Wonky Donkey

This is gonna be an awfully dull build thread if I cannnot sort why my Flickr links aren't working... Bare with me..

Bother adding pictures. Try again... Oh, for crying out loud-this used to work fine... 😡

Hello friends! 👋 Been a while since I've been on here and even longer since I posted anything. You know, what with the virus thing and all... Anyhew, time to start up a bike build.. 👍 I bought this kit at Telford (ahh, the memories... 😂) a couple of years ago for a sensible price. I had grand plans to backdate it to a '77 machine and do it in Sheene' s colours. But it needs too much work for my skill level /time availability /patience.. It also turns out the decals are probably furchtbar. So I had a rethink and picked up some Studio 27 Mike Hailwood, 1979 TT decals (sheet covers Senior and Classic TT). The TT bike and the 1980 GP bike are quite different. Mainly : wheels should be 5 spoke not 3, seat unit is the wrong shape, exhaust repositioned, fairing slightly different shape (though it would pass IMO), and there were winglets on the fairing on the TT bike (as if that would catch on...... 😂 😂). Too much work there too... 🤔 So what is this build!? Well, its a "what if". What if, in 1980, Suzuki decided to turn out their GP bike in a special, one-off tribute livery to Hailwood's last TT win? Like Yamaha have done recently with the speed blocks, the Fiat500 scheme, or various riders basing one-off schemes on their flag for their home gp round and so on. So, a 1980 Suzuki RGB500 in Hailwood's 1979 Senior TT winning colours. Just for fun! Here we go then. W-D

Enjoying this, matey. You're right that it's a different kinda modelling experience than the "usual" but it's showing off your skills really well! W-D

Lol - yeah, you could well be right there.. W-D

Cheers Dennis. My original plan for this was to try and do Barry Sheene's Championship winning RGA500 suzuki (last title win in '77). There is a matchbox kit but it's costa-fortunum, verging on the unobtanium these days. I was going down the route of converting Tamiya' s later model RGB500, but I'm not sure if I can get it close enough to pass and I'd have to freestyle the paint scheme... Maybe one day. Mick..

Bandai's 1/72 Incom Corporation T-65 X-wing space superiority fighter (1977): Cheers W-D

True, dat. I have mine together now and I've filed, trimmed, filled and sanded as much as I can be arshed with. It'll do me now. Oh, and I have used my body weight in lead and filled every orifice. Still not enough.... 😂 Anyway, this thread is s'posed to be about an x-wing, so where was I? Yes, weathering. I next added some more streaks, leaks and oily grime round the engines using various oil colours. As with other aspects I deliberately went more brash and bright than I normally would (quite enjoyed that....). I also targeted some blaxk/brown paint on areas such as in the recesses round the engines, the rear areas and such. I then began to put the parts together (no glue), hoping the fact I'd all but completed the whole thing in separate parts wouldn't mean they'd look like that when brought together as a whole. In deference to the posts above of the "battle damaged" version from our childhood, I added some minor laser blast damage on the s-foils (wings). Just about managed not to go too far there - maybe a bit... Anyway, some "all done" shots: So that's it. My entry to this most excellent group build (my first), is my first sci-fi build using some new techniques to me. I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, especially having chosen not to use any decals (bar the instruments and luke's helmet). I'll stick a couple of pics in the gallery. Many thanks to the hosts and fellow builders for commenting. Good luck completing your builds 😉 W-D

I can see why, Dave... It's been a bit of a pig so far to be frank. Shape's good and there's some neat ideas but it simply doesn't fit... I see some builds on here were more successful so maybe it's me but if so I went very wrong very quickly.... Ho hum. W-D

Grand start. Looking forward to seeing this progress. W-D

That's very nice, that is. Paintwork is super and - cos I'm just wierd - I really, really like the "sit" (or should it be "hang"..?) of the cabling! Chapeau! W-D

Thanks for the encouragement, folks 👍 Seems I'm getting into a pattern of a weekly update on this one.... This week, i have mostly been starting an S&M Canberra and not finishing this x-wing! Some progress though. Stage 1 of the weathering is done. A "panel line" wash of darkish grey on every line or raised detail and I did really try to get into every one. Not my usual approach as I prefer something a bit more selective... Anyway, it's a basis for more specific washes and stains next. I matt varnished the whole thing at this point too. I won't do that again now to get some variation in finishes on the surface. It's already taken some of the starkness out of some of the colours which is good. Next a dirtier wash for engines and the bits I think would have got really dirty. Then some smoke or thin black stains, chipping and such before I put it together. Ciao for now. W-D

