MFH 1/9th Brough Superior

[nick]

Well it's finally arrived from Japan - my MFH Brough!

 

 

A surprisingly small box choc full of stuff,

 

 

While I was waiting for it to arrive, I thought I'd 'get my eye in' with a very quick and dirty build of an Italeri Triumph 3HW to see what this 1/9th bike stuff is all about

 

 

Rough as hell, so the less said about that the better.

 

So to the matter at hand, I have been experimenting with the different finishes I can get with the white metal the kit is made from, by buffing, polishing, and using pigments and washes, and it's a surprising range in fairness,

 

 

Needs more work, but way more shiny than I would have thought possible given the starting point on the right

 

Used a mixture of techniques to get the patina on the main casing

 

cylinder base is polished and dipped in Klear

 

More to follow!

 

Regards,

 

Nick

[JeroenS]

That's nice work. I'll be following this. Not really into bikes but these "vintage" models I do like. And you're doing great stuff with the white metal so that should be interesting in itself. Could you expand a little more on what products you used and in what order?

[CrazyCrank]

I'll be following too, lovely start

 

[Jo NZ]

A J.A.P. KTOR  motor, just like Bloody Mary has. Interesting!

 

(I have to put the full stops into J.A.P., otherwise the wonderful self correcting software changes it (only when you publish, mind you) to Japanese

Edited February 9, 2020 by Jo NZ
Dreadful self editing software

[Sabrejet]

I too am following: MFH are the best kits in the world and any build is worth a look. And regarding J.A.P, it's always been pronounced 'japp' (let's see if that gets through) but a friend who is a motorsport commentator of many years has always said it should be pronounced 'Jay-ay-pee'. Since he has decades of motorbike experience I'd bow to his opinion.

[nick]

J.A.Prestwich and Company Limited I'm reliable informed.

 

Some more progress, I'm loving these chains:-

 

Great construction method too, there's a jig in the kit and all the rollers come on a carrier,

 

The photo etched links are completely separate from the plate they are made from and are just attached to a clear backing sheet, so no cleanup is required, We like.

 

I've turned my attention to the cylinder bases now (see what I did there?) I've seen both black painted and polished versions, so I thought I would go for polished.

The castings are far too soft to go in a chuck, so I made a tool to turn them in the lathe:-

 

I then spun them up, taking a few thou off until there were no pits remaining

 

Then polished with T-Cut again in the lathe, Quite happy with the result

 

I'm still working on the fins of the cylinders. I've learnt already that this kit has more in common with my long running HMS Victory build that a normal kit from the likes of Tamiya.

 

We are so used to just cutting a perfectly formed part off a sprue, cleaning it up a bit then painting it, so this thing comes as a bit of a shock. Every part is there, but each has to be treated as a mini project in itself, especially to prepare for paint, or it just looks terrible.

 

With this kit, you are more or less making every part, not just assembling it.  I quite like that to be honest.

 

Stay tuned for the next exciting installment - possibly even featuring paint!

 

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

[kpnuts]

That's looking impressive so far

[Kev The Modeller]

These kits are amazing, I'll be closely following along 

[nick]

A bit more progress, although slow - the cylinder heads particularly are a bugger to cleanup it turns out and I'm having to saw some of the fin details in which is hair-raising to say the least.

 

Really struggling with paint as well to be honest, I don't think my primer has enough bite for the white metal, stuff is chipping so easily it's ridiculous.

 

I'm just using automotive rattle cans for primer which is usually fine, not today, I need to find something with more etch to it - suggestions anyone?

 

 

 

[Codger]

Yes - metal etching primer ! Eastwood in the USA makes a good one but I'm sure Hannants or other UK suppliers carry one.

[nick]

Just been reading up on priming white metal. Turns out I don’t need etching primer as it has no effect on non ferrous metals. Looks like I maybe just haven’t cleaned my surfaces enough before priming. 

 

going to try a process of prepping with a suede brass brush, scrubbing with a soft brush and Vim (an ancient scouring product in the UK!) then washing with thinners. Then the rattle cans I have already should stick, I’m reliably informed by the live steam loco building fraternity - their paint does need to stick properly and they use a lot of white metal, so I’m banking on them knowing what they are talking about! They also say it’s important to warm everything up too BTW. 

 

let’s see how I get on. 

[Sabrejet]

Never had a problem with white metal; good old Halfords white or grey works fine. A quick buff with scotchbrite before painting is all I do.

[Wonky Donkey]

Enjoying this, matey. You're right that it's a different kinda modelling experience than the "usual" but it's showing off your skills really well! 

 

W-D 

[Stevejj]

WANT ONE so I'm off to rob a bank to finance it..........lol. I guess i will have to see if Santa loves me this year!!!

[nick]

_{I think I’ve solved my paint problem by thoroughly cleaning everything with trusty MR muscle foaming oven cleaner, using latex gloves to handle from that point, sitting in thinners for a bit after that, (the bike parts, not me, that would be strange) then priming with Mr Metal primer.}
 

_{Which is completely weird by the way, as it’s clear and you can’t see where you’ve applied - why would you want primer to be clear? Don’t get it.} 
 

_{anyway, left everything to properly harden for a long time, hence the delay in posting, and the paint is adhering well.}

 

_{pictures to follow.} 

[nick]

I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be enjoying self-isolation, but hey, what can you do?

