I grew up in the St. Louis area and used to ride the bus regularly. In those days Chesterfield was “way out west somewhere”. I lived in Maplewood, my parents were divorced and my mom did not drive-hence, no family car. I guess in the years since I left Maplewood has gone all the way down to ghetto and is now coming back. I found a very good 8.5 x11 inch soft cover book on the buses and street cars of St. Louis last year. It’s fun to look at because I remember a lot of the places. I didn’t know the “Sutton Loop” in Maplewood had been a streetcar turnaround at one time. In the 50s it was a “turn around” for busses. My first full time job was in the camera department at Harper’s Drug Store directly across the street from the Sutton Loop. I think I shall have to order
Hey Guys,
Saw a Busch Fishbowl for the first time at my LHS. Nice looking unit. I’ll be doing some modifying as there’s a specific paint scheme I want to put on the buses I buy. Looks like they’re very easy to take apart.
I’ll be painting the molded interior as well. I’ll spray the seats a pale green, driver’s seat black, and the walls will be the standard white.
My only criticism of these buses, which is a very easy fix, are the headlights and taillights. They’re molded plastic. Fortunately, I’ve seen plenty of red and chrome MV type lenses at my LHS of various sizes. So it’s a matter of carefully drilling out the molded in lights and installing MV lenses in their place. Small details like this really make a difference with HO scale vehicles.
I’m happy that these units are on the market. [:D][8D]
Update: I finished and like the results. I’ll post them as soon as I have my digital camera.
I painted the upper half of the body an orange-yellow color and left the bottom section green. IMHO, came out nice!
BTW: On Walthers website, more paint schemes on these buses will be available this coming fall.
Here’s the only bus I’ve completed for my layout, The old greyhound sceniccruiser. Next I want to produce a Trailways bus.
Buses? Of course ! how else could you get around? A car? a car? you mean you actually owned a car? How rich is that? I knew someone who owned a car when I was growing up, most of the kids I grew up with, their parents sure didn’t have a car, some parents never owned a car until they reached their 40’s, including my Dad. the bus was a blast , cheap, warm, on time, nice people, no maintenance, never having to buy gas(@25 cents a gallon) Also to go anywhere we went by train, how is that for elegant travelling? imagine a bunch of prairie stubble-jumpers, leaving Moose Jaw on our way to Vancouver B.C. sitting down to an exclusive meal in the dining car (My Mother did teach me how to hold a fork properly), lousy manners not permitted in a dining car, boy those were the days, buses did their duty, I don’t think we were looked down on, as almost every one rode the bus.
Very nice Gappleg!
I’ve been also wanting an HO Trailways O-1, which is what I saw in the late 60s early 70s as a kid. Unfortunately no one makes one.
What I’m currently doing is modifying an HO scale Mercedes Benz bus from BREKINA to make it look like a Trailways bus. The windows caught my attention as they’re actually similar to the windows on the Eagle O-1 and O-5 models.
Yes, it’s freelancing but it is sure fun!
After removing the interior and windows, I wet-sanded the bottom section of this bus and metalized it with Alclad II. I then cut the middle and rear door “leaves” on their top sections to make them look like windows. Next, I painted the body molding that runs along the underside of the windows a “Santa Fe” red. The rear section has the “ziz-zag” pattern, just like Trailways paint scheme of the 70s.
I sanded off the Mercedes Benz logo on the front and painted that section black.
While not authentic, it doesn’t look bad! Next I’m going to add MV lenses on the front, roof, and rear.
The idea is that when you see the bus, it “reminds you” of the old Traiways Eagles.
Pittsburgh had a few of those fishbowl buses here in the late 1970s and early '80s. Most were painted in a variety of colors–red, blue, green, etc…but a few were painted in the standard Port Authority colors of red/white/black. There are still a few of those around–mostly sitting in scrapyards or fields by now though. I’d like at least one for my layout, and maybe a few of the Neoplan buses that came later.
In Baltimore, that fishbowl bus did a GREAT job way back when. You did learn to sit just aft of the front axle as that was where the best ride was because of the constant curb to curb stopping.
There used to be Interburns and trolley lines before the buses showed up. I think the buses won because it was more profitiable.
I dont know much about the “Stigma” of taking buses but I do know that it was cheaper and less stressful for the commute to work. And it saved wear and tear on the family car which was saved for trips out of the city.
Now if only we can get some models of WW2 or early buses it will be good.
There are still a few GMC Fishbowl and New Look buses at the Sacramento Regional Transit corporation yard, along with a couple of “trollops” (those fake trolley buses) and an older General Motors bus–I don’t know the model number but they preceded the Fishbowl model, built from the 1940s on. GM made some good bucks selling buses to replace streetcar lines to National City Lines, a company that bought old streetcar lines, of which GM was a major stockholder.
