DIECAST MODEL
Rapido Trains UK has come to market with what is at least the sixth scale model of the Duple Vista-bodied Bedford OB, one of the classic designs of the 20th century.
With 3,864 of the real coaches built between 1945 and 1951 and a surprising number of them preserved in working order, the appeal to collectors and model manufacturers is understandable. This is the third to be replicated in 1:76 scale, following earlier offerings from Exclusive First Editions (EFE) and Corgi’s Original Omnibus Company (OOC). Corgi also offered it at 1:50 scale, while Oxford Die-Cast has produced it at 1:120 and SunStar catered for those with the deepest pockets and largest shelves with a superbly detailed (and expensive) 1:24 OB.
This is the most detailed 1:76 scale OB that anyone has yet produced. Rapido uses injection moulded plastic for its models and designs them using original drawings and laser scans of full-size restored vehicles; the original in this case was a 1950 coach new to Theobald’s of Long Melford and now with Mervyn’s Coaches in Hampshire, one that by sheer chance was illustrated on p52 of August Buses. The effect of that is to replicate the true shape in al…
