I’m after some HO bus models, and there’s very liitle to choose from if one’s modeling the steam / diesel transition era. Other than the neat Jordan '34 Ford bus (suitable for church buses, camp buses and a place for derelicts to call home), and Jordan’s latest rather short 1940 era transit bus, that’s about it. btw: that’s a gem!
American Precision Models made some appropriate and quite nice transit and intercity type buses, but they are apparantly now out of business. (or are they now being done under another brand?)
Check out Pirate Models in the Walther’s catalog. They have a model of a transition era bus which goes in and out of production. It’s a cast metal kit and requires a lot of careful assembly and painting, but the real downside is that it is terribly expensive. I bought one about a year ago only because I really needed it to complete a scene I was planning and there is absolutely nothing else out there comparable. Perhaps some enterprising manufacturer will fill the void – like Athearn or Classic Scale Models? In any case, good luck. Here’s the link if you want to check it out.
I have a GMC “Old Look” that I got a few years back. It would fit right in with your model era. It was from American Precision Models.
This was one company that to me was strange. Was around for a few years, then seemed to vanish! Put our several gorgeous bus models that did sell well.
Bill Cawthon might chime in as he’s helped me out in the past regarding available bus models.
I know what you mean Bill. I was lucky to find a tiny business that sold vehicles made from plaster caste moldings of all things. Right, the business “went under.” They required a lot of filing but it was the only G.M. “flat bottom” bus I ever found. These are the city buses found during the fifties almost everywhere. Pirate and Precision (mentioned before) offer coaches of an older vintage. I have not been able to find anything that might even be “kit bashed” either. Wouldn’t it be great to see an old Fragol coach too?
Bill those new Ford transits from Jorden are amazing.The dimensions are perfect as well. the museum that I belong to has one and all the sizes match.One other thought is Corgi from england. They have put alot of good bus models out over the years some HO but most Brit oo scale.I don’t have a website for them but I know they surface on e-bay fairly regularly. Rob
HO buses - yeah - a subject that I’ve been pursuing for well over a year. These forums have lots of info - just have to search it out.
Anyway, I guess it all depends on what era you are modeling - or if you simply want HO scale buses. Walthers has been promising some “Fishbowls” for at least six months … still not available. As learned within the last couple of weeks on this forum, they still run 'em in some cities in Canada. So, that makes it “okay” for my layout.
I found more info than I could handle by doing some advanced web searches on the leading search engines … amazing what comes up. But, no doubt you already know that. The problem is availability …
You may want to check out www.1stplacehobbies.com they provided me with some good info when I was trying to locate transit buses.
Thanks to everyone who’s responded to date. Yes the new Jordan transit buses are beauties, and I may get two more and splice them together for a longer wheelbase bus. Then I can use the left over for a real ugly logging rail bus. LOL
The promised ‘fishbowls’ look great, but are a bit too new for the late '40s/early '50s era I’m doing. I don’t know why this era (in HO), and for that matter, the vintage US (HO) bus market in general, has been ignored, by the various kit makers, esp. Corgi, Busch, etc. Now if only Jordan would do a newer / larger tGM ransit bus, a '50s Greyhound intercity bus, and. . .
BILL
Boleys new International school bus is very well done but the exhaust pipe is on the wrong side. For those people looking for something newer go check them out.
I think a bus is needed for any city scene, but for me I would want to modify one and make a trolleybus system using a technique of steering of 2 motors.
I have this Brawa trolleybus system, and its innovative for its design, forward placed trolley poles are not that common except for the smallest busses, and the overhead is really like sheet metal instead of wire.
With DCC today it might be easier to deal with steering, but having experimented with Trolleybusses, its not my priority for operation.
…seems there are some self=proppelled car systems with a bus, I believe it uses an under-road magnetic steering scheme, a steering wire.
Takes the fun out of actually steering the bus tho.
[quote] Originally posted by Ted D. Kramer
Wouldn’t it be great to see an old Fragol coach too?
[:-^]
I think you might mean “Fagoel” busses. I have driven one.
The Fagoel company was started in Oakland Calif. and they built both trucks and busses in the twenties… The bus line was later sold to “Twincoach” and the truck line became “Peterbuilt”. This is the info told to me by my ex-boss who still owns the bus. He also has a 1945 Ford Transit bus that no longer runs, but it was the first bus I ever drove. Pirate models made a model of this one. The Fagoel was the oldest bus in the USA that was both still in service and also still based on the origional property of it’s regular service base. The company was recently sold, but the sale did not include the two antique busses. So it is now no longer in service but it still runs.
There used to be regular service over the hill from San Jose to the Santa Cruz area that used a “Fagoel” but it wasn’t the same bus that I used to drive.
SteamHostler…[:)]
On the 14th I wrote: I think you might mean “Fagoel” busses. I have driven one. Well I messed up on the spelling. It is properly: FAGEOL. I am looking at a photo of one as I type this and it is clear on the radiator.
Very cool link! In addition to having worked at a bus transit shop for 15 years, I was a part-time bus driver for Gray Line. On so many occasions I drove MC-9s and MC-8 coaches for about 10 years. Was a great (sometimes hectic) job! Glad to see that these coaches are available in HO! A bit pricey, but they look good.
I’ve E-mailed Bill Cawthon and requested if he and the 1/87th Club would be willing to contact manufacturers to see if anyone would be willing to produce an Eagle O-1, which was the bus that competed with Greyhound’s Scenicruiser.
These were very attractive buses. Trailways ran them for years. The design was so ahead of it’s time that new models retained the same basic body style well into the 1980s.
Has anyone actually purchased the Busch GM Fishbowl as of yet? I am wondering how good the model is and if it is better than the Corgi Fishbowl model? I do drawings of Fishbowls and other bus models and of course I have a large number of bus and rail photos on my website at http://www.busdrawings.com !
I am looking to buy several of the GM Fishbowl models, but I am also wondering if they come plain white or just unpainted at all? Thanks again!
I’ve seen the GM Fishbowl bus at the local shop, but haven’t picked one up yet. Pittsburgh had a huge fleet of them in the early '80s. Most were retired by '84-85, but there are still a few around locally–I think the Route 88 line still has a few, and there’s at least one sitting in a field south of town.
BTW, is the Con-cor International school bus still available? I have a pair of them in grey. They have separate headlight lenses, mirrors, and even a working stop sign. Not sure why you’d need that on an MoW vehicle though
Also, don’t overlook the “toy” aisle at Walmart. Matchbox and Hotwheels had a few buses occasionally. They’re a bit undersized, for HO, but fine for N scale.
Hello Peter, nice to see a fellow bus enthusiast on the forum.
The Busch Fishbowl comes in Green, Red, and the Los Angeles Transit White with the orange stripe scheme. Go to www.Walthers.com and do the search. They have photo samples of the schemes.
I purchased a green Fishbowl and repainted the top half an orange-yellow color, which was similar to one of Tampa Bus Lines paint schemes back in the 70s.
Because the Busch model’s body is so smooth, all you have to do is scuff it lightly with a gray scotch pad. The Badger Modeflex paint goes on quite nicely with an airbrush and looks great. There is another thread covering how to take the body apart. I’ll bump it up to the front page.
I also replaced the tail lights with red MV Lenses. Looks so much better.
While on active duty training in Rhode Island back in December I found an American Precision Models bus waaaaaaaay in the back of a shelf at a hobby store. Not fantastically detailed, but not bad either. After much internet research, I can only conclude that APM is no longer in business. I did see a website where a guy had made molds of the bus in order to make cast resin models for his own use.
While I would love to try that, I really don’t want to risk destroying the model I found until I am more comfortable with my molding skills.
