Bimota Tesi 1D

[gwyndaffandy]

I am going to give this one a go. No bikes are in my cabinet, a mate keeps suggesting I build one. Now seems the perfect opportunity.

I am sadly confident that the decals will be shot so I may have to get creative with the finish.

 

 

[Col.]

Nice!  It's good to see a third bike thread in our GB and I'm personally delighted you've picked the Tesi 

[Alex.B]

Wow… didn’t know they tooled a Bimota!

[cmatthewbacon]

It's supercool.... I shall watch with interest, since I have one among the few bikes in my stash. What are you going to do about the fairing? The Tamiya box-art is lovely, but I believe that they've ghosted the external cladding, so if you want to see the unique engineering you have to leave it off or come up with a cunning plan. This one would really benefit from a  Clear View version...

best,

M.

[gwyndaffandy]

10 hours ago, Alex.B said:

Wow… didn’t know they tooled a Bimota!

Was back in the early 90s. They pop up on eBay every so often. 

10 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

It's supercool.... I shall watch with interest, since I have one among the few bikes in my stash. What are you going to do about the fairing? The Tamiya box-art is lovely, but I believe that they've ghosted the external cladding, so if you want to see the unique engineering you have to leave it off or come up with a cunning plan. This one would really benefit from a  Clear View version...

best,

M.

This is definitely one where the clear view version makes a lot of sense. I haven’t yet figured out how the display will be in the end. There are a couple of factors to consider. 1. How much mess do I need to cover up and 2. Can I get a rider on it?

I also need to figure out what to do if the decals are shot. I have a couple of ideas but need to see if my skills are up to them.

[FG2Si]

I built this when it first came out. It was a really enjoyable build at the time. 

 

On 8/21/2025 at 3:51 AM, gwyndaffandy said:

I also need to figure out what to do if the decals are shot. I have a couple of ideas but need to see if my skills are up to them.

 

Hobbyeasy has a listing for a company doing some. 

 

https://www.hobbyeasy.com/en/data/qpscl8oiy1gvbbf2p1ou.html

 

I have no idea on the quality though but could be an option. 

 

Carl

[gwyndaffandy]

2 hours ago, FG2Si said:

I built this when it first came out. It was a really enjoyable build at the time. 

 

 

Hobbyeasy has a listing for a company doing some. 

 

https://www.hobbyeasy.com/en/data/qpscl8oiy1gvbbf2p1ou.html

 

I have no idea on the quality though but could be an option. 

 

Carl

Thanks for that link Carl, looks like they are a very new release so that is a great find. I have hopefully ordered some so I will find out what they are like. Fingers crossed

[RossFMJ]

18 hours ago, gwyndaffandy said:

Thanks for that link Carl, looks like they are a very new release so that is a great find. I have hopefully ordered some so I will find out what they are like. Fingers crossed

The same company make a brake disc kit for it as well, which Hobby Easy stock, that looks really good for £8. If you haven't bought from them before, you don't pay straight away, you get a confirmation email but you need to make payment to them from Paypal after they confirm they have the stock (they don't send a Paypal Invoice, you have to do the work to their email).  Sometimes they don't confirm by email and you have to look on your order page. They're a fine company in my experience, but flippin' confusing to buy from.

 

Oh yes, great kit by the way, I don't remember them doing it but a great bike to model.

Edited August 28 by RossFMJ
,

[gwyndaffandy]

5 hours ago, RossFMJ said:

The same company make a brake disc kit for it as well, which Hobby Easy stock, that looks really good for £8. If you haven't bought from them before, you don't pay straight away, you get a confirmation email but you need to make payment to them from Paypal after they confirm they have the stock (they don't send a Paypal Invoice, you have to do the work to their email).  Sometimes they don't confirm by email and you have to look on your order page. They're a fine company in my experience, but flippin' confusing to buy from.

 

Oh yes, great kit by the way, I don't remember them doing it but a great bike to model.

