Alan R Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Hi All, Yet another build rescued from the shelf of doom... I started on this in the late 80s (!), and it's been on and off the work-bench ever since. I finally decided that it needs a fair crack of the whip, so here it is. First the picture of the box top: Still a tasty little beastie, I think. The decals all seem OK still. Not something that I have found with all 30 year old kits, Tamiya included... So, this was where it had been left for a very long time... The frame should be gloss black, but the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that it's somewhat non-glossy. I decided I thought it looked better in satin black, so that's what I did! So, the next stage was the rear wheel: A bit closer: The only real issue I had here was getting the inside half of the brake calliper in, but after a bit of fiddling with a pair of tweezers, it just popped into place nicely. The chain has to be threaded through the swing-arm. There's a small slot that allows you to do that. Once the other half of the swing-arm is cemented to the first bit, the slot is closed. Next, the swing-arm installed: When you install the bolt that holds the swing-arm onto the frame, a small pip on the drive sprocket pops into a hole on the gear-box casing, making everything quite sturdy. The next stage was to install the carburettors and the exhausts. Kind of symmetrical that, inlet and outlet... Since the real bike has throttle cables that disappear under the tank, I decided that I should attempt to replicate them. They'll just disappear under the tank on completion. Also, I'll need to fabricate the throttle cable from the throttle on the handlebars as well. The exhausts are moulded with a huge void around the back, where in theory, it won't be seen. Because I am a fussy sort (A bit OCD !), I decided to fill them in so that the void became invisible. After a lot of filling with scrap plastic, Milliput and Squadron white putty, a hell of a lot of sanding to get the profile right, they came out quite well, I think. I just wish I had taken pictures at the time!!! Another fiddly job was to thread the rear exhaust pipes into the rear cylinder exhaust outlets. But with a bit of twisting they popped into place perfectly, and they then lined up with the support brackets on the frame. I have made quite a lot of progress, mostly on the front-end, but haven't uploaded the pictures yet. More soon.... Thanks for looking, Alan. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbly Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Hey Alan Does the kit allow you to build the Rossi version (Valentino’s dad)? Got the Robert’s Yamaha on my shelf to do. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan R Posted May 23, 2018 Author Share Posted May 23, 2018 14 hours ago, Mumbly said: Does the kit allow you to build the Rossi version (Valentino’s dad)? Hi Tony, I'm not sure. My knowledge of bike riders and their bikes from those days (mid 80s, I guess) is a little hazy. I know that this was a version of the Tamiya RGB500 with different decals, like this: so it's entirely possible that with the right decals you can do that. Cheers, Alan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harveyb258 Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Great work Alan!!! I love a good bike! Cheers, H 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan R Posted May 23, 2018 Author Share Posted May 23, 2018 (edited) Hi All, I know that this is about-face, but I finally found the images for the initial phase of this build. So, here they are: The frame and engine The carburettors: Only painted in a mix of aluminium and gold here. The exhausts, filled and primed: Almost where we started this thread... That's all folks. Thanks for looking, Alan. Edited May 23, 2018 by Alan R Minor typos 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie fixit Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 morning all, tony,rossi was lucky's team mate on this bike but used no.22 or 20,numbers differed from race to race only certain riders kept their "lucky number",so you can use the decals except name on screen Willie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian T Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 A nice build coming along there Alan, good work. I like it when people show attention to detail, like your throttle cables going under the tank, and filling in the voids in the pipes, excellent stuff. Regards Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevG75 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Wow. My dad made this for me when I was a kid in the 80s, I'd love to have a go at it but it appears to be a very rare kit these days 😞 Great job so far! Watching with interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonky Donkey Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 Great stuff. Takes me back. I've got the "other" RGB500 kit in my stash. I keep looking at it wondering if I can convert it anywhere close to Sheene's '77 bike.. W-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fazer Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 9 hours ago, Wonky Donkey said: Great stuff. Takes me back. I've got the "other" RGB500 kit in my stash. I keep looking at it wondering if I can convert it anywhere close to Sheene's '77 bike.. W-D Hi Wonky...Studio 27 did a conversion set a while ago for the Barry Sheene machine...hard to find but worth it! 😉 mark D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonky Donkey Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Interesting - I thought their conversion was for Sheene's '79 bike (also in the black texaco/heron scheme), not the' 77 championship bike which was white based (which I think was technically a RGA500). The nava/fiat kit Alan is building would be a better starting point really (has 5 spokes, not 3 for example). There was a heller kit of the '77 machine I think but unfortunately it's made of unobtanium, sadly.. Anyway, sorry for the hijack Alan! W-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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