I’ve been on a model expo in Dortmund/GERMANY last weekend and found a german manufacturer who makes US prototype bus models in H0, MEK-Modelle. For example MCI E 4500 or GM Scenicruiser 1955. Unfortuanately the hole website is in german and the stuff is priced between 34 an 40 Euros (that’s 40 to 50$ incl. tax). The kits are made of resin. Quality is very good. I had these kits in my hand and close look on it. There are pictures on the manufactures website, use the link - http://www.mek-modelle.de/index1.html -, click ‘Preisliste’, then the upper button on the end of the page, next click the tiny ‘Seite 4’ link on the end of this page and you’re there! There is a dropdown menu on the upper left of the site, pictures will open in a new window. It’s a long way to ge there, but this company is the only I know, making such a variety of american prototype buses.
But may be I’m wrong.
[#wstupid]
The Greyhound above is an MEK resin kit, they are very nice, available at:
http://www.truckstopmodels.com/
I got my GMC buses from walthers at least 2 months ago…What’s up?
I just bought my 2nd Fishbowl.
I painted the top half of my first one an orange-yellow with Badger Modelflex. Looks good! I didnt’ clear coat it as I want it to look like a bus with a paint job that has been faded a bit by the sun. Installing MV lenses on the back really makes a diifference.
What am I missing?..I bought my GM Fishbowl sometime in Jan.There was even a discussion on here about how to get it apart to fini***he interior and how to use MV lenses for the tail lights.Are we talking about the same model?
Mike, These buses come apart in the middle horizontal line.
Start by gently removing the tires/axles.
Carefully insert a small, flatblade screwdriver in the front and rear wheel housing. Gently push downward. You’ll notice that the corrugated panel will “bow outward” a little.
Take your time, run your fingernail back and forth where the corrugation and upper body half meet. They should start separating. It will be a bit tight.
Once they come apart, the once piece seat interior can be removed from the bottom.
I painted the seats a NYC green, the tops of the seat backs bright silver (to represent the stainless steel hand rails)
The windows: 1 Rear, 1 Windshield, and a 1 piece passenger windows section.
Be careful with fingerprints! Can be a pain to remove. Wipe before reinstalling.
Winshield wipers. Funny thing is that I kept mine on the upper body! After airbrusing the upper body, I just came back with a small paint brush and touched up the wipers up with silver in just a few seconds.
Bumpers: BE CAREFUL! The studs can break. If they do just glue the bumper back on with CA.
The tailgate: Drill out the “painted” taillights. (#44 drill bit or slightly smaller)
MV Lenses on the tailgate:
LS200 for the larger upper brake lights. (2.2 mm lenses)
LS 220 for the lower lights. (1.6 mm lenses)
For the back up lights (bottom of tailgate) use 1.6 or 1.5 mm “Clear” MV Lens.
Very tiny drops of glue, such as Ambroid or Kristal Klear on a tooth pick, will do the job.
Hope this helps.
Antonio,
Why did you post the above? Now you got me all psyched to get a couple of those buses and start another project!!
Seriously. Sounds like a fantastic way to detail a good model. Got any pics you could post? Would love to see how it turned out.
Oops! Just couldn’t help myself[:p]
Go for it. I’m actually a bit clumsy, so the detailing I did above can be done by ANYONE that just has a bit of patience.
Quick Tip: When drilling out and glueing for the taillights, the bus body needs to be perfectly still. If you don’t have a table vice, you can get a thick piece of styrofoam, like the type that comes in computer or stereo boxes. Cut out a small rectangular hole that the front half of the bus body will slide into “tightly”. Wala!
Pictures: Sorry, I’m still on a budget crunch so I can’t by a digital camera yet. I’m itching for one.
I’m going to experiment some more. Since I’m metalizing my Rivorissi streamliners, I’m going to give it a shot and metalize those aluminum panels on the sides of the fishbowls. I’m going to try it with the model I just purchased. Since the first bus I redid looks decent I’m going to “leave well enough alone!”[:D][;)]
That’s grrrrreeaaattt! I’ve been waiting for these buses for who knows how long. I wi***hey would come out with semi trucks and more autos from the sixties. I’m having trouble finding them.
CMW has quite the line of 60’s era vehicles. I think William’s Brothers has a few 60s car, but mostly 50s era.
CMW has quite the line of 60’s era vehicles. While I may be wrong, I think they’ve come out with 63 Impala, 60something Galaxie, another 60s era Ford and and a 60something Charger. They also have several trucks that would work out for that timeframe. I think William’s Brothers has a few 60s car, but mostly 50s era.