Robertson Buses 15 & 23
15 and 23 are suffering from 'old repaint' and 'hasty repaint' and despite being consecutive vehicles from the same batch of W-UGM buses, they don't exactly match. Both were new to Travel London and have wound up together again at RB via different ways.
15 arrived in 2016 and was subjected to a repaint of 2016 quality, albeit with minor touches since. It also has the slightly worse fleet names/numbers that are lower resolution and duller in colour. However during the conversion to an E-Dart in 2019 the black wheels were treated to a bit of silver and it looked good enough for me to repeat the process on other vehicles. More recently it has gained the fares promotion down each side.
23 arrived in late 2017, hence its number having no correlation to 15s, and already had a minor interior re-trim with its previous owner, meaning it has cream where the other has grey (IRL this is a screw-up on Corgi's behalf). Then I painted it alongside about half a dozen other buses, so it got nothing more than an "it'll do" job, so its a bit wobbly and patchy (not that 15 is painted any less wobbly). As a time and effort-saving measure the doors ended up black, but at least I did the window pillars white. Along with the other Pointer 2s, it was re-engined in 2019 to become an E-Dart.
What is currently taking place, beginning with the P&R examples, is standardisation of all E-Darts which will eradicate the variation between the 2017/18 and 2019 conversions, so when 15 and 23 get their turns I should be able to bring them both up to current standards. The randomness of the numbering system bothers me a bit and I've always in the back of my mind considered renumbering the fleet, or the E-Darts at least, so they form one solid block of numbers. I have an idea in mind, but as with many things it might not happen and - of course - partially hinges on getting 4 or 5 new deckers for the P&R (just when you were thinking I wasn't going to mention them).
Given that the E-Darts are the mainstay of several services it would at least help if the damn things were presentable. It doesn't help that these (and 18) are dual door, but what else can you do when all the model companies do is make London stuff?
Robertson Buses 15 - W605 UGM - Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart
Robertson Buses 23 - W604 UGM - Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart
Robertson Buses 15 & 23
15 and 23 are suffering from 'old repaint' and 'hasty repaint' and despite being consecutive vehicles from the same batch of W-UGM buses, they don't exactly match. Both were new to Travel London and have wound up together again at RB via different ways.
15 arrived in 2016 and was subjected to a repaint of 2016 quality, albeit with minor touches since. It also has the slightly worse fleet names/numbers that are lower resolution and duller in colour. However during the conversion to an E-Dart in 2019 the black wheels were treated to a bit of silver and it looked good enough for me to repeat the process on other vehicles. More recently it has gained the fares promotion down each side.
23 arrived in late 2017, hence its number having no correlation to 15s, and already had a minor interior re-trim with its previous owner, meaning it has cream where the other has grey (IRL this is a screw-up on Corgi's behalf). Then I painted it alongside about half a dozen other buses, so it got nothing more than an "it'll do" job, so its a bit wobbly and patchy (not that 15 is painted any less wobbly). As a time and effort-saving measure the doors ended up black, but at least I did the window pillars white. Along with the other Pointer 2s, it was re-engined in 2019 to become an E-Dart.
What is currently taking place, beginning with the P&R examples, is standardisation of all E-Darts which will eradicate the variation between the 2017/18 and 2019 conversions, so when 15 and 23 get their turns I should be able to bring them both up to current standards. The randomness of the numbering system bothers me a bit and I've always in the back of my mind considered renumbering the fleet, or the E-Darts at least, so they form one solid block of numbers. I have an idea in mind, but as with many things it might not happen and - of course - partially hinges on getting 4 or 5 new deckers for the P&R (just when you were thinking I wasn't going to mention them).
Given that the E-Darts are the mainstay of several services it would at least help if the damn things were presentable. It doesn't help that these (and 18) are dual door, but what else can you do when all the model companies do is make London stuff?
Robertson Buses 15 - W605 UGM - Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart
Robertson Buses 23 - W604 UGM - Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart