[Hello from Essex]

17 hours ago, IanC said:

You've never owned or ridden a Harley? Yet you love them? 

 

It doesn't matter of course. I love the P-51 Mustang.... 😉

 

Welcome to BM! 😀

 

Ps. As real bikes go I'm very much a Honda man. Which means I'm boring, I suppose. 🤨

 

 

I guess it must be because I'm not a "proper" motorbike lover. I think it stems from being about 12 and going to Beatties model shop in Holburn, with my dad. Seeing the huge box, with the Harley police bike on the front for the first time, and persuading him to buy it for my birthday, which he did. I think it was something like £15 back then, and more than would be spent normally, but I got it 😀. 

 

I remember talking to school mates about it, who were into motorbikes, and got comments like "well you can't lean into corners with those stupid foot boards scrapping the ground" and " how can you go fast with all those panniers and boxes?" 

 

So yeah it is a bit weird I guess.  I do remember being about 16, and drying myself after a bath in my bedroom, and catching the bike with the end of the towel. Off the shelf, 5 feet to the floor, into many pieces 😭.

 

I did have a 1/6 Honda CB750 four. I can't remember what happened to it. Maybe that fell off a shelf as well 😂. Can't believe I didn't keep them for spare parts 🤨

 

 

[Tamiya 1/6 Suzuki Katana]

Looking forward to watching this build

[Tamiya 1/6th Harley]

Thanks for the great comments 👍

[Hello from Essex]

Thankyou

 

 

Here's the link to the last one I did https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235106018-tamiya-16th-harley/#comment-4322578

 

[Hello from Essex]

Yeah, funny when I mention to anyone about getting up there, I just get a 🤣  

 

All 3 are Harleys I’m afraid. Classic, police bike and a sport FXE

 

Had my knee done at king Georges, Ilford. Osteotomy, as an alternative to a replacement. Very painful

 

nice bike👍

[Hello from Essex]

Thanks for the welcomes

 

That's great to know Dennis. Wow

[Tamiya 1/6th Harley]

Hello. I've just joined after lurking for a while. I love big scale Tamiya bikes. I have a few already and am going to be starting my next one soon. I love the Harleys, and have become a bit obsessed with accuracy. My next one is a Harley, and I've decided to make it with all the real hardware.  I'll post up some pics as I go along. In the meantime, here's the last one I made a few years ago. Would welcome comments, good and bad. Thanks. Gary

 

 

 

 

 

 

Added a few missing oil lines and starter cables. Also oil pressure switch to oil pump. Rigid oil line at top, links engine heads

 

 

 

 

Added clutch cable bracket to seat post. Round part near clutch bracket is the starter solenoid. White bit is thick rubber cover that goes over the terminals. Didn’t notice there were no bolts on the top engine stay, and didn’t add them

 

 

 

Wiring harness added. Used individual copper wire strands and painted them correct colours. 
Made small multi plug for rear lights. Not very happy with it though

 

 

 

Oil tank added and rest of oil hoses.

 

 

Battery fitted. Starter and rectifier cables added. Ignition timing cable and clamp added. Main circuit breaker added to battery and main harness live wire connected to it. Starter relay wired up also.

 

 

 

Wiring into rear mudguard/fender in completely wrong place. Couldn’t get any info at time, so guessed

 

 

 

Rigid rear brake line added from master cylinder to brake light switch. Mounted on transmission plate. Orange and red wires added to switch. From there it’s rubber hose to rear calliper   Secured with a couple of P clips. Yellow wire is oil pressure switch

 

 

 

Visible “rivets” added to mudguard that hold brackets on

 

 

 

More realistic brake line added. Held by P clip on mudguard

 

 

 

The area between battery/transmission and engine is pretty empty on the model. In reality it is packed with hoses and wiring

 

 

 

Air cleaner, fuel tanks and seat fitted

 

 

 

Crossover tube added that links both fuel tanks

 

 

 

 

 

Main wiring can be seen between frame and headlight nacelle. P clip holding brake hose. Spot light and hazard lights switches added to nacelle. Can just see wires coming from indicator and spot light

 

 

 

You can see the rigid brake line between frame and exhaust. And some cable ties holding cables to frame. Also wiring going to starter relay. 

 

 

 

 

I’ve saved hundreds of pics of real Harleys and not one has had that cross bar with the 4 extra gauges on. So I didn’t fit it. Same with the spare spark plug holder/case. So didn’t fit that either 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All finished. Can’t stand the fishtail exhausts, plus had the usual poor fitting of rear pipe at engine. Luckily had a police bike exhaust. Fitted that instead 

 

 

 

You can see the battery vent hose at the back and the carburettor overflow hose at the front. They just hang below the frame

 

 

 

Thanks for looking

 

Gary

[Hello from Essex]

Hello

 

Been lurking for a while. I'm from Brentwood in Essex. Like a lot of people I think, I haven't done any modelling for years. 2005 in fact

 

I'm currently off work after a knee operation, an osteotomy to be precise. Two and a half months in to what could be six months off. Still quite painful, but getting restless not doing anything.

 

So I thought, having three unmade Tamiya 1/6th motorbikes in the loft, I would start building again. Quite how I'm going to get up the loft ladder to find them, I'm still not sure about. They have been up there for at least 5 years.

 

Although I've built lots of models over the years, aeroplanes, lots of Tamiya tanks, and figures, what I've mainly been into, since a teenager, is the big scale 1/6th Tamiya models.  I have nine or ten of them. Including three Harleys. I love Harleys, old ones, late 70's early 80's. 

I have a Police bike and two Classics.  And guess what? the three unmade kits I have are all Harleys. Another Police bike, another Classic and a sport FXE model. 

I know a lot of people don't like Harleys, but I love them. Even though I've never owned one or any kind of motorbike, and only ridden a couple on a couple of occasions.

 

Each one I've made, I've made more accurate than the last. Particularly the last one in 2005. I'll post some picks of this, from start to finish, if anyone is interested. If I can manage to post a pic that is.

 

I've become a bit obsessed over the years with accuracy, and I've saved hundreds of pictures, thinking I would start again one day.  But looking at some of the outstanding builds on this site has really spurred me on to get back into it.

I've been buying lots of tiny nuts and bolts and screws, intending to replace all the moulded ones with real ones. And some decent magnifying glasses. Eyes not what they were.

 

I'm hoping to start it in the next week or so, but until I can get in the loft and find everything, including all my old paints, which are probably all dried up, I might have to delay it. 

 

In the meantime I will post the old pics, and would welcome comments. Particularly any tips on weathering/making things look dirty. I've also got to make some custom transfers for this new model, so would welcome any help/advice on this.

 

Thank for reading

 

Cheers

 

Gary