Evening all!

This is a long shot in the dark..

Has anyone any photographs of the o/s illuminated advert (RM/RML) without the plastic panels in place?

Ok so here is shot number 2. Has anyone the actual aluminium panels, ive got the plastic boards but the bus is missing the rest of it!!!

Please let me know

cheers

Andy

My bus number (if any): too many

Hi Andy Sending you some photos of RMs and RMLs without adverts in place, ie clear panels. Hope this is of use.
At least one RM is preserved with illuminated advert and that is Tim Barrington's RM 2097

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RMC 1458 RM 1585, (M 961, M 271 - both sold) and several RTs

ISTR one of the RMs I broke up at Mitcham had bits of the illuminated advert panels, but they probably ended up in the skip when the firm shut down. Can't remember the number of it, but a film company hacked it to bits to get a boom camera halfway along the top deck! I think I bought it from Mike Clark of Memory Lane.

My bus number (if any): RML2532

Those illuminated adverts were a bit before their time. A very clever idea.

But the technology available was not quite there. The type of fluorescent lighting required weatherproof tolerances and put a huge loading on the electrical output available.
The end result was not too good as the perspex used was not very good at diffusing light and the tubes were badly positioned with no reflectors. It was also hard to remove and replace the panels so dirt ingress soon reduced the impact further.

However, the technology exists and is cheap enough to overcome all the original issues.
LED lighting strips can produce an abundance of even spread light and minimal current draw and disposes of the need for all the ballast and voltage regulation equipment that caused so much trouble.

Even the actual panels can be produced in light diffusing lightweight polycarbonate and polymer materials in one length although 2 sections might be more practical.

So the practical applications for the advert units are better now than they were at the time. The desired and intended result which disappointed at the time can now be achieved as envisaged.

As for the outer panels, we had some made up for an RM that was exported about 23 years ago. Copied from LT drawings that someone had and from on LT spare panel.

They were refabricated by PAG in Trumpers Way Hanwell W7. The rubber seals came from C O H Baines in Kent