| Model Bus Zone News August 2023 |
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| July 2023 | Model Bus Zone News Index | September 2023 |
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EFE
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Northcord
Rapido |
Sunday 27 August |
| Model Buses Creations Model Pre-orders Now Open |
Model Buses Creations has now opened pre-orders for its commissioned Dealer White Northcord Scania Omnicity double deck model UKBUS0069, the model is priced £65.00 plus delivery and is a limited run of just 204 pieces. www.modelbus.uk for further details and pre-production sample photograph. |
Sunday 27 August |
| Model Bus Federation August 2023 Journal Review |
| A brief overview of the latest issue of the Model Bus Federation's Model Bus Journal for August 2023. This is the only publication solely dedicated to model bus news & other related articles in the UK. If the contents below are of interest, you may wish to consider becoming a member of the MBF, the annual subscription starts at £25.00 with special reduced rates available for younger members aged 14-18. For further details please visit the https://www.model-bus-federation.org.uk. Back issues of the Journals are also available to members where stock permits. The Model Bus Journal - Issue 628 August 2023 - 36 pages - ISSN 0953-435 
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Friday 25 August |
| Rapido Trains UK Announce Three Further Bedford OB Revisions |
| Rapido Trains UK's latest newsletter contains the following information regarding further revisions to three of the previously announced Bedford OB Duple Vista models. Bedford OB Updates In last month's newsletter, we noticed a minor issue with the Bedford OB coaches. Soon after the newsletter went out, we decided to have another look over our research for each of the variants of these upcoming models. We have obtained additional photographic evidence which will result in us making further tweaks to improve the accuracy before we put it into production. After going over them with a fine-toothed comb, we noticed the following: 1-SKU 920006 - Edinburgh Corporation. The license plate number will be changed from GWS 468 to GWS 466 and the fleet number to X22.  2-SKU 920009 - West Yorkshire. The bodyshell has been changed from one that features roof windows to an alternative that has no roof windows but does have round indicator lights. This is because the updated bodyshell better matches its appearance before it was rebuilt in 1957. The rebuilt form (and its current preserved appearance), though it has roof windows like our first choice, does not match our tooling at all, with a different style of trim with no flash and two extra windows.  3- SKU 920005 - Southern Vectis. We have changed the bodyshell design to one that has a bigger rear bumper as it matches the real-life example better. We also would like to manage expectations as these changes have had an understandable impact on production time frames. This is simply because we keep holding the factory back from progressing until we are confident in the model’s accuracy.  As such, we are sorry to say these may be a little further down the road than initially intended or advertised. Keep an eye on future newsletters and social media posts for further updates on this project. |
Monday 21 August |
| Model Buses Creations Commissioned Northcord Models Update |
Model Buses Creations has announced on its Facebook page that pre-orders for its commissioned Dealer White Northcord Model's Scania Omnicity double deck model UKBUS0069, will open at 12:00pm this Friday (25th August), the model is a limited run of just 204 pieces, pre-orders for the commissioned Northcord Enviro400 Stagecoach Ambassador UKBUS0070A/B, & Go Ahead London Driver Trainer UKBUS0071 are also to open soon.   |
Monday 21 August |
| Northcord Models Press Release: UKBUS9501 National Express West Midlands Scania Omnicity |
| The following press release was published by Northcord Models earlier today. National Express West Midlands Northcord Model Company is proud to release its first model of the UKBUS9500 range. This is UKBUS9501, using the Scania OmniCity double-deck casting and carrying the vintage livery with West Midlands fleetnames.  The model as replicated is National Express West Midlands 4780 (BU08 EHZ) on route 67 to Birmingham with ‘via Tyburn Road’ carried in the front destination. 4780 was new to Perry Barr garage in March 2008 carrying registration BV57 XLB. The registration was soon changed to BU08 EHZ after about two weeks. 4780 was repainted with West Midlands PTE livery in June 2019 and named ‘Brian Robinson’ accordingly. The replica features excellent detailing, inside and out, such as realistic-looking handpoles and handrails. This is a one-piece casting whose clean lines accentuate the windows and livery application on which all logos and lettering are clearly legible. To achieve a smoother look the glazing has been affixed from the outside of the metal bodyshell.  The brand new UKBUS9501 bus models will be distributed by John Ayrey Die-Casts Limited (UK), Porte Publishing Company (Japan), 80M Bus Model Shop (HK) respectively. The UKBUS9501 model is limited to 1200 pieces worldwide. |
