Southwest Chief I know all about the lack of a quality school bus for HO scale if you model in the 1950s. In fact I've been searching for anything decent for about 25 years now.
I know all about the lack of a quality school bus for HO scale if you model in the 1950s. In fact I've been searching for anything decent for about 25 years now.
Mmmm - a quick google located this web page with pictures of old school buses from various eras: http://www.schoolbusdriver.org/oldshots.html and http://www.schoolbusdriver.org/oldshots2.htm
From a quick look, it seems like a Cor-Con summer camp bus (http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/223-1044) might be a sensible place to start, with a somewhat respectable result being achieved with a repaint job, and by replacing the octagonal stop sign with a rectangular sign saying "STOP".
If you can find one somewhere (ebay or whatever) a german Busch Mercedes bus might work with a repaint and some details/surgery : http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/189-41049
Herpa has a school bus - front and wheels might be a little too modern looking: http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/326-6100, but that might be fixable with a little light cosmetic surgery.
Smile, Stein
Not prototype but it looks better.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
If that does not work, the Jordan 1934 bus may work; you could assume the school system did not have funds to upgrade their bus fleethttp://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/360-229
or, if in a city the Jordan 1940s City Transit Bus could be painted yellowhttp://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/360-244
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
I'm doing a bit of surgery on the bus I have. I've removed the wheels and axles it came with and I'm putting in a set of wheels and axles from a junk Boley GMC truck I had laying around. So far it's looking good.
jeffrey-wimberly Southwest Chief: There are multiple versions of this bus by the way. I've seen (online) them painted for the military, Simpsons, Monopoly, Partridge Family, and flames. Glad you said something about that. I have the Partridge Family version. Here it is between a 1/87 scale truck and a 1/87 scale van.
Southwest Chief: There are multiple versions of this bus by the way. I've seen (online) them painted for the military, Simpsons, Monopoly, Partridge Family, and flames.
There are multiple versions of this bus by the way. I've seen (online) them painted for the military, Simpsons, Monopoly, Partridge Family, and flames.
Glad you said something about that. I have the Partridge Family version. Here it is between a 1/87 scale truck and a 1/87 scale van.
This looks fine to me in relation to the other 1/87 vehicles, except for the racing slick tires But then again it is the Partridge Family bus!
It's just as wide as the 1/87 scale truck beside it so it's not to overly big. 24 scale feet in length. 7.5 scale feet wide and 8.5 scale feet tall.
Thanks for the photo.
So yeah a little big
Definitely looks to be slot car HO scale.
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
Southwest Chief There are multiple versions of this bus by the way. I've seen (online) them painted for the military, Simpsons, Monopoly, Partridge Family, and flames.
It is a slot car HO scale which is 1:64, visibily larger than a NMRA HO which is 1:87.
From Mt Pleasant, Utah, the home of the Hill Valley and Thistle Railroad where the Buffalo still roam and a Droid runs the trains
Hmm, interesting info so far.
If I can find one, I might just buy it and see how it looks.
Would love to see one in person though. Maybe I can find one at the train show this weekend (Anaheim, CA).
Probably the best way is to measure the wheels, width, etc. Rims were most likely 20" as std. Width would be 8 feet or less. Vehicles were restricted to less than 96" wide until 1990s as best I recall. It looks proportional from the photo.
How wide is it?
Dave
Just be glad you don't have to press "2" for English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ_ALEdDUB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hqFS1GZL4s
http://s73.photobucket.com/user/steemtrayn/media/MovingcoalontheDCM.mp4.html?sort=3&o=27
As far as I know the Johnny Lightning school bus is like the Matchbox trucks. Matchboxes trucks though tagged as 1/64 are very close to 1/87.
Recently I came across some info (online) about a Johnny Lightning 1956 school bus.
Some sites say it is 1/87, while others say it is 1/64. I tend to believe it is more 1/64. I'd guess we would have seen it on someone's layout or heard about it before now if it really was close to HO scale.
So anyone know if this is HO suitable?
Over the years I've purged our layout of any vehicle that was not HO scale thanks to the many new offerings by Classic Metal Works, Busch, Woodland Scenics, etc...So if this bus is not close it would really stick out on our layout.