WWG Single Decker Bus

This week's WWG review reverts to my vehicle collection. This is the single-decker bus found in the Bits of Mayhem set. The red pick-up truck found in the Mayhem Armoury set and reviewed earlier this year was the first WWG vehicle that I made. This bus was the second.

Rather surprisingly, the default destination sign for the bus is "Out of Service." However, the model does come with four alternative signs - Main St, Unger St, Senior Rd and Lyon St. I chose Main St for the destination of my bus, as it is such a generic name. Unger, Senior and Lyon are named after three of the WWG designers - Denny Unger, Paul Senior and Matt Lyon. I don't blame them for adding their names to the list of choices. I'd have done the same myself!

As you can see from this side view photo, the bus is very long. Indeed, it is the longest WWG vehicle to date, unless you count the tractors and trailers from Mayhem Industrial as one item, which I don't. Take a close look at the weathering on the bus. This is one of the things that I love about WWG - the texturing on their models is second to none!

As well as giving you a variety of options for the destination sign, the model also comes with an additional three number plates to the one shown. This is very useful if you plan on building a fleet of buses and is something that I wish WWG offered with all of their vehicle models.

My one piece of superdetailing that I added was that I cut out a recess in the mounting card backing that I reinforced my model with for the three destination signs (front, left and right sides). This really is the easiest model to make out of all of the WWG vehicles. It is, in essence, a box on wheels, with the wheels being the hardest parts to make, although they are not that difficult to make.
After I've printed the wheels out, I cut them out, removing those fiddly triangular glue tabs. The four circular wheels are stuck to thin card, as is the wheel tread sections. I reinforce the two sides of the semi-circular wheels with mounting card, cut out with a big pair of scissors rather than a craft knife. Depending on the thickness of the tyre. I either reinforce it further with a small piece of foamboard or two small pieces of foamboard. This makes the half-wheels a solid item. I glue them in place then, when dry, I glue the circular wheels in place. A handy tip is to edge the circular wheels before gluing them to the model. The thickness of the card that I use to reinforce them means that they protrude ever so slightly from the sides of the model. I find this perfectly acceptable as it helps give the wheels definition. Another tip that I'd like to pass on is don't be too anal about getting a perfect curve when cutting out the mounting card or foamboard to reinforce your wheels with. I usually make do with five straight cuts for a semi-circular wheel.