80M Bus Model Shop have just opened their seventh shop and this is located at Shop 7, 5/F  APM Plaza, Millennium City 5, 418 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon. 

As promised, a further batch of photos from Donald MacRae has been added to the Xtra pages of the site. These feature KCRC buses at Tuen Mun.

I have received an unconfirmed report that the second KMB Enviro 500, on Route No 1, is scheduled for release in late April.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
David Rowe

David Rowe, who recently visited Hong Kong has kindly provided the above photograph, which shows an advert 'Lets shop @ MongKok - Langham Place', carried by a number of buses. It is apparently very popular with bus fans, so much so that 80M shops had a 4mm version on sale (presumably as 80M have a shop in Langham Place) but apparently all were out of stock!

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
Donald MacRae

The Xtra pages of the site have tonight been updated with a special photographic feature based on an evening at Mong Kok earlier this month. All were taken by Donald MacRae during his recent visit and I am sure you will agree they are quite stunning. If you would like to see more of Donald's photography, he has his own Fotopic site which features a selection of transport related pictures taken around the UK, Hong Kong, China and Malta - this can be found at VictoryGuy's Photo Gallery. A further update is planned in the next few days featuring some more of Donald's photos.

Photograph courtesy of 80M Bus Model Shop

Pictured above is the second 10.3 metre Leyland Olympian (39102) from Cars Workshop, this model featuring BL1 in the predominantly cream livery of KMB. The model is on route number 69X to Tin Shui Estate and is limited to 2,000 pieces.
 

Photograph courtesy of
80M Bus Model Shop

Just released in Hong Kong is this resin Guy Arab Mk V, in China Motor Bus livery, from Hong Kong Model Co. (8003A). 

I am reliably informed that KMB are to shortly issue a model of ECW bodied Leyland Olympian BL1, in predominantly cream livery. The public light buses from Best Choose are not expected to be released until April.

Following last month's news about 'The Near Definitive List', I can confirm that this is now available. For more details, follow the link. 

I recently discovered that a good number of my photos had been lifted from my site and used, without my knowledge or permission, by a model retailer. Although an apology was forthcoming very quickly, it has taken almost a month for these photos to be removed. I will not name the retailer in question for fear of fulfilling the saying 'any publicity is good publicity'. The retailer does have a double page ad in the April edition of a diecast model magazine.  It is very frustrating when I have to buy my models, use my fairly expensive camera which was bought specifically to photograph the models, find the time to actually photograph them, edit and upload them to the site, only for someone, who is out to make a profit, to just come along and steal them. If you come across my photos being used on any site, please let me know.

Of late I have been spending more time sat at my PC, which it not always a good thing! As a result, I recently took a weeks break (the lack of News during this time was helpful!) during which time I considered various options. One of these was to abandon the Xtra pages of the site, thus allowing me to concentrate solely on the models. Another was to discontinue updating and maintaining various websites I had set up for others - this has unfortunately happened. Before making a final decision regarding the removal of the Xtra pages, perhaps you can let me know whether you actually find them useful or not. Despite this, I have tonight updated the Xtra page!