VBD2 is closed. Please go to https://vbd3.co.uk instead.

I have just been lucky enough to find a pre-war 29b bus which although it has some fatigue the paintwork is in very good condition.

The unusual thing is that it has a small design either side that appears to have uniform placement. As it does not seem to scratch off it maybe tampo printed rather than a water slide transfer. Has anyone seen this before, and could it have been factory applied?

Hi,

Well done on a really nice find. These pre war models have a charm all their own. The decals look really old with the yellowing of the carrier film around the edge. Trying to find out about anything of such age is difficult as very little is catalogued by image. You could yet like and some one here will recognise the logo.

Cheers

Dave

Given that this is pre-war, it is interesting that the decal shows a fasces (from which we get the English words fascist and fascism).
Note that it cannot be a tampo print since his technology is too recent. (In fact, looking again, the carrier film of a decal can clearly be see extending outside the coloured ring.)

Looking again, an interesting point about the decals is that they are sided, i.e. mirror images, rather than being identical.

Idris, I am very impressed that you identified the image it looks remarkably similar to the image on Wikipedia and a very strange thing to be on the side of a bus! I wonder if they could hae been applied in the 1930s?

Bako wrote:Idris, I am very impressed that you identified the image it looks remarkably similar to the image on Wikipedia and a very strange thing to be on the side of a bus! I wonder if they could hae been applied in the 1930s?

Realistically, they're more likely to have come from a plastic kit in the 1960s, perhaps originally squadron roundels from a WW2 fighter or bomber. Quite apart from anything else, I would expect 1930s-applied decals to be dry and brittle by now (but i suppose quality and the conditions they've been exposed would also play a role here).
Having had a good search online (I hope MI5 weren't monitoring me!), I am tending towards it being a logo with Italian connections, but I cannot find a match.

Hi all,
Lovely pre war bus. Not too easy to find either. The decals just don't look factory unfortunately. I've not seen any pre war Dinkys that show obvious carrier film like those on the bus. I'd like to know where they did come from though? Certainly pretty old by the look of them.
Cheers
CW.

Hi all,
It's not exactly the same, but the decal on this Revel Italian fighter is pretty close.....



Cheers
CW

It's not exactly the same, but the decal on this Revel Italian fighter is pretty close.....

Wow that solves the mystery thank you and also to everyone for your research on this. I guess it is not such a dilemma as whether to soak these off now, but I am tempted to leave in any case as part of the history of this model.