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I know I had just finished a bus model (the Orion V 05.505 model), but I figured why not get started on my next one 😂 so here it is: a 2008 Orion VII NG (07.503) bus operated by Fairfax Connector in Fairfax County, VA. This will be my first model of a DMV (DC/Maryland/Virginia) region bus. I took the above photo of bus 9777 in August 2022, right after BrickFair VA that year. At the time, a good portion of them were used on the RIBS (Reston Internal Bus Service) routes; their numbers continue to dwindle as newer 2024 Gillig Low Floor 29' buses enter service to replace them. A year ago, I had the opportunity to ride bus 9789: If I can fit it into my schedule, I plan to go to the NJ Historic Bus Festival again this September. Last year I brought my New Flyer D60HF model there, and since it's an articulated bus, I separated it at the articulation joint and packed the two halves side by side in a duffel bag, which narrowly fit the size constraints of an airline carry-on. For this year's event, I plan to bring this model and the Orion V I just completed; since both are ~1:18 models of 32' buses, I should be able to pack both into a carry-on duffel bag like I did last year. My plan is to first design the model in Stud.io, then wait until after Brickworld Chicago in June to start the building process. I will likely need parts from my New Flyer D60HF model, which I am planning on displaying at Brickworld, so I am waiting after Brickworld when I can disassemble that model to have the parts to build this one. After the bus festival, I plan to save it for display at Brickworld Chicago 2027. The tentative list of functions are: Drive Steering with working steering wheel Pneumatic doors (most likely synced) Wheelchair ramp (?) Cummins ISL engine model with moving pistons Opening engine door (perhaps pneumatic, fed from the same pneumatic circuit that feeds the doors opening) Since most of my bus models thus far have had pretty much the same core functions (drive, steering, opening doors), I want to add another function here that have not been incorporated into previous bus MOCs. A wheelchair ramp may still be quite challenging to add at this scale, but I could probably use the doors' pneumatic circuit to power another cylinder that can open/close the engine door. While they're typically opened manually on real buses, my recent Orion V model demonstrated that it's pretty difficult to include a functional handle at this scale that does not look out of proportion (I resorted to using an axle that you can push on from behind it to open it slightly). So I could probably add a valve that can direct the compressor to opening/closing the engine door. Another challenge I gave myself this time is to design the entire livery using LEGO pieces, i.e. no stickers. I'm pretty impressed with the results so far, but still it's not the smoothest curve (as the white stripe between the yellow front/red rear on Fairfax Connector buses is very well rounded). Still, I feel that using LEGO pieces to achieve is preferable to using stickers, like many official sets are doing these days. This will also be my first bus model to not be primarily white for the livery - it will really get me to be creative with piece usage, and the model already contains a combination of normal brick/plate stacking and SNOT building, especially where the livery is made using wedge plates/tiles. As of right now the wheels look a bit small to me, but the height seems pretty similar to my New Flyer D60HF model (which uses the same tires) so it may just be a matter of perspective as the model really only has one body panel and the doors designed as of right now. Below I've attached some Stud.io screenshots so far. Let me know what you think! -
Model of a Westchester County Bee-Line 2005 Orion V (05.505) transit bus. The model uses Power Functions IR remote control for motorized drive, steering, and opening doors. It also includes a Detroit Diesel Series 50 engine behind an openable engine door. Functions/features: Drive Steering Working steering wheel Motorized passenger doors Opening engine door Detroit Diesel Series 50 engine model (removable) Instructions available on Rebrickable: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-265143/JLiu15/2005-orion-v-05505-bee-line-bus/#details The Bee-Line System, the public transit agency in Westchester County, NY, ordered 21 Orion V (05.505) buses in 2005 numbered 116-136. This order of the 05.505 model, which is 32ft long and 96in wide, succeeded buses 101-115 from 2002 and are the last of this model ever built. At the beginning of their service life, buses 116-129 were operated by Liberty Lines Transit, Inc. while 130-136 were operated by P.T.L.A. Enterprise for routes 16, 18, and 31. The first retirements occurred in 2016, with the first four units (116-119) retiring and two of PTLA’s buses (135 and 136) transferring to Liberty Lines. In 2021, PTLA’s 131-134 were scrapped, and Liberty Lines’ 120-123 were transferred to PTLA to fill the gap. In early 2024, all remaining buses (124-127 and 129) were transferred to PTLA while all other units in the series were retired. These five buses are still active at the time of writing. My model depicts bus 124. When I decided to attend Brickworld Chicago 2026, I wanted to display a smaller bus model next to my New Flyer D60HF model from last year. I had already been wanting to build an Orion V bus model for a while, such as a 2000 05.501 model (40ft long and 102in wide) in Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission livery. However, seeing that Bee-Line is also quite famous for their Orion V buses, especially being one of the last operators of Orion V buses today (they also have a few 2008 05.501 suburban models numbered in the 800s still in operation), I decided to do it in the Bee-Line livery. From the start, I knew that a challenge would be the livery, since their livery includes diagonal stripes that would not translate as well to LEGO pieces. Unlike my previous bus models, I actually started with the bodywork this time in Stud.io, then built the Technic chassis around that. This meant fewer changes to the chassis to attach the bodywork, a revision that was often needed for my prior bus MOCs. I designed the livery to have the horizontal stripes done using LEGO bricks and plates, and I found LEGO blue and bright light orange to match their livery quite well. The diagonal stripes, which continues onto the roof, I decided to make using custom stickers. I