Bengalensis Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 I discovered that there was a part missing in the kit, a part that Revell actually never made, despite making location points (albeit skewed) for it and having it hinted in some instruction drawings. There should be a crossmember in the middle of the frame, also acting as upper rear engine mount. It will probably not be seen much, but after looking at pictures of real bikes undergoing restoration I decided to scratch it and give it proper locating points. I have to leave it separate until final assembly to get the engine in. If you look close you can also see I've cut the frame apart at the right rearmost corner. I actually had to lengthen that part about 1 mm to make everything square and even... ok, the kit is about 42 years old, ©1971 it says. The finished exhaust system. These are the parts that required most sanding in the whole kit. I drew up the base for my registration plate decal so I could cut a piece of thin plastic to correct size. With this done I have to think seriously about starting the paint work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krow113 Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 All this neat work........sure ya dont want to respoke the wheels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 No, I'm not sure I wount respoke... The wheels are certainly the week point right now. Not just yet sure how week, might need to paint them up to find out. 10 years ago I would already have respoked them with joy and be done. 3-4 years ago I may have started but found it not that fun in the middle of it, may or may not be finished. Today I'm not sure. But it has been much more fun working on a bike model than I expected, so we'll see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krow113 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 ....you'll be way happier with the finished model if you do ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 Yesterday everything got it's first coat of paint sprayed. Not sure how I will tackle the main blue colour yet. It's not a solid blue nor some grainy metallic blue. I have seen it referred to as "blue candy" and it may be something like that over a silver base. I'm thinking of trying some Alclad aluminium shade and a clear blue on top. I will spray some scrap body or something to see. I have the kit decals taped to window to see if the yellowing will be reduced enough for them to be used. This works sometimes and sometimes not. Needs more sun than today though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Hi Jorgen. Apparently the model car guys use plastic coffee spoons to try out their paints, bit of contour and easy to apply. I think your idea of Alclad silver with clear blue is the best route for the candy, should look great. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 Yes I forgot about the spoon, it's a good surface to judge paint on. I sprayed a scrap door, it's Alclad "highly polished aluminium" directly on grey primer and then a couple coats of simple Tamiya clear blue. It has a deeper brighter shine from the base coat than this picture show and I was surprised how much it looked like I want it to. This is what I will use. Paint work is going slowly forward. Soon it's just detail painting with brush left and some foiling. Need to print a white Kawasaki decal for the back of the seat. The wheels of course have their limitations, but I will not give up before some more work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krow113 Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 Mixing a little Future in the Tamiya Blue (half/half) is a good way to create more depth. Moving along nicely here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted February 24, 2013 Author Share Posted February 24, 2013 I just don't know what I would do without my Alps/OKI MD5000... The "blue candy" is done. I'm very happy with the result, which the photo sadly doesn't show too well. Now I have to wait a little to see how the decals will become. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 Working with photos of the real gauges as base I came up with these decals after some work. The photo isn't the best perhaps. A good clear coat should finish them of quite well. Engine starting to come together. I made three 90° spark plug caps for the ignition wires and then the wiring loom itself. This is as far as the engine could be assembled before it had to go into the assembled frame. So the engine went into the frame as was fully assembled. With ignition wiring, fuel hoses and an oil hose connected this is what it looks. So far everything fits as intended. I'm quite excited... We have had a few sunny days now, and the decals in the window have responded fantastically well. They were really badly yellowed, but now they look as good as I could possibly hope for. I have taken a high resolution scan of the sheet with a ruler beside, in case I will have to draw new ones despite the good result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Most impressive Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 Thanks, encouraging words to hear from a previous owner and rider. The rear suspension installed. That was a bit fiddly. Everything fits with a bit of wobble and not necessarily perfectly lined up... So it required a fair bit of tweaking, distance piece insertion and binding with thread to make everything sit straight and lined up while the glue dried for a while. Luckily it worked and nothing sprung back when everything was released. The handle on top of the left shock absorber is moulded in one piece with the shock, but at the wrong angle. It's like Revell made the shocks to sit much more straight down to a lower location point where they also do fit, but which is wrong. I totally missed that in my dry fitting, stupidly, as that is precisely why I do a lot of dry building... Now the handle is slightly bent. I will wait a little and see if I may cut it off from the shock to rectify, or possibly make a new. The front fork was also a bit vague in parts fit, but it was easy enough to line everything up. The old decals worked perfectly! I cut them close to get rid of the excessive carrier film and just put them on. They behaved just like any modern quality decal, much to my surprise I must say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 Now it's getting a bit busy around the engine. Cables for clutch, throttles and tacho installed. I had missed to create a location point for the clutch cable, but luckily I could put it in place and glue it anyway. The tacho cable has a spring-like protective cover around the bottom of it, so I winded some thin wire to create that. And finally the front fork mated to the frame. Now it really starts to look like something. And here is possibly another problem showing... I think the stand may be too high? There is about 4,5 mm between the ground and rear wheel, or 6 mm at the front, whichever wheel one puts on the ground, equaling +5 or +7 cm in real life. It looks to me though as no wheel is much off the ground at all when the various reference bikes I have on photos are parked on the central stand? But then again, 5-7 cm is perhaps not much in real life? What do you think? And should it weigh down at the rear or the front? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Looking good Jorgen, I like the candy blue, I've tried that method on forks for the gold sliders as you say gives a good effect. I think the spokes do look a little overscale biut now you have the tire on the rear wheel I think it all looks good. