Lesney #5d-Routemaster Bus Restoration

This one has been kicking around on the workbench for quite a while. I have very bad luck with double decker buses it seems like, as much as I love them, and this one suffered a few setbacks. The paintwork didn't come out very nice the first time, I ended up having to redo it twice! But it's finished now, and looks pretty decent. Here's what I started with:

I decided to replicate a very rare version of this bus. I made it into a promotional handout for Pegram Shopfitters Ltd., which was an incredibly rare model in its day. According to the Vintage British Diecast site, authentic versions of the Pegram buses are worth more than 500 pounds! So I'm happy to have one on my shelf, fake or not. A big thanks to Rick's Toybox for suppling the decals. They do great work, though these might could use with a bit of trimming down to size. Onto the pictures:

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Lesney #66c GM Scenicruiser Greyhound Bus: Wrap-Up

I decided to take advantage of this beautiful day to do some painting. I actually managed to finish ALL my projects! Woohoo! Here's the first one, the Scenicruiser bus... It wasn't without its flaws though. I managed to break the plastic suspension unit, and couldn't come up with any ideas to fix it, so I left the back wheels "unsprung" Other than that, I think it came out rather well. Decals are from Rick's Toybox.

Original Project Post

Before:

After:

And here is is with one of my father's toys from his childhood..

New Project: Lesney #66c GM Scenicruiser Greyhound Bus

Welp, good evening folks. I got bored tonight and thought I'd pull something out of the toolbox. I'm not in the mood to start anything that needs serious work, so I thought this would do the trick. One of my favorite regular wheel castings. I've always imagined how cool is must've been to see 1960s America through the windows of one of these buses. Should be a simple cleanup and repaint (fingers crossed). The other 66c I have is severely corroded and pretty far gone, so I thought I'd cut my teeth on the casting with this one! Decals are ordered, so once they arrive it should be a pretty quick turn around..

Project Wrap Up: Lesney #74b Daimler Bus

Wow what a bear of a project this has been. I really thought it should be easy but it wasn't!! I dropped it while painting and had to start over. Then when I got it painted what I thought was a close-to-original shade of green, it wasn't even close, so I had to start over. So I decided to go with the classic red. But on the second coat, I grabbed the wrong can and started painting it green again! But I finally got it finished. Paint is not quite flawless, but after getting very annoyed with it, I'm very glad to have it off the workbench and onto the display shelf...

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Update #1

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Before

And after..

Project Update: Lesney #74b Daimler Bus

Well, things haven't been going too well with this project. It's been on the back burner for a while so I thought I'd work on it a little bit. It was the green variation originally, so I decided to repaint it in the same color. For non-metallic enamel colors, I stick with cheap big box store spray paint. It generally looks pretty close to the original finish of these cars. Here's the result after a few coats of green...

It came out looking pretty decent. I didn't picture the chassis as I had a bit of a mishap with it... I live in a second floor apartment, and do my painting out of the back window. While painting the chassis, it fell off the paint stand and onto some gravel below... Not my finest hour! But I pulled the dirt particles out and I don't think I need to repaint it. A couple more coats of green and I don't think you'll be able to tell. 

The only problem is the shade of green... It's not even close. The cap of the paint can looked pretty accurate, but once I started laying coats down, it's quite a bit darker than the original. Here's a pic of an original #46 in the same color for comparison.

So what do my readers think? Should I leave it alone or try to find a green that's a better match? I like the color, it looks nice. It's just not correct for the model. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Original Project Post

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