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Hey folks Have finally finished this Tamiya kit and thought I would post some pics. Have had this sat on the pile of shame for some time as Abe was one of my favourite riders as a teenager, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do the kit justice (so had to build up some nerve to get going with it!) I haven't built a bike in some time and I had forgotten how awkward they can be: build, paint, build, paint etc. It was a lot more time consuming than the 1/72 aircraft and miniature painting I am used to. But, I did enjoy building it, despite the age of the kit it fitted together beautifully, and just a couple of the decals had started to get a bit dry (thankfully none of the major ones!) Anyway here she is. The observant will notice a couple of bits missing (I am going to say he crashed a bit too often!) and for the exhaust I was experimenting with some metallic colour-shift paints, so again not really analogous to real life. Any C&C very welcome!

Hi all, Long time lurker and on and off modeller for 25 odd years. I thought I'd share this project I have been procrastinating on for a few years now, I figured by sharing my progress it would give me more motivation to keep going with it. I have made decent progress so far, I will share pics of where I am up to shortly. I am using Tamiya paints, rattle cans and brush mostly. The kit: Upgrades I have bought to enhance the model include the Tamiya detail up kit, tobacco decals, carbon decals:

so here are some of the sprue from the Heller Ty 125 kit. The are very nicely moulded. In stead of vinyl tube you get a vinyl sprue(black) for the cables that have to be held in place between the parts they connect to rather than pushed on. The bottom pic(figure 10) shows how you make the 2 rear shocks using the piece of wire and the jig, nice but I will see how they turn out before probably dipping into my toolroom box of springs. Looks like a very good kit so let's get started with the piston head fins which are a separate parts a nice touch remove the horrible chrome from the wheels and other parts and set up my nice little compressor and airbrush

Hi guys, well I have the final reveal for the Yamaha and rider, it was not the model I set out to build but as the decals were beyond use I went for a Kenny Roberts replica. These colours were all the rage back in the 80's, building the rider caused a load more work, but I am happy with how it turned out, it's a fantasy "what if" build really, however I had a blast with it!

This is my next bike project, really looking forward to building this, I used to build them out of the crate when I worked in the local bike shop almost 30 years ago!

Hey guys, Local model shop is unfortunately shutting down at the end of the year, probably not even that, so a mega sale meant I have picked up a few kits. I usually stick to military planes and tanks, but I've ventured and challenged myself to a motorbike. I haven't posted in a while because I've been working between a few projects at once. A starwars snow speeder (however my little cousin has claimed this so no longer in the house) and a Messerschmitt 109/e Trop. I've also got an Airfix Operation Herrick diorama in the works. My mind can't stay focused on something for too long at once, not sure if this is a good thing or not, anyway here's some photos of the bike, not too sure if to decal or not yet, however I more than likely will as I've started on the number plate and upper cowling decal. Look forward to to posting some more photos as other projects finish, Cheers, Ollie