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 As I have been working on the bike I have come to the conclusion that the model must have a base of some sort. I think models usually benefit a lot from a good base, but I never really enjoy building bases much. Unfortunate fact, but I don't know how to change that. Anyway, I drew up an ellipse for a test and it seemed suitable, so I cut a piece of plastic with some simple surface on it. I will paint the edge black and possibly add a little more life to the surface. Still not sure what to do with the stand... I made the two brake cables with rubber boots at the ends. They are simple, but at least they look like something. I also realised that it was a dumb idea to have the clutch cable black. The reference bike I saw that on have of course had a newer replacement cable fitted. So of it came again to be repainted grey before being reattached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 The centre stand does look a bit high, the back wheel was just off the ground enough to take out the back wheel, probably 1 -2 inches if that. Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringbag Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Hi Jorgen. This is looking very good indeed. PM inbound. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 Thanks Dennis, that is exactly the information I need. When I measure and scale I have about 2-2½ inches at the back wheel, but I think it looks way too high on the model. I will now cut and remake, looking for max 1 scale inch to make the model appear more right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 What a relief, with the stand lowered to about a scale 20 mm clearance at the rear the model look so much better I think. Now I can continue fitting parts around that area. I made a thinner oil level tube and fitted it to the tank. Then I "filled" it with some oil. There are ups and downs... this looks a bit nasty, why is the front fender in this state then? Well, it turned out that Revell ensured that the front fender could only be mounted in one direction. Unfortunately they chose the wrong direction... The overhang from the struts should be longer at the back than the front, not the other way around. Then it should be about twice the difference to what Revell actually did. So, after some consideration the fender had to come off again to be cut off in the front and elongated at the rear. It has been going quite well. After two coats of gloss black enamel yesterday, with sanding between them to remove that last trace of the rework, the Alclad chrome was sprayed this morning. Now I just have to wrestle it in place again, which will be tricky. Wish me luck. I want to thank Chris/"stringbag" for being sharp eyed enough to spot this (myself I had totally missed it) and for sending me the question about it before it was definitely far too late to fix. With this little mishap I had to install some more parts to keep the spirit up, which will of course make it more risky to mess with refitting the front fender, but I just had to see it with the blue side covers and the exhaust fitted. I've said it before, but the three-pipe look is so nice, just love it. "There is so much power here now that we hardly know how to fit it!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringbag Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Hi Jorgen. Thinking about this further, the fender represented in the kit may have been based on the American style which wasn't available in Europe at the time although it may be seen on restored machines imported from America. Either way, the kit instructions show it fitted back to front. I'm glad you were able to sort it without too much difficulty. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 This really is a thing of beauty. So much attention to detail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Jogen. A simple way I used to use to represent tarmac when modelmaking for a living was to get an aerosol can of Matt Black and lay down a ggod coat, then whilst it is still tacky from a distance (600mm) with a can of Cream short busts to splatter some drops/mist onto the black and then with a can of grey (usually primer) do the same as the cream. If it's too brigth/light a couple of dustings with the black. i've also used Tamiya Hull Red or Red Oxide Primer to good effect. Another method is a sheet of wet and dry sanding abrasive paper, cut to the desired shape and stuck down with 'Photomount' aerosol. Another method and slightly more involved is road grit from the gutter outside you house. Sweep it onto a dust pan and allow it to dry for a couple of days. On the base of choice, paint some clear varnish (not too thick) and then whilst still wet scatter the road grit onto the varnish and leave overnight. Next day tip up the base to dislodge the unstuck grit. Result one dusty road base. You can if you wish coat it with clear fixative. Happy base making. If anyone wants pics of the process above, let me know. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 Thanks for encouragement and tips Colin. I actually often use sanding paper, sometimes I paint it and sometimes I cheat by doing nothing to it... I used a greyish sanding paper here as well, and I'm doing a little bit more paint and dripping and a little other detail to add som life. I will have to develop myself in this area though, as a good base really lifts many models, without making a full blown diorama. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 Some friends are good to have. I have two that are really good. They send me small letters with tools, parts or materials when I'm in need . So, first I got a bunch of photo etched saws in the mailbox. With one of them it was an easy job to saw off that bent handle from the shock absorber and straighten it. With minimal touch up everything looked fine. Well, at least regarding the handle. Another detail in this region became increasingly horrible looking the more we thought of it... At last the modified front fender was put back in place. It was a little tricky but worked out without any damage. The tank and seat were also put in place. Now, if you look close you can see a new front tire installed as well... And here is the big difference, a new rear tire. The verdict fell hard on the tires, especially the coarse patterned cross/trial looking rear tire. And that was a far harder verdict than on the kits spokes. Suddenly however, in the middle of all ongoing modifications, this other friend had sent two new sets of much better tires to my mailbox, that he said would be far more suitable and period looking. There was no way out of this. The best pair of them were the closest in dimension, but wouldn't fit straight on. They are of Tamiya origin and so have a notch in them that go over a bead on the rims. I could press and glue this notch shut and so make the tires a little narrower against the rim, which made them a very good fit. Then I had to "shorten" the rear tire about 3 mm. With all this done things looked much better, and I'm happy I did it. Looking at it now I'm surprised the old rear tire survived this far. But now the line had to be drawn, while it is still fun to build this thing. There are only a few parts left to fit and I'm not going to take more steps back to rework things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringbag Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 That really is looking good Jorgen. I like the finish you have achieved on the crank case as it represents very well the alloy finish of the original. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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