 

Been plugging away at this beast anyway, no updates for you guys, but quite a bit of progress.

 

Here's a crop of cylinder vanes, as you can see (not!) coated with my weird, clear, metal primer

 

 

An here's the latest progress of all the bits I've been working on, cobbled together for a photo. 

 

 

and some detail shots

 

 

It's even got individual little PE clutch plates! bless.

 

 

I'm liking the wheels

 

 

The hubs are a composite of PE plates (to get all the spoke holes so close and accurate) and castings all sandwiched together, great design.

 

 

Thanks for looking, no doubt more to follow!

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Schwarz-Brot]

Keep them sweet pictures coming! I love it.

[Codger]

A stunning project. Nick, are the MFH instructions adequate?

[nick]

13 minutes ago, Codger said:

A stunning project. Nick, are the MFH instructions adequate?

Just about. The main issue is that the parts are numbered on the plans as you would expect, but apart from the PE and resin, there is nothing to tie the numbers back to the many, many similar looking castings.
There is a key to help identify the various cast bolts and fixings, but nothing to identify the rest. You can see the instructions on the MFH website actually in the gallery of the finished model at the end, they are nicely done CAD full colour etc and pretty good apart from the numbering thing. 

[MikeH]

I'm really enjoying this build Nick. Great progress so far & I'm looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.

 

Regards

 

Mike

[Alan R]

These MFH bike kits are amazing.

I wish I could stump up the dosh!

 

Cheers,

Alan.

[nick]

on a roll now, pretty much finished the engine today

 

]

 

I do like the valve springs! 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Nick

[penfold]

Oh my god, what a kit, and beautiful work....................but I hate to say this, I think there may be a problem, hopefully it isn't too late to be looked into.  You said earlier that you had seen cylinder bases both bright metal and black, That's correct. I'm 99% certain, and forgive me either way for this, but I spent a LOT of time around vintage motorcycles over the last forty years, the original J.A.P.V-twins as used by Brough Superior, Morgan, Coventry-Eagle, McEvoy and others ALL had cast-iron cylinders, rough textured and dark in appearance, fro the fins to the crankcase (they are the same chunk of metal).  The cylinders you have seen with polished metal finishes in that area are more modern replicas, manufactured by lathe-turning alloy billets in small numbers because the originals are the proverbial wooden horse excreta. If you wish your machine to represent a completely 1920s/early 30s machine, those cylinders should be a dark matt finish, cast iron, so black with a hint of brown. Don't take my word, check the photographs again, preferably 1920s photos, as of course some old bikes have had replacement cylinders.        

        Oh, and in response to an earlier post, while technically it should be JayAyPee, no-one ever calls them that, they have been called JAPP since the 1920s, as it wasn't like the Japanese made motorcycles or anything......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 26, 2020 by penfold
Deautocorrecting

[nick]

2 hours ago, penfold said:

Oh my god, what a kit, and beautiful work....................but I hate to say this, I think there may be a problem, hopefully it isn't too late to be looked into.  You said earlier that you had seen cylinder bases both bright metal and black, That's correct. I'm 99% certain, and forgive me either way for this, but I spent a LOT of time around vintage motorcycles over the last forty years, the original J.A.P.V-twins as used by Brough Superior, Morgan, Coventry-Eagle, McEvoy and others ALL had cast-iron cylinders, rough textured and dark in appearance, fro the fins to the crankcase (they are the same chunk of metal).  The cylinders you have seen with polished metal finishes in that area are more modern replicas, manufactured by lathe-turning alloy billets in small numbers because the originals are the proverbial wooden horse excreta. If you wish your machine to represent a completely 1920s/early 30s machine, those cylinders should be a dark matt finish, cast iron, so black with a hint of brown. Don't take my word, check the photographs again, preferably 1920s photos, as of course some old bikes have had replacement cylinders.        

        Oh, and in response to an earlier post, while technically it should be JayAyPee, no-one ever calls them that, they have been called JAPP since the 1920s, as it wasn't like the Japanese made motorcycles or anything......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the nice comments and info. I'm building this for my own satisfaction and cherry picking various bits from various sources as I go along - as you will see from my take on the magdyno in the next posting.

 

It's just going to sit next to my Alfa 8C in my home cinema, so I'm going for visual appeal over accuracy! Thanks for the info.

 

As you've been around these things by the sound of it, I've drawn a blank on the oil pipe runs - the kit has them tucked behind a handy bracket, so one end of two pipes don't go anywhere - this offends me  any sources for pipe runs?

 

Thanks

 

Nick

[penfold]

4 minutes ago, nick said:

Thanks for the nice comments and info. I'm building this for my own satisfaction and cherry picking various bits from various sources as I go along - as you will see from my take on the magdyno in the next posting.

 

It's just going to sit next to my Alfa 8C in my home cinema, so I'm going for visual appeal over accuracy! Thanks for the info.

 

As you've been around these things by the sound of it, I've drawn a blank on the oil pipe runs - the kit has them tucked behind a handy bracket, so one end of two pipes don't go anywhere - this offends me  any sources for pipe runs?

 

Thanks

 

Nick

If you're happy, I'm happy, and it will look gorgeous either way. Hope this helps your oil pipe runs....   https://www.yesterdays.nl/site/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Tornax-1929-3002-3.jpg