PST/Zebrano Gaz-03-30 Soviet City Bus - bodywork.

 I started the bodywork by firstly filling some sink holes in the body sides with Vallejo putty;

In the photo above the upper side has been filled and rubbed down whilst the lower part has just had filler applied. The windows needed opening out and squaring off, done with a scalpel, and there are some panel lines that have needed deepening with a scrawker.

I fitted one side, then the other, followed by the rear. This needed narrowing to fit between the sides. In the photo below the rear is being glued in place, with the aid of a rubber band. I used a piece of sprue to hold the sides apart at the front to stop them from being pushed inwards whilst the glue dried;

The front can also be seen in  the above photo. I glued strips of .040" x .010" styrene to the edges as I wasn't convinced that the front was wide enough. Most of the extra material was in fact sanded away. I also used styrene strip along the top of the right hand side and at both ends, the register on one side was lower than the other with the result that one side was higher than the other. Adding the strips meant that the top could be squared off. I also had to adjust the size of the windows on the right side as they were smaller than those on the left.

Thinking ahead I added a couple of pads on the underside at the front, these are for the mudgaurds to attach to. I also removed the registers from the roof and sanded the bottom flat along with the top of the body, using wet and dry paper on a flat surface, marking the areas to be sanded with a black marker pen, then moving the body and roof back and forth until the marks disappeared. 

The rear needed some attention to smooth and match the corners and carry the panel lines around to meet up with those on the rear. Once I was happy then the body was washed in warm soapy water, allowed to dry, then given a light coat of Hycote grey primer;

Body roof and chassis posed together, note the panel above the windscreen;

So far there hasn't been one part that hasn't needed some sort of remedial work. The next jobs will be to fit and paint the interior and prepare and paint the outer body.

Paul.