Ian T

Thanks @slippers, yes it is a bit of a beast isn’t it!! I generally keep up to date with the bikes in the MotoGP worlds, but since I stopped riding (many years ago) I’ve stopped keeping up with roads bikes. This one must be a) great to ride and b) as scary as hell ……. 🏍🏍🏍

Excellent build @slippers, great work, great finish, great bike and a great rider!!

Thanks @Andy J, yes I’m pleased with the build, the first one that I’m truly happy with.

Thanks @Stef N. I appreciate your comments. Yes there were a few issues, but if they were easy you wouldn’t get the same sense of achievement would you? Looking back now I wish I’d “aged” the posters a bit, a few tears or something, but the scenery is a work in progress, the walls look a bit too clean. Thanks once again.

I’m happy to call this build complete and I’m really quite happy with it. I’ve noticed a couple of things on the attached photos that are a bit “iffy” but that’s life. As usual the Tamiya quality was superb and the fit spot on. I hope that you enjoy the photos and any comments are welcome.

Thanks @Clogged, this is probably the first kit that I’ve I’ve built recently that I’m pleased with overall. Previous kits have been steps along the way, but as usual, there’s still more to learn and refine.

The Kawasaki Ninja H2 Carbon is now a Kawasaki Ninja H2 (without the Carbon) and the Ninja was nearly a Nina ……. I’ve had no end of problems with the fairing, the instructions called for the fairing to be painted in gloss black on the outside and semi-gloss black on the inside. This went OK and I was pleased with the result, so next up was the carbon fibre decals. Much to my surprise, I’m not the World's best decaller, these went on quite well and stuck very well. I didn’t put them all on as there were a few really tricky ones, but I wasn’t at all pleased with result, the carbon fibre just didn’t look realistic. I decided to take the decals back off which was a nightmare, I ended up have to lightly sand some of them off and scratched away with a knife to get the corners cleaned up. So the next plan was to revert to the gloss black exterior, again this went OK, but when I applied the clear coat it was horrible. All I can think of was that the weather has been very humid (I live in Queensland Australia) and I’m guessing that stuffed it up. Next I realised that the fairing really should be metallic black to match the rest of the black body work. Finally success, and not a bad finish. As for the Ninja/Nina, I applied one of the metallic decals (stickers?) to the tailpiece and realised much later that the “j” had come off on one side. So I managed to cut a very then strip off from the metallic sheet and used this as a “j”, not very good but better than a “Nina”. Anyway, enough rambling, here are a couple of pictures, only the final decals to go. The next update will be in the “Ready for Inspection” section, thanks for reading.

You know how slow you are at building when you have to use the “search” function to find your WIP!!!! We now have the front forks, handlebars, front wheel etc. complete. I’m afraid the photographer isn’t the best I’ve done, but it hopefully shows the progress.

A bit more slow progress with H2, I can thoroughly recommend this kit to any bike builders out there, the quality is outstanding. Anyway, I’ve now finished the seat and petrol tank assemblies, together with the side panels to the rear of the seat and those flanking the petrol tank. The next assemblies will be the front wheel, followed by the front fork, then the handlebars, I love the detail in the handlebars. Any constructive comments are very welcome.

A few photos showing the latest progress including my first ever attempt at “weathering” which in this case is limited to some colour on the exhaust pipes, I’m quite pleased with the results.

Quite a bit of work went into the rear wheel, rear suspension, the swing arm and the stand, all of which I’d intended to complete for this entry in the forum. But I’ve also done the seat frame/rear mudguard/rear indicators etc. as I needed something to be getting on with while paint dried on the other bits. I’m very impressed with the standard of the Tamiya mouldings, this is quite a new kit and the positioning of the ejectors pin marks, the sprue attachment points and mould seam lines are exceptionally well thought out and it is often tempting or necessary to not do anything with some of them.

Seems to have taken a long time to get this far, but I’m pleased with the results so far. So this is the completed engine mounted into the frame. Next to be built up is the rear suspension and the stand.

The engine block is just about finished, with the fuel injection, air box and turbo still to come.

That’s nice, we’ll done indeed!!

OK, that’s spooky, how can anybody do that at 1/12 scale? I thought some of the builds on this forum were unbelievable, but this guy has taken it to a whole new level.