

INSTRUCTIONS ISSUE 78 - SECOND SECTION OF THE CEILING FRAMEWORK

BUILD ISSUE 78 - SECOND SECTION OF THE CEILING FRAMEWORK

MAGAZINE ISSUE 79 - UPPER DECK HANDRAILS
This build involved fitting part of the front wall to the upper deck and the hand rails around the top of the stairs. It was a straight forawrd build and took about 20 minutes. The front wall is not secured properly at this point so I posed it just for a photograph. The front wall will be securely attached in later issues. The magazine articles feature Route 9 from Kensington High Street to Hammersmith. The second article is entitles "Staffing the Buses, Recruiting West Indians" and describes how labour shortages after WW2 lead to London Transport beginning a recruitment drive in Barbados.

INSTRUCTIONS ISSUE 79 - UPPER DECK HANDRAILS

BUILD ISSUE 79 - UPPER DECK HANDRAILS

MAGAZINE ISSUE 80 - FRONT DESTINATION BLIND
This issue involved putting together the front destination blind for the bus. The selection of cogs were well lubricated with grease so regularly wiping the hands with a tissue to remove the grease was necessary. I found this build to be reasonably straightforward and it took me about 25 minutes to complete. A large selection of destinations are printed on the blind, I will have to decide which one to use. I am leaning towards Route 11 for Liverpool Street at the moment. The magazines articles this week strat on Route 43 between Friern Barnet to Highgate Woods. The second article is entitles "Routemasters for Children" and describes  some of the children's books which feature Routemaster buses.

INSTRUCTIONS ISSUE 80 - FRONT DESTINATION BLIND

BUILD ISSUE 80 - FRONT DESTINATION BLIND

BUILD YOU OWN ROUTEMASTER

ISSUES SEVENTY ONE TO EIGHTY

This page last updated Monday, 27 April 2020