Best. Kit. Ever.

Having previously described the worst model kit I have ever had the misfortune to encounter, here to redress the balance is a fine example from the other end of the quality spectrum, illustrating just how high the standards can be when things are done right, but something equally obscure and unusual.

What might have been if the Minix bus was 1/76 scale.

Railway modellers of a certain age may remember a couple of Triang products from the 1960s: the Minic Motorways slot car system and the Minix plastic model cars. The former was to a nominal 1/76 scale, although the cars were actually somewhat larger due to the size of the motors, and included a couple of PSVs: a Routemaster bus and a Duple coach. It had much less of a racing element than Scalextric, being designed to complement Triang's OO gauge railways, and was soon discontinued in favour of the latter, but still has an enthusiastic following today with a cottage industry making replacement parts, which has expanded into producing might-have-been models that were never part of Triang's original range. The contemporary Minix range consisted of 1/76 scale static model cars and a bus, although to make it the same size as the cars so it would fit in the standard box and retail for the same price, the latter was to a much smaller scale of 1/100 or TT gauge.

The bus chosen for the Minix range was actually quite unusual: a Strachans Pacesetter body on an AEC Reliance chassis. As far as is known, only one Pacesetter was ever built, and was displayed at the 1964 Commercial Motor Show before entering service the following year as a demonstrator with Wolverhampton Corporation registered DJW 278C. It was later sold to United Services of Kinsley, West Yorkshire, and is believed to have been scrapped in the late seventies. In model form however, the Pacesetter was made in the thousands as one of Triang's product planners presumably saw it at the show and decided to add it to the Minix range. It may have been even more popular with model bus fleet operators and railway modellers though if it had been to the more common 1/76 scale, as TT gauge is something of a minority interest in comparison.

Taking all of the above into account, an eBay trader called 'Miniclassics', who specalises in reproduction Minic Motorways items, has produced a resin kit of what might have been if the Minix bus was made to the same 1/76 scale as the cars and ran on the motorised Minic Motorways chassis. It was quite pricey at around £40, considering the kit didn't include a chassis or wheels as the buyer had to obtain their own Minic chassis, but the quality of the castings is the best I have ever seen with very crisp detailing and no flash whatsoever. They didn't show any evidence of having been cleaned up by the manufacturer so I assume they came out of the moulds like that. Having to remove flash is usually an unavoidable consequence of the casting process, but this one was literally ready for painting straight out of the box with no preparation, the first time I have ever experienced this.

As unpacked and just resting on the wheels. The quality of detail and lack of flash is apparent.

Most modellers are agreed that glazing is usually the worst part of a kit build, with much careful cutting and gluing required to make the glazing material fit well. This one however has a single-piece vacuum-formed moulding that is very accurately shaped and simply pushed straight in with no glue needed, being held in place by the interior moulding pushed in below. As I don't have a Minic Motorways track and intended to finish my example as a static model for my own fleet, I had to build my own running gear and made up a simple flat plasticard chassis with wheels glued underneath. Painting posed no problems, although the Pacesetter body had a lot of brightwork and a steady hand and lots of patience was required to paint this; looking at the few photos that exist of the real thing, it appears the beading lines immediately above and below the windows should also be chromed, but I'd had enough just painting the two lower strips so I left these in body colour.

If I was to nitpick, accuracy is inevitably compromised by the need to accommodate the standard Minic chassis as used in the range's own buses and allow it to run on Minic track. The model scales out at around 30ft, whereas the real bus was a 36-footer, and the wheelbase seems a bit too long with the rear overhang consequently shortened. Minic wheels are very small and considerably underscale for 1/76 commercial vehicles, so the wheelarches have a small diameter and proper 1/76 bus wheels won't fit; I had to use a set from a cheap HO scale lorry on low profile tyres as I didn't want to risk damaging the body by enlarging the wheelarches. The interior floor level is too high as the mechanical parts have to be accommodated underneath, and there is a square hole towards the rear into which the motor fits, which I covered with a plasticard plate. These faults don't really detract from the model's appearance though, particularly the interior as this is not very visible through the small windows. 

A Minic Motorways Routemaster. The Pacesetter kit is designed to use this chassis.

The high quality of this kit made it a pleasure to build and no problems were encountered, the most time-consuming aspects being constructing the home-made chassis, which would be avoided if the Minic chassis was used as intended, and painting the chromework. The finished model is very pleasing and has made an unusual addition to my fleet that attracts much comment whenever it is displayed, so I consider it to have been a worthwhile purchase.

Lots of bright chromework enhances the appearance but wasn't easy to paint.

My only minor complaint: the proportions don't quite look right. Over-long wheelbase and short rear overhang.