I guess that the benchmark is given by the Meccano Set Ten model 10.5, which is a plan for a Double-Deck Bus - much as shown in these first few pictures. I think that this model is based on an older AEC Regent rather than a Routemaster and is a fair likeness to that prototype, with its' separate chassis construction and more simple front end. For the really serious modeller though, even the Set Ten is a little limited in terms of the parts available and this is reflected in a large but fairly basic model. In terms of its' size, this model is very similar to my own. I would bet it weighs about half as much though - and probably runs under its' own power as a result.

The quite basic nature of the Set Ten model is shown here. A Set Ten could have produced a fantastic bus on a smaller scale with loads of detail if it used the 2" pullies with tyres to set the scale instead of the 3" pullies with tyres, but the pressure was on Meccano Ltd to offer very big models from their flagship set. This example (seen at Skegex 2013) was very nicely made and actually offered some detail in addition to the Set Ten model - for example by having much improved seating and a complete upstairs floor.

Here my model is well underway with the floor largely built and the running gear roughly in place too. Like the real Routemaster, my model has no chassis - just a monocoque with a pair of subframes - like a Mini on steroids.

The first stage with designing that curvatious cab is to model it very roughly with strips - just a skeleton to give me an idea of the size and shape. It is at this stage that I am hoping the main structures will come out as 5, 7, 9 or 11 holes - standard Meccano sizes but too often I am not so lucky. Meccano is all about getting as close as you can though - if I wanted a model that was millimeter-perfect then I would be a model engineer making every part from scratch. As it is, I can only go with the standard Meccano parts. I may make one or two 'specials' but I keep this to the absolute minimum. This is an argument which always causes heated debate within the Meccano fraternity. For me, it is a case of 'each to his own'.

Here, the cab has been built as a rough framework to get the dimensions and shape about right and I have started using old parts to begin plating this framework. Doing it this way means that most (but certainly not all) of my mistakes happen at this stage, when things are very easily changed.

Perhaps the hardest part was the front of the bus, here I have rebuilt the cab in nice parts. A Routemaster had a 'friendly face' and it was essential that I captured this in Meccano. I did play around with having an opening bonnet but just could not do it neatly enough.

Here is the lower deck coming together. At this stage, with so much still to be done, you need to have a bit of vision!

The pile of red plates stacked around the model was just the start of it. This model was to consume a vast number of parts, but most were well-used ones which I restored. Whilst I have resprayed a good many parts, I have tried to stay true to Meccano colours, so that if you had enough genuine red plates then you could build this model. I was careful to leave as much zinc on show as possible, rather than simply spraying everything red. I was tempted for a time, to paint the whole model in that lovely green which some Routemasters sported.

Here the cab is married up to the lower deck. At this point the model would flex and bend like mad and needed to be permanently supported underneath.

At this stage things were starting to take shape. By now I had a warm feeling that this was going to be a decent model. The hardest work was done and I would be confident that I could finish the build to a fairly decent standard. My only real concern (and one that would come back to haunt me) was over the weight of this big model. My original plan was to run it at just 6 volts but that had already gone out of the window at this stage, with even a 12 volt supply proving only enough for a slow crawl. The upper deck had not even been started yet!

An assortment of scale posters which I made for the bus interior. These cover a range of subjects relevant to the mid sixties. There are posters for old Dinky/Meccano products, Scalextric, lollies, cars and movies that are evocotive of that era. Only a subset would be used and some bigger ones would be needed if I decorated the exterior, along with the destination boards and so on. It is easy to go 'over the top' with this type of thing but I think that subtle addition of details like these will enhance the model.

The original design of the front subframe more or less together. This sub-assembly could be removed from the bus in around sixty seconds and incorporated the drive motor, steering motor, steering mechanism, wishbone suspension, limit switches and so on. The ability to lift this out in one piece would have made life so much easier, but in the end it was not used.

The rear subframe needed to incorporate a very strong differential. The original design is shown here with a spur drive which helped a lot, as did the four bevel gears forming the input. Together they pretty-well eliminated the risk of gears 'jumping' under the extreme loading. The general shape of each subframe is very much like the prototype. The two round chimney adapters on the rear outriggers form the lower mountings of the coil-springs which give a very stiff suspension. These were spaced as far apart as possible on the prototype in order to keep body roll to a minimum. You may have seen an old photo of a bus leaning over at a seemingly impossible angle - well this very stiff and widely-set suspension had a lot to do with that. Whilst I did not use these mechanisms in the final version, the subframes themselves were retained and the designs will be used on other models. 

