johnlambert

OK, this is coming together very quickly considering how tricky some parts of the build have been. Everything is painted up for the engine, transmission and rear suspension. The suspension links are quite fine and slightly difficult to get into place but once they are they feel reasonably sturdy. The engine really needs better intake trumpets and some plumbing for the injection system, in all honesty I'm just going to glue the engine cover down, but maybe in the future I'll tackle this kit again. I lost count of the number of times I snapped off and re-glued the strut that supports the exhaust. Also, getting the part with the springs over the transmission casing is quite a nerve-wracking business as it is a very tight fit and feels like something will break. The other side of the engine, I thought this part of the exhaust would be difficult but it actually went on quite easily. The interior tub was painted up with Tamiya NATO black for the seat and X18 Semi Gloss Black for the sides. The cockpit edges were masked and sprayed the same satin black. The nose cone has it's Honda badge and race number applied, these went on well but it's very hard to work out if the "H" badge is in the right place. The engine assembly glues to the cockpit floor, which then slides into the body assembly. The advantage of this is that you can tweak the position to ensure the suspension radius rods fit properly. Reference photos show that different pick-up points were used at different races, for the Mexico GP the upper link was mounted on the lower of the two mountings. An underside photo. Another mock-up. The front suspension has been added, the lower wishbones are a tight fit into their mountings, there are some sturdy pins that are very well hidden on the finished model. As previously mentioned, snapping the suspension uprights into the wishbones is a bit uncomfortable as they are a very tight fit. That's it for now, I've not forgotten the Toyota Celsior build and the final update should be ready soon.

I've just assembled the suspension and for what it is, it feels quite robust for what it is. The rear suspension is quite fiddly but once it's together seems to have a reasonable amount of integrity. The front upper wishbones are solid and moulded into the crossmember which isn't the most accurate way to reproduce these parts, but the inner mounting is normally hidden by the bodywork and doing it this way makes stronger. That said, the front hub uprights are a snap fit into the wishbones and pressing them together feels like it might break something. I hope it will be sturdy enough when the wheels and tyres go on.

What's this "stash is too big"? There's always room for one more kit Get your finger out and finish a kit so you can buy this one, you won't regret it (not a guarantee).

I wasn't sure whether to do another kit for this group build; but I had some left over paint that I mixed for my Honda RC-166 build, which would be perfect for the engine of this kit. The RA272 was the first Honda Grand Prix car to win a race (the 1965 Mexican GP in the hands of Richie Ginther, I believe). Hasegawa offered at least two boxings of the car, one for the Mexican GP and one for the USA GP, having an eye for a bargain I bought the US GP version as it was available at a discount. I was pleased to discover one of my favourite GP cars in my preferred modelling scale because I didn't really want to have a car in an odd scale, despite the temptation of Tamiya's 1:20 scale kit. The box art is lovely. Obligatory sprue photo. Instructions seem fairly straightforward, the black and white reference photos don't really help. The first step is to assemble the cockpit interior. For the USA GP the side vents on the engine cowling need removing. If I'd got any sense I'd have left these on and built the Mexico GP version as I'm sure that'd be easier. There are also faint parting lines to deal with. Vents removed as best I could. Hopefully the rear suspension will distract from any imperfections here. Test fitting to ensure the interior fits. Basic parts of the 1.5-litre DOHC V12, it is tiny compared with most 1:24 car engines. This was also the first indication that we're not in Tamiya country anymore, location pins are something that happen to other kits (to be fair much of the kit isn't this bad). It goes together just about well enough. Mock-up of the body. Various parts primed, the floor to the body is only dry fitted for painting. Tyres are pretty clean but have no letters on the sidewalls and will need sanding to remove the centre seam. There are some rub-on transfers for the tyre letters. Another difficult part was the exhaust, especially the set that goes next to the cockpit. The engine was used as a jig to help align the header pipes. Having initially elected to prime the exhausts on the sprue I changed my mind and decided that they would be better assembled, re-primed and sprayed as complete assemblies. To aid with spraying and for added realism, the tail ends of the pipes have been drilled out. That's it so far. I hope this will be another quick build.

I thought I'd share some pictures here of the Tamiya Honda RC166 kit that I built for the Turning Japanese group build. This is the first ever motorbike kit that I've tackled and I'm glad it turned out so well. I wouldn't recommend it to a novice modeller, but I would recommend it to someone who has built a few kits, because it should give you the confidence to tackle another bike kit in the future. As I was building this kit, particularly the wheels, I said "never again" but now it's done I'd love to have another go at one of these. It would be nice to add some of the detail parts and also to replace a few other parts with finer scratched details. With that sort of build I'd probably display the bile with the fairing off as the engine builds up into a little jewel that deserves to not be hidden. Although it's my first bike build, I definitely don't think it'll be my last. You can see the build thread here:

I'm calling this one done, I've added some pretty pictures to the gallery and here are a couple that didn't make it to the gallery. And one photo that is in the gallery. As I was building this kit, particularly the wheels, I said "never again" but now it's done I'd love to have another go at one of these. It would be nice to add some of the detail parts and also to replace a few other parts with finer scratched details. With that sort of build I'd probably display the bile with the fairing off as the engine builds up into a little jewel that deserves to not be hidden. It also makes me want to build the Honda CB750F kit in my stash and get another kit of a modern Honda. Thanks for all the likes and comments.

