Built an Italeri bike?

The Italeri bike kits are a bit of an disappointment. Big scale, big price and big frustration. I have a decent amount of experience building Tamiya's bike kits, and it's only the diversasity of the Italeri kits that allow me to look past the short comings of the kits. Details are incredibly soft, fit is problematic, and the some pieces don't seem to be in the same scale as the rest of the kits. I'm pretty sure these are old Protar molds. At least Italeri got rid of those horrific "chains'. Those were a nightmare to do right. I'm working on the MV Agusta F4, and it's been a lot of work and I don't have high hopes for a build that I can brag about. I find these Italeri bikes look good from a distance (30 cm) whereas the Tamiya kits look great close up even if your skills aren't up to show standards. The Manx that I built looks okay, but I know making it look good was beyond my skills. The wheels for example look awful. Spoke wheels are hard in any scale, but when they have flash your in for a struggle before you even begin. I am very biased towards Tamiya in spite of the lack of new subjects. The Italeri kits are okay if you can get them cheap and have reasonable expectations. Tamiya's RC211V is a work of art and the only problems I had was fitting the upper and lower fairing together. Painting are decaling are difficult, but if you take your time it will look good. Go slow and test fit everything, including decals. It's a beautiful bike and a great kit.

I am currently working on the Italerie Norton Manx, and I am a bit disappointed.
It is a bit of a rough build and will need a lot of massaging to get it to look good.
This particular piece might be an ex-Protar, and if that is the case, I will be in for some extra work, as I do have some other Protar stuff in the pile.
RAy

Hi,

The 1/9 are OK. They can be a bit hit and miss on fit. As for 1/6 I was very dissapointed. For this size detail is poor and lots of fit problems.
Sorry to sound so down about 1/6 but I was really pi**ed off with it.

Paul

Follow the link to a build at Automtive forums. http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=265429

Niclas

The only 1:9 bikes I've built thusfar, was (don't laugh) the old Protar stuff. That was quite nice to do. And the bigger bike does look impressive - just don't display it with your 1:12 stuff!

I suspect the bike portion of Protar is what is now the Italeri bikes. So to answer your question, I have not built one, but if it actually is the Protars rebranded and they kept up the quality and detail, I'd almost certainly try one myself. Except the mrs will kill me if I pitch up with another kit on my to-do heap at this stage!

But that price seems a bit steep. I can buy it locally for less - and I almost never buy locally due to it being so expensive over here (in South Africa). Shop around a bit, I'm pretty sure you might be able to find it cheaper somewhere. Tried HLJ yet? I know they stock some Italeri.