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Mayumi miniatures built for bus enthusiasts
Arthur Yunoe Winarko
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Arthur Yunoe Winarko. JP/Suherdjoko
An executive-class bus was being constructed. Its body was already painted, but its rooftop air conditioner, side-view mirrors and six tires weren't fixed yet. 'One bus can be finished in two weeks,' said Arthur Yunoe Winarko, 34, at his Mayumi coach workshop in Semarang.
Why so fast? The vehicles Arthur builds at his 'assembly plant' on Jl. Dr. Wahidin 88, Semarang, Central Java, are miniatures. Over a dozen minibus chassis are neatly arranged on the plywood walls of the coach workshop, Karoseri Mayumi, which resembles a cigarette seller's kiosk.
Despite its small size of only 2.5 square meters, the workshop houses all the devices and raw materials needed for the construction of bus replicas.
'I started making miniature buses in 2009 after joining Central Java's Bismania [bus enthusiast community], whose members need various accessories from T-shirts and stickers to miniature buses to complete their paraphernalia,' said Arthur.
He found the learning curve was steep. 'It's simple in theory but hard to carry out. Furthermore, I wanted to retain some details of the bus interior, such as the driver, passenger seats, lamps to illuminate and even window curtains,' he said.
After graduating from a Semarang technical school, Arthur had a stint as a layout man at the Banjarmasin Post in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. 'Working for a month there, I was offered the same job with Suara Merdeka in Semarang, so I chose to return to Semarang.'
At his workshop one can find the names of buses currently plying various routes in Central Java, like Patas Ramayana, Nusantara (Yogyakarta'Semarang'Kudus), Kramat Djati, Subur Jaya, Hiba Utama, Putra Remaja and Safari Dharma Raya.
All the buses have their bodywork assembled by the Adi Putra coach building company. Why does Arthur only pick this brand? 'Its model remains unchanged. In practice, when the body of an Adi Putra-built bus is damaged after a collision, it's just removed and replaced. It's unlike those produced by other coach builders with their changing models. So I've chosen the brand,' he said.
For the front and rear parts of the bus body, its air conditioner and seats, Arthur has made molds for fiber casting. 'Master molds should be perfectly designed to produce good casts,' he said. For bus tires, he prints them with the brand name 'Mayumi'. 'That's the name of my 9-year-old daughter, Mayumi Anindita Yurinomi,' he said with a broad smile.
Arthur has been a bus lover since childhood, which is reasonable as his father used to be a bus driver for DAMRI (the state-owned land-transportation company) in Semarang. His father, Isbiyanto, is now retired and helps Arthur build miniatures. 'My father fixes tie rods, springs and trunks, besides making vans for transporting goods, which have no seats and panes,' he said.
Mayumi's miniature bus bodywork stands on the scale of 1:20, which is fairly big. Each miniature is priced at Rp 2.5 million (US$215.80). 'I receive orders totaling only 40 buses at a time, and only handle more orders after finishing the ones I'm doing first,' said Arthur.
Resembling real buses, Mayumi's replicas can also have their front tires turned left and right and their lamps switched on. 'The first buyer was Azis, a middle-aged Indonesian man now residing in Singapore. At the time he bought a miniature bus for Rp 400,000,' Arthur said.
According to Ma'rif Zhafran, a miniature bus lover affiliated with Small is Sexy, a social network on the Internet, at present there are around 30 mini bus craftspeople.'Most of them are in Java, including Malang, Bandung and Semarang, with some in Makassar [South Sulawesi]. Their replicas are on varying scales from 1:14, 1:20, 1:35, 1:50 to the smallest level of 1:87 built from metal, with prices depending on quality,' said the Semarang University student.
Miniature bus prices range from Rp 500,000 to Rp 5 million. A member of Bismania from Salatiga, Central Java, has bought a 1:14 replica at Rp 5 million. 'Bismania members often bring their mini buses to gatherings, where they make quality comparisons and have transactions, thus resulting in price formation,' noted Zhafran.
Such gatherings also become a forum for used miniature bus transactions as well as placing orders for spare parts. Arthur also sells his Mayumi tires. 'A set of six tires with hubcaps costs Rp 270,000, tires alone are only Rp 170,000. A side mirror costs Rp 10,000,' he said.
The miniature bus business under Karoseri Mayumi keeps running. Arthur produces his buses during daytime. In the evening, he remains engaged as the local newspaper's layout man.