One of the bus seats and the main parts needed to assemble it. Each seat is a fairly simple thing to put together but the preparation and repetition is the problem. Firstly, with around 30 seats, I needed to gather 90 5x7 flanged plates. These were to be resprayed so old ones were preferable. Firstly they all went in a caustic soda dip, then they were all washed in clean water, then they were all rubbed down with wire wool, then they were all washed again, then one flanged plate in every 3 had their end flanges ground away, leaving a 5x7 flat plate. These were put into a vice and bent twice to form the seat bases, with the sharp edges filed smooth. Then all 90 flanged plates were tapped back into shape as required before being given one coat of primer (on both sides) and two of top-coat (on one side only). Each seat also needs two trunnions and a double angle strip to be painted red. The finished model also needed around 70 rod and strip connectors and these were gathered over a period of months. So whilst not difficult - a bit of a chore to repeat 30 times over. Just to complicate matters a little, the first two seats upstairs need to be 6 holes wide rather than 7 holes wide as the body is narrower there - requiring 6 of the 5x7 flanged plates to be made into 5x6 flanged plates!

A view down the lower deck as it was coming together. Details include vertical handrails on alternate seats, grab rails down the length of the roof, the classic pull cord running down the left side and a few period posters. You must decide 'when to stop' when adding fine detail and for me, this is about right - another modeller might opt to do more or less.

Here is my rough version of the whole bus. This rough mock-up did include a cab but I removed it to use as a guide when I built the good version of the cab. Trying to manipulate the whole thing in my Den was just too awkard, not least because (without a separate chassis or floor) it wants to flop around like a soggy cardboard box. The purpose of this rough version was to understand roughly how the model would go together and it was massively valuable.

Being almost three feet long, this was a big lump to have in my Den and I was relieved when I could dismantle this rough version. It effectively meant that I had two large buses in there whilst 'the good one' slowly came together. The rough one had some gaps but it was sufficiently complete to show me how to build it.

The longest plate made by Meccano is 12.5" long and before I began this model I bought up quite a lot of these second hand, thinking that I would use loads on a large bus. Reality is that I did not use a single one!

Here you see a problem that is common amongst Meccano modellers and which has been very evident right through this model - namely that things don't always work out to be a convenient size.

All of the seats on my bus really needed to be 6 3/4 holes wide - so it was time to compromise!

I have made most of the seats 7 holes wide but this does push them hard against the body sides. This is alright downstairs where the body sides are vertical, but a problem upstairs where the width of the roof is 1" less than the width of the floor. Right at the front the bus also narrows and so the front two seats only are six holes wide and Meccano made very few parts that were six holes wide. Consequently you will see that three 'modified' flanged plates are used in each of the front seats upstairs. I can live with this compromise to originality as it seems the best solution overall - and at the end of the day, it's my bus!

This is the mechanism that sits in the plinth - and it was a challenge getting this right. The idea was that the bus could run around (slowly) under its' own power but at an exhibition could sit on a plinth and look after itself. The mechanism above uses a single motor to achieve the following:- Bus wheels all go round - "Ding" (single) - Bus wheels stop - Pause to take on passengers - "Ding Ding" (double) - Bus wheels all go round. I started off with Meccano bells but just could not get a reliable, loud, uniform ring from them so I tried a couple of cheap cycle bells and wow - what a difference. I poured a good many hours into this mechanism which all has to fit under the 2" high plinth. A chap at the Runnymede Meccano Guild explained that he had been a bus driver for many years and explained a number of 'codes' used by the Conductor to signal to the Driver. Just before Skegex 14 the motor in this mechanism was changed to give a bit more grunt - once again "Bulid it, change it..."

Here is the display plinth in an early version. The intermittent drive/bell unit is built into this and drives the four rollers. At this stage, the rollers for the rear wheels of the bus were driven in opposite directions to allow for the working differential in the bus rear axle. Consequently I needed to display the bus so that the side on display had both wheels going forwards. Downstream, the bus became a static model with a mock differential only, allowing the rear wheels to turn in the same direction - "Build it, change it..."