I agree with the confusing bit 😀

I saw the brake disc kit as well so chucked it in the basket as well. I have checked my order and the status is “request seller confirm”. Hopefully the seller will have some ready to go but as a shopping method it will take some getting used to I think.

[gwyndaffandy]

Today I received my parcel from Hobby Easy containing the decals and the brake disk parts from Khaled models. With those now in hand I have what I need to start my build. 
If I manage to complete this one it will be my first finished 1/12 bike for about 30 years. I did build one or two as a youth and started the Honda motocross bike and rider but have paused that for some long forgotten reason. As such I am approaching this as my first motorbike and will get some item names wrong. Please correct me 👍
I had committed to this bike before I became aware of the decals being released and have been thinking about potential finishing options if my decals were shot. I came up with the following:

1. Do the bodywork in carbon fibre

2. Try and cast my own fairings in clear resin - I think Tamiya missed a trick with not doing them in clear given the unique steering system

3. Paint it in some racing bike scheme as a fantasy what if. 
with new decals, I am now considering a 4th option, use the red decals on a black base. 
 

I am going to give casting my own a go. I am not going to try too hard though, it will either work, or it won’t. 
 

So, here are the parts, my first observation is that there aren’t a scary amount of them and they are really big. 
 

The engine sprue, this is a Ducati power plant

This is the sprue with the exhausts and the front and rear swing arms

 

The frame and the fairings are in a very shiny white plastic

The same shiny plastic is used on the tank and seat bits. The kit provides a self-adhesive spongy foam sheet for the seat pads but that has definitely perished.

The clear sprue covers the screen and the light lenses

 

And finally, the last bits from the Tamiya box are the rubber tyres, pipes, springs and screws

 

The Khaled models decals compared to the kit ones. The shapes look very similar although the red seems deeper and the white is definitely whiter. It would have been to have the bimota logo provided without the red background as well like the Tamiya sheet does, but they look good to my eye. Proof will be when they are used though

 

The final bits are the brake disk parts. 

From the Hobby Easy site, the photo shows the disk in the pink holders in a rotary tool, there are no instructions so I am not sure what the purpose of this is  

 

[Col.]

1 hour ago, gwyndaffandy said:

From the Hobby Easy site, the photo shows the disk in the pink holders in a rotary tool, there are no instructions so I am not sure what the purpose of this is  

 

My guess is this allows you to lightly sand the swept area of the disc to give it a used look.

[RossFMJ]

I'll second what @Col. says. Mount the disc in the mandrel (metal rod thingy) in a small drill and spin it up and rub some sandpaper on it to give a used disc effect.

I've seen a fair few bike kits made up with the fairing separate, up on trestles or the like, so that you can see all the gubbins on display. You really don't want to miss that hub-steer action.

I'm glad you managed to work out how to pay Hobby Easy, that set of brakes looks ace for the money

[gwyndaffandy]

Thanks @Col., @RossFMJ  that makes sense. I am assuming I need to glue the disks into pairs to make them a bit thicker? I will know more when I make a start as the callipers will need to fit on them properly 

[Col.]

I'd definitely test fit a single and pair of discs into the calliper body before committing to glue.

[Pedro52]

@gwyndaffandy, mind it I pull up a chair for this one, committed one for nexts years 90's GB if it gets through.

 

Have look over here https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1991-bimota-tesi-1d-904-sr/  Plenty of reference photo's

[gwyndaffandy]

On 16/09/2025 at 08:46, Pedro52 said:

@gwyndaffandy, mind it I pull up a chair for this one, committed one for nexts years 90's GB if it gets through.

 

Have look over here https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1991-bimota-tesi-1d-904-sr/  Plenty of reference photo's

Great link. Thank you and welcome. Please make sure your chair is comfy as this build may take me a while. 
This will fit very neatly into the 90s GB if it gets through, it definitely will be getting my vote

[gwyndaffandy]

A couple of weeks later and I have actually cut and glued some plastic. I started by painting the sprues in a black primer. The black I use is Vallejo black primer. It is a very good match for the AK flat black paint marker which means I can touch up the sprue connection points easily. 
The construction begins with the engine block. As expected from a Tamiya kit the parts breakdown is sensible and the fit is perfect. 
So far this is just the black with some silver picked out in AK paint marker Aluminium and some metallic grey picked out with a pencil. I tried the paint marker on the letters but I wasn’t neat enough so I blacked it out and used the pencil. 
 

