Production Bikes GB 06 (March 01, 2006 - March 01, 2007)

http://www.finescale.com/FSM/CS/forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=610252

NY-autoshow pictures.  Got a ton of shots of the suzuki bike in there.  I just love the exhaust on it.

archangel571 wrote:

Yup, but the discs sure look good after all the holes are crossdrilled for real.  I am curious about how you plan to convert that front suspension.

wolfpac wrote:

Conversion process of Ducati Desmo Forks (I also picked up a pin vise, holy time consuming Batman) Comapro of Ducati forks to stock forks:

Yup, but the discs sure look good after all the holes are crossdrilled for real. 

I am curious about how you plan to convert that front suspension.

As for my progress, I actually chopped half the body cowling off of a ducati 900 mike hailwood replica (900MHR) two nights ago at like 4am in attempt to somewhat get the bike close to the look of a 900SS, only to realize just now that it just wouldn't look right even with my plan to change the rear piece and the seat and the additional turn signals.  The supersport half fairing is simply different from the top half of the MHR.  Being that it's only a 13 dollar kit anyhow I will just go nuts with it and make up my own bike, oh well.  Will post some pictures this weekend.

Shayne, I spy a desmo and the fairings of your unfinished KR500 in the background.

shayne wright wrote:

Well.I have finally gotten around to starting duc monster(have been a wee bit busy last few weeks) bike looks a bit bare at moment have to apply all of the c/f every where ,Italeri have to do some work on the rear damper as it is in one word  shit.+ they have made the tyres very realistic ,they are veryyyy tight to get on the rims just like real ones .in fact they are that tight that i split rear tyre trying to get it on rim here are some of the progress pic's so far.

Andrew : VERY clean build! That Honda turned out great.

Shayne: Nice to see some progress on that monster. Locks like a handfull with that damper... keep it comming, with your skill you'll manage it.

Wolfpac: get that vise and you'll be able to make those extra details on your bikes. It's not only the disc rotors, when you get that done you'll start looking at PE rivets... CF work looks good!

My best to all of you

Joel

Damn nice build Andrew!!!

I started working on the Honda NR this past weekend.  I'm working on doing a little conversion for it.  I took the Ohlins front fork set of the Ducati Desmo and will be using it, along with the triples and controls.  I need to find a way to get some spacers in there since the stock wheels are too small (any suggestions?).  I also need to cut out the front portion of the gas tank to allow the damper to fit as well, along with pasting on the damper mounting joint to the tank.  I CF'ed the undertail using Scale Motorsports 1/20 CF sheet.  Turned out okay, still needs some trimming though.  I'll post some pics tonight.

Hi Back from Sudan. Honda CX500 Turbo completed. currently working on Ducati 916 Senna. Parts cleaned and primary coats of paint completed

So, how's it going for everyone?? I'm back from the States since saturday and trying to cope with jet lag... I have to do an essay about the trip before I can start getting some work done on the R1.

/Joel

small... BUMP~

i've been ignoring the CBR for a little while trying to churn out 3 other kits within 4 weeks just in time for mosquito con in NJ just for the heck of it.  i am one of them clutch player guys so without any good pressure i will be in the sofa channel surfing.  hope everyone else is getting some good progress.

I see.  yea that kinda does suck a lot.  I can feel your pain after ruining my nsr500 after clear coating.  I have yet to get back to it.

Shayne, they do have their 1/6 beasts which sure cost 2 to 3 times more than those 1/9 Italeri kits.  But that's to the detail level of having working suspension and all.  I got myself 2 of them newer Honda monkey and gorilla mini bikes recently and boy they are cool as hell.  I wonder why they kinda just stopped releasing them after a while.  It'd be pretty cool to have a 1/6 RC211V on the displayshelf and well worth the probable 300 bucks they are gonna charge us eh???

Archangel it was not the tail pipe that split but the tail piece  I have sprayed and decaled all the body parts and was polishing the final clear cote when the tail piece split leaving me with a real mess, Just think of glue, sanding and touch up with the decals literally millimetres away - ouch! The missus says I should order the spares body parts and decal sheet from HLJ so I may do that in the near future when I have another spares order but for now concentrating on the Honda CX500 as that is nearing completion.

Very nice detail on the engine Andrew.

I love the crisp look of your builds

Honda CX500 Turbo: Progressing reasonably well but masking the cowling for all the grills was a mission, hope no decals peel of after painting

Living in Africa we do not get too many of the paint products for aluminum finishes here or if they are available they are very expensive . I use bare metal foil and have found it to be quite successful especially for exhausts like on the Honda 400F and Honda 750 F where I used the chrome foil and it turned out OK . The preparation of the parts is critical as any flaw or seam will show through the foil and you do need to be patient and apply the foil carefully it is very thin .

The gold and black BMF are great for the stanchions of the front forks producing quite a realistic effect.

Here are some photos of the Honda 400F. The rear cans of the exhaust are covered in foil but judge the results for yourself . I will spray the foil with a clear coat next time as it appears that with time the foil oxidizes and becomes slightly dull

Andrew

wow, the decals ARE in nice condition.  how come some of those open box ones I got from ebay has crapped out decals??!! 

as for the ducati kits, yea i ended up getting the super sport 900 and the NCR on ebay for like 40 shipped... each...  (@#$%@$%@)  which is insane of a price tag when the reissued MHR was 13 bucks...  it's just not right.

I have never quite figured out why Tamiya discontinue a kit for up to 20 years. I have been looking for the Ducati 900 NCR but have never even see the kit.  I fortunately have a Ducati 900ss but would love to build a couple for my “built collection”. Maybe with all the new Ducati GP4’s Tamiya will reissue some of the older Ducati kits?  Hope so Mr. Tamiya as I would buy a couple of each of the older Ducati kits (except 900MHR)

Progress photos on Honda CX500 Turbo. The kit is one I bought 18 years ago so I hope the decals are sill OK?

Andrew

Alrite alrite I couldn't wait for another weekend to start on them...  got some minor work done today while watching movies off of the PC the whole time.  Mostly just filling body cowlings and primered them for both the CBR and the katana.  Still needs some touch up but considering my past experience they came out ...okay.  Drilled out the cleaning holes for the CBR's brake discs as well.  I think I made the holes too big...  and still got a bit of thinning work to do for them.

as for the combiner in the background... that's from my narrow gauge bachmann 2-6-0 Mogul for colorado & southern.  took it out for Xmas but the girlfriend managed to break the door glasses off...

Alrite, guess it's time I finally order alclad chrome then.  I only have their aluminum, polished aluminum, and steel since that's all my LHS had. 

What about snj's aluminum with their polishing powder?  Well they are kinda out of business now but the only thing that didn't let me get it is their website says it shouldn't be used with putty.

archangel571 wrote:

planning to redo the chrome for the cbr400f 's mufflers since they come in two pieces from Tamiya.  i have read about using alclad or bare-metal foil ultra bright chrome, how do you guys do it to get that wet reflective surface without leaving the ugly seam on those long mufflers, like the ones from CB750F or roadstar, or pretty much every Tamiya bike that has a chromed muffler??

Like Joel said, Alclad II looks very nice. Another option would be carbon fiber decals and make it look like an aftermarket pipe. I did that on a Ducati's cans and it looked pretty nice. I did the pipes in regular MM metalizers since they didn't have to be so chrome-like because I weathered them a little to make them appear heat stained.

I would stripp the chrome plating with oven cleaner and then wash the parts properly. Then glue and start your putty/sand job to get the seam to disappear. Prime the muffler, spray with tamiya black enamel and then coat it with Alclad II chrome or aluminum. On larger surfaces like this I wouldn't recommend using Bare Metal Foil.

Joel

Yea you can post your progress pictures in this thread or some new thread if you want.  I didn't make it a big requirement that you have to have progress pictures as long as you share the final results, but I sure find a GB more fun and well updated when people share them. 

As far as my knowlege for race bikes, which is very little, from the pictures I have seen, the interior of the cowlings have a matt black finish.  I don't know if it's left bare CF or not since Tamiya would also have otherwise called out their favorite semi-gloss black for it but they instead noted flat black.  I have only played around with two bikes in real life that my uncle had (yea they don't have cowlings...).  If I remember clearly looking down the little front cowling of the GSX1100S it was black.

archangel571 wrote:

The yamaha is a pretty tricky kit (at least for me, even if it is as simple as it looked like) though, especially with all that chrome w/ mold lines in them and all.  do you plan on redoing them at all?  since otherwise the NR would be make a better practice kit.  more expensive (n harder to find nowadays without ebay) but sure has some well-fitting parts and one piece single color cowlings.

I'm using the Yamaha as practice because I don't care so much if I bugger it up, not because I thought it was easy. I may re-do the chrome with Alclad, I'll have to take a look at where the seam lines and sprue attachments are.

What's the procedure with group builds here in FSMland? Should all the posts for progress reports be in this thread?

edit: one more question not specifically on this group build but motorcycle kits in general. How do most folks handle the inside of fairings? Paint them the same as the outside? Semigloss black with overspray of the finish color? (that's how my two 1/1 bikes are: Honda VFR800i and Honda PC800)

Are race bike fairings painted inside or are they carbon fiber pattern or something?

thanks!!

edit#2: Joel, nice work! I like it!