Further progress as the upstairs sides come together. The front of a Routemaster is a complex shape and at this stage I had simply not captured it well enough. The front corners of that yellow strip were far too rounded. This meant that I had to either 'live with it' or take quite a lot of the model apart again - hmmm. The front panel slopes backwards, the sides slope inwards slightly and the front narrows as well. This all meant that the front corners were a job to get right. 

Of course, I changed it as I wanted to be able to sleep at night! This is now much closer to the correct shape. Comparing this with the previous picture you will see the squarer corners which I now have to the front of the upper saloon. The shape is not as simple as it might look. Because the front of the bus narrows, the angle girders on the front edges are not 90 degrees but need to be opened out to a little over 100 degrees. Similarly the angle at which the sides slope inwards changes at the bottom of the window frame, so a single, opened girder will not work either - each side needs to be in two pieces to allow for the correct shape. Further more, the whole front surface slopes backwards and the angle of this also changes at the base of the window. Angle girders are not quite round enough - but this is probably as close as I will get and it now looks quite convincing.

The roof coming together. This is a slow process. The roof is double skinned - a yellow skin and a red skin and with two rows of lights sandwiched between the skins. The front is especially hard to get right, as it curves in so many directions. The strips running across every 2.5 inches add shape and rigidity.

Building the double-skinned roof was a real marathon. Fifty two 5 hole x 11 hole plates and four 3 hole x 11 hole plates make up the main section of the roof. All 56 need to be rolled at one end. Sandwiched between these are around fifty 11 hole strips, each with one end rolled. Threaded through this sandwich are four electrical wires to feed the lights in the bus roof. Building something like this roof is not massively technical but it calls for a great deal of patience - and many cups of coffee!

It has surprised me that on such a large model, with such large expanses of platework all over it, that there should be no single plate that is longer than 5.5" - so much for that stock of 12.5" strip plates that I gathered prior to beginning the build.

This image shows the view down the upper saloon, from the rear, before the curved rear section of the bus is tackled. I think it looks pretty smart.

Getting closer - that's "the easy bit" of the roof done (strange - it didn't feel easy!). Now I am ready to tackle the curved rear section and emergency exit. The four wires for the roof lights have been gathered and wound with red insulating tape and joined into the main loom inside the back seat of the bus - quite tidy.

The rear emergency exit was essential because I needed to get my hand through here to finish the roof. I don't have huge hands but still had to take my watch off to get in there. This shot shows the curved, glazed rear window open on its' hinges. I was pretty pleased with this.

This photo is not in the wrong order. On finishing the roof I put a voltage across the lighting circuit and got a spark - a sure sign of a short circuit. The first step (after some cursing) was to disconnect the wiring and test the four lighting circuits separately. Both circuits worked in the lower saloon (left and right rows of lights) but only one row in the upper salloon worked - the left hand row was dead and giving that tell-tale spark. So, I removed the rear section of the roof to let me get my arm in far enough and started to under the roof on the left hand side. Whilst frustrating, this was not quite so grim as it sounds and after perhaps ten minutes I found that the very fine wires of one bulb had been pinched and the insulation broken. This was re-insulated, tested and then reassembled, Everything worked out well in the end. Electrical problems are not unusual in a Meccano model and are often a result of a wire touching the bodywork. 

As I have said, there are times when building a complex model, when you have to change direction part-way through the build. This model was intended to be radio controlled and at the time this picture was taken - it was radio controlled. However as the model became heavier, it became clear that the bus would drive extremely slowly (literally a crawl) and would not be reliable either - oh, and the steering would seriously struggle under all that weight too). The huge 'Torpedo' motor has been geared-down and all shafts have had flats filed onto them. The problem is that the torque is just massive and things like universal joints (even solid brass ones) are just not up to the job - things are breaking - especially the thin pin in the centre of each (Marklin style) UVJ. Oh -  and the pinions are slipping in the centre of the differential too.

So, a complete change of direction was dictated - the model would not be motorised but would be automated only be the powered plinth - far simpler, more reliable and the model would be a fair bit lighter. The downside is that weeks of work would need to be undone - oh well, if it was easy then I would probably find a different hobby!

