Uncle Pete Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Good Day, Men (and, possibly, Ladies) of the non-flying model community. Here's a little offering from Orange County Choppers Shepherds Bush Division, run by Paul's lesser known older brother, Fred Teutul, pictured here... You may have heard the ads on the radio... Our theme music is "Born To Be Mild" by Steppenmouse. Never having attempted a bike before I figured I'd get an El Cheapo special just to see how they go together. With no wings and propellors, it's a different kettle of plastic, so I went for the Revell Kustom Chopper. Considering it's the bottom of the line, I was pleasantly surprised. The fit is very good, some parts almost snap-fitting into place. At least it was till I started monkeying with it. Didn't like the front end.... No zazz, not enough rake, so I thought to myself, self, what can we do about this? A quick scrabble through the drawers turned up some stainless steel kebab skewers exactly the right diameter to become 1/12 scale springer forks and we were off to the races. Busking all the way, I went through several blind alleys before figuring out the steering head problem (not big enough for double forks) but it finally dawned on me to put the two available steering heads (the kit comes with many alternative parts) belly-to-belly and remove what I didn't need. Unfortunately, I'd already experimented so many different ways the steering head ended up a bit on the lumpy side. Anyway, here she is... Didn't have any brake and clutch lines so I blagged an old phone charger for the wire. By the time I'd got around to that, I'd already Mickey Moused the front end so much Mickey was sleeping with my wife so the routing of the brake line is a bit, shall we say, "adjacent"? And speaking of the wife, I gave her a tip of the hat.... ... on a slightly under-scale plate (Didn't want the plate to be too obtrusive and, since it doesn't have to pass the MoT, I'm not fussed). A wee bit of solder provided the springs and a pair of 1/72 Sidewinders were just the right diameter to make those little struts in the front of the steering head. Some yellow paint then a random lightning flash and some too-small-to-be-legible writing from the leftover decal supply tarted up the battery. All in all I'm not displeased with the result. I've learned a couple of things that I can apply if I try another bike. I'm not sure I want to, though.... So many sticky-outy-bits that are constantly threatening to become snappy-offy-bits. The front end is a bit skew-whiff but that's down to prototypitis. Future springer forks will have to be carbon fibre tubes from the RC shop, for example. The steel skewers give the model a satisfying bit of heft but the slop in the front end (caused when I oh-so-carefully fixed it from being too tight and went all the way to too loose) gives it a certain insecure quality. The "feet" on the forks were the base of the other petrol tank cut down the middle and backed with balsa and Milliput. They're a bit overdone (not to mention untidy) but for the sake of "seeing if I can pull it off" they did the job. Having added a couple of centimetres to the forks I was anticipating (and without much optimism) surgery on the neck of the frame to tilt the steering head back in order to keep the floor of the frame level but the slop mentioned above took care of it. (After a couple of days of head-scratching on how to remove and reattach the neck accurately I realised I could much more easily tilt the shaft of the steering head instead, so that's filed away for future use). Having only built warplanes in the past, I've never used gloss paint and I was a bit nervous but it goes on beautifully and takes decals without any trouble at all. And the stroke of luck with the kebab skewers being the same colour as the chrome came in handy as I didn't have to wait for postie to bring chrome paint. Big shout out to Lee Chambers, by the way, for all the tips he gave me (none of which I applied on this kit but all of which will be applied in the future)... Thanks, Lee, I owe you a pint. Anyway, it is what it is, I hope you like it and I hope you got more laughs out of the prose than out of the model! 13 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian T Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Well I like them both, the bike and the words that go with it, well done Pete. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Pete Posted July 5, 2018 Author Share Posted July 5, 2018 3 minutes ago, Ian T said: Well I like them both Cheers, Ian. Like you, I'm a muso and like you I'm old-school. Love the three Louis.... Armstrong, Jordan and Prima. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco F. Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Good work! Looks looks real swedish. For those who are not so familliar with the chopper Scene.... Clean Long forked choppers, like your's,are often build in sweden and so the "swedish style" was created as common name.... I like your bike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian T Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 20 hours ago, Uncle Pete said: Cheers, Ian. Like you, I'm a muso and like you I'm old-school. Love the three Louis.... Armstrong, Jordan and Prima. We’d have to take the discussion to a different part of the forum if we start talking about music, but I do love listening to most genres, with blues and blues rock being my favourite. Growing up in the UK during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s was wonderful for music lovers. Nothing wrong with old school ........ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 Great bike Pete , bloody super thread, got to agree with @Ian T, an entertaining ramble & for an old scrote like me who can remember sneaking into "Easy rider" R.16 in New Zealand when I was only 15, primarily for the skinny dipping scene, but came out profoundly impressed, your bike brings back a flood of memories. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Pete Posted July 6, 2018 Author Share Posted July 6, 2018 14 hours ago, Marco F. said: Clean Long forked choppers I've had a few bikes and always fancied a chopper except for the turn radius... They don't have one! I had a Honda Shadow that has about the same rake as a stock Sporty and it would barely make it through a standard test slalom so I can't imagine getting a chopper round anything tighter than an off ramp. I like the look of proper ape-hangers too but the kit didn't have them. I had a pair of those on a Honda 100 (don't ask!) and they were dreadfully uncomfortable. If there's ever a next chopper kit on my bench I think there will be massive upswept megaphone smokestacks, a sissy bar, highway pegs and stratospheric apes.... If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Pete Posted July 6, 2018 Author Share Posted July 6, 2018 3 hours ago, Ian T said: take the discussion to a different part of the forum Feel free to PM me. If you ask nicely I'll send you recordings of my band. (Actually, if you don't ask me nicely I'll be likely to do it anyway.... You don't have a job description for forty years that boils down to "Dig Me" without being a bit of a show off!) As a muso, you're probably the only one who knows just what I mean by "busking". (Note for the muggles.... Our use of the word "busking" doesn't refer to playing on the street) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plastheniker Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Super clean work! I always wondered what happened to the riders of such extreme choppers when they encountered the first sharp bend ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Pete Posted July 12, 2018 Author Share Posted July 12, 2018 On 7/10/2018 at 7:31 PM, Plastheniker said: I always wondered what happened to the riders of such extreme choppers when they encountered the first sharp bend On a chopper, you can go there but you can't come back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 Very nice Sportster springer ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Pete Posted July 14, 2018 Author Share Posted July 14, 2018 8 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Very nice Sportster springe Never had a Harley but always liked the look and the seating position. Closest I got was the VLX that looks like a Sporty with a radiator. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy_J Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 Coming late to the party, but ... good work there, Pete! Skewers for fork tubes? That's pretty inspired. Are they difficult to cut to size? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krow113 Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 looks like you had fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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