MOC: City Corner Bus, UK style and variations...

[jmupton2000]

Modifying the 7641 City Corner Bus

It seems like decades (indeed it probably is) since I last bought a set that had a bus in it. The old Bus Station set to be precise.

Up and until now the citizens of Lego City have had to put up with four stud wide derivations of the bus that came in that set, bit like this one:

The chassis of this one was modified from an old ambulance model from the earlu 1980's IIRC and I have had various versions derived from this over the years.

Then 7641 City Corner came along!!!

Out of the box and assembled, the bus is fine but for me at least has a couple of major issues.

1 - It is left hand drive, right hand exit but I am in the UK where it is all the other way around.

2 - The rear of the bus, in particular the tail lights panel looked dreadful.

So, here is my modified UK version:

Now right hand drive and converted to single door plus custom made stickers for destination screen, badging and licence plates.

The interior has also been modified, all seating is now on the right hand side and there are now two seats across the back which allows for more standees and one more seated passenger but it is a bit of a squeeze!! Excluding driver, this one has NINE minifigs on board!!

The rear end has been modified thus:

A single piece flat window and much better looking corner bodywork support pillars plus the modified tail light panel. The major benefit of doing this is that it gives you a spare windscreen element (you can also cannibalise one from the City Corner bus stop) as this does not yet seem to be available separately from PAB.

Of couse, spare windscreens meant I could then build my own...

Basically the same spec as the modified yellow ones only in white, slightly more basic roof design and at the moment awaiting decals along with a couple of others.

Meantime the current fleet now numbers six:

Two finished yellow ones from 7641 sets (now have a double sized pizza parlour as a result!!) two bought split from the set via Ebay awaiting final finishing and two self build white ones with lots of spare parts in a box around here somewhere awaiting future developments...

Going to have a go at some point at trying to build different variations e.g. longer wheelbase, double decker etc.

Edited January 15, 2010 by jmupton2000

[lightningtiger]

I like your white bus the most, although seeing the yellow bus stickered differently was nice too.

Making it a single door type of bus I feel is a good move, more room for paying customers !

Good work 'Jmupton2000' !

I'm a conformist! !!!

[Grimer]

The interior has also been modified, all seating is now on the right hand side and there are now two seats across the back which allows for more standees and one more seated passenger but it is a bit of a squeeze!! Excluding driver, this one has NINE minifigs on board!!

I'd like to see a photo of the interior showing how you made this work. (My 4-wide bus needs replacing and lots of passengers is one reason why.)

[sens1992]

Good job jmupton2000, I really like the yellow one and the stickers give them another look. I like what you did with the back of the bus. I also like the fact that it is 6 wide, so it is in line with the other city vehicules. I also like the fact that you pretty much have a fleet which is good for your LEGO city! You may wanna give 8 wide a try, so you could add a couple of seats. I built one 8 wide and managed to squeeze 15 seats + 1 driver! Anyways, good job on your buses!

Edited January 15, 2010 by sens1992

[dr_spock]

Good work. The custom stickers really make the bus stand out.

[jmupton2000]

I'd like to see a photo of the interior showing how you made this work. (My 4-wide bus needs replacing and lots of passengers is one reason why.)

Not a great pic I will admit but here is the interior of one of them:

It looks much better visually with the two seats across the back although two minifigs cannot actually sit properly side by side without bumping elbows and grumbling a lot (i.e. exactly the same as real buses in the UK!!!)

I also realised I forgot to include a shot showing the offside (drivers side):

This one is on 38 to the Snack Bar but the first one I did was 25 High Street which was the same route and destination as on the bus that came with the Bus Station set way back in the early 1980's so a tradition was maintained.

Edited January 16, 2010 by jmupton2000

[rriggs]

The first thing I did with my three City Corner buses was convert them to right hand drive (as opposed to the wrong hand drive they came as!). Single deck buses where I live are dual door so I left this part of the design following the conversion. I have also converted my 7642 garage into a bus station/depot. I also decided that the drivers were too smart so they have become inspectors/controllers in the bus station and the bus drivers all now are based on the mechanics that came with the garage.

