[WIP] 2003 New Flyer D60HF Metro Transit Bus

[JLiu15]

All my bus models up to this point have been of buses currently in active service. However, my next bus model will be of an older, retired bus: Metro Transit's 2003 New Flyer D60HF.

Metro Transit, the transit operator in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, ordered a large number of New Flyer D60HF articulated buses in the 1990s and 2000s, with the final buses in 2006 being the last high-floor articulated buses ever built in the US and Canada. Over the years, they have been gradually replaced by newer New Flyer D60LFR and XD60 articulated buses, and the final D60HF buses were retired by 2021. A number of units were bought by private owners after retirement, such as #3143 (a 2003 model), which was exhibited at the 2022 NJ Historic Bus Festival. My plan is to make my model be of bus #3143; the simple yellow/blue livery should be easy to build in LEGO so the amount of custom stickers for this model should be minimal (only the fleet numbers, Metro Transit logos, and destination signs come to mind).

Thanks to the high-floor design and the boxy build of the original bus, it should be easier to incorporate mechanisms into this model as opposed to my New Flyer XD60 model as New Flyer Xcelsiors are low-floor buses. The chassis can be reinforced much better (I could probably make it 5 studs high throughout the bus, same as the rear section of my XD60 model), and I may even be able to place all electronic components and mechanisms in the chassis without placing any (e.g. the doors mechanism) in the roof. The model will use Power Functions motors and will be controlled by SBrick. The tentative list of functions/features for this model is:

• Drive (with two XL motors; my XD60 model with one XL motor felt a little underpowered)
• Steering (with working steering wheel)
• Pneumatically opened doors (one of these per door)
• Cummins engine model (with new engine elements from 42170 Kawasaki set)
• Bike rack (removable)

The design process starts out by using my New Flyer XD60 model as a base to determine the locations of various features (axles, bellows, etc). I plan to use 49.5x14mm tires for this model, as they offer better proportions than 49.5x20mm tires. The middle and rear axles with double wheels can also be spaced further apart, allowing me to use a 5.5L axle with stop and thus prevent the half shafts from pulling out from the differential under load, an issue experienced with my XD60 model. I still need to determine the seating layout of the original bus, which will make it much easier to design the chassis without needing to make adjustments later on for the passenger seats. I also plan to use the new engine elements from the 42170 Kawasaki set in the Cummins engine model, as the axles-and-bushes design is a bit noisy and I've found it to jam a few times too when using it in my previous bus models. Side note: I have found the new Kawasaki engine pistons to not "click" properly in place to a liftarm, stud or the crank disks in Stud.io - maybe this is just due to these parts being new and not having been really refined yet in Stud.io? Would love to hear any other experiences with this.

There's still much to be done, but I'm looking forward to this MOC. I've already built an articulated bus model, and this one should be more straightforward with the high-floor and boxy design. I strive to add something new in every one of my bus models, and I'm curious to see how the pneumatic doors turn out (all my previous bus models used mini linear actuators or a worm gear for the door). If you guys have any suggestions for me, please let me know.

Edited June 24 by JLiu15

[Thirdwigg]

I'm excited about another bus project! I love a good articulated bus, and I'm look forward to the solutions you come up with.

[JLiu15]

On 7/2/2024 at 7:21 AM, Thirdwigg said:

I'm excited about another bus project! I love a good articulated bus, and I'm look forward to the solutions you come up with.

Thanks! Haven't done much since the initial update but I should have the seating layout worked out by the next update!

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 7/29/24

I've modeled the seating layout in Stud.io, as well as portions of the chassis rear section. Thanks to the private owner of bus #3200 (a 2006 model, but the seating layout is identical), I was able to accurately model the seating layout with 34 seats in the front, 30 in the rear, and 4 in the articulation joint for a total of 68 seats.

Seating layout (top view) compared to the real bus:

The model will be powered by two hard-coupled PF XL motors; they are placed perpendicular to the chassis just after the rear stepwell and are hard-coupled using knob wheels. This is because the rear door is quite close to the rear axle, and placing the drive motors longitudinally would take too much space lengthwise. The high-floor design should help make the chassis very robust, as it is 6 studs from the lowest point to the floor level, similar to the rear raised section in my previous models of New Flyer Xcelsior low floor buses. Note that I took apart most of the bellows in the Stud.io model; I'll be remodeling it as it won't be an exact copy of the bellows on my New Flyer XD60 model (here they also need to accommodate the seats in the middle).

Side view:

More interior views referenced for the model are below. Note the mix of high- and low-back seats - most forward-facing seats are high-back while aisle-facing and last row seats are low-back.

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

Edited July 29 by JLiu15

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 8/1/24

I've modeled more of the rear section and experimented with the articulation joint. I want the model to have a largely smooth interior floor covered with Technic panels and liftarms with minimal gaps, like my recent MCI D4500CT Commuter Coach model. The real bus has a circular central section at the articulation joint which maintains a halfway position between the front and rear sections, and circular shapes are rather difficult to model in LEGO, especially Technic. I came up with a design that uses sloped Technic panels and while it's not perfect, it still does the job of reducing the gap between the front and rear sections' floors and the central section.

