The classic American school bus on LEGO Ideas
Posted by Huw,
This article has been contributed by Nathan, AKA B_Space_Man:
I wanted to share my experience designing and submitting the Classic School Bus to LEGO Ideas. The project includes a school bus, a side-build where students wait for the bus, the driver, and a crosswalk guard.
In the United States, the school bus is a common sight, picking up kids in the morning and dropping off kids at the end of the school day. With the distinctive School Bus Yellow colour, these vehicles are hard to miss. They are also hard to miss because there are around 500,000 school buses in the United States! These buses are not only a common sight in day-to-day life, but are staples in movies and TV shows as well.
When one of my sons was little, he loved to point out every bus he saw as we drove around town. He was pointing them out a lot! I was certain that LEGO would have a great school bus set, but I was surprised to not find any options that I considered to be representative of what we see every day. That inspired me to design my own.
The first design and submission
When I first started to create the bus, I used Lego Digital Designer (LDD) to build an initial design that estimated what I wanted the bus to look like. When building the design with real LEGO pieces for the first time, I quickly learnt a very important lesson: nothing beats the real thing. The first bus I made looked good on a computer screen, but was much too long in real life! Ever since those days of using LDD (which has now been replaced with Bricklink Studio in my workflow), I follow the same process of designing things in digital form and then iterating with real plastic bricks.
These images, one a render and one a photo, encapsulate my design process between physical and digital.
I submitted the school bus design to LEGO Ideas for the first time in 2016. The project got over 3000 votes, and although it did not succeed I was happy with the effort I had put into the project. The design even got featured in Blocks magazine. Since then, the LEGO Ideas site has changed in many ways. There are many projects that hit 10k votes each year, and a lot of projects get approved that are quite large. Even with these changes over time, I wanted to give the project another go. I still think there is room in the Lego Ideas line-up for smaller sets that are not focused on licenced media.
A redesign and retry
When revisiting the project, I wanted to freshen up the design of the bus, adding a few more details while taking advantage of newer parts that are now in production. I also wanted to represent multiple bus designs, since there are several variations on the roads today. I settled on a specific goal: Keep the original design with the front engine – known as a Type “C”, but also have a Type “D” option. The Type “D” is recognisable by having a flat front and the door being forward past the front wheels.
Trial and error
It took me quite a few tries to figure out the approach that I wanted to take in order to achieve the two-design idea. My first idea was to use a modular approach; have several sections that could be removed and re-ordered to create either style without too much rebuilding. This turned out to be similar to other sets that Lego has made, like 60389 Custom Car Garage.
Playing around with modular components:
Ultimately, the modular idea was too bulky and was not strong enough. The modular design was a fun idea which I may revisit for other personal projects in the future. For the bus I settled on a more straightforward design, offering two build options that would require some additional pieces included with the set.
BrickLink Studio with primary bus design and extra pieces:
Both bus designs, completed:
I started from scratch when it came to the seating layout. I initially wanted to maximise the number of passengers, but this came at a cost of flexibility. I ended up optimising the design to accommodate the three Minifig leg sizes that LEGO now commonly uses. The normal and medium legs can sit, while the short leg size cannot, which adds to the limitations of what can work for all three.
Various experiments with the spacing for passengers, and trying different pieces for the seats. Hey, not every design is a winner.
And of course, I used plenty of test passengers to try out various leg sizes and headgear styles.
I wanted to improve the shaping of the hood, so I spent some time trying different combinations of pieces. Luckily, LEGO has released many new parts over the years, so I was able to take advantage of some that I did not have access to during the first design.
This photo shows various hood designs as I tried to figure out the shaping and details, including the side mirrors.
One other detail that I wanted to add was accessibility. There’s a dedicated wheelchair space in the bus, which took a bit of adjustment in order to be satisfied with the results. I wanted to add a side door which would allow for direct access to the wheelchair area. I was not able to create a realistic wheelchair door on the side, but the back and top of the bus open up, and I think that access is fine enough.
Oh, to be a real designer!
When designing the school bus, I tried to put myself into the head of an official LEGO designer as much as possible. If there was the option to use a more common part, I would do so. I minimised the number of unique parts where I could without compromising the design.
As I’m sure many Brickset users know, the design process is fun, messy, occasionally frustrating, and full of LEGO pieces that don’t match. For much of the process I built with the parts I had on hand. I ordered pieces in different colours when I could, but a lot of the design required Flame Yellowish Orange pieces that LEGO does not currently make.
