1965 Chevrolet Shorty School Bus

[Oldmopars]

Well I have finally finished this bus. Its been about 9 months. I started with an ARII Isuzu Bonnet bus, cut the front end off of it and grafted a 1965 Chevy truck nose on. I then shortened it by removing 2 of the windows, one in front of the wheels, and one after. I wanted the Short Bus look. I had to convert it from right hand to left hand drive and it was 1/32 scale. Its now 1/25th.

The interior is all scratch built with a stove top, Dorm fridge, dresser and bed. The comforter is a Kleenex that I used thinned green paint on, when I did that it wrinkled up perfectly to look like a comforter. 

The bus was a curbside, but I put a regular nose on it, so I put a mid 80's small block chevy in it. I figured the original engine would have long ago died and the Hippy that owns it would just put in whatever he could find. 

I wanted the "Old Bus" look, so I weathered it to look like it has been around the block a few times. I did not want the "Hippy" flowers and tie die look, but an old worn bus look. 

While it is not perfect, it was a fun challenge to do this much work to it. Its the first full weathered model I have done. 

So, enjoy, moments welcome. 

[Tom Geiger]

I like it!  You get away with the Isuzu bus body because there were so many bus body builders that nearly anything goes!  I can get into the short bus camper thing.  Let's hit the road!

[vincen47]

That’s great! Love the weathering, great photography too.

[ChrisR]

COOL!!!

[TooOld]

Great job , that's very cool !

[slusher]

Looks great!

[Foxer]

Well done !  I like the look.

[landman]

9 hours ago, vincen47 said:

That’s great! Love the weathering, great photography too.

X2

[mikemodeler]

nice job, love the details and you nailed the look with the weathering.

[TarheelRick]

Very nice work on this one.  Did you consider curtains for the windows?  Of course a free-loving Hippie, would not really be concerned with too much privacy.  I really need to get one of these and build one for myself.  Thanks for sharing with us.

[Oldmopars]

4 hours ago, TarheelRick said:

Very nice work on this one.  Did you consider curtains for the windows?  Of course a free-loving Hippie, would not really be concerned with too much privacy.  I really need to get one of these and build one for myself.  Thanks for sharing with us.

I totally forgot Curains. However a little background. I was living in a bus when I started this build. I bought some land over in Yakima Wa. and we moved onto it with the paln of putting a house on and live in the bus while we waited. This ended up taking a lot longer than we wanted and we sold the bus and bought an RV because the bus had no insulation and instead of curtains, we used that mylar covered bubble wrap stuff to block the heat in the summer and help keep heat in in the winter.

So, our bus never really had curtains, so I guess I forgot them on this one.

Pictures are of our 1985 Blue Bird bus with our new 2017 Keystone Bullet Premier 30 REPR in the background

 

[Sixties Sam]

Very nice! I thought those first photos were of a real one! Great work on this!

Sam

[Havamodeler]

Wow! That bus turned out awesome! I wanna build one of my own now lol

[Classicgas]

Very cool and well done.

[Goose1957]

Very nice work. I wish my scratchbuilds turned out half as nice.

Jeff

[thatz4u]

Nice Bus, great details...

[misterNNL]

Very realistic work.Thanks for sharing.

[DumpyDan]

Really nice, turned out great.

[wmobie]

 

I too thought the photos were of a real bus! Wonderful photography, great build.

Walt O'Brien VT

[bbowser]

On 8/2/2018 at 10:48 AM, wmobie said:

 

I too thought the photos were of a real bus! Wonderful photography, great build.

Walt O'Brien VT

Agreed, well done.

[Phildaupho]

This so cool and looks so real in your photos. I have wanted to try this myself for a long time and have the kits to do it. Your version exceeds my expectations.

[RAMBENNA]

great job, looks fantastic

[KWT]

Pretty cool.. good job

[mredjr]

Great job!! looks real