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Posted

I would think there is a promotion going on here with the Olympic Games coming up later. ' Get them on the shelves, the tourists wont be bothered that the Routmaster isn't in general service anymore, those stupid foreigners wont realise the FX4 cab is getting rarer now it's being superseded by a more disabled friendly version. SEL SELL SELL' shouts Boris and Sabastian.

This whole Olympic thing is one big profit bag, even the parents of British athletes cant get tickets. But I bet Boris and Sabastian will have prime seats.

Oooooops! sorry it's a model forum, not an anti Olympic debate.

Ahmm!... I have seen the bus in the shops, very reasonable price I thought at £40, the taxi? not really looked at that but probably around £15-20 and looking at the kit contents, the back(boot-trunk) looks too vertical.

John

Posted

it's a mother-beautiful bridge, Moriarty; and it's gonna be there. have some faith, baby!

in other words.... how about some positive waves? how many OTHER kits have been released that are out of scale and or proportion; have simplistic molding and low parts counts?

NOW i need one of the Taxi AND the Routemaster..... lessee; my birthday is in April....

Posted (edited)

.... how about some positive waves?

You can't polish a turd. And 15 quid is just a total rip off for this epic waste of raw styrene. The bus however is very nicely done and quite reasonably priced for what you get. If you want a nice matching London Cab, buy the Welly diecast.

WEL2022450W.jpg

Edited by Junkman
Posted

For another British / London icon :P how about the , it's about the same era as the bus and taxi not that out of scale but the wheels are , and its not that brilliant.

Once apon a time you could see lots of these all over London. A Rolls Royce said you had money, it looked expensive and was expensive. Now it's all fancy sports cars :(

You can use the Emhar Bedfords, the Aoshima MGB and the various Minis from Tamiya, Fujimi and now soon Revell. Add a Monogram XK120, MG TC and the ex-Hubley Roller you mentioned and you'd have a nice 60s London Road Scene. You can even spice it up with the Bedford CA van and S-Type from the Parts Box.

Posted (edited)

For another British / London icon :P how about the , it's about the same era as the bus and taxi not that out of scale but the wheels are , and its not that brilliant.

Once apon a time you could see lots of these all over London. A Rolls Royce said you had money, it looked expensive and was expensive. Now it's all fancy sports cars :(

That clunky kit was also boxed in a "Phantom Squire" version, which varied simply by having ugly side decals to make it a woody. The one I have was mislabeled on the box as being 1:16 when it was the same old 1:24 - - there never was a 1:16 version. Maybe they were planning to do one and scrapped the idea, forgetting to change the box art. I wonder if that adds value.

This pretty much tells the story of that kit - small tires, too-large Flying Lady, little detail.

http://www.modelcarsonline.com/Galleries/Imports/1962%20Rolls%20Royce%20Silver%20Cloud/1962%20Rolls%20Royce%20Silver%20Cloud.htm

Edited by sjordan2
Posted

You can use the Emhar Bedfords, the Aoshima MGB and the various Minis from Tamiya, Fujimi and now soon Revell. Add a Monogram XK120, MG TC and the ex-Hubley Roller you mentioned and you'd have a nice 60s London Road Scene. You can even spice it up with the Bedford CA van and S-Type from the Parts Box.

Anyone ever make a 1:24th Vincent Black Lightning? That would be cool for a such a diorama...

Posted

Anyone ever make a 1:24th Vincent Black Lightning? That would be cool for a such a diorama...

A Black Shadow. IXO did a diecast. Also a Brough Superior, various Nortons and other English bikes.

Posted

That clunky kit was also boxed in a "Phantom Squire" version, which varied simply by having ugly side decals to make it a woody.

The model is actually based on a real car. Well, -ish. It was a yellow Phantom V with woodgrain overlay on the sides. Note that the box art actually resembles a Phantom V more than a Silver Cloud. Quite a cheaky way to milk yet more mileage out of the ancient Hubley tool.

This pretty much tells the story of that kit - small tires, too-large Flying Lady, little detail.

http://www.modelcars...ver%20Cloud.htm

This doesn't tell the entire story of the tool though. Hubley was commissioned to make a promo of the Silver Cloud for the North American market and that's where it starts. IIRC the customer was a big car importer and he also commissioned promos for the Triumph TR3, Mercedes 300SL Roadster, Renault Dauphine and Nash Metropolitan, which was - strictly speaking - an import as well.

So the tool can be traced back to the late 50s and that explains the simplified detailing. Arguably, this may be the only promo ever made for a Rolls-Royce. I'm not sure whether this is still with us in the Academy/Minicraft issues, but at least until they were issued by Revell AG a decade or so ago, they still had the approval by Rolls-Royce Ltd. moulded into the baseplate.

The tool obviously had numerous owners: Hubley, Entex, Revell AG, Academy and Minicraft. Obviously also still with us are the tools for the Triumph TR3 and 300SL. One wonders what became of the other Hubley tools?

On a different note:

Other model kits suitable for a London street scene apart from the ones already mentioned, would be the Tamiya Jag MKII (would make a fine Metropolitan Police car!), and the Gunze Sangyo Triumphs, Lotus Elan, Jag XKE, and Austin Healey Sprite.

Sorry, no Cortina, Landcrab, ADO16, Rover P4/5/6 or Jag XJ6/12, which I find strange. Very strange actually.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

Well....I ordered one under the impression it was NOT the IMIA tool. I never had that kit because of all the bad press. I'll just wait and see......

Thanks for the pics any way....

Posted

This and the new double-decker bus kit would make a nice "London" diorama display.

And throw in a telephone booth and a couple of Preiser Punk figures and you've got a GREAT scene indeed.

Posted

I'm going to build a original Mini Copper to display with my London Bus. And I even know most of the Routemasters are gone but it's an icon.....like saying we should not make 57 Chevy kits as they've been gone for years too.

Posted

tell you what: anyone so dissatisfied with this kit that they refuse to build it, i will take it off your hands for postage. that will spare you the frustration.

Posted

I got my kit today....I had ordered it from a buddy....had I known it was the old Imia kit and was about half the cost of the bus I'd never gotten it. I had sold my Imia version years ago and had forgotten how .......'simple' the kit is. NO interior side panels, two piece engine, funky detail on chassis......RoG should be ashamed to charge what they are for this.....It's a $20 kit MAX!!!

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
Posted (edited)

I built one of these when I was about 13. One of the few I have left of what I built then and one of the only kits I made that the black paint came out nice (for a 13 year old kid). I found it in a box when my mom moved, cleaned it up, polished her up and redressed the inside. For some reason I thought rust red seats and tan floors were a good idea. So I fixed that to. It is a BASIC kit, like it was built more as a toy than anything else.

I don't think its a true 1:24th scale, dwarfs my '70s cars like they are GEO Metros.


513_zpsffac69a0.jpg

514_zps548346a3.jpg

516_zps879f76bb.jpg

Edited by LongRoofNut
  • 1 year later...
Posted

A bit of food for thought, for these kits . . . .

Ive met the guy that owns this. Its running a Rover V8. Its been roof chopped and the front headlight area's are modified from a 55 - 57 Chevy pick up.

As its still registered as a Taxi, he drive in London bus lanes without getting any fines :)

post-6734-0-14327900-1414507683_thumb.jp

post-6734-0-18752400-1414507697_thumb.jp

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