A final reminder of all that work before it all came out - c'est la vie...

This shot shows the underside of the model with all those lovely mechanisms removed. The parts removed (including two batteries, two motors and a pile of brass) weighed over 8 pounds, so it was a good weight to get rid of.

Here is the model minutes after it ran on its' plinth for the first time. The mechanism in the plinth worked fairly well but was a bit noisy and under-powered. This was a good point to reach, as everything basically worked - Great!

Rear view - I was very pleased with how the model was turning out. There was a lot of detail work left to do and the mechanism could do with being a bit more robust but I was confident that I would have something presentable to take to the big exhibition at Skegness in a little over two weeks time - a sigh of relief because if taking the drive from the plinth had not worked, then I would have needed to have a rethink and my 'Plan B' was a compromise.

Now that the mechanisms have all been removed from the front subframe, I realised that with the model up on its' plinth on a table top, you could see 'a big empty space' under the front of the bus and all around the front of the front wheels. This empty space of course, is where the real bus would have its' power unit, so the answer was simple - I just needed to build an AEC diesel engine, radiator, inner wings....

This image shows the finished front subframe - it only has half an engine as this is all you can see from outside. The inner wings are simple and add to the realism.

At the same time I made a couple of changes to the front subframe. Fortunately I had not compromised the correct shape of the first subframe in order to fit the mechanisms. This meant that with the mechanisms removed, the bare subframe was effectively a little scale model in its' own right.

The shaft with the two yellow pulleys on (see previous image) is intended to drive the fan on the front of the engine. Reality however, is all smoke and mirrors - the powered plinth will turn the rear wheels of the bus (as well as the front wheels) and the rear wheels will drive the prop shaft all the way forward to the engine - and so turn the fan. It looks like the engine is turning the wheels - but really it is the wheels that are turning the engine.

The layout of the real Routemaster is interesting. The engine is at the front but the (semi-pneumatic) gearbox is in the middle. On one side is a large fuel tank and on the other an air resevoir for the brakes.

You won't be able to see much of the underside, just a narrow glimpse of it between the bottom of the bus and the top of the plinth, so I didn't go mad - no pipework, no exhaust etc.

However, I have got the engine, gearbox, differential (which only looks like a differential and houses a simple contrate and pinion), fuel tank and compressed air cylinder.

The powered plinth turns the wheels of the bus and the rear wheels drive through the mock diff and mock gearbox, through the mock engine and spin the fan at the front. It all adds to the general impression that the underside has not been ignored. 

Had I done this in the first place then I could have done it better - and saved a couple of weeks.

The model was finished on the Saturday and off to the big show at Skegness on the Thursday - so I was cutting it fairly fine again. A big model like this really needs to be a two year project, with me going 'empty-handed' to the annual shows every other year - lesson learned.

The lights work well and the model ran happily in my den for a couple of hours so there was little more that I could do. If the model failed during the Skegness show then I would be in the right place to find both spare parts and helping hands!

And here she is - AEC Routemaster 218 CLT.

When I decided to build 'a bus' around a year ago, this is precisely what I had in my mind. If I was to rebuild it then I would make a few changes but that is usually the case with Meccano models - especially mine.

Chuffed!

If you can be bothered to investigate underneath then there is just enough detail to look convincing.

The 'rollers' in the plinth are 1.5" pullies with tyres (in earlier images they were 2" pulleys) and these just rub the roadwheels of the bus. The bus stands on four pedestals with the whole weight transferred down through the plinth. The height of the pedestals is adjusted with thin washers so that there is a minimum of friction between rollers and roadwheels. I have tried to work it so that the rollers are almost invisible.

A nice model deserves a nice box to transport it in. Scratching something like this bus is a real nuisance as you may need to mask it off to respray a whole plate, or even dismantle part of the model. A sturdy box makes the model easy to transport and keeps it tidy in my den. This box has simply been knocked-up from some 4mm ply (with a slightly thicker base) and is modelled here by my assistant, Monty.

On display at the national Meccano exhibition in 2014.

The mechanism worked faultlessly for the three days and to my great surprise, my model was voted into 5th place. With around 300 models by the best modellers from (I believe) eleven countries to compete with this year, I cannot say how surprised and delighted I was - a real honour.