2018 to 2019 Motorcycle Group Build is Timeless. Bikes will be with us til the end of time

Greg

Tonight's update is a quick story, no pics, sorry.

After painstakingly stripping the lifter tubes (I reckon that's what they are), re-chroming then with Alclad, and getting the little peckerheads installed tonight....they looked pretty decent.

Then I decided the cylinder heads could use another slop of enamel wash. Ahem. I sort of forgot about the Alclad not exactly being dissimilar from enamel.

Luckily the glue wasn't quite try from setting them in place so here we go again. They were such a pain to paint the first time I had already hated myself for not just going with the stock chrome, flash and all. Wouldn't never have been noticed. Maybe by tomorrow I'll be able to report on how to sucessfully stip Alclad. Ha ha.

Whine, whine, whine. I was very busy thinking about the flasha and bad fit. I forgot the usual real enemy is me.

 

Greg, sorry to hear of your troubles. I'm sure you'll get it sorted out. Hey, if it was a 1:1 bike, you could just order a new part! 

GMorrison

Just ordered the Tamiya RC 166. Think I will build her without the fairing to show off the engine.

 

Greg, what bike are you building & what scale? 

GMorrison

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Ha!

GMorrison

If you clear coat with acrylic, and here I use the F word; enamel washes, or turpenoid/ oil paint washes, will not attack it.

And, if it looks like dog crap, you can strip it with windex and hopefully not mess up the lacquer/ enamel base colors.

 

I know! I had painstakingly clear coated all the different engine parts (which were a mix of Alclad and Vallejo metal colors) with various degress of shine using my new Mission Model clears. I did this in case I wanted to use a wash.

Just went brain dead on the whole thing. Gee, that's never happened before.

GMorrison

I'm going to strip my crankcase covers. They should be a nice burnished aluminum, not chrome.

Also, I'm gonna start with the wheels just to spite y'all.

Just ordered the Tamiya RC 166. Think I will build her without the fairing to show off the engine.

 

Sounds like a plan. I want to see what you and the guys go with the wheels anyway. I have lots of flash on my spokes, afraid of breaking them.

Just looked up the Tamiya. Looks neat!

Bruce, thanks for your concern. You're right, it would be easier in 1:1, just buy a new part!

I do dumb things like this all the time. My mind wanders. Never goes anywhere though.

Ghost, I'm building Revell's 1/8 scale US Police Motorbike. It's a Revell Germany I think. I didn't realize it is an old kit. Plenty of flash and poor fit. Wasn't expecting that.

I might have something that could work. Let me get home and send you some pics. 

Greg

 I'm building Revell's 1/8 scale US Police Motorbike. It's a Revell Germany I think. I didn't realize it is an old kit. Plenty of flash and poor fit. Wasn't expecting that.

 

One of my favorites was a "drag" bike with an enormous back tire.

Turned out nice!  First to finish.

Wow, she's a real beauty, Ghost.

Nice work, and your metal flake paint job really sets 'er off.

Bill, thanks for the info on the 70's Revell bikes. And the drag bike is pretty cool.

Ghost : Looks great I'll mark you as 1st place finsher

Very nice indeed. Well done!

m

hey guys, some great builds going on here!

here are my entries tnto the group build. the 1/12 scale tamiya honda cr450 and the 1/12 scale aoshima 1/12 scale honda z50j monkey.

the honda monkey coming from japan so it should be here in about a week and a half

or so. i wanted to do somthing out of the norm for this group build. since i used to race

motocross and im also a fan of vintage dirt bikes.

I pulled all the titanium gold pieces off and resprayed - couldn't stand the finish of the alclad with the clear coat.  Better I think

Looking Good keavedog!

keavdog

I pulled all the titanium gold pieces off and resprayed - couldn't stand the finish of the alclad with the clear coat. Better I think

Yes, if the pics of the Clear Coated Alclad were representative, it was well worth it, John. Good looking engine.

Also, good to see some GB activity here.

Finally got engine parts stripped, re-chromed and reassembled after my little wash boo-boo.

.....OOPS, I'm having posting problems with Flickr. I'm sorry, fellas.

I'll get to work on this first thing tomorrow.

Motor is about done, can't say how fun these Tamiya kits are!

Greg, your engine work is always beautiful.

John, Your exhaust bluing looks great 

Thanks.  The camera really picked up the blue.  It's a bit more subtle to the naked eye.

I agree,

the exaust looks great!

John,

The exhuast adds a lot. I really like the tinting, and am thinking of trying it for the first time on mine down the road.

Again, a little jealous of the Tamiya kit as my older Revell is a challenge with each new part.

Here's my engine finally done, I think, after my little Alclad vs enamal wash boo-boo. It was good experience stripping all the Alclad Chrome parts an doing them over I guess.

That looks great Greg!  For the exhaust staining I use tamiya clear orange and clear blue.   Try it on sprue first  

John, thank you for commenting and for the tip to use Tamiya clear orange and blue. I'd not have thought of that, excellent.

Thanks for your kind words, Steve.

My tires don't seem to fit on the rims. To refresh, this is the Revell Germany 1/8 scale US Police Motorbike.

I presume this is an older kit? I wonder if the rubber tires have mishapen over time or something? This is disheartening, sort of a big deal. The mis-fit is pretty bad.

At any rate, I am hoping those of you with experience building motorcycle models might have some insight? Maybe there is something I need to do that I'm not aware of?

The tires are usually a pretty tight fit to get on the rim.  Takes both thumbs working around the tire.

hmmm... For test fitting purposes, I'm just fitting one side of the rim to the tire, then seating the other rim half. It just flops around inside the tire.

Well, maybe not flop around but it's sure not a real fit of any sort. It sure as heck isn't too snug, or anything like what you describe.

I think I'm missing something basic, and I might have messed up trying to trim some more rubber from the I.D.

Thanks for your comment, John.

Got a few hours at the bench tonight - coming along