[WIP] New Flyer XD60 Articulated Bus

[JLiu15]

6 hours ago, Good old Lego builder said:

a bus build by Den Oudsten, who by the way owned New Flyer.

Nice! I believe the New Flyer D40LF took inspiration from a Den Oudsten bus.

That artic reminds me of NJ Transit's Volvo B10M, which I believe were mid-engined: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Volvo_B10M_9251.jpg

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 6/7/21

I had to rework the chassis and roof support in the rear section as my original design had it too short. The rear section is now 4 studs longer - it was extended by 3 studs in front of the rear door and 2 studs behind it, although the very end of it was reduced by a stud by moving the beams at the end 1 stud inward. Note that there is more space between the frontmost seats in the low floor section and the articulation joint now, as well as between the frontmost seats in the high floor section and the rear door.

I've also began modeling the rear section's bodywork, starting with the rear right body panel. Note that the windows' widths in the front sections have also been adjusted a little - the largest window (the second one with the destination sign) is now 11 studs wide instead of 10, and the last window before the articulation joint was reduced from 8 studs wide to 7. This way, I can make the wider windows in the rear section (such as those behind the rear door) all 11 studs wide, which looks to be more proportional to the windows on the real bus. Additionally, the last window before the articulation joint is slightly narrower than the one before it on the real bus as well.

Photos:

If you guys have any suggestions for me, please let me know.

[Gray Gear]

It looks very nice! One thing that does bother me tho is that there is such a massive gap between the wheels and the wheel arches. I know this is a bus and not a sportscar, so maybe fitment isn't something you care about... If you look at the pic of the real bus you posted the wheels pretty much fill the wheel arches completely. How about using some flex axles inside the wheel arches to reduce the gap and recreate that black wheel arch edge the real bus has? I think that could work as a quick fix without having to redo the bodywork 

[JLiu15]

59 minutes ago, Gray Gear said:

It looks very nice! One thing that does bother me tho is that there is such a massive gap between the wheels and the wheel arches. I know this is a bus and not a sportscar, so maybe fitment isn't something you care about... If you look at the pic of the real bus you posted the wheels pretty much fill the wheel arches completely. How about using some flex axles inside the wheel arches to reduce the gap and recreate that black wheel arch edge the real bus has? I think that could work as a quick fix without having to redo the bodywork 

Yeah, I do feel like there's a big gap between the wheels and the wheel arches too. In fact, my original plan was to use black 16L flex axles around the wheel arches, as the real bus does have a black wheel arch/mudguard that protrudes slightly from the body. However, I saw no easy way to put them on, as they'd have to be attached at a half stud offset (as anything beyond that will cause the front wheels to collide with them when steering). I then scrapped the idea, as some other bus MOCs out there (such as Sariel's Solaris Urbino 18) also has quite a bit of space between the wheels and the wheel arches (but to be fair his MOC also has kneeling). What I could've done differently from the beginning was install the axles at a half stud offset, allowing me to make the wheel arches 1 stud shorter without having to install the body at a half-stud offset, but it would require a pretty radical redesign of the chassis.

If you can think of a way to attach 16L flex axles around the wheel arches with a half stud offset, I would love to know! I just could not figure out how to attach them in a way that would firmly keep the flex axle in position while maintaining a clean finish.

Edited June 7, 2021 by JLiu15

[JLiu15]

I made a rendering of my model so far. Right now, it's about 70% complete (at least for my digital build), and has over 3500 pieces.

I really like how the bodywork is turning out. I'm gonna have to order a lot of white System pieces soon, but the resulting detail is miles better than what I could've achieved with Technic panels and beams. And of course, with this being a model of a New Jersey Transit bus, I put my rendering on a Jersey blue background. 

[Void_S]

I think this solution may help you with the wheel arches: 2L liftarm with 45-degree bar, 1x1 Brick with axle hole, and 14L (12L is to short) flex axle or flex hose.
It makes an offset similar to 1/2 (a bit more actually but even better to fit the flex axle) and have no any part protruding into the arch space so the wheels can steer at the full angle.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Void_S

[JLiu15]

2 hours ago, Void_S said:

I think this solution may help you with the wheel arches: 2L liftarm with 45-degree bar, 1x1 Brick with axle hole, and 14L (12L is to short) flex axle or flex hose.
It makes an offset similar to 1/2 (a bit more actually but even better to fit the flex axle) and have no any part protruding into the arch space so the wheels can steer at the full angle.

