Photograph courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

Due for release in Hong Kong tomorrow is the above Kowloon Motor Bus Volvo Olympian decorated with 'Year of the Dog' decals (OM43205). Once again the Corgi casting is used. It features fleet no. AV393 (Reg No. HR889) on route no. 3C to China Ferry Terminal. It is limited to 5,000 pieces and retails for HK$288. Further photos will appear later tonight.

In addition, and for the first time, KMB will issue a Qb-type version of their 'Year of the Dog' bus plus additional models depicting 'Year of xxxx' liveries since 2002. These Qb-type models are expected to be released in Hong Kong tomorrow (31st December).

I have reliably been informed that both Citybus and New World First Bus will use 12m Dennis Dragons as their Chinese New Year buses in 2006 (the Year of the Dog). 

A reminder that just over one day remains for you to vote for your Favourite New Casting of 2005 and Favourite Livery of 2005. Prizes for the winners are kindly being provided by Jotus .com and the Sentosa Leisure Group. An acknowledgement e-mail will be sent within 36 hours of you casting your vote, so if you haven't received confirmation that you vote has been registered in this timescale, please vote again.

Detailed below are a couple of new releases in the 'Toy' category that I am sure will prove popular at this time of the year. 
 

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
Owen Wong

The first is a New World First Bus Neoplan Centroliner cute bus which was released in Hong Kong today. It features fleet no 6008 in 'wave' livery, on route no. 720 with a destination of Aldrich Bay Express. Priced at HK$43.8 it is limited to 5,000 pieces and is available from 80M Bus Model Shops.

The second, pictured below, features a larger 1/24th scale Toyota Coaster remote control model. It is believed 4 versions are planned, the red and green Hong Kong Public Light Buses and two Macau buses, Transmac (which is the model featured) and TCM. Currently only 3 versions can be found and it is believed that owing to a licensing problem, the TCM version may not be released.
 

Photographs courtesy and copyright of
Jacky Ho

A reminder that just over two days remain for you to vote for your Favourite New Casting of 2005 and Favourite Livery of 2005. Prizes for the winners are kindly being provided by Jotus .com and the Sentosa Leisure Group. An acknowledgement e-mail will be sent within 36 hours of you casting your vote, so if you haven't received confirmation that you vote has been registered in this timescale, please vote again.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
Network Shuttle

Due for release in mid January is this 1/76 scale resin Albion Viking from Concorde Hobby Shop. It features Kowloon Motor Bus L228 (Reg. AR7709). It is limited to 300 pieces and is expected to retail for HK$338.

Voting for your Favourite New Casting of 2005 and Favourite Livery of 2005 is now underway. Prizes for the winners are kindly being provided by Jotus .com and the Sentosa Leisure Group. An acknowledgement e-mail will be sent within 36 hours of casting your vote, so if you don't receive one (as several voters have forgotten to enter their e-mail address!), please vote again.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

Released in Hong Kong on 24th December is the above diorama from 80M Bus Model Shop (802041) featuring the previously released Best Choose Guy Arab Mk V S5 (02041). It is limited to 250 pieces.

I have now received details of the 30 lucky winners of the Buses Model Co. 5th Anniversary - Lucky Draw model bus.

All Hong Kong Winners will be contacted direct by letter within 14 days. All Overseas Winners will receive their Prize within 20 days. Full details can be found here.
 

As is customary on this site at this time of the year, over the next week you have the opportunity to vote for your Favourite New Casting of 2005 along with your Favourite Livery of 2005. Whilst this is a bit of light-hearted fun for the festive season, I am pleased to announce that this year both Jotus .com and the Sentosa Leisure Group have kindly agreed to provide prizes for the winners of each category. 

To see the list of models in each category, the competition rules and more importantly, to cast your votes, follow this link. 
 

Although the CMNL official website has still to be launched, we should like to draw attention to it so that collectors can take a look at the photographs of some planned models for 2006 that can be found using the link to ‘Online Catalogue’. A full description of the planned models for 2006 Period 1 (January – April) will come shortly. Once this announcement is made you will then be able to order the stated models through your local or online dealer. 

The CMNL website can be found here

CMNL asks collectors to bear in mind that the website is still in a stage of development.

The official CMNL Press Release for the New World First Bus Volvo Super Olympian has been added to the appropriate page (hkbus1006). 

A further development on the Pocari Sweat model is that anyone who buys the Pocari drink over and spends over HKD200.00, they can take the receipt to Pocari's office to get one free Pocari model, based on first come first served basis.  The deadline is December 30th, 2005. 

Update :- The process of getting a model is believed to be as follows:- you need to post a receipt back to the Pocari's Office and wait them to send back a confirmation letter. After you get the letter, you can go to redeem one. 

It is believed that about 120 people on the list, or in other words, Pocari has already send 120 confirmation letters to the customers. 
 

As is customary at this time of the year, I will shortly be publishing details on how you can vote for your 'Favourite New Casting 2005' and 'Favourite Livery 2005'. 

Photograph courtesy and copyright of Jotus .com

Now released in Hong Kong is this Creative Master Northcord New World First Bus Volvo Super Olympian - Fleet No. 5103
(hkbus1006). It is on route no 682 to Lee On and is limited to 1,200 pieces. Further photos should be available later tonight.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of BritBus

The above photograph is the first glimpse of a pre-production special model produced by BritBus and commissioned by Bus Fan World. This model represents an Alexander RH bodied Leyland Olympian and is fictitious. It is a commemorative edition to celebrate 13 years of existence of Bus Fan World. It has an item no. of R900BFW.

The total run will be less than 500 pieces and a number of these will be available through Bus Fan World to their members - the balance will be distributed in the UK through John Ayrey Diecasts - price to be advised. It is expected to be release before the  Chinese New Year.

My thanks to BritBus for providing this information.

A new Xtra page has been added tonight featuring a few photographs taken by Dave Rogers during his recent visit to Hong Kong and Singapore.

Issue No. 50 of Bus Fan World's 'Bus Focus' is now available. This issue is made up of 38 pages, 16 of which are in full colour. Although written in Chinese, an English translation is to be provided on their website. Well worth the annual subscription!

As promised, a further selection of photos of the Best Choose 1/24 scale China Motor Bus DMS (05242) showing the different destinations/route numbers, have now been added.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
Network Shuttle

A new page has tonight been added for the second 1/24 scale 'DMS' from Best Choose (05242). Further photos will be added tomorrow.

Another new page added tonight is that for the Jotus cute qb KMB Dennis Dragon.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

A surprise release, to be issued tomorrow, is this 1/50th scale Corgi model (CC25503) KMB Daimler A. It is limited to 1,200 pieces and represents vehicle registration 4961 on route no 3. It will retail for HK$348.