Sunday 13 August |
| Rapido Trains UK Suspend Leyland National Model Development |
| Rapido Trains UK has decided to put the development of it's range of OO scale Leyland National Models on indefinite hold. The latest Rapido Newsletter contains the following announcement... Leyland National Since announcing this project the response to it could be best described as lukewarm. Whilst Jason and several members of the team are bus nutters they require a lot of effort to produce. They have just as much detail as a highquality railway carriage and take a lot of effort for the factory to produce. However, compared to a railway vehicle the sales are often vastly smaller and thus as a company we make little return – often a 4-wheel wagon will exceed a model bus in sales. Unfortunately, even removing the lights or posable wheels will make absolutely no difference to its viability. We make buses because we want to – but in the current climate it is just not the right time. We know this will be a disappointment to some – hopefully, things will improve, and we can reassess the viability of the project in the future, along with the two other unannounced bus models we have nearly ready for tooling. Rapido has also announced a change to one of the upcoming Bedford OB coach models. It's been noticed that the Southern Vectis vehicle originally chosen, EDL 638 had a different destination blind layout & panel work that doesn't accurately match that of the model tooling, for accuracy the model (920005) will now be based on sister vehicle GDL 796 instead.  You can view the full newsletter PDF HERE. |
Sunday 6 August |
| New EFE Rail Products Announced by Bachmann Europe |
| Bachmann British Railways Autumn Announcement earlier this week contains a number of new model Railway items for the EFE Rail Range. There are a number of new N & OO scale products including the first N scale Steam locomotives for the range. Starting with the N scale, there's a new WD Austerity Saddle Tank locomotive, this is initially offered in six different company liveries including two versions of the black British Railways scheme with either a choice early or late emblems.  The OO scale range includes a further version of the DMU Class 143 Railcar in First Group (GWR Green) livery, new products include Newton Chambers Car carrier coaches, these are available in both British Railways Maroon or blue & grey liveries with four different coach variants available in each scheme.   In addition to the above, there's two further packs each containing four LSWR Cross Country coaches, these are available in either LSWR Salmon & Brown or SR Maunsell Green liveries.  Finally there's a selection of LSWR 10T Ventilated Vans, there are eight versions covering BR, SR, S&DJR & LSWR wagons.  A new OO scale product for the Scenecraft range may be of use to bus diorama builders, its described as a shunter's hut, but could also double up as a small office building for an open yard type bus depot. It will be available in two versions with either white or blue door & facia boards. (Product Codes 44-0182W & 44-0182B). Release is expected in Aug/Sep with a UK RRP of £29.95.   A full list of the new EFE Rail products can be found on the Bachmann Europe site, along with all the other newly announced products across the other Bachmann ranges in the BR Autumn Announcement. |
Thursday 3 August |
| EFE Road Models To Be More Widely Available |
| Wholesaler John Ayrey Diecasts has today announced it is to start stocking EFE Road models once again, thus making them available to a wider selection of model retailers, since Bachmann acquired the EFE range in 2016, the models have only been sold through the Bachmann appointed stockist network until now. The among the list of models announced by John Ayrey are the most recent six Leyland National issued in November 2022, & the forthcoming new tooling of the Craven RT models which are expected to make their debut before during 2023. The full list of models can be viewed on the John Ayrey Diecast website. |
| July 2023 | Model Bus Zone News Index | September 2023 |