Photos of the real bus's central section, 

     

A test build of the central section (won't be color vomit in the finished model of course), showing how it and the seats behave as the articulation joint turns:

Stud.io screenshots showing the design incorporated into the model. Note that I have hidden the wheels and the top part of the bellows to better show the model so far:

Stud.io screenshots showing the entire model so far:

[Fluwoeb]

This is looking great @JLiu15! I am amazed at the size of this project that you are taking on. Keep going, it will turn out very well!

One question, is the center axle driven? It looks like you have the rear axle driven with the two XL motors but I was just curious. It might be helpful to have more traction for a model that will likely be pretty heavy!

[JLiu15]

15 hours ago, Fluwoeb said:

This is looking great @JLiu15! I am amazed at the size of this project that you are taking on. Keep going, it will turn out very well!

One question, is the center axle driven? It looks like you have the rear axle driven with the two XL motors but I was just curious. It might be helpful to have more traction for a model that will likely be pretty heavy!

Thanks! The real bus is a "pusher" articulated bus with the engine at the rear, so I believe only the rear axle is driven.

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 8/8/24

I've started building the model, with most of the rear section's chassis complete and a few passenger seats in place. The chassis is very robust, and the two XL motors for the drivetrain have plenty of torque. I still need to add the Cummins engine model, as well as the passenger seats in the rear once more of the chassis in that area is completed. Note the new 3x13 frame on the right side just before the rear stepwell - it's not yet available in Stud.io so I just omitted it in the Stud.io model for now.

If you guys have any suggestions for me, please let me know. I'm also wondering if someone has made a custom designed version of the 3x13 frame (and perhaps other newly released parts) in Stud.io that I can use in my model, since I noticed it does take a while for Stud.io to update with newly released parts.

Photos:

[1gor]

Honestly it looks super smooth and very clean build...but I follow more when you decide to build something else than busses.

[JLiu15]

On 8/9/2024 at 4:29 AM, 1gor said:

Honestly it looks super smooth and very clean build...but I follow more when you decide to build something else than busses.

Thanks! I haven't stopped building other MOCs, you'll still see plenty of other vehicle MOCs from me 

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 8/15/24

The portions of the rear chassis behind the rear axle are complete, and all 30 seats in the rear section are in place. The removable Cummins engine model is also in place, as well as the lower turntable at the articulation joint. The new engine elements work great here as the pistons make minimal noise and the entire mechanism takes one less stud of vertical space. The engine model provides some transverse reinforcement for the chassis, but so far the chassis is robust enough even without it as it is reinforced by a number of transverse beams there, including the attachment point for the rear bumper. The PF rechargeable battery will go behind the last row of seats; I thought of putting it in the chassis thanks to the model being a high-floor bus, but there is not enough vertical space and placing it horizontally would mean needing to take it out somehow for recharging.

Photos:

With Cummins engine model removed:

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 8/18/24

I realized I had forgotten the lower track that the rear doors slide along when opening, so I had to make some modifications. The last available pin hole to attach the track (a long axle with a connector for each door sliding along it) was taken up by a 5x7 frame, so I had to move the frame forward by two studs. I moved the frame directly across on the left side forward by two studs as well to keep the chassis symmetrical. The rear door panels will be connected to the lower track with part 5713 from the 60420 set; it's a new part so I don't have it yet, but it should allow me to achieve the same functionality as part 15100 but without friction.

Because I already had to make modifications, I decided to make some further improvements to the chassis. Now there is an additional vertical support from the upper 3x19 and 3x13 frames to the bottom of the chassis. The forward-facing seats' spacing has a half-stud offset meaning every other pair of seats is placed at a half-stud longitudinally, I decided to use the 5x7 frames to add reinforcement to the half-stud seats' support, and now they feel a lot more stable.

Photos:

I also made a starting point for the bodywork in Stud.io, mostly to identify where elements such as the side stripe need to be.

Looking at the right side, I did the same for the rear door panels as well. Note that I am using part 65249 in place of 5713 here, as part 5713 is not yet available in Stud.io (hopefully soon, along with the 3x13 frame and other new 2024 parts).

Left side view. I did a similar modification for this side, with a 5x7 frame moved two studs forward.

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 9/7/24

The front section of the chassis is largely complete. The model is currently at around 3600 pieces. Below is a view of everything modeled in Stud.io at this point.

A view with bodywork components hidden:

The front section's chassis contains about 1700 pieces. The building techniques are similar to the rear section, with reinforcement provided by Technic frames and a largely covered interior floor.

The next two images show the front section chassis isolated by itself:

The real bus has a bike rack in the front (here is an example), which I will incorporate in my model. The bike rack has two horizontal bike holders that are made with thin metal bars. However, I cannot find any existing LEGO pieces that can accurately replicate the bike holders. I cannot find any existing LEGO bar pieces with that particular shape, and I also don't want to bend a LEGO hose into that shape as it will likely stress the piece. Most LEGO elements allow for a spacing of one stud at the minimum, and such a spacing makes the bike holders look too bulky. I ended up going with a simple Technic axles/liftarms structure for the bike rack, attached to the front bumper. The bike rack is supposed to fold down no more than 90 degrees, but I cannot find a way to add a limiter without making the front bumper or bike rack too bulky. I tried using locking hinge pieces, but it also makes the end result bulkier.

Does anyone know of any solutions I could try to more accurately model the bike rack? The current design is rather crude so I'm afraid it'll look out of place on a much more detailed bus, and it cannot serve its function as it'll collapse to the ground without a 90 degrees limiter. Below is a view from the front, showing the bike rack on the front bumper.