Jordan Highway Miniatures 1/87 1934 Ford bus

Do not worry, eventually I will return to planes.
Is that these vehicles are so cute! Irresistible.

 As usual, remarkable level of detail, fair price, logical engineering, nice subject, etc etc.
What else could you ask for? Oh, I know: that 1/72 scale airplane manufacturers could produce something similar -that is not a killing machine-.
Sigh.
Here some images of the building process:
The contents:

 The instructions. They are of the type you have to read. Text, by the way, is an ancient instrument used to transfer information. You would call it the smartphone of the day; but opposite to what smartphones do now, they DID have information to be transferred and DID transfer it. You can use this so called "text" by means or "reading", another arcane and lost-in-time practice that for reasons of space we should discuss on a later day.

 Some of parts showing the exquisite detail:

No engine with this one (other kits from this company have them) but nice undercarriage detail anyway:

 The method offered to simplify and accurately align the seats is very smart: one  very thin connecting sprue keeps the seats together as you glue them. Then you trim it away.

 More details: contrary to the common custom among airplane model manufacturers that enclose the most fragile of parts on a net of very thick sprues making their removal without breaking them virtually impossible, this manufacturer found (go figure!) the right way to do it:

 The louvers' are thinner than the furrows of my fingerprints:

 A few components removed, cleaned-up and glued together. Took about 35 minutes.

More sub-assemblies are completed, and at this stage some painting will be done:

There is a minor issue in the kit with the rear mudguards that create a gap, and scratched liners had to be added:

 The interior is painted:

The undersurfaces are painted flat black, later receiving metal drybrushing. The tires are also later drybrushed in grey:

 The main color is airbrushed:

The undercarriage already en place. Instructions are deficient regarding the exact position of the front axle, which must be deduced and falls short of it's height (i.e. the front wheels touch the fenders):

 I got two sets of lights with my kit, hurray!.
Be very careful separating them from the sprue, they are thin and fragile. The optics even have a pattern engraved on them!!:

 The parts before dealing with the windows: you can see the doors, bumpers, license plate and the lights "lenses" have been masked:

The transparencies are measured, cut from the provided sheet and glued in place:

Almost ready, but again -as with the Ford Calliope- I forgot that the roof is a different color. Will have to wait, mask and paint it before completion:

The rear axle -as it is the case also with the front one- hits the rear fender and has to be very slightly supplemented, a fact you discovered when you try to glue the body.
The decals are superb and varied, and the model builds to a very nice little thing:

A fine kit with superb detail at a very reasonable price that is fun to build.
Mr. Jordan, would you please, please, manufacture 1/72 scale Golden Age planes?
Please?

Roden 1/72 Opelblitz bus Strassenzepp completed

So here it is completed

As the kit instructions inform us, Strassenzepp was the “marketing” name of this bus, meaning -literally- a Zeppelin for the streets/autobahns.

With its double fins and showy lines, this design is a source of aesthetic pleasure and delight, and has that truly “modern” Golden Age flavor of the late 30’s.

There are a lot of things I like about this little bus, and I am very happy it was released by Roden. There are a few things that need care, though; some are optional, some are not; some are simple, others are a bit more complex to fix.

Although a better molding technology -like a multipart mold for the bodies of both buses as have been used for decades now for 1/24 cars- could have been of fantastic benefit and eliminate the difficult of fixing seams once the body parts are glued; it would nevertheless have increased the comfortable price range bracket where these kits are now.

Perhaps for future bus releases?

In any case it is a joy to have these kits around -there is a companion kit, the Ludewig Aero-:

http://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2013/12/roden-172-blitzbus-ludewig-aero.html

and I hope Roden will keep releasing this beautiful type of material that has such level of detail and charm, for the pleasure of us the aestheticists among modelers.

Congratulations, Roden.

Please, more!!

For those curious to see the building process, here it is:

http://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2013/11/roden-172-opel-bus.html