first got the idea for this MOC in mid-February; by mid-March, I had a bodywork designed in Stud.io. This was followed by designing the chassis, and in early April I began the building process starting with the chassis. The shorter length of the bus meant that the build had to be compact, but there was enough room in the chassis to fit a PF L motor for propulsion, a PF Servo motor for steering, and a PF AA battery box. Because my PF Rechargeable battery box and SBrick are still in my New Flyer D60HF model, I used PF IR control for this model. In fact, it is my first time using IR control in a MOC since 2020! I was initially concerned whether a single PF L motor would be enough torque, but given that my Airport Crash Tender MOC from 2017 was even larger in terms of dimensions and did fine with a single PF L motor geared 1:3 and then 14:20 at the differential, I decided that the same gearing in the drivetrain was sufficient. It also helped keep the rear stepwell area compact, as the drive motor sits directly adjacent of the stepwell and two L motors may have taken up too much room there. One of my favorite parts about this model is the inclusion of a Detroit Diesel Series 50 engine model connected to the drivetrain, as that is the engine the real-life bus uses (their 2008 units use the Cummins ISL instead). For this, I ordered some sand green Technic pieces to capture the iconic Alpine Green that Detroit Diesel engines are painted in. A notable difference between Detroit Diesel Series 50 and Cummins powered Orion V buses is that those powered by the Series 50 omit the middle seat in the rearmost row due to the larger size of the engine. This meant that I was able to keep the cylinders exposed on my model, so you could see the pistons moving even without removing the engine model from the chassis. The doors use a different mechanism from my previous bus models. On the real-life Orion V, the door leaves protrude significantly from the body when open. A mini linear actuator here would have 3 studs of travel, leaving the door leaves flush with the body when open. I went for one fewer stud of travel range, and used a linkage mechanism driven by a worm gear. The mechanism performed flawlessly despite my initial concerns; I was worried this setup would be more likely to jam when opening and closing. Both the front and rear doors use a PF M motor and a 24T clutch gear is used on each to prevent the motor from stalling when the doors are fully opened/closed. The steering mechanism is set up similar to that of my New Flyer D60HF model, and likewise, a working steering wheel is connected to it. The doors’ motors and the PF IR receivers were placed in the roof, attached to a Technic frame; I was able to blend the IR receivers in almost seamlessly with the rest of the roof, which is largely made using 8x16 tiles. I am overall satisfied with how this MOC turned out, and in some ways, it looks even more realistic than my New Flyer D60HF model. I like how I captured the shaping of the driver’s side windshield, which is sloped to reduce glare for the driver. While there is a slight shade difference between LEGO pieces and the colors printed onto the stickers, from a distance the livery still looks pretty seamless, especially the side stripes. I had fun making the video as well - I also included a few video clips of the real bus taken by Kyle Garcia, a friend of mine on the East Coast. I’m also glad I finished the model while the real bus is still in active service, as I wouldn’t be surprised if the last 5 remaining units are due for retirement very soon. Video: Photos: Brickworld Chicago Photos:
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My fifth bus model will be smaller than my previous ones. It maintains the same scale, but the model is of a shorter bus - a 32ft Orion V (model 05.505) operated by the Bee-Line System in Westchester County, New York. The above photo was taken by Elyse Horvath in January 2023. I decided to model a shorter bus this time because I plan to bring two bus models to Brickworld Chicago this year, one of which is my New Flyer D60HF model. Because I have already used a lot of my white System pieces on that model, I could build this model without having to order as many pieces. It also guarantees that I have enough space to display both MOCs with a good view of both, as display space can be pretty limited at Brickworld Chicago. My original plan prior to signing up for Brickworld was to disassemble my New Flyer D60HF model and have most of the pieces needed to model a PRTC OmniRide 40ft Orion V (model 05.501), which I saw at the NJ bus festival last fall. The tentative list of functions are: Drive (with single PF XL motor or two PF L motors) Steering with working steering wheel Opening doors (pneumatic?) Detroit Diesel Series 50 engine model (removable) Opening engine door I had considered powering the model with BuWizz 2.0, but my BuWizz has been having issues recently, mostly with there being a delay from when a command is sent from the app and when the motor responds. Because of this, I may just end up using PF IR receivers, which I have not used in a MOC for many years now. Unlike my previous bus models, I am starting from the bodywork this time in the Stud.io build. This should reduce the need for last minute revisions to the chassis to accommodate the body panels. As of right now, the Stud.io model largely consists of partially built body panels with the front/rear axles and engine model to mark their locations. By being a smaller bus model, it also serves as a challenge in building compact as there is less interior space to hold all the mechanisms. The livery will be mostly brick-built, as it is largely just two side stripes, but the diagonal section I plan to use custom stickers since it gives it a much cleaner finish than solutions using LEGO pieces, even though I try to avoid custom stickers unless necessary. The left and right side views, as of right now: One of the things I've been most satisfied about so far is the front windshield design. The Orion V has a slanted driver's side window to reduce glare, and since using LEGO window pieces becomes more impractical when building at larger scale, I wanted to have the windshield be outlined in a way that clearly shows how it appears on the real bus. Thankfully, it was not as complicated as I thought, and I really like the way it turned out. Once I have most of the bodywork designed, I could then probably begin designing the chassis and begin the building process from there.