Back in with a bike model and finishing off my first proper tank.

M

m1ks

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I haven't been active on the forums for a little while as I lost my oomph a bit and nothing in the stash was really inspiring me, if the desire to build a model well isn't there I don't enjoy and wind up rushing bits just to complete it.

I've also been more focused on my other 2 wheeled toys and enjoying some of this fantastic weather we've had in the highlands, been out working on the bikes and getting out and about for a ride, my stable is now currently complete with the addition of the Ducati and the Enfield Bullet to my ZXR, I think the only thing I haven't had and fancy now is a proper old Harley, something like a Knucklehead would do nicely.

Anyhow, been pottering with bits and completed a bog basic vintage Airfix Bf109G in trop trim as a ceiling sitter for the wee fellas room to accompany his spit, saturn V and Gromit plane, Had the tank on the go for a little while and just now started detailing the bits and bobs bolted to it, then klear, decals, klear, weathering, matt varnish, pigments, rust, mud etc, going to try and go a bit mad on this one, may even attempt to make a base.

Tank is an older Tamiya Panther, apparently not quite so well detailed and accurate as the later moulds but still a nice mould and fits together superbly as you'd expect of Tamiya.

Whilst browsing ebay recently I saw this and this gave me the interest factor back to get on with another model.

It's a real blast from the past for me as it's

1 - the very first Tamiya kit I made,

2 - the very first motorbike kit I made and

3 - the very first time I used an airbrush to paint a model, (Badger cheap single action with propellant can)

The kit gave me a grin too as when I received it it even had a Beatties price label on it with the price £17.50, which, i'm pretty sure is what mine cost way back when.

Anyhow, heres the box and sprue shots:

The bike is a Honda NR750, an interesting bike which was really a production concept vehicle, it has a V4 engine with oval pistons, each cylinder having 2 spark plugs and 8 valves, (effectively increasing each cylinder capacity to the equivalent of 2 cylinders and making a good strong short stroke motor), looks a bit chunky and outdated styling wise nowadays but compared to the bikes in 1992 when it was released, (in limited numbers, somewhere between 200 and 300 and at a phenomenal price of £38,000), it was stunning to behold.

Both left and right fairing panels are moulded in clear sprue and I painted both last time I built this, however, this time i'll be painting the RHS panel as the engine view from that side has little to see of interest but i'll be leaving the LHS panel clear, i'd love to be able to get a look at the one I built all those years ago and see what i'd think of it now, I recall being quite impressed at the time but i'm sure that i'd find lots to fault looking at it having had more build and paint practise.

The sprues in primer:
 
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Ian M

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Hej Welcome Back! Good to see you posting.

I Look forward to seeing how this turns out. Ha Beaties, what ever happened to them?

Ian M
 
M

m1ks

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\ said:
Hej Welcome Back! Good to see you posting.I Look forward to seeing how this turns out. Ha Beaties, what ever happened to them?

Ian M
Disappeared without trace like so many high street names, an early victim of online trading I suppose was part of the problem, it's a real shame as we had a huge Beatties in Sheffield where I lived at the time and I could happily waste an hour or two wandering choosing and buying models, sooo many to pick from and you could pop the lids off and see what you'd be getting in the kit, you can't do that online and i've opened some boxes to be thoroughly dissapointed as a result, (some kits i've bought have quite literally gone back onto ebay for sale the same night I received them)

Just sent you a PM BTW,

Ooooh, yeah, almost forgot, SHOCK HORROR, I found an actual piece of flash on one of the sprue parts, FLASH, on a Tamiya kit, :surprised:
 
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F

funkyrimpler

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beautiful bike in the day....shame they got ridden by idiots like this....

 
M

m1ks

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Progress, slow progress admittedly between work, and full size bike things, then family visits and so on.

Body panels gloss coated, ready for decals, carbon fibre and badges etc before gloss coating, next up some metalic paints for the frame and so on.
 
T

treyzx10r

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Mike I'm glad you've found your mojo again and what a great kit to bring it back,eagerly awaiting the next update!
 

yak face

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Looking nice mike. good to see youve found a bit of time to get modelling again. I remember beatties only too well, like yourself I used to spend hours looking round , drooling over kits i could never afford . I'm sure someone once said that Beatties were taken over by Modelzone or changed the name to Modelzone or something , anyway i think theres a connection. , cheers tony
 
M

m1ks

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Tiny bit more progress, Have been sorting a lot of youtube stuff recently so this has taken a bit of a back seat, all the panels were painted as you can see above, then decalling which was done over several days, then drying time then clearcoated to reflect the clear coated carbon fibre bodywork of the full size.

The petrol tank took 8 seperately applied decals, the bellypan 9 seperately applied decals, all required much patience, dollops of microsol and some persuasion with cotton buds plus a couple of patches on the bellypan, I think age had made them a little reluctant to conform as well as they did new and can't remember how they went on the first one I built, I don't think I can have succesfully applied them back then, I knew nothing of decal softeners either so may have just painted the relevant areas.

Anyway, all in all, i'm quite happy with the way these look, next thing to attack will be the alloy parts, frame, swingarm, triple clamps etc.

Pics so far.
 
M

m1ks

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A little more progress on this one.

Wanted to make a fair representation on the engine as one side will be visible through the clear fairing panel.

Detail pics i scoured the net for showed that rather than the typical satin black or aluminium finish this was more of an off black with some metalflake.

My take on this was humbrol enamel satin black 85 mixed with humbrol gunmetal 53 in a ratio of 2:1, not perfect in it's accuracy but close enough, detail picked out in polished ally metalcote and the sump bolts in stainless, (yet to be polished and likely to be redone in chrome silver).

Some more little details to add with the plumbing, spark plug caps, oil filter, throttle bodies, etc.

Pics so far.

Hopefully this one better shows the colour mix.
 
T

treyzx10r

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Mike nice catch on the engine color,the real one does have that kind of gold/bronze cast to it. The details picked out in silver very nicely
 
M

m1ks

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Thanks kindly, once the throttle bodies, water pump, plumbing etc are added it should look nice and busy.

Just ordered some polished ally and airframe ally from john so will be prepping the frame and swingarm in gloss black next in readiness for that. The airframe ally looks more accurate to the highly polished frame of the NR so will experiment with both.
 
M

m1ks

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This is quite a bit further along now, it's taken a while and recent events leaving me single have put a damper on many things hence the lack of photo updates, I've been doing bits and pieces as and when I could focus and to help keep my mind occupied.

Will get some 'current stage' pics up shortly, it's not far off complete
 
M

m1ks

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OK, update pics so far, (almost complete, hopefully the last few elements will go on tomorrow and I can finish off he tank too and get on with the next couple, I'm pretty sure i've decided which i'm attacking next and looking forward to both)

LHS engine and frame:

Swingarm, rear sprocket and drivechain:

Top of rear bank of cylinders through frame rails:

RHS frame and engine showing the oil level window, (this is the second one i've detailed and am really pleased with this little touch, never seen anyone else do this on a bike model so i'm patenting this detail technique, :P ):

Underside of engine showing starter motor, oil filter canister and exhausts:

Drivechain detailing and swingarm / exhausts / rear disc, you can also just see the coild spring painted red to reflect powder coating as you'd see on a full size:
 
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M

mobear

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you sure this is a model lol fab what you have done so far

mobear
 
M

m1ks

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Thanks mobear.

Bike is finished, New project unpacked, sprues washed and rinsed drying ready for assembly and priming shortly. Will take an upload decent pics tomorrow. A quick snap, (under poor lighting here).
 
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treyzx10r

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Mike glad to see ya got motivated to finish this its one sharp looking build,the chain and rear sprocket detail look over the top! I like the oil level in the sight glass as well,sorry I stole this idea back a bit on the zxrr build;) looking forward to seeing more pics! cheers Trey
 
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