How do. Right, I've finally finished painting the various panels as well as the metallic parts of the engines and exhausts. I'll not show you every component cos you e better things to do with your time(?), but by way of example: It's still a bit "bright" but weathering stages should help there. The next stage was to get into the cockpit. As I mentioned earlier, I've no idea what colour it's meant to be so went with neutral grey and a fairly heavy, lighter grey dry brush. Thin black wash, and picked out a few random details for interest. The instruments are the only decals I've used. They went on alright but didn't fit where they were supposed to go. It's waiting a matt varnish in the pictures so a bit shiny. Obviously, we need a pilot (also still needing a matt coat). So now to start weathering a bit. I'll use a grey/blue enamel wash on some panel lines/details but with no gloss coat so it stains the paint work a bit. Then I think I'll build the airframe up before a dirtier wash and some streaking and chips. I'll see how it goes. Cheers for now. W-D

Thanks Karl. So far all Tamiya "acrylic" thinned with Isopropyl. The metallics will be Vallejo, just cos that's what I've got in the box. Oh, and the primer was Tamiya too, straight from the can. I've noticed no ill effects. W-D

Amen to that, @kiwitrogg. Mind you, I saw one of Doohan's bikes at the NEC one year (earlier than this one) and it was a right shed. Probably a bitza lashed up for shows, but it did burst my teenage bubble a little. Top work @Kibar 👏 W-D

Worth a pretty packet in 1:1 these days... Before my time, but I do like these later gen big two strokes. Looking forward to the build. 👍 W-D

If I get fed up of all this jeffing masking Joel, it'll certainly be going in a swamp.. Technically, I think Yoda raised it from the swamp. Failed, young Skywalker did. Mm. W-D

🤘.... Bloody predictive text Anyway, this week (or is it a decade...?) I have mostly been masking random panels.... There's a lot to mask for sometimes just one tiny panel. For example, in addition to the "white", there are 5 colours on this side of the upper fuselage panel with two still to go (soz for the pic quality here): I've added some chipping with maskol. Looks quite stark at the minute but I'm hoping once it's got weathering and varnish on it won't. I decided not to chip each and every panel. Firstly, not every panel would get worn I guess, and second it presumes they're painted. So a couple of the colours - the buff and one of the greys - I've left them "clean" as if they're made of some other unobtainium type material. Just for amusement really. Truthfully, I don't recall the original being quite so colourful. I did flick through some scenes on the film when I really started to doubt things, and to be honest it's hard to tell. Bit more to go yet, but we're getting there. Oh, and here's Senor D2. I painted him rather than use decals as I doubted they'd conform. Hence the lack of straight edges... 😂 Ciao the now W-D

Hmm, now you say that PeterB... I'm not sure, but was it Kenner or someone like that...?

I now have a top coat of "off-white" on which I'm reasonably happy with. Looks worn without looking knackered. I also spent too long painting Luke and R2 given they'll be hard to see when it's finished. Forgot to photograph them though - next time. OK, next is to paint the cockpit and add decals for the instruments and displays. Not immediately clear what colour to do the interior. Balance of probability it's the same as the outside from movie stills, but I went with neutral grey. Then mask and paint the myriad random panels around the airframe. There's a surprising amount of colours involved, using the decal sheet as the basis: Red Yellow Buff Light tan Numerous greys - I reckon neutral grey, rlm02, EDSG-ish, a sort of blue-ish grey, maybe a light grey too... Metallica for engine and exhausts. Best check the stocks of masking tape... W-D

Ok, so far so good. Black primer (except Luke and R2 who got white) and a random overspray of the top colour (tamiya white, few drops of buff and some light gull grey). Next a top coat, which I have to keep thin and light (notes to self!) and I can start some detail painting on the pilot and R2. W-D

Watcha So, finally some progress to report on this. I've got a couple of lingering projects off the bench and can get on with the x-wing. 👍 I spent a fair while contemplating how to approach this. How much construction to do before painting? What the right "white" would be, how weathered do I want it? Should I use the decals or paint as many of the markings as I can? And all that. I think the way that will work best is to build up as many large sub-assemblies as I can but stop short of final assembly before priming and painting. With careful clean up, that all happened pretty quickly and I now have a pile of bits stuck on sticks to get primed: I have to say the detail of the parts is very impressive, as is the effectiveness of the snap together approach. I did add a dab of glue to one or two bits, but literally only the odd spot here and there for extra security. A thing or two for other manufacturers to take note of, I'd suggest (although admittedly the shape of the x-wing does lend itself to solid mounting points which some aircraft etc kits wouldn't, I guess). Unusually for me, I'll prime this in black and then try and layer the white on quite thinly to make it appear worn. That's the idea anyway - I'm usually too risk averse here and end up with quite a uniform top coat, but I ll have a bash.. Anyway, off to prime the thing. Cheers for now. W-D

So basically it's your replica of Hanna's bike ridden by a 1/6 scale you! 😂 W-D

Good progress Hoolio - glad to hear you've got your modelling va-va-voom back! Always happy to see a non-standard colour scheme. Out of interest, what colour or mix did you use for the grey/green cylinder heads and belt covers? It looks quite "green" but maybe just the lighting in the photos. W-D

Good start @Kibar - more than half done already! W-D