Lee Chambers Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 (edited) The Honda CX500 Turbo was the world's first mass production turbocharged motorcycle and the world's first electronic fuel injected bike to be put into mass production. It was superseded in the first year of production by the CX650 Turbo, this only stayed in production for a further 12 months. It was the era of corporate flexing of technological muscles in an effort to outsell their competitors. All of the Japanese bike manufacturers dabbled in turbo technology but it was ultimately a dead end but it made good marketing. Continuing with the build on this bike, I decided that this kit was showing its age, the plated parts looked dated, I stripped the cylinder heads, rear swing arm, clutch cover and oil filter housing with Oven Pride cleaning gel. I primed them with Mr Surfacer 1000 grey primer, I then sprayed them with Vallejo Duraluminium and Vallejo Chrome that worked more like aluminium. The frame and other black parts I painted with automotive base coat black acrylic. Then I used a 2K clear coat for gloss finishes and a 2K matt for satin finishes, like on the engine parts etc. Edited August 17, 2017 by Lee Chambers 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arni Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Ahh a turbo maggot! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morty_3333 Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 Hi Lee! Built one of these about 12 years ago,You're in for a treat! Will follow along,and try to dig out some pics! Keep Sticking! Cheers, Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morty_3333 Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 (edited) Hi Lee! Found some pics! (Excuse the dust,removed when completed),this is the one I built about 12 years ago:- Cheers! Pete Edited July 30, 2016 by morty_3333 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Delta 210 Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 Wow! Incredible work so far. I look forward to seeing the next instalment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Chambers Posted July 30, 2016 Author Share Posted July 30, 2016 Hi Lee! Built one of these about 12 years ago,You're in for a treat! Will follow along,and try to dig out some pics! Keep Sticking! Cheers, Pete Hi Pete,many thanks for the pics,they will come in very useful,cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Chambers Posted July 30, 2016 Author Share Posted July 30, 2016 Wow! Incredible work so far. I look forward to seeing the next instalment. Sorry Alpha,these are Pete,s picks not mine!,I haven,t touched my kit yet,i hope to start it next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Brown Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 Ahh a turbo maggot! Beat me to it! Looking forward to this one. Btw, I rode a none turbo back in the eighties, gawd, it was horrid! Rick. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cameraman Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 Beat me to it! Looking forward to this one. Btw, I rode a none turbo back in the eighties, gawd, it was horrid! Rick. Hi Rick, totally agree with you, I rode one once and it was an experience not to repeat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Chambers Posted July 30, 2016 Author Share Posted July 30, 2016 Beat me to it! Looking forward to this one. Btw, I rode a none turbo back in the eighties, gawd, it was horrid! Rick. I have never rode the Turbo version,but i rode the CX650 Eurosport,it was not my cup of tea,i sold it and bought a Yamaha FJ1200,that was a great bike. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vontrips Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 (edited) Look forward to the Maggot Plastique build! I'm tempted to start on its little brother; the Honda Dax! ;-) Edited July 30, 2016 by vontrips 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cameraman Posted July 31, 2016 Share Posted July 31, 2016 Look forward to the Maggot Plastique build! I'm tempted to start on its little brother; the Honda Dax! ;-) Hi Vontrips, the Dax is a cracking machine, go on, you know you want too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Chambers Posted August 10, 2016 Author Share Posted August 10, 2016 (edited) Hi guys, I've updated my first post with the second part of my work in progress build. Edited August 17, 2017 by Lee Chambers 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arni Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 That looks fantastic,heard that if a CX was fitted with engine crash bars (naturally to protect the engine!) and if the bike took a tumble then the bars could write the frame off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Chambers Posted August 10, 2016 Author Share Posted August 10, 2016 That looks fantastic,heard that if a CX was fitted with engine crash bars (naturally to protect the engine!) and if the bike took a tumble then the bars could write the frame off! Don.t know about that happening on a CX,but my mates BMW R1200RT 2005 model,had his engine casing wrote off by a engine protection bar sliding at low speed into a curb! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vontrips Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 The finish you're getting with those Vallejo metallics is stunning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Chambers Posted August 12, 2016 Author Share Posted August 12, 2016 (edited) Hi guys, I managed to get a few more hours in on the Honda bike build. My target was to get the engine in the frame by the end of this week. I had to mask up the hubs on the wheels and spray them the same colour as the disc inner which was the Vallejo gold metallic. I was very happy with the finish from the Vallejo Duraluminium which gave a cast metal effect on the swing arm and shaft drive unit. By following the excellent Tamiya instructions, I figured out how to fit the rear shock unit into the frame and assemble the rear brake master cylinder which had to be attached to the right hand inner frame. This had to be done before the rear wheel could be fitted. I decided that the rear inner mudguard would be left unpainted as it was supposed to be a satin black finish and the moulding was already in that colour which matched the real bike plastic. Also I found the top of the battery housing, the expansion bottle cap and the rear brake master cylinder fluid housing cap together with the radiator fan shroud and fan unit were all correct scale finish straight off the sprue gate. The engine went into the frame fairly straightforward by simply offering it up to the frame. Everything lined up with the engine mounts, a 2mm threaded pin is provided as the bottom engine mount bolt. Once this was in place the whole engine swings up into the frame and a touch of glue on the top mounts secures the engine into the frame. It's just simply a matter of making sure that the shaft drive output rubber bellow fits snugly onto the shaft drive tunnel. I have to build the turbocharger next and plumb it in with the exhaust system and then I will give you an update sometime next week. Edited August 17, 2017 by Lee Chambers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arni Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 Love that rear disc,it has medium wear on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpnuts Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 Great job so far, I had the bog standard cx and a mate of mine had the turbo, he let me have a go, two completely different animals, these Tamiya bike kits are truly amaking, I've built a few and the fit and detail is nothing short of awesome.look forward to the next update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndersP Posted August 14, 2016 Share Posted August 14, 2016 Very, very smart. I love how that despite being a 500cc bike AND fitted with a turbo, the speedo still shows 80mph as the highest whole number on the brochure shot. How things have changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billydick Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 A nice intricate build coming together here. Adventurous engineering from Honda - sadly not so much these days..... BillyD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Chambers Posted August 16, 2016 Author Share Posted August 16, 2016 Your correct about less adventurous engineering,remember the oval piston NR750,RC30,and Suzuki,s RE5 Wankel rotary effort,sadly these days they are all strangled by emission,safety laws,and crap in the fuel,today,s bikes are more like Dyson cleaners than bikes,and then there,s cars.......!!LOL. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Chambers Posted August 17, 2016 Author Share Posted August 17, 2016 (edited) Hi all, I've been busy putting the turbo and exhaust manifolds together for the Honda. I decided to strip the silver plating from the parts and then glue the components together and I then cleaned up the seam lines. I could see that getting everything to line up was going to be a tricky job, so I test fitted all the parts, then tacked them in place with Tamiya extra thin, then I added a little cyno glue to the centre manifold and the header pipes, this would guarantee the parts would all fit once they were painted, once primed I black base coated the parts including the top fairing frame and air chamber, then I Alclad chromed the turbo, shaded some clear red and blue followed by some vallejo jet exhaust metallic. Finally a satin clear coat was added to all the parts. Edited August 17, 2017 by Lee Chambers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Chambers Posted August 17, 2016 Author Share Posted August 17, 2016 (edited) Hi all, this is the second part of the turbo build. I got the turbo fitted to the Honda engine with the radiator and outlet exhaust pipe. For the next part, I will be prepping and painting the bodywork. Edited August 17, 2017 by Lee Chambers 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Chambers Posted August 17, 2016 Author Share Posted August 17, 2016 (edited) I thought I would test fit the bodywork, you can see how huge this bike is next to my recently built 1/12 Kawasaki Z1. Edited August 17, 2017 by Lee Chambers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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