Thanks for the suggestion! I like the offsets, and how it won’t impact the steering.

The only challenge I see is doing the front right wheel well. Between the wheel well and the door, there’s only one stud of space, and this design requires two studs on either side of the wheel well to attach the black angled Technic pieces. But still, this design is better than anything I had thought of. I’ll see if I can incorporate this design without overcomplicating the build or compromising the structural integrity of the body.

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 7/2/21

I've made a lot of progress on the rear section of the model. The bodywork here is essentially complete, and all I'm really missing now (at least for my digital model) is the bellows. The rear end was modeled using a modular approach - several submodels were put together to prevent this area from looking too dull. While I still think I could've done better here, given the limitations of LEGO, I feel that this area turned out realistic enough. I do wish LEGO released trans-orange 4L bars though, as the real bus has orange light strips for the turn signals. I still have to model the part that sticks out on the roof just before the rear end (which you can see in the photos of the real bus I have below). I was only able to find two reference images for the roof of the bus, and this part isn't very clear on them, but the general shape of it seems pretty simple, though.

If you guys have any suggestions for me, please let me know.

Photos:

Comparison to the real bus:

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by JLiu15

[JLiu15]

I made a few more renderings of my model. The modeling process is almost entirely complete now - I've added the part that sticks out of the roof in the rear (still not sure what that is), as well as the supports for the bellows. The bellows won't be added until the physical build is complete, as I have to ensure they work smoothly which only really works in a physical build.

I'm overall really satisfied with the result, and I'm glad I decided to go for a studfull design. This allowed for a degree of detail not achievable with just Technic pieces.

[Adeor]

Amazing work but the the articulated joint kinda looks it needs something to cover it.

Could you tell how did you added the brick skin to cover the chassis?

[sm1995]

1 hour ago, Adeor said:

Amazing work but the the articulated joint kinda looks it needs something to cover it.

Could you tell how did you added the brick skin to cover the chassis?

Look at the 22961 pin connectors between the two sections…. Something is definitely going to cover up that gap ;)

[JLiu15]

On 8/23/2021 at 5:52 PM, Adeor said:

Amazing work but the the articulated joint kinda looks it needs something to cover it.

Could you tell how did you added the brick skin to cover the chassis?

Thanks!

The model isn't finished yet in that rendering - the articulated joint still needs the bellows. I will model it at the very end as they are gonna be attached to the body panels.

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 9/28/21

Major update!

After more than 4 months since I started designing the bodywork in Stud.io, I've finally started working on the bodywork on the actual model. The bodywork took me a little over a month to fully design, but waiting for all the pieces to arrive took a long time as well. However, now that I've started building it in real life, I'm really satisfied with the result so far.

The bodywork is built with several individual submodels (e.g. body panels, roof HVAC, etc.) that are later put together. The chassis in the front section originally had a tendency to bend and twist, especially over the middle axle where it is less reinforced. I was initially worried that bricks and plates won't do much to reinforce it, but now the body feels solid as a rock. Personally, my favorite part here is the roofline, especially how the use of curved pieces helped make everything match pretty closely to the real bus. The roof HVAC also turned out well and complements the roofline curves nicely, although you really have to build it on a flat surface as it's rather hollow inside to reduce weight, and because the top of it has a half stud offset.

However, there were some parts that I feel could've turned out better, and there were parts I simply had to compromise. One such example is the front door - because the front door front panel on the real bus is curved, it sort of deflects out of the way when opening to avoid colliding with the windshield pillars. A mechanism allowing this kind of motion would be really difficult to make at this scale, so in the end there is a gap between the front door and the windshield pillar.

I know some of you had wanted to see the bellows mechanism, so I added some photos of them below.

Let me know what you think!

