cmatthewbacon Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 So, this showed up yesterday, after air mail from Hong Kong resumed. I've given it a wipe down with 99% alcohol ;-P. It's the "pre-coloured" version. The whole thing is by way of an experiment. I wanted to find my way around my first motorbike model before embarking on the Tamiya Ducati Panigale or Matchbox Vincent Black Shadow that are lurking in the stash, and I wanted something a bit less involved between the XJS and the Heller F1 car that is waiting on the bench. Plus I wanted to see how a Meng precoloured no-glue kit was engineered and went together before deciding whether to invest in the upcoming large scale GT40 in the same format... It's a big box... Which is well filled... Creating a bit of a problem with bench space. There are multiple different paint finishes and plating effects, etch parts, vinyl tubes, rubber tyres, and many, many tiny screws. Time to begin. A bit of Citadel wash and drybrushing for relief, but otherwise OOB. The frame is a nice bit of plating and coating, which would require candy green if you had to paint it yourself. The hardest part of the build so far was getting that rear brake hose onto the stub fitting on the frame... As you can see, it's quite a speedy build! best, M. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCH Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 That's a hell of a OOB kit. The molding flash on the frame is the only issue. You've not painted anything, just highlights?!?! I'll be watching for the final reveal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share Posted July 10, 2020 Some more progress this evening: If I was doing this again, I would strip the chrome effect off the exhaust, build the whole thing, then prime and paint with appropriate heat discoloration effects. It's the only assembly so far that I think doesn't do the real thing justice... That said, the engineering of the complex 4 into 2 into one headers is stone-cold brilliant. Each pair of pipes has complementary semicircular locating tabs with a "key", so when you bring them together into the lower Y joint piece, the only way they fit results in the top pins going into the engine being correctly aligned with the exhaust ports. You just have to make sure you get the right pipes in pairs (1+3, 2+4). I don't know where this version of the exhaust is sold (China? Japan?) but it's not quite what you get in a UK or US market version... best, M. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natter Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 Ooooooh - nifty 'practice' model. To be honest Matt, having seen the results of your car model builds you'll find the Panigale or Black Shadow an absolute breeze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted July 11, 2020 Author Share Posted July 11, 2020 @Natter... too kind. I'm starting to understand much better how a motorbike is put together... Built the front forks this afternoon... Which then fit like this: That lower hose from the radiator into the engine block is a great example of just how well engineered this kit is. It just press fits neatly into the radiator and the other end is in the right place on the block to snap into position. No glue, no fixings... it just goes in and stays in. And then you build the fuel tank. This smoked, mirrored effect would be REALLY hard to achieve at home with paint... So now I know why the kit comes a rather high quality microfibre cleaning cloth... best, M. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted July 12, 2020 Author Share Posted July 12, 2020 Slow and steady progress. The rear lights are again, nicely engineered, but a bit fiddly to get together! And don't forget the main rubber saddle piece... don't ask! I think this is going to be quite a serious-looking piece of machinery when I'm done... best, M. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 22 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said: I think this is going to be quite a serious-looking piece of machinery when I'm done... best, M. You can say that again, it already looks a pretty serious piece of machinery now. If that's how it comes out of the box, it almost makes a mockery of all the painting we do - I'm sure you must have done more than just bung it together and throw a wash over it. It's looking great, good work. And by complete coincidence, one of these came past me on the M25 today... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coors54 Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 On 12 July 2020 at 10:28 PM, cmatthewbacon said: I think this is going to be quite a serious-looking piece of machinery when I'm done... But butt ugly...... in my opinion! The kit though looks quite amazing, it promises well for the upcoming GT40, one question Matthew, do you get little plugs to conceal the screws holding the frame together? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fnick Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 On 11/07/2020 at 22:28, cmatthewbacon said: This smoked, mirrored effect would be REALLY hard to achieve at home with paint... Hi Matthew. Really nice kit you've got there. Don't know if you have heard of a YouTube modeller called plasmo but in response to the quote above you may want to check this out. https://youtu.be/15nPDcuqDTI Cheers Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted July 14, 2020 Author Share Posted July 14, 2020 Eeekkk... I give up. Err, no, not really 😜 Anyway, it's finished now. Proper photos in RFI tomorrow when I've cleaned up all the shiny bits. The supplied cloth is excellent, by the way. I shall be holding onto it for the final clean up on shiny car builds! The decals are good, the self-adhesive metal scripts rather harder to manage! best, M. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 That's quite remarkable ‼️ You only started a couple of days ago! These kits are something else, by the look of it. As for the appearance of the bike, I guess I'm a bit old school and a Triumph T100S would be more my cup of tea ☕ But I don't suppose they'll be doing one of those any time soon. But your build is eye wateringly fast and clean. Wow...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted August 25, 2020 Share Posted August 25, 2020 Just ordered one from China, wanted something to build but without the hassel of all the painting/masking which has killed my mojo recently, especially when things just seem to go wrong. All that work and the clear coat goes haywire for some unknown reason undoing all that effort. Managed to get the metal fork set at a steal, just hope it fits this kit as it says for the H2R, but as far as I can tell there's no difference between the two kits there Going to clean up the seams and repaint the frame as the real UK ones don't seem to be painted that green anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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