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The Big Red Lo


krow113

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Very well then. With the Hillclimber done its time for an easy one.

This is of course Tamiyas latest (yawn) 1/6 offering ,Harley - Davidson's Fat Boy Lo .

The hardest parts of this kit are the re-creating of the cnc machined edge of the cylinder and head castings. and the painting of the wheel centers. The rest looks dead easy as long as you have a light touch with the wrench's and screwdriver provided. Of course painting skills will be on point as well as there is a lot of 'sheet metal' to color.

 Mine will be what we would call a: 'very mildly customized stocker.' I will follow color call outs for the most part , for the main parts , and throw some chrome and color onto parts that would be normally black, as if there aint enough of it already.

 FBlo's of the year depicted  came in one color (orange) and 2 shades of black , gloss and flat. I got an orange model already , so changing up  I am going with either blue or red , either to be candy over a silver base. Fb's nver had much for extra artwork , usually just a base color and  some diff  color splash's here and there and proprietary enameled tank badges.

 We'll try the 'hero' method on the finning , no masks , spray one way , then the other, you'll see. Also a set of masks will be developed for the wheel masking although it looks to be a hand -bomb job , masks perhaps adding to the work.

 So some pics:

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Three bags full , one for flat black , one for gloss black and chrome , and the color bag:

IMG_1009.jpg

 

Been perusing the instructions for a few years now, assy is much like a real bike , after paint I forsee an enjoyable bit of work.

 

 

Edited by krow113
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I've the same  kit in my stash, I'll follow your build with great consideration...

 

Have you planned to enhance you model with Tamiya aftermarket photo-etched parts, like this:Brake disks, logos and exhaust mufflers ?

 

71fovFIgEAL._SL1160_.jpg

Edited by CrazyCrank
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Ya! You do that!

 Parts were cut off the sprue well away from the parts themselves.

The plastic seems a little soft and fractures a little if cut too close to the part .

Then a rounded (#10 ?) blade was used to shear off the remaining sprue peg. 

Then 400 grit on a plastic backing was used to sand off the remaining sprue peg nub. This grit allows smoothing to the primer stage.Even better if you do it wet.

All of the parts were then set into very hot water baths with dish soap to soak overnight Madge.

IMG_1024.jpg

 

This is the colors , the gloss black & chrome , and the flat black parts. The remaining parts to be painted are the semi-gloss black parts. They will be prepared next.

After the soak some of the parts can be assembled to a certain degree and then all will be mounted on toothpicks and some miniature body work mounts will have to be made as well. Like to move through this as quickly and smoothly as possible , not being my fav part. These steps do allow a familiarization with the parts to happen , something guys need building subjects they aren't familiar with. I spent 4-5 hours today and 1-3 hours earlier this week , I'll try to keep a timeline going to show how long it can take to assemble one of these baby's.

Edited by krow113
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5 hours ago, vontrips said:

Looking forward to this! From previous builds that I've seen I can tell it's a well engineered kit. For me, it's a shame Tamiya didn't choose a more aesthetic bike...imagine a well kitted 1/6th Indian Chief! ;-)

 

Or an HD Low Rider S  2016 edition....

But, you know, if our friend Krow113 paint its Fatboy with Orange Candy, it will be fantastic too, and much more aesthetic like !

 

Edited by CrazyCrank
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Made a start on this myself ... tentatively ... all those little nuts and bolts are a bit off putting ! :huh:  Going to follow your build with interest Krow .

 

BillyD

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vtrips , CC , Bdick , Thanks for lookin' !

 

 Candy IS dandy ...I miss her!

 

Rinsing the parts , checking again , and assembling some of the pieces took 4 hours.

 

 The Big Lo moves on , subassemblies emerging:

IMG_1025.jpg

 

 

 The plastic is soft so keep your glues and tools secured , situational bench awareness is mandatory with large subassemblies taking space.

  Billydick here are some tips on the small hardware :

 -Keep some small ziplock baggies handy, when a package of screws is opened , immediatly inventory and familiarize yourself with the contents , transferring to the baggie after.

 -Screw description and tool i.d. is on page 6 of the instructions , 12 diff screws , 3 diff tools. Also on that page is a description of test holes on sprue A for accustoming yourself with the screws and how they are installed. Screws and all other metal hardware is described on page 31 of the instructions.

Also as a final check, the drawings of the hardware in each step of the instructions , are to 1-1 scale so you can lay the hardware on the drawing to see if its right. I find that the supplied screw driver is magnetic as well, allowing hardware selection to be easier, pick it up and align it on the tool,then install.

 A good tip for hardware install would be as follows: Turn the screw or nut 2-3 turns OPPOSITE  to the thread, this will automatically align the screw or nut onto/into the threads. One of the oldest if not the original mechanics tip for thread starting.

6 more hours today.

Edited by krow113
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Harley's fabrication practise' have changed little over the years. Frames are still made with cast steel parts , connected with tubing straight pieces and pre bent. My '06 Street Rod's frame is made a really cool and different way , but we'll wait for the 1/6 kit of that before we get into it.....