Buses in various states of completeness:
It’s the plight of artists and designers everywhere: A project rarely feels “done”. Nevertheless, at some point we must declare a project finished and move onto the next step. So after settling on the design, I was ready to move forward.
The blue elephant in the room
As I was getting ready to submit the project, images were released of the Fortnite set 77073 Battle Bus. To be completely honest, it deflated my momentum. I started to wonder if I should abandon the project. After all, the set design was similar to mine, and the timing could give the appearance that I was just recolouring an existing product. I spent some time musing over the situation and came to a few conclusions. One, my overall design dates back to 2016 and there’s often overlap in brick-built designs. Two, I believe that there is still space on the market for a “normal” school bus alongside a really cool flying blue one! So, I moved forward with the submission.
A note about the submission process
When looking at the bus you might ask yourself, where are the passengers? I’m glad you asked. LEGO has iterated on the Ideas submission guidelines since 2016, and they now have a rule about the ratio of piece count to number of figures. This is to avoid “battle pack” submissions. Because of this rule I had to remove all of the kids riding the bus, leaving only the driver and crosswalk guard. If LEGO releases this set, I hope that they can add a few more figures back, otherwise the bus is pretty empty!
An early submission with more passengers included.
Last stop of the day
Overall, I’m happy with how the submission turned out. The bus design was updated, and I was able to achieve the goal of creating two bus styles.
The side builds can be split to make a road in between, or combined to be one continuous grassy area.
Granted, time is running out on this project. But I believe that through the Power of Love (ok, maybe the power of an interlocking brick system?) that this project can get over the next milestone. LEGO Ideas has room for more variety, and hey, maybe we need a Speed Champions school bus?
Regardless of the outcome of the set, I’ve enjoyed the process and challenge of designing something for the LEGO Ideas program, and I can feel good about the effort that I’ve made. Who knows, inspiration may hit and I might have other ideas for the future.
Some of this information is also in a video I made about the project. I haven’t done a lot of video work, so it came with its own challenges, but I’m satisfied with how it turned out.
If this project interests you, it would benefit from your vote. If you’re a Brickset user, I think you know what to do on LEGO Ideas!
Thank you for reading.
119 likes
39 comments on this article
> This is to avoid “battle pack” submissions. Because of this rule I had to remove all of the kids riding the bus, leaving only the driver and crosswalk guard.
It's funny because a "battle pack" of diverse students would be perfect for this set
Looks great save for the fact most full size buses have the rear axle further forward creating the dreaded tail swing one must compensate for whilst turning.
I was also enamored with school buses as a child, and I've always wanted a Lego set of a school bus. Great article! Thanks for sharing!
I was just comparing 77073 and 77073 and thinking should I buy 77073 or not. Nice minifigs (for display), nice bus for city (without all the accessories) and nice balloon
Getting a yellow school bus approved by LEGO was always going to be challenging. It’s very much an icon of North American culture not found elsewhere including Denmark where the Ideas team is based.
If you imagine that LEGO doesn’t have a European outlook, consider the marching band tuba player in the forthcoming Collectible Minifigures Series 29. Carrying a tuba in a marching band is very much more common in Europe. In North America, they’re normally replaced with contrabass bugles or sousaphones.
@Zander said:
"Getting a yellow school bus approved by LEGO was always going to be challenging. It’s very much an icon of North American culture not found elsewhere including Denmark where the Ideas team is based.
If you imagine that LEGO doesn’t have a European outlook, consider the marching band tuba player in the forthcoming Collectible Minifigures Series 29. Carrying a tuba in a marching band is very much more common in Europe. In North America, they’re normally replaced with contrabass bugles or sousaphones."
Lego already made a City set with a yellow school bus 60329
Love the build and the real bus in general. I’d buy one if it was a set.
But just a note too, this bus is also quite common in Ontario, Canada and other provinces I believe.
I think this set looks fantastic, it is very nostalgic for North America. Lego Ideas approved 21347 Red London Telephone Box, and I enjoyed that set even though I have never seen a red telephone box over here.
Didn't we get a Yellow School Bus, a smallish version, with a school set in the city line a few years back?? Xx
@Zander said:
"Getting a yellow school bus approved by LEGO was always going to be challenging. It’s very much an icon of North American culture not found elsewhere including Denmark where the Ideas team is based."