Time for my first gallery post of this group build. I'm a big Honda fan, I've owned four cars and two motorbikes by the manufacturer. I love the company's back story that it didn't allow a lack of experience to stop it from entering and ultimately winning Grand Prix events on four and two wheels. The Honda RC166 is a six-cylinder, 250cc racing bike that allowed Mike Hailwood to take two motorcycle world championships in 1966 and '67. This kit by Tamiya is the first ever motorcycle I've built, I deliberately chose it as a challenging build compared to the Tamiya Honda CB750F that I also have in my stash. It is quite an intricate, challenging build but it makes up into a lovely model right out of the box (which is what this build is). As I was building this kit, particularly the wheels, I said "never again" but now it's done I'd love to have another go at one of these. It would be nice to add some of the detail parts and also to replace a few other parts with finer scratched details. With that sort of build I'd probably display the bile with the fairing off as the engine builds up into a little jewel that deserves to not be hidden. If you haven't seen it, the build thread is here:

I agree Pat. I just pushed myself with a motorbike kit (and deliberately chose the more challenging of the two bikes in my stash) and I'm very satisfied with the result. I've still got a few kits that scare me slightly so I'd definitely be up for a group build.

As someone with an interest in railways I always associate TSO with the Tourist Second (or Standard) Open type of railway carriage

Well, it's amazing how these things can come together. It started with the seat, which is moulded in black vinyl; I think I'd have preferred it in styrene, so it could be more easily painted and weathered, but it is what it is. There are plenty of these tiny metal transfers to represent the rivets around the seat and fairing. Talking of the fairing, I thought it was prudent to check the fit of the windscreen. The fuel tank received the rest of its parts. The filler cap and rubber pad were attached with PVA to avoid damaging the paint. In the end I decided against spraying a clear coat and proceeded to detail the fairing. The PE parts that went over decals were attached with PVA, the others with contact adhesive. The rev counter was a bit of a pain to assemble and the decal didn't want to settle in the centre of the bezel. I wondered what the black cylinder on the rear mudguard was supposed to represent. Once it was connected by clear tubes to the engine and transmission, it seemed obvious that it was part of the oil breather system. I double checked (measure twice, cut once) the length of the tube by the chain, it is the correct length according to the instructions, but too long when compared to reference photos and needs to be cut down. Rivets going on to the seat. More rivets applied to the fairing. The plastic backing of one rivet damaged the number six (touched in with a little paint). The rivet above the "1" was done with a Molotow chrome pen. More vinyl parts to represent the pipes to the oil coolers, which actually seemed to take paint fairly well. A minor hitch befell the build. Somehow I managed to glue one of the fork legs in place, which makes fitting the fairing very difficult. With a bit of gentle persuasion I was able to get the fairing in place. With the front wheel in the way it was difficult to fit the vinyl pipes, in this instance I think styrene parts would have been impossible to fit. One final photo with the lower part of the fairing secured by its magnets. There are a few little bits of detail painting and touching up to do before I take the glamour photos. On the whole I'm really pleased with how this has turned out, especially for my first bike. I'd now like to tackle the kit again but with some of the detail parts and displayed without the fairing.

I must admit that although I wouldn't normally say that trucks are my thing, those Emhar Bedford lorry kits do look tempting. I look forward to your progress.

I've had mixed results with Halfords clear lacquer over Tamiya paint. I've used it successfully over Tamiya's Candy Lime Green from a spray can and some airbrushed Tamiya acrylics; but when I clear coated a Honda NSX that I'd airbrushed with Tamiya Gunmetal the paint lifted and the plastic underneath was ruined. This is the result of a recent experiment on a plastic teaspoon. The spoon was primed with Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, then painted with TS-49 Bright Red, half over-painted with TS-17 Gloss Aluminium. The top third is TS-13, the middle is no clear and the bottom is Halfords Lacquer, which seems to have attacked the metallic paint slightly. Maybe I was too heavy handed? I tried starting both clears of with a couple of light coats. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing the Eunos come together, it looks like a nice kit.

I think you're being too hard on yourself, either that or you posted pictures of another model. The finish looks pretty good. Well done for sticking with it, but you have definitely made me nervous of tackling an early style Porsche 911.

Quite a picture heavy update this time. I've been working on the wheels, brakes and suspension. This is the rear brake backplate and actuating mechanism. Rear spring and damper units. The chain and sprockets have come up fairly well, I painted the chain with Tamiya "Smoke" paint. I gave the tyres a rub down with coarse abrasive paper, not that it seems to show. It doesn't look too bad, a few bits of glue to fix broken spokes. Rear wheel installed. I put a bit of white glue on the ends of the springs to hold the damper units together. Front wheels, a couple of spokes went missing. One of the spokes was found and re-attached. I drilled out the mounting hole to use a bit of wire as a replacement. It's not perfect but it's passable. The finished wheel, I don't want to assemble another of these any time soon. The handlebars are quite delicate and have a tiny captive nut to hold them to the frame. Once the front forks go on it really starts looking like a proper bike. Half the exhaust is in place. Even more appealing wit the fairing test fitted. One problem is that the decals cover the vents in the fairing, so these will be opened up with a sharp blade. Please excuse the blurry photo, but the steering damper is very tricky to fit. It shouldn't be too long before this is done and I hope nothing happens to spoil the build.

I bought some self-adhesive carpet material from Hiroboy to try on a recent build. I've also got some flocking powder but I've not tried that yet. I found the material fairly easy to work with, I used masking tape to create templates based on the interior tub of the car and it cuts nicely with a sharp blade. It's not the most obvious thing but it does give the interior a little lift and on this model (Tamiya Toyota Celsior) you can see enough of the interior through the windows that you can tell that the carpet is felt rather than paint.