The parts are mig welded with lots of extra wire for good measure, unfortunatly this butt-joint and sleeve method is butt-ugly to customizers. Almost since day one of the Softail lines debut , customizers wert pulling off the swingarm for weld smoothing and cleanup. we'll do the basic cleanup for this mild custom, here are the parts one done the other not:

IMG_1052.jpg

 

The rings at the top and bottom of the swingarm tubes represents the weld on real bikes, this can be smoothed down without too much trouble and cleans the tubes up nicely. The transition from cast-tubing can be really smoothed out as well:

IMG_1062.jpg

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You can see the smoothing work done on the ugly rear brake caliper mounting bracket as well , this needs to be done to remove the sharp corners and excess material that aint doing anything any way:

IMG_1046.jpg

IMG_1056.jpg

 

Looks like the inside of the axle plates will need some attention as well , removing the ejection pin marks.

IMG_1057.jpg

Edited by krow113
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Delayer , ELAndy - Thanks for your interest and comments.

 I did some work on the frame as well, gaining some build-start momentum , we all know how long that lasts.....!

 The frame is well designed and constructed , having a first glueing point around the top and neck area. Did this and installed the first screws , care must be taken with this screw operation, as one of them did not bite at all , the other two tightened up , but I had to be very careful and use the lightest pressure on the driver. Be aware!

The back screw is the one that concerned me:

IMG_1041.jpg

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There is also a seam line on the frame parts , as well as the swingarm parts, this will need to be removed for the best outcome. The seam is accompanied by a few EP marks here and there , these are all easily removed with the 400 grit sandpaaper , I used a Flex-i-file as well on the tubes :

Before:IMG_1034.jpg

 

After:IMG_1033.jpg

 

Glued ,screwed and clamped:

IMG_1040.jpg

Edited by krow113
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Getting on with it the frame gets its 4 last parts installed. The plastic is soft , responding well to the DB method , you can see a little plastic squezzed out of the joins:

IMG_1069.jpg

IMG_1070.jpg

 

 

And one of my least used tools , Berna clamps , gets used:

IMG_1068.jpg

IMG_1065.jpg

 

Edited by krow113
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No worries Billydick.

 

 Keep watching for more thrilling installments , so many chills and spills in the modelling forum community , its tough to comprehend them all.

 

Pbucket is unworkable today , too many peeps uploading 7000 pics of the snot running down their bratty kids face , hey yeah! ,  I need to see a few thousand more !

 

That comment was prompted by an idiot bragging about having 7000 pics in his library and wondering why it took so long to upload even more.

 

One thing social media will be known for in the coming decades was that it revealed  the vanity , greed , stupidity and outright vehemence and vindictiveness of the prosecutorial nature of human beings - and thats just on model forums Hiyooooo!!!!!!!!!

 

Raining pretty good here , model show tomorrow , sounds like a good day to keep going on the Lo.

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Model show attended and a trip to the LHS uncovered the paint for this piece:

IMG_1073.jpg

 

Everyone loves red bike , right?

So red over silver flake will be real nice.

Edited by krow113
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Swingarm work today, and I didn't like the single bolt head here on the rear wheel adjusters.

There is a locknut sposda be there too , or the adjuster bolts would be free to roam the range.

EP marks removed as well :

IMG_1081.jpg

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There is a seam line around the entire perimeter of these parts. Watch for it inside the axle slots and on all the little belt guard brackets and the adjuster bolts-- if you keep them , and beside the adjuster bolt tube through the axle plate.The bolt end visible in the lower right was removed as well, the EP  marks removed and the bracket drilled for new hardware. I didn't think I would be using a lot of A/M hardware , but it has started already!

Edited by krow113
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Engine assy begins as well. I used one of the cylinder plates to keep the top of the cylinder studs in line. I recommend thicker glue for this procedure , as the extra thin wicks its way all over the parts:

IMG_1084.jpg

IMG_1086.jpg

 

Edited by krow113
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BillyD thanks it is going well...

 Sub-sub-assy's aising:

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And I have noticed that much of the molded on bolts etc are devoid of proper detail , being round rod to replicate hex bolts , torx bolts and allen heads, this will be gone as much as possible. Another big order for RB Motion.

Plus 4 hours.

Edited by krow113
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Ice cream trucks and little girls bicycles have reflectors on them , not custom Harleys!

 So the reflectors on the rear fender struts are binned and the recessed slots for them will be filled, the front fork legs have some bumps to mount the reflectors there , they were removed , no biggie as the legs have a prominent seam line front and back as well. These parts will go into the 'to be chromed ' pile.

Parts before:

IMG_1116.jpg

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Edited by krow113
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Reflector recess filled and fork legs sanded smooth:

IMG_1123.jpg

 

IMG_1122.jpg

 

Todays sub-assy the rear shocks:

IMG_1125.jpg

 

 

 Care must be taken as it is easy to glue the shocks solid , I think I did this on one of them , no biggie as I am not a fan of working suspension on m/c models ,it only works to break other parts as they 'work'.

 

Edited by krow113
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