As @PurpleDave has mentioned, yellow school buses are one of those things that some people from other cultures think were made up for Hollywood movies.
@chesney107 said:"Didn't we get a Yellow School Bus, a smallish version, with a school set in the city line a few years back?? Xx"
As @lluisgib mentioned, 60329.
You are all my children now!
@TheOtherMike said:
" @Zander said:
"Getting a yellow school bus approved by LEGO was always going to be challenging. It’s very much an icon of North American culture not found elsewhere including Denmark where the Ideas team is based."
As @PurpleDave has mentioned, yellow school buses are one of those things that some people from other cultures think were made up for Hollywood movies.
@chesney107 said:"Didn't we get a Yellow School Bus, a smallish version, with a school set in the city line a few years back?? Xx"
As @lluisgib mentioned, 60329."
And 70423 for a sci-fi fantasy style one!
I really enjoyed the article describing the building process, and being a fellow designer, it's good to know that we have similar building processes. I almost always start digital, then build in real bricks to test for stability issues. I too started building things for my son when he was little because most of the Lego City sets at the time were more European looking, and my son wanted firetrucks, buses, and police cars that looked like the ones on US streets, so I began building my own just for him. It wasn't too long after that I decided to create a rebrickable account so that others could purchase and build my designs. I designed a school bus too for my son, but took a little bit different approach and made it six wide so that it would fit in with our expanding city on existing city road plates. I think I started designing this in ML Cad, then switched over to Studio when it became more polished.
Well done! This definitely resembles my early childhood! Very iconic to say the least. Really hope it makes it through and becomes a reality!
Whenever I see mention of a US style schoolbus I immediately have to think of Otto from the Simpsons.
:-)
Pity that there's no minifig version of him.
@xboxtravis7992 said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @Zander said:
"Getting a yellow school bus approved by LEGO was always going to be challenging. It’s very much an icon of North American culture not found elsewhere including Denmark where the Ideas team is based."
As @PurpleDave has mentioned, yellow school buses are one of those things that some people from other cultures think were made up for Hollywood movies.
@chesney107 said:"Didn't we get a Yellow School Bus, a smallish version, with a school set in the city line a few years back?? Xx"
As @lluisgib mentioned, 60329."
And 70423 for a sci-fi fantasy style one!"
Or 71460, if you want to lean into sci-fi even more.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @xboxtravis7992 said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @Zander said:
"Getting a yellow school bus approved by LEGO was always going to be challenging. It’s very much an icon of North American culture not found elsewhere including Denmark where the Ideas team is based."
As @PurpleDave has mentioned, yellow school buses are one of those things that some people from other cultures think were made up for Hollywood movies.
@chesney107 said:"Didn't we get a Yellow School Bus, a smallish version, with a school set in the city line a few years back?? Xx"
As @lluisgib mentioned, 60329."
And 70423 for a sci-fi fantasy style one!"
Or 71460, if you want to lean into sci-fi even more."
Or even 77073
This and with South Park minifigs would be a blast. :)
Very nice build! I wish you had left the stop signs on the sides of the bus. But maybe that would be considered a stop sign battle pack?
I'd Buy this add the Joker to it and use Rob Banks in Gotham
See where I'm going with this You Dark Knight fans?
Very nice design - just supported!
I'll pass on everything America related
@DenDeze said:
"I'll pass on everything America related"
More trans fats for the rest of us.
I'll let you know how Avengers: Doomsday goes
@Zander said:
"Getting a yellow school bus approved by LEGO was always going to be challenging. It’s very much an icon of North American culture not found elsewhere including Denmark where the Ideas team is based.
If you imagine that LEGO doesn’t have a European outlook, consider the marching band tuba player in the forthcoming Collectible Minifigures Series 29. Carrying a tuba in a marching band is very much more common in Europe. In North America, they’re normally replaced with contrabass bugles or sousaphones."
I still see tuba players in cartoon marching bands (tbh the only marching bands I’ve ever seen) so I don’t think it’s a big issue. You’ve seen yellow buses in TV shows, right? They can sell.
@TheOtherMike said:
[[ @Zander said:
[[Getting a yellow school bus approved by LEGO was always going to be challenging. It’s very much an icon of North American culture not found elsewhere including Denmark where the Ideas team is based.]]
As @PurpleDave has mentioned, yellow school buses are one of those things that some people from other cultures think were made up for Hollywood movies.
Like carrot cake?
I grew up in France and I only saw carrot cakes in Bugs Bunny cartoons.
I thought they were fake.
Then my family moved to the US and... CARROT CAKES ARE REAL! And delicious!
@Zrath said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @Zander said:
"Getting a yellow school bus approved by LEGO was always going to be challenging. It’s very much an icon of North American culture not found elsewhere including Denmark where the Ideas team is based."
As @PurpleDave has mentioned, yellow school buses are one of those things that some people from other cultures think were made up for Hollywood movies.
Like carrot cake?
I grew up in France and I only saw carrot cakes in Bugs Bunny cartoons.
I thought they were fake.
Then my family moved to the US and... CARROT CAKES ARE REAL! And delicious!"
It's been decades since I had carrot cake, but yeah, they're pretty good."
@chesney10 , @lluisgib , @TheOtherMike If you watch my video (linked in the article) I allude to 60329, 71460, and others. LEGO has made several sets with yellow buses, I just wanted one that looks more like the real thing.
@slvrlksrfr I played around with moving the axle forward and back, and I landed on where it's at now relative to the overall length. The back does not stick out a crazy amount, but more than most other 8-stud-wide LEGO vehicles. I think it looks pretty good in person, but the nice thing about the design is that it's pretty easy to extend should you want a longer bus or if you want to adjust the distance between the axles.
@Talltale Thanks for the info! I did some research to see what countries commonly use yellow school buses, but nothing beats boots on the ground reporting.
@Kevinatllego Exactly! I think a lot of people would enjoy this set, even outside of the regions where these buses are ubiquitous.
@crawlerbot The stop sign is there, just on the left side of the buses.
@Zrath Carrot cake is great!
@Vladtheb said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @xboxtravis7992 said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @Zander said:
"Getting a yellow school bus approved by LEGO was always going to be challenging. It’s very much an icon of North American culture not found elsewhere including Denmark where the Ideas team is based."
As @PurpleDave has mentioned, yellow school buses are one of those things that some people from other cultures think were made up for Hollywood movies.
@chesney107 said:"Didn't we get a Yellow School Bus, a smallish version, with a school set in the city line a few years back?? Xx"
As @lluisgib mentioned, 60329."
And 70423 for a sci-fi fantasy style one!"
Or 71460, if you want to lean into sci-fi even more."
Or even 77073"
None of those are standalone school buses for its own sake. It’s more a case of ‘We need a school bus of some kind. There’s no particular European or international design, so let’s default to the North American one.’ The vast majority of buyers of the sets listed (or their intended recipients) are kids. Kids outside N. America may recognise what a US/Canadian school bus is but they won’t identify with it in the sense of having any affinity from first hand experience. While Ideas sets are generally aimed more at adults, this one looks like it has kid appeal as a play set and therein lies the problem outside North America.
For me one of the defining features of a school bus is the scissor doors. Another is the green or brown bench seats. Duisburg set lacks both.
@Zander said:
"Getting a yellow school bus approved by LEGO was always going to be challenging. It’s very much an icon of North American culture not found elsewhere including Denmark where the Ideas team is based.
If you imagine that LEGO doesn’t have a European outlook, consider the marching band tuba player in the forthcoming Collectible Minifigures Series 29. Carrying a tuba in a marching band is very much more common in Europe. In North America, they’re normally replaced with contrabass bugles or sousaphones."
So we have tubas in North America. Our synphonic band had them, but yes we choose the sousaphone for marching which is the version of the tuba best used for portability and forward sound projection which makes it better suited to marching band.
There are plenty of sets that are European based that have no iconography in US culture, take for instance Tin Tin that just got approved we don't even have the books, the videos on this in the US or the British Telephone booth and yet Lego also produces sets that are US based - take the recent Pan Am plane or the Space Shuttle, and they do things based in other cultures as well like Asia, Africa and Australia. So I wouldn't say it would be a challenge since North America is Lego's largest consumer base in the world.
@gsom7 said:
"I was just comparing 77073 and 77073 and thinking should I buy 77073 or not. Nice minifigs (for display), nice bus for city (without all the accessories) and nice balloon
"
You were comparing what, what, and what?
