Tamiya Honda NSR 500, 1986 - Freddie Spencer

[slippers]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scandalous that Tamiya omitted Freddie Spencer's decals from this kit. Shame on them.

Alright, he hardly rode the thing, but that wasn't his fault (taken out in the first race of 86).

 

His exploits in 85 - winning both the 250 and 500cc championships - surely should have given buyers of this kit the choice of giving him the No. 1.

 

Edited November 7, 2021 by slippers
Added pics

[kiseca]

Great looking bike and a rider who was one of the greats in a decade that had no shortage of great riders. Also kind of surprised that his decals aren't included in the kit, but I shouldn't be, as I looked through 1980s bike kits quite a lot looking for Spencer and Mamola bikes and of course Spencer's 1986 Honda didn't pop up 

[Stef N.]

Very nice bike. Painting and decaling are super smooth. Top job slippers.👍

[TonyW]

That's a hard as nails looking bike, beautifully built. 

[slippers]

17 hours ago, kiseca said:

Great looking bike and a rider who was one of the greats in a decade that had no shortage of great riders. Also kind of surprised that his decals aren't included in the kit, but I shouldn't be, as I looked through 1980s bike kits quite a lot looking for Spencer and Mamola bikes and of course Spencer's 1986 Honda didn't pop up 

Cheers. 

I hope that you have - or have already built - the Tamiya  NS from 83 and the NSR from 84 ( upside-down fuel tank)? Both with Spencer's numbers as the flagship. 

 

 

15 hours ago, Stef N. said:

Very nice bike. Painting and decaling are super smooth. Top job slippers.👍

 

Thanks.

The original decals were pristine, even after 34 years, but I ballsed up the placement of one on the front fairing. This knocked everything else that was due to go below it out of line.

Upshot was that I sourced the Studio27 set; which meant that I didn't have to scavenge my leftover decals - and another kit - for Spencer's bits and bobs.

They clearly look better than the originals!

 

 

11 hours ago, TonyW said:

That's a hard as nails looking bike, beautifully built. 

 

You're too kind.

 

Unfortunately, it doesn't look as mean on display as it's facing its future self from 89; which, imo, puts it to shame in terms of appearance. 

 

 

[kiseca]

1 hour ago, slippers said:

Cheers. 

I hope that you have - or have already built - the Tamiya  NS from 83 and the NSR from 84 ( upside-down fuel tank)? Both with Spencer's numbers as the flagship. 

 

 

 

 

 

I have the 1983 NS500 bike. For me the Rothmans colours are the iconic look for Hondas from the 1980s. I had built one in the late 1980s when I was a kid and I really liked it then, so it's a model I'm vaguely familiar with and when I bought the replacement, the box and instructions all stirred old memories of that build. So it was an easy choice for me between the two (I didn't want both).

 

You are right, the 1989 bike looks a lot meaner than its predecessor!