I also run a 1980s bus from 379 as a minibus around the town. Next phase is to get the parts to build a City Corner bus in the red and white colours of the old 1980s bus. A coach is on it's was too. Photos soon!

Cheers

Rog

[Cian]

I assumed I was the only person who went to the bother of right-hand-drive'ing all their Lego vehicles, including the bus (probably the most fiddly set to do it to so far). Clearly not!

Intend to MOD mine to look like a Dublin bus at some point - take out the middle door and put blue around the base. Our buses are mostly yellow as is thankfully!

Edited January 16, 2010 by Cian

[PUCI]

I also make my vehicles right hand drive whenever possible

I have this yellow bus, but currently unopen, hopefully can construct this soon

I like your quote

"It looks much better visually with the two seats across the back although two minifigs cannot actually sit properly side by side without bumping elbows and grumbling a lot (i.e. exactly the same as real buses in the UK!!!)"

The worst is you are on a full bus, sitting at the back, most right hand side sit, and you are getting off next stop......

[Legoliner Pilot]

Hmmm... Now make a double-decked luxury coach with a small kitchen and bathroom! I'm sure you could merge two of those buses and it would look nice. Nice MOC!

[rriggs]

I assumed I was the only person who went to the bother of right-hand-drive'ing all their Lego vehicles, including the bus (probably the most fiddly set to do it to so far). Clearly not!

Definitely not the only one! I RHD all my vehicles. That means the steering wheel in 6-wide trucks, everything on the bus and everything on Creator & Technic vehicles. My Town/City layouts are clearly all detup for driving on the left too!

Intend to MOD mine to look like a Dublin bus at some point - take out the middle door and put blue around the base. Our buses are mostly yellow as is thankfully!

Unfortunately, local buses round here are turquoise and cream which is tricky with Lego!

Cheers

Rog

[jmupton2000]

Just been experimenting with the potential for a double decker!

This is the early trial run, large numbers of pieces missing but proves that it is dooable and should look pretty good:

Need to order more parts to complete it though (it uses a heck of a lot of window pieces!!) also the interior and mid deck floor need some modification but it is coming along...

[Ralph_S]

Interesting thread. I too like buses and have built a few minifig scale ones. I don't build sets, but I have a lot of city models that are right-hand drive. I'm also pretty sure that most of the other builders in Brickish that I know who build their city sets will put the steering wheel on the right. Ociously it's easier on a truck than on bus, because for the latter you'll have to mirror the entire thing.

The bus from the original set is a nice vehicle and it's great to see how you've been modifying it to suit your own tastes. Bus companies in the UK also sometimes have some pretty unusual colour combinations, which might make for a lot of fun. I have my doubts about the double decker, though. The wheels that LEGO used for the set are a bit on the small side, although it's not really all that noticeable. I too have used these wheels for a city bus. However, I think that if you add a whole new floor on top they'll start looking too small and slightly larger wheels will look better.

Cheers,

Ralph

[lightningtiger]

Just been experimenting with the potential for a double decker!

This is the early trial run, large numbers of pieces missing but proves that it is dooable and should look pretty good:

Need to order more parts to complete it though (it uses a heck of a lot of window pieces!!) also the interior and mid deck floor need some modification but it is coming along...

Dam thats starting to look fantastic !

Please continue with it......even better than your other buses !

Totally I'm a conformist! 'Jmupton2000' !

[bzcat]

Sorry to revive an old thread

jmupton2000... did you ever finish your double decker MOC?

I recently picked up the City Corner set after having purchased the City Transport Center first and I must say the yellow bus left me a bit disappointed.

First, the bus is kind of short... it could do with a 4 stud extension (and 2 more seats).

Second, the low floor transit bus usually has the engine in the back but this bus a window in the back... where is the engine supposed to be located?

And third, and this is probably an US-only observation... our city bus tend to be powered by CNG (as opposed to diesel in Europe) so they all have a big CNG tank on the roof. Like this...

So anyways... I'm working on MOC city bus. Will post the final result soon.

[Fugazi]

Second, the low floor transit bus usually has the engine in the back but this bus a window in the back... where is the engine supposed to be located?

Just a quick note... There are many rear-engined low floor bus models (including North American models) that manage to include a rear window, so the Lego bus is not necessarily inaccurate on that account.