Project Railbus (8) - Finishing off and Test Run

 The completed seating module...

The headlamps at the front/rear, get a cosmetic lift using some parts of lamps of an old LGB loco ..

The control consoles for each end painted grey with the control section left in the original colour.

All the parts ready for assembly....

During first fit assembly, the sides of the body tended to move inwards at the bottom, slightly distorting the final look. A piece of 2mm cardboard was added to either side of the seating module to stop 'inward drift'.

The fully assembled rail-bus on the garage layout...

Plus a little test run....

Sunny Sunday (18) - tanker wagons train ...

 A small train with tanker wagons today...

After having difficulty with a troublesome truck, I finally got some good running in without derailments and watched the train run round for a while;  short video clip of it around the top of the garden layout...

Project Railbus (7) - on its way to the paint shop...

Added a horn.

'Bee-Bar' (nice little item from SLR Models - https://slrmodels.co.uk/)

Driver's Seat

A central seat added each end for the driver...

driver position test (an LGB tram driver figure)..

view from the front showing the driver....

Primer Coat

The rail bus gets a coat of primer (missed a few bits !)..

its off to the paint shop....

Signal Box ...

 A pottery 16mm scale signal box (Ebay purchase)....; paint work has faded and some damage to the roof finials...

did simple fix to smooth off finials and repaired one of the tiles...

Initial repainting done (apart from gutter down pipes)...

Repairs to the bottom of the gutter downpipes: using square section plastic and some plasticard; stuck onto the pottery surface using Gorilla super glue.

All painted, varnished and in place on the garden layout....

Sunny Sunday (17) - tram loco ...

 Tram loco out today with a small train of vans....

Project Railbus (5) .....adding the seating, trial assembly and ...

OTHER STUFF

Before starting on the seating, I added some ventilators to the roof (re-used from the coach I bought).

Then some running weights, using some lead strip from an old  wagon I scrapped

SEATING

The seating area made from plasticard is raised up to cover the top of the chassis and to get the seats at the right height for the windows.....

TRIAL ASSEMBLY

All bits were 'dry' assembled, including the glazing ... looking good... 😀

seats at right height for passengers to look out the window..

a view down from the front window.....(the driver is a little short, need a taller chap...)

ACCESS DOOR

Door handle and grab rail...

plus some steps to get in.....

THREE ASSEMBLIES

The railbus has three assemblies; top section, seating block and base with 0-4-0 chassis 

TRIAL RUNNING...

Out on the garage layout...

Sunny Sunday (16) - goods train...

Another pleasant Sunday afternoon, warm with sunny intervals - perfect weather for running trains...

The grass is slowly turning back green after some rain... plenty for the dinosaurs to munch on in the central grass island...my Jurassic Lark - Isla Parodia...

The train ....

Project Railbus (4) .... adding the sides...

In order to do the sides and the interior I bought a cheap Newqida coach body (with seats and glazing) for £20.

A try out of the seats ...

I had lots of fun taking the coach apart, removing the sides and then cutting them to the right size to fit into the railbus...

Each side has a door for access at one end, to show this I scribed the side to indicate the position of the door edge.

The glazing was cut to size and a trial fit was done ....

The coach sides in place, with the windows at the same level as the front ones; two small strips of plasticard were added to fill in the gaps...

the sides have been fitted to the upper assembly, which can be removed for access to the interior...

next job is to make the interior.....

Sunny Sunday (15) - mixed train again...

Today ran with a RC battery loco (recent rain - too lazy to clean the track 😀 ), plus a couple of coaches and some goods wagons/vans.

Got some still photos, then it came over all cloudy the little train in motion ....

Project Railbus (3) ....

A little bit of progress this week...

The roof had a missing section, so its been filled in... 

The top of the roof has had some cosmetic lengths of thin plasticard added on the sides to improve the look...

The revised scheme for the floor is to have the two cabs using the floor and control panels from the Sylvanian families tram;  the centre area will be built up to cover the top of the chassis with seats on top.

Side skirts added ....

not much I can do till I decide how to do the sides and seating. I may get a suitable cheap coach and chop it up as needed.