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The Big Red Lo


krow113

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Throttle body and fuel injection parts were assembled:

IMG_2895.jpg

Into place:

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 IMG_2899.jpg

Throttle cable and fuel line points are still accessible. If the heads are left loose and the manifold and heads are aligned as they are snugged up, ease of alignment is possible. That's the way the real engines were assembled pre-Evo. Care must be taken with the flanges , glue them and install the sub-assy , then take a small tool and press them up against the landing, which look ok wth the silver vinyl covering the stack lines. Two chrome allen bolts secure it all nicely , I may come back and rob the bolts , they cant be seen and the allens are nice.

1 hour.

Edited by krow113
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Some work done as I look at the painted parts . I have the fork legs looking pretty good but the mount for painting was precarious , I decided to assemble the forks for ease of handling , pretty easy assembly taking a few minutes and no problems. I inverted the fork tube and loaded all of the assy parts onto it and dropped the fork leg onto those parts  , turn the fork up and drop on the large nut that holds it all together. Push the nut in at least halfway to align it , then turn it home with the supplied wrench , easy does it and it seats nicely.

 Looking good in gloss black:

IMG_2907.jpg

Masked up and way easier to handle:

IMG_2908.jpg

 

Way better without the sissy reflectors!

 

1 hour.

Edited by krow113
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  • 2 weeks later...

Another small sub assy gets its due.

Holes were drilled in the terminal blocks , these batteries have alternate cable mounting capability.

The battery has the warning decal applied and a thick clear coat on top of it, as well as the terminals picked out in Humbrol stinky silver then washed with smoky black to bring up detail:

IMG_2913.jpg

I have limited time for modelling right now , it should be better after the hols.

1 hour.

Edited by krow113
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knuts & Kev;

Thank you.

 The fork paint is all  Alclad products , black primer , gloss black and aqua clear. The last coats being a mix of 50/50 gloss clear/gloss black. A painters trick from way back to get that deep gloss black finish.

I'm thinking of trying some of the powders and wax's for the chrome finish , but have not used any of them yet , anyone have experience with the chrome powder or the wax's?

I have Uschi and some chrome powders to try , anyone used this stuff?

IMG_2916.jpg

 

When I built this model;

cright3.jpg

 out of Italeri's Harley kit ,  I was lucky enough to have access to original service and parts manuals. This was a great help in the detail dept. especially the wiring and the fabrication of stock parts like the headlight /horn mount. Having lost that access I have had to go to a site:

https://www.motorcycle-manual-download.com/

 I downloaded a service manual and parts manual for the 2013 FLSTFB Lo . Already the benefits have shown up with the pics and descriptions and photos and drawings of the electrical components that are not included in the model. Engine sensors are easily made and installed now. Brake line and speed sensors for the brakes and speedometer are available as well as the wire and cable routing info. The two books , downloaded in PDF files ,came to $ 58.00 CDN , which is a deal , considering Harley service manuals are in the $150.00 range for a hard copy.

 So an accy kit or detail set can be developed , which will have some parts that can be used to up the level of detail in the wiring and cables etc , including the clutch cable adjuster cover that no-one has seemed to notice is missing...

Much perusing ahead.

Edited by krow113
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  • 2 weeks later...

I did some research and took some dimensions off of my bike, a 2006 VRSCR , and measured some other items as well.

 Kit supplied black tubing in 2 sizes and their scaled up dimensions ;

sm @  1.25 mm - 7.5 mm  , lg @ 1.9 mm - 11.4 mm.

Harley dimensions;

Clutch cable: 12 mm  

Throttle cables ; push @ 6.5 mm , pull @ 5.5 mm 

Throttle lockwheel: 23 mm dia.

Brake line rigid : 6.15 mm  Most HD brake lines have a section of rigid , transitioning to flexible at a mount , usually near a pivot point.

Brake line flexible: 12 mm

2 wire wheel sensor (for anti-lock brakes) : 3.5 mm, this would also have a ' racetrack' shaped cross section.

Spark plug wire: 8 mm

 

These dimensions will help with some of the weird looking cable/lines on this model. Along with proper routing , things just got way better for the Big Red Lo .

 Here is a Harley throttle setup , you can see the cables adjusters , covers (one rolled up) , lockwheel , etc. These are all the same on big twins . 

IMG_2932.jpg

Here is a pic of the front wheel showing the 2 wire wheels sensor wire routed and strapped to the front brake line , as well as some of the other cable and wire routing and securing detail:

harleydavidson_softail_fat_boy_lo_11_3.j

I personally would have run it behind the caliper if possible.

The missing , and quite visible , clutch cable adjuster cover is visible in the center of the pic.

I'll see if I can get dimensions for that next.

Edited by krow113
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Smallish update

No need to paint the white porcelain insulater on the spark plugs , just scrape off the chrome , the plastic is white underneath:

IMG_2936.jpg

Or switch them out for RB Motion turned aluminum pieces:

IMG_2938.jpg

...which fit perfectly.

 

1/2 hour.

Edited by krow113
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  • 4 weeks later...

Looking into this I didn't like the finish on this piece , the dash , you can see a 'pour join' or whatever they are called on both sides. I tried BMF wasting a buncha time , and then remembered the smooth silver vinyl I had in stock. I used some Tamiya tape to preserve the 'chrome' :

Lets see if it looks like chrome.

Part:

IMG_2971.jpg

Wrapped:

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 I think it looks a lot better , so I'll wheel it off and make a vector file of it. I had an Idea some of the flatter pices could be 'chromed ' in this fashion.:

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Vectorized. You can see how many attempts it takes me to get the shape right , from the bottom to the top :

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This can be the start of an accy chrome set for some of the flat pieces, the rear wheel pully edge comes to mind as well.

IMG_3026.jpg

1 hour

 

Edited by krow113
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Looks great, your putting a lot of work into this and the effort is definitely worth it.

With ref to the powders they work really well also great for simulating break dust and stuff, it is actually my favourite product for weathering at the moment. It is really versatile stuff not just for chroming.

Edited by kpnuts
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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Hdawg - no worries .

Harley did get dragged into the present day technology...finally!

And I managed to get the wheels assembled. The front halves didn't fit to well , I had to scrape the inner ring off , its about an inch in diameter and the two rings were keeping the outer edges of the wheel from fully mating and created a gap in all of the small holes around the wheel.

IMG_4336.jpg

There is no way to make precut masks for the wheel paint work , or I would produce them. Good old fashioned hand taping coming up!

1.5 hours.

Edited by krow113
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  • 4 weeks later...

Paint work proving to be a real slog.

Any anomaly seems to be as large as possible and some repainting has been done.

Here are some parts that made the grade:

IMG-4364.jpg

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Looks like those DU p/e will need a wash...

1.5 hrs.

 

 

Edited by krow113
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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks kpnuts.

 For every 3 parts painted , one makes it through each session. Wet sanding and reapplication is the order of the day on the smaller parts.

These are ones that have made the cut:

IMG-4383.jpg

Slow and slower , but as the part count dwindles I know its getting done.

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If only I had your patience and skill. Trouble is my stash would be 100 times what it is and each model would take me years, I'll just keep knocking them out and leave artists like you to build the masterpieces.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks knuts.

 With the bike models I sometimes feel like I'm "overskilling" it , could be a warning sign to pull back a little.

 This could also be a warning sign! :

All the parts ready for the final paint assault :

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And then while blowing off the parts:

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The first thing I did was check if it was visible, it is. So some careful sanding , some careful clear applications , and I should have it fixed. 

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