ARTICLE FOR LONDON DOUBLE DECKER BUS

By David Wilson

My name is David Wilson. At Johnnywood Studios I custom build many models like this to use in my 3-D books entitled- "Lucky and the Supernaturals 3-D" for the ultimate in realism. On occasion I restore models to original condition as well depending on my needs. Before attempting to build such a large scale model like this I normally do a few online searches and download some pictures to get ideas. Considering that I might want to duplicate this bus, I also made "templates" or "plans" using poster board for all the parts. This LARGE 1/10th scale London Double Decker Bus was built completely from scratch out of plywood and has a few metal parts such as: the axles and the hand rail. This bus features a "curved staircase" made of cardboard which took an entire day to create. There are many bench seats made of plywood along with a detailed a driver’s cockpit in this London bus. The dimensions of this bus are: LONG- 24 inches: HIGH- 14 inches: WIDE- 10 inches. There was, massive amounts of measuring, cutting, gluing, filling and sanding involved with this project and it took two weeks to complete. A belt sander turned upside down was used for shaping and forming the plywood. A piece of curved cardboard was used for a portion of the roof at the rear. Lot’s of "wood filler" was used to fill in cracks and seams in this model bus. Both the very top roof and the lower part of the roof are removable for access and displaying action figures inside. The wheels were cut out of thicker wood and were drilled, formed, shaped and painted black. The graphics on this, bus such as; the signs were printed by a computer and then glued on using tacky glue. I primed this vehicle using spray can enamel primer and I used several coats of red enamel for the top coat. The yellow stripe was masked and then sprayed with enamel paint. The interior was sprayed with grey primer and the lower rear step portion was sprayed with silver enamel. Clear "glass" was installed using thin plastic sheets cut and glued to the inside for added realism. Long wooden "skewers" were cut, painted and used for some of the hand rails. Overall this "London Double Decker Bus" turned out great! The fit and finish of this model surpassed my expectations. I think this model will do well in my stories wouldn’t you agree?! I’d like to manufacture this toy London Bus by an American toy company because I’m sure there are lots of kids that would enjoy playing with an awesome model like this! Of course I recommend that people wear the proper protective gear such as: respirators, gloves, goggles and other safety equipment when building any model. To view this amazing London Bus that I built completely from scratch visit my website. To find out more information concerning the building and modifying of models like this, visit my website and purchase my e-report entitled "Johnnywood Studios 3-D Modeling Secrets." It’s only $1 and I’m sure you’ll find lots of information to help you with your next modeling project.

Sincerely,

David Wilson