Things are starting to pickup again on the layout, with some re-construction going on (more in a later post) and some new additions.
If you spent time in US and some Canadian cities in the 70s and into the 80s then GM’s buses were a sight you were very familiar with. I knew the buses that were common then as “fishbowl” buses but according to the folks at Rapido they’re “New Look” buses.
Rapido recently released an N scale version of GM’s New Look bus in a variety of styles. I’ve bought two of them and will likely get one more, all in different colors. Right now I have the New York blue and Santa Monica colors and I’d like to add the New York green to the collection as well.
The buses are very Rapido… They have an incredible amount of detail on them like rubber tires, detailed interiors and even working lights (although I haven’t wired mine up et). Being Rapido they even went so far to ensure that specific features were included where appropriate like rear air conditioning units (some transit systems didn’t get them) and detailed undercarriages. I didn’t install them, but they’ve even included separately applied side mirrors.
They went to all that work – and then pulled up short with marking these buses… The destination placards are blank and the transit system names are missing on the sides of the bus. Along the same lines, many of these buses carried advertising posters on the sides and rear, some even had mounts for advertising above the cabin windows – all of these options are missing.
I know that’s kind of nit picky considering the level of detail that these buses have. But given the level of detail that Rapido is known for and the level of accuracy that they like to highlight about their models, these seem like odd details to leave out.
That said, if you want to include transit connections on your layout – Rapido’s New Look buses are worth adding regardless of the scheme. To me I think they fill a niche that those of us who model suburban and urban areas have even if some folks don’t realize it.
And yes, the only reason I bought the Santa Monica bus was to do this….