 

[2996 Victor]

Great start on this, and those AM parts look pretty special! 

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Col.]

Good to see you getting started into this one

[gwyndaffandy]

On 06/10/2025 at 12:22, 2996 Victor said:

Great start on this, and those AM parts look pretty special! 

 

Cheers,

Mark

Thanks Mark, they do look good. I am looking forward to getting them on the bike. I haven’t used 3D printed parts before so he removal from the supports is going to be interesting 

On 06/10/2025 at 13:04, Col. said:

Good to see you getting started into this one

It is slow at the moment Col, I am finding more challenges than I had expected but I will get through them.

[gwyndaffandy]

Progress has been slow on this engineering masterpiece. It isn’t a fault of the kit, more my inexperience with bikes. Where I have had moments of indecision are around the order of painting and building. With armour or cars I am pretty confident what can be assembled and still painted and what is easier to paint before assembly. With this bike there are contrasting colours that would be awful to mask after building and I don’t know what is visible at the end….

Add to that the construction sequence which makes everything fit doesn’t fit with my last airbrush standards where as much of the same colour gets sprayed at the same time. Will bits still fit???

 

Anyway,I chose this bike so I just need to get on with it. 
Since I built the engine I have had a play with the exhausts and then painted some of the frame and the swing arms. 
All were painted in Vallejo black primer with shades from the AK Xtreme metal range over the top. 
Where the parts need mounting for painting I drill a small hole in a hidden surface, usually a mounting point, with a 0.25mm micro drill bit. I then put a dab of superglue on the end of a disposable needle. Insert this into the hole and they are ready for spraying. 

The exhausts are six pieces, the big cylinders are in 2 halves and there are pipes that join from the back of the engine for each side. I triple checked the instructions and these can be glued together before painting. 

 

these were then painted with Duraluminium and they then came apart

The frame in polished aluminium 

 

And the swing arms. 

 

[Col.]

Careful progress is progress that does not need to be redone or repaired Andy and is therefore good progress

[FG2Si]

The metallic paints look so much nicer and realistic compared to the old silver/aluminum paints used in the past. 

[gwyndaffandy]

12 hours ago, FG2Si said:

The metallic paints look so much nicer and realistic compared to the old silver/aluminum paints used in the past. 

Thanks, the colours don’t look that different in the bottles but I am hoping when they are together on the bike they will give a nice variation 

[gwyndaffandy]

Another 2 weeks have passed and there is little progress. I expressed a desire to try casting the fairings in clear resin to show the workings of the front suspension / steering mechanism. 
This has taken me a lot longer than I expected. I have used some silicon moulding putty and some Lego to create the mould. Due to inexperience and poor planning I have ordered these piecemeal rather than in one go. 
I started off with some pretend Lego to provide a solid perimeter for my mould. I went for the cheapest option hence the mostly grey colours

I built this up to reduce the amount of putty needed and made it the right size for the piece
 

 

Next up was to add the silicon putty to the mould. This is a 2 part putty, you mix it together and when the colour is uniform you are good to go. I pressed this into my Lego box and then added the piece. The cocktail sticks are for me to add the resin

I then waited a few weeks as I had underestimated the amount of putty needed. When the latest batch was delivered I set about making the other half of the mould. I tried adding some soap between the two layers as a barrier. It didn’t really work and I ended up with a knife to separate the two halves. 
 

I now have the 2 halves separated and am pleased to announce there is no damage to the kit piece. 

Next up will be to try adding the resin. I want this to work as I think it will give an interesting view of the engineering. I partly don’t want it to work as I will have to do the other side. As yet I don’t really have a clue what will happen next….