Heres a few models ive made over the last 6 months or so. First up, two Tamiya F1 kits, the 1/20 scale Ferrari 640 and Williams FW11. The Ferrari went quite well, only really the nose doesnt quite fit properly, it doesnt quite meet up with the panel surrounding the suspension arms. I used Halfords Vauxhall Flame red, looks ok but im not really bothered if its not 100% right. The Marlboro decals with Mansells name on were plain with no "marlboro" on them so i printed some on decal paper and added it, looks much better imo. Im still getting to grips with spraying paint and theres some signs of orange peel. Also added a few photo etched screw heads to the side panels for a bit of realism. The Williams gave me alot more trouble. Firstly the panels around the front suspension leave unsightly gaps so i decided to do as ive seen others do and stick these to the main body and fill the gaps, then cut down the suspension in half. After lots of sanding i think i got it right, not really noticable. The biggest problem were the decals, the originals had yellowed slightly on the white so i bought a set from Indycals, these werent so great. I had major trouble trying to get the decal flat enough with no creasing around the small bumps above the suspension and i probably made an error as they didnt quite fit together right. So i decided to leave the original ones in the sun for a few days to try and bleach the white bits. I then stripped the decals and applied the tamiya ones. These were much better and although i never got them prefect even after tons of microsol im happy with them. Last problem was the engine cover, its a bit warped and doesnt quite sit right. As someone pointed out to me i shouldve checked at the start I tried putting it on and holding down with a rubber band and it helped a bit but you live and learn. Also i used a Tamiya photoetched seat belt set and a few PE screw heads on the rear wing to cover the join points. Ive decided to do a TV cars theme and i started with Revells Starsky & Hutch Ford Gran Torino(1/25). A nice little kit with not majorly over detailed but some nice dashboard decals to give a woodgrain look, the stripe was in 3 parts and a bit tricky to get lined up. I made a mistake with the headlights and the glass clouded up. But here it is, again im still happy with it . To go with the TV theme i have a Aoshima LA chips kawasaki 1000 police bike, ive never done a motorbike and want to do it justice so i thought id buy another bike to practice on first. So i bought the Tamiya Yamaha XV1000 as its quite cheap. The instructions say to paint the fuel tank and side panels maroon but i wanted to do something different, as you can see. The only problem with doing the stars and stripes would be the stars. But my mrs makes hand made greetings cards and happened to have a die that popped out some stars, although not perfect and they are rounded on the ends rather than sharp i think it looks ok.(although im not sure if i put too many stars on?) So thanks for viewing. (And if you read all that, well done )

Hello, With the recent loss of the stash I've been at a bit of a loose end and unsure what about purchasing any kits again to build. I purchased this kit today from the local model shop as I'd been eyeing it up for quite a while now, but never felt as if i could pull it off at all as to me it was out of my comfort zone completely, enough of me babbling on here are the box and sprue shots: The box art and instructions call for this to be a maroon type scheme, but from googling and seeing quite a few at various bike meets, I'm debating on going for the Black tank & fairings, with Gold & Silver rims. Thanks for Looking!

Just finished building this as a surprise present for my father-in-law. Build pics are here, there'll be a separate post with the completed pics in the completed builds section. Click pics to embiggen! Box Shot DSCF0190 by raystorm_uk, on Flickr Sprues DSCF0191 by raystorm_uk, on Flickr Assembled and painted frame DSCF0236 by raystorm_uk, on Flickr Completed Engine DSCF0274 by raystorm_uk, on Flickr Completed Engine DSCF0275 by raystorm_uk, on Flickr Rear swing arm DSCF0277 by raystorm_uk, on Flickr Rear swing arm DSCF0276 by raystorm_uk, on Flickr Swing arm installed DSCF0280 by raystorm_uk, on Flickr Swing arm installed DSCF0281 by raystorm_uk, on Flickr Engine installed DSCF0282 by raystorm_uk, on Flickr Engine installed DSCF0283 by raystorm_uk, on Flickr Engine installed DSCF0284 by raystorm_uk, on Flickr

Yamaha 450 Grizzly Quad + Trailer as used by The British Army, pics thanks to Ruari.

Hello, There is my latest finished build. Quite easy and had no problems with the build. Decided not to do the factory paint job as I didn't like the maroon. Instead, I've painted it in Alclad2 Cobalt Blue. Enjoy:)

Hi all, I've just finished my Tamiya 1/12 YZR-M1 racing bike, so I thought I'd post photos of the completed item DSCF0003 (2) by raystorm_uk, on Flickr DSCF0005 (3) by raystorm_uk, on Flickr DSCF0004 (2) by raystorm_uk, on Flickr DSCF0002 (3) by raystorm_uk, on Flickr Cheers, Steve

Well after starting these motorbike kits in February I've finally finished the last one. I bought the kits from a seller at the Yeovilton show for £15 each, they were part started but the work carried out was outstanding and most were limited to assembly of the frames and engines sub-assemblies. Honda CB1100R: Yamaha XS1100LG midnight special: Suzuki GSX100S Katana: Honda CX500 Turbo: Group shot: Cheers, Stuart