@megafig:
Growing up, our school busses all had short seatbacks that only came up to my shoulders. Later on, they went for the high seatbacks (probably for added crush protection in a rollover…never mind the lack of seatbelts would mean nobody would actually still be _seated_ when the roof collapses). We had dark-green, reddish-brown, and at least one shade of grey, depending on the specific bus. Maybe dark-blue, too.
@kkoster79:
The US became the largest consumer nation in 1999, with the launch of SW, and probably still is (for now). We aren’t the only market, though, and we aren’t even close to being 50%, I’d think. My gut feeling for Ideas reviews is always that a set needs to appeal to the US to some degree, but it can’t appeal _only_ to the US/Canada. International appeal is still a major factor, since they’re not doing regional exclusives anymore.
@PurpleDave said:
" @megafig:
Growing up, our school busses all had short seatbacks that only came up to my shoulders. Later on, they went for the high seatbacks (probably for added crush protection in a rollover…never mind the lack of seatbelts would mean nobody would actually still be _seated_ when the roof collapses). We had dark-green, reddish-brown, and at least one shade of grey, depending on the specific bus. Maybe dark-blue, too.
@kkoster79:
The US became the largest consumer nation in 1999, with the launch of SW, and probably still is (for now). We aren’t the only market, though, and we aren’t even close to being 50%, I’d think. My gut feeling for Ideas reviews is always that a set needs to appeal to the US to some degree, but it can’t appeal _only_ to the US/Canada. International appeal is still a major factor, since they’re not doing regional exclusives anymore."
I couldn't agree more, but also look at Tin Tin which is an amazing build and I for one still want to buy it and I know the stories since I have European family and know those stories, the same goes for Asterix and Obelix, but honestly that set has no connection to anything in the US and yet still became a set. I know they aren't doing regional exclusives, but I still think there is an appeal to something like a US school bus that shows up in films and is part of Pop Culture, and is iconic enough since in Europe most kids use public transit and don't have their own bus system so there is still relevance to other parts of the world.
Good job, I am supporting it.
@kkoster79 said:
"I couldn't agree more, but also look at Tin Tin which is an amazing build and I for one still want to buy it and I know the stories since I have European family and know those stories, the same goes for Asterix and Obelix, but honestly that set has no connection to anything in the US and yet still became a set. I know they aren't doing regional exclusives, but I still think there is an appeal to something like a US school bus that shows up in films and is part of Pop Culture, and is iconic enough since in Europe most kids use public transit and don't have their own bus system so there is still relevance to other parts of the world. "
Tintin does have some degree of fandom in the US. Spielberg made his film as a passion project. It may not have been a smash hit in the US, but it’s one of only 12 films to have a 3000+ screen release here and actually pick up attendance in its second week. And it did well enough internationally that Peter Jackson is still planning to do a sequel. In contrast, I keep seeing Asterix and Obelisk name dropped here, but I very much doubt that would have much appeal in the NA market, so I see that as a lot less likely to happen unless the Tintin rocket does phenomenally in sales.
And going forward, there may well come a point where success in the Chinese market becomes another critical consideration, on par with, or potentially even more than it currently is with the US market.
@megafig I definitely wanted to capture the tall-backed benches and that's why I use a taller piece rather than standard minifig seats. I started with light gray which match the color of some real bus seats, but switched to Sand Blue which contrasts nicely with Flame Yellowish Orange.
@xboxtravis7992 said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @Zander said:
"Getting a yellow school bus approved by LEGO was always going to be challenging. It’s very much an icon of North American culture not found elsewhere including Denmark where the Ideas team is based."
As @PurpleDave has mentioned, yellow school buses are one of those things that some people from other cultures think were made up for Hollywood movies.
@chesney107 said:"Didn't we get a Yellow School Bus, a smallish version, with a school set in the city line a few years back?? Xx"
As @lluisgib mentioned, 60329."
And 70423 for a sci-fi fantasy style one!"
70423 was an amazing set on so many levels. The build is satisfying, the Minifigures have detailed printing, the model is very solid, and the set has great play features.
It's also worth pointing out that 70423 used an ochre color, unlike the more common yellow used in the prototype Ideas submission and 60329.
Thank you all for the great feedback! If you are reading this in the future (I guess that will always be the case), please search Lego Ideas for the Classic School Bus. I plan to re-launch the project and would love your support.
@BrickAnomie My project uses the Flame Yellowish Orange color just like 70423 does. It’s a much better match to the actual school bus color in real life. I cover that in my YouTube video too (linked in the article).