HoolioPaulio Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 So this arrived at the weekend, a bargain buy off Ebay as the decals sheet is missing. I can live without them to be honest. Won't look quite as good, but the build will still be fun. As my P-51D build will have to slow down while I await delivery of some modding items from China, I decided to make a start on this. Already got the rear swing arm and various components prepped and primed ready for painting. I've been having a lot of fun building vintage Tamiya kits I find for a bargain price on Ebay, already done an Efini RX-7 and Mk2 Morris Mini. Looking forward to this one. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian T Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 I built this one about twelve months ago as my “experiment” on my return to modelling. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was pleased with the result. I am impressed with the quality of the Tamiya kits and I’m sure that your build will turn out great, I’ll keep watching. Regards Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted June 14, 2019 Author Share Posted June 14, 2019 Thanks Ian, I am a big fan of the Tamiya kits. Great quality even on the older vintage models. I finished assembling the rear swing arm (if that's even its technical name). It took longer to paint that I expected due to the amount of detail and multiple colours on some parts. I've left the rear brake disk stock chromed, as I don't think you'll see much of it when completed. I wish I'd got rid of that big seam line too, but its not as prominent as it is in the macro photos close up Paul. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan R Posted June 15, 2019 Share Posted June 15, 2019 14 hours ago, HoolioPaulio said: I wish I'd got rid of that big seam line too, Nah.. Call it a weld line and leave it at that! Cheers, Alan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted June 15, 2019 Share Posted June 15, 2019 On 14/06/2019 at 20:07, HoolioPaulio said: Thanks Ian, I am a big fan of the Tamiya kits. Great quality even on the older vintage models. I finished assembling the rear swing arm (if that's even its technical name). It took longer to paint that I expected due to the amount of detail and multiple colours on some parts. I've left the rear brake disk stock chromed, as I don't think you'll see much of it when completed. I wish I'd got rid of that big seam line too, but its not as prominent as it is in the macro photos close up Quite common on Tamiya kits, I've had a couple of occasions where a build has come almost to a stop while I paint up some detailed and multi-coloured part. But as you show on this one, it's worth spending that extra bit of time getting it right when you see the end result. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpnuts Posted June 16, 2019 Share Posted June 16, 2019 Great start, these tamiya bike kits are Great, I highly recommend the big scale 1/6 kits, they are Great also. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonky Donkey Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Good start there Hoolio. A while since I built my one of these.... If you mean the seam down the middle of the swinging arm, then it's supposed to be there. Produced by the casting process, I believe. W-D 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Wonky Donkey said: Good start there Hoolio. A while since I built my one of these.... If you mean the seam down the middle of the swinging arm, then it's supposed to be there. Produced by the casting process, I believe. W-D Thanks, and that works for me the casting seam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted June 21, 2019 Author Share Posted June 21, 2019 Slight faux pas, but luckily I realised without going any further. I used the wrong screw/bolt for the rear wheel. So I had to strip the rear hub and chain back down to put the correct one in. Silver lining, some glue had leaked into the 'do not glue' spacer, so the rear wheel would not have rotated. This happened because I assembled everything in the wrong order first time round, so I was able to clean up the spacer and re-assemble everything in the correct order. Correct bolt and a spinning wheel now. Hopefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted June 26, 2019 Author Share Posted June 26, 2019 Then engine block and ancillaries have been primed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted June 28, 2019 Author Share Posted June 28, 2019 Painted the wheels up last night. As you can see I'm not going for the standard 'box lid' colour scheme 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan R Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 Love the colour of the wheels. Cheers, Alan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin1962 Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 Very nice indeed. I recently built the Tamiya 1/12 Honda RC30 which has always been one of my favourite-looking bikes. I have a 1999VFR in my garage which is my show pony motorcycle and this kit is the closest in terms of type to that. It was lovely to build - just like your Ducati - and has convinced me to do more of them. Nice scale, good detail, don't take up too much room. Whats not to like? Looking forward to seeing yours progress. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted August 23, 2019 Author Share Posted August 23, 2019 Hi guys. So, a couple of days after the picture of the wheels, I had primed the engine components. Then, a lack of time led to a lack of energy, resulting in a lack of motivation. Subsequently I haven't touched any of my models for a couple of months nearly. But I'm back on it now, starting with the Ducati. Yesterday I painted the engine parts (over black primer)... Then last night I assembled the engine, and bolted the rear swing arm to it. Starting to take shape now... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted August 23, 2019 Author Share Posted August 23, 2019 Frame and rear mudguard primed and painted... Then I assembled the frame, and in the process managed to damage some of the paint on the head tube... Also visible there, but not to the naked eye (I only saw it just now when looking at the images) the frame wasn't completely covered at the front. However, fixing the scuff on the head tube luckily seems to have fixed the frame well enough at the same time... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted August 23, 2019 Author Share Posted August 23, 2019 I should add, some more artistic license is used here. The frame should be predominantly the 1 part gold to 5 parts silver mix, with just the rear of the frame in aluminium. But as I'm not doing the bike in the box colours anyway, I reckon aluminium all over will suit what I'm going with more. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonky Donkey Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 Good progress Hoolio - glad to hear you've got your modelling va-va-voom back! Always happy to see a non-standard colour scheme. Out of interest, what colour or mix did you use for the grey/green cylinder heads and belt covers? It looks quite "green" but maybe just the lighting in the photos. W-D 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted August 24, 2019 Author Share Posted August 24, 2019 10 hours ago, Wonky Donkey said: Good progress Hoolio - glad to hear you've got your modelling va-va-voom back! Always happy to see a non-standard colour scheme. Out of interest, what colour or mix did you use for the grey/green cylinder heads and belt covers? It looks quite "green" but maybe just the lighting in the photos. W-D Thanks senor Donkey. According to my scrawled notes it was 1 part Vallejo Intermediate Green to 5 parts Vallejo Gunmetal Grey, there abouts. I work in drops so it was 1 drop green per 5 drops grey, not an exact science. I have no idea if it looks anything like it should, but I love the colour it turned out so what the hell I've been motoring through it now. Its weird, when I wasn't feeling it with stuff in general, the work required for painting the engine parts looked like a lot of faffing and just generally like a chore. It probably seemed like that because of my mood, because when I finally picked it back up I had the engine finished in a day. I finished the stand and the exhaust pipes today. I don't think the pipes are the right colour either, but I do love how they came out. Instructions were orange and silver/chrome 1:1, but I don't have silver or chrome in my collection, aluminium is my go to silver, so I mixed that and my bright orange (used for the wheels a bit further back), and it came out a nice colour. I left the pin on the stand unpainted so it slides into the hub on the rear wheel nicely. Here's the exhaust pipes dry fitted without the silencers... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted August 24, 2019 Author Share Posted August 24, 2019 So this is me done for tonight now. Very satisfied with progress so far 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted August 26, 2019 Author Share Posted August 26, 2019 So on Saturday night I was prepping and priming a load of the small ancillary parts when I discovered one of them had a structural weakness, and while it was still one piece it had begun to hinge at the two tiny joints. So some 0.5mm thick plasticard came to the rescue before it completely separated. Seems to have done the job, was really rigid today. All the parts were painted throughout the day today, as we were having a lazy bank holiday Monday. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted August 28, 2019 Author Share Posted August 28, 2019 I forgot to take photos of the components before hand, but I have now completed the front fork and handlebar assembly... So I then decided to dry fit the fairing with masking tape to see how it all goes together. Is still need to finish the headlights and instrument cluster, the to 'nose' or whatever its called is sat a little low I think. Its kind of annoying how all that engine detail is covered, but for me its the joy of building it more than seeing it. I don't have a display cabinet yet, so they go on the mantlepiece for a short period, then back in the box for safe keeping... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 Busy night tonight, joined the 2 halves of the top section of fairing and reinforced the join with plasticard ready for sanding. Honestly, the pack of plasticard sheets I bought has been so useful recently... Sanding of the seam line revealed putty would be needed, as well as a deep casting imperfection towards the rear and a minor one at the front of the tank. I have some, but rarely use it as I seem to struggle to get a good result... Lets see how this turns out once sanded. The deep one at the rear will need more layers building up after its had time to dry out... Then more plasticard to the rescue, this time user error. You are supposed to push a tiny ring of plastic over a tint ball joint, no more than 1.5mm diameter this ball. But the paint on the ring made it too tight, and semi broke the ball joint off so had to repair that. Used my pin vice drill set to widen the whole in the ring, barely touched it and now the ring wont clip over the ball and falls back off. So I had to make a little 2mm pseudo hex bolt to glue over the top of the ball (after very carefully sanding it flat) to hold the piston in place. Turned out quite well, just needs painting aluminium when the cement has dried over night... Then the night ended on a downer. After carefully painting the brake and clutch fluid reservoirs and gluing them in place I found they foul the windshield fairing completely at any angle, not just when turning. I don't see any way to have them in place and not foul it, so I took them off 😡 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted August 30, 2019 Author Share Posted August 30, 2019 So, the more I looked at it the more I was unhappy with the pseudo hex bolt I made to fix the steering damper calamity, too big, but whats done is done. Then while testing steering reach for something else it fell off, so obviously wasn't well attached. And then my hole punches arrived today, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5mm, so I punched a 1.5mm out of the plasticard, sanded the top of the ball even flatter, and carefully glued it in place. Much happier with it now so painted it aluminium. You can also just see in the background I manged to apply a speedo decal, but the rev one was messed up really bad when it went on. I home printed them, because I bought the kit cheap as it was missing the decal sheet... Then because the rear lights are the only ones without anything behind them I thought the might look dull compared to all the others, so I made a little backing plate which has been primed and will be painted aluminium like the rest of the lights have. The 2 scored lines mark where to scrape away the paint to glue it to the middle piece of the light lens, which will be behind bodywork... And I got my number plate decal applied. The home printed ones are never quite as neat, but I'll tidy it up a little once its fully dried. The close up macro photography doesn't help, it doesn't look anywhere near as bad to the naked eye... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tone1980 Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 Great job so far mate. you're tempting me to make a start on a Kawasaki ZX-12R I've got in the stash.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted September 4, 2019 Author Share Posted September 4, 2019 On 31/08/2019 at 22:42, Tone1980 said: Great job so far mate. you're tempting me to make a start on a Kawasaki ZX-12R I've got in the stash.... Thanks fella. And go for it I say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now