Photos:

Bellows mechanism:

[PassengerJet]

Looks totally fantastic!  Doing the bellows with technic is so so awesome

[Void_S]

Fantastic it the lesser thing I can say here, looking at the this model I still cant beleive its a Lego, not real bus at your desktop.

Can I ask you not to hide the wedge plates with opened studs? I remembers some people tries to hide them all but they only the things now that prove it is still Lego))) 

[JLiu15]

9 hours ago, PassengerJet said:

Looks totally fantastic!  Doing the bellows with technic is so so awesome

Thanks!

7 hours ago, Void_S said:

Fantastic it the lesser thing I can say here, looking at the this model I still cant beleive its a Lego, not real bus at your desktop.

Can I ask you not to hide the wedge plates with opened studs? I remembers some people tries to hide them all but they only the things now that prove it is still Lego))) 

Thank you, I’m glad you like it! I feel that deciding to go with a studfull finish for this model was my best decision; it really provides a level of detail not attainable with Technic pieces. And as for the wedge plates, I won’t hide their studs :)

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 10/3/21

I've built a good amount of the rear section's bodywork now. I have the pieces and my digital Stud.io model, so things are moving pretty fast now. I also put the wheels back on to test out the functions, and despite the model's weight, the single XL motor doesn't seem to be struggling to move it.

At this point the rear section just needs the right body panel and the roof HVAC unit. While building, I actually found that I was short on some pieces. But then again this is a huge model which means a lot of pieces to keep track of, so it does not surprise me that I find myself missing a few pieces. I'll probably test out the bellows on the left side next, as the attachment points are already there, and any pieces I may need for the bellows plus the missing pieces for the bodywork I will get in a final BrickLink order to finish the MOC.

Let me know what you think!

Photos:

[PassengerJet]

It looks so good!

[JLiu15]

On 10/5/2021 at 10:51 AM, PassengerJet said:

It looks so good!

Thanks! 

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 10/9/21

Finally, I've modeled the bellows for the bus. I haven't built it IRL yet, but have it modeled in Stud.io. Honestly, it's crazy how the bellows prototype was the first thing I built for the model, before I even started modeling it in Stud.io, but the last thing to be incorporated into the model due to its complexity. I still have to test it IRL, so I may have to make some tweaks to the design if needed, but if all goes well, the renderings below will be essentially what the finished model looks like!

It has around 5200 pieces now, which will likely be the final piece count for the model.

Edited October 9, 2021 by JLiu15

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 10/24/21

I've gotten to finishing the rear section's bodywork, with the right body panel and roof HVAC unit in place. I was missing a few pieces for the right body panel, but was able to find them in my inventory this weekend when I had some time. So at this point, the entire bodywork is finished, and the model just needs the bellows now. Another minor change I did is that the vent on the left side is now white instead of gray. It looks like gray from a distance, but a few days ago I saw it up close while passing by one of these buses, and noticed that it's actually white paint over this area.

I'm currently searching through my inventory to see what pieces I have for the bellows, and I'll order what I don't have in a final BrickLink order for the model. I still anticipate finishing the model before the end of the year.

Let me know what you think!

Photos:

[ord]

I love it. It looks nice and clean and I think you've captured the shape well. Can't wait to see it with bellows!

[JLiu15]

3 hours ago, ord said:

I love it. It looks nice and clean and I think you've captured the shape well. Can't wait to see it with bellows!

Thanks! I definitely feel that this is my most detailed model yet, and the studfull body has really helped with that IMO. Still working on gathering pieces for the bellows (as it’s A LOT of short LBG beams), but I already have it modeled in Stud.io which you can see in my previous update.

[arieben]

This is really excellent, JLiu15. Some of the best work I've seen here.

Studfull is definitely the way to go... just beautiful.

[JLiu15]

4 hours ago, arieben said:

This is really excellent, JLiu15. Some of the best work I've seen here.

Studfull is definitely the way to go... just beautiful.

Thanks! I’m glad I went with studfull for this model - it’s so much more detailed compared to a studless finish. Thanks to designing the model in Stud.io first, I was able to know what studfull pieces I’ll need before I build it IRL.

Edited October 25, 2021 by JLiu15