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Italeri 1:9 Norton Manx 500cc 1951

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  • Guest

    #1

    Italeri 1:9 Norton Manx 500cc 1951

    It is almost a year since I bought this kit from Scale Model Shop so it is time to build it.

    It is an old kit, I believe it dates back to the 1970s, but although these old kits do not have the finesse or fit of modern kits, they do depict the real thing quite nicely. This kit also has a few special connections to me. Geoff Duke rode this very bike, well.... the real one, to victory becoming a World Champion for the second time in 1951, the year I was born. As the races were possibly held around June time, it could have happened within days of my birth.

    Many years later, my cousin and I were building bikes and we obtained a blown engine road version of this bike with that all important Featherbed frame. We installed a modified Triumph Bonneville engine updated to a 750cc and completed our one and only ‘Triton’. I never rode it as it was sold within hours of firing it up. After that we did a few ‘Tribsa’ using the same modified engine in BSA Golstar frames but I never forgot that old Norton.

    Anyway, enough rambling. Here is the box art on the latest reboxing which I believe, in my opinion anyway, is the sexiest bike box art ever. If Carling made kits, this is how the boxes would look......

    Not a vast amount of parts and a fair bit of chrome to strip but there will be lots of cleaning up to do and possibly a little heated language at some fit issues:thinking: I have read mixed reviews but I don’t take them seriously. One guy, probably a decent modeller using Tamiya kits, described it as unfit to build and the worst kit he had ever seen. Step aside son and watch it done the old way....:smirk:

    [ATTACH]291249[/ATTACH]
  • PaulTRose
    SMF Supporters
    • Jun 2013
    • 6453
    • Paul
    • Tattooine

    #2
    well, i look forward to seeing this take shape! classic bike!
    Per Ardua

    We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no ones been

    Comment

    • john i am
      SMF Supporters
      • Apr 2012
      • 4019

      #3
      Looking forward your build Graham as I've recently acquired this kit myself so I'll be following intently. Good luck cheers John

      Comment

      • coachman
        SMF Supporters
        • May 2007
        • 66

        #4
        Hi Graham, I will watch this with interest. I made this some time ago, it was hard work, the biggest problem I encountered
        was with the two swinging arms to the rear wheel. No matter how I fitted them together they were not parallel, I had to cut
        the castellation off one side and glue them together. Other smaller fit issues but I've got to say, when it was finished it looked
        gorgeous. I now lives in my daughters display cabinet. I made another for myself with virtually no problems, but I used the same
        Italeri kit, but different box art. It stated on the box - With major component upgrade- and it was true, another fine model.
        I was 11 years old when Geoff Duke was my hero, reading the Motor Cycle News whenever I could. Have fun Graham it will be
        worth it. John

        Comment

        • papa 695
          Moderator
          • May 2011
          • 22770

          #5
          First of all Welcome back Graham, and looking forward to the build.

          Comment

          • Guest

            #6
            Originally posted by coachman
            Hi Graham, I will watch this with interest. I made this some time ago, it was hard work, the biggest problem I encountered
            was with the two swinging arms to the rear wheel. No matter how I fitted them together they were not parallel, I had to cut
            the castellation off one side and glue them together. Other smaller fit issues but I've got to say, when it was finished it looked
            gorgeous. I now lives in my daughters display cabinet. I made another for myself with virtually no problems, but I used the same
            Italeri kit, but different box art. It stated on the box - With major component upgrade- and it was true, another fine model.
            I was 11 years old when Geoff Duke was my hero, reading the Motor Cycle News whenever I could. Have fun Graham it will be
            worth it. John
            Cheers John. Only issue at the moment is the chrome plated parts. Couple of hours in bleach didn’t even dull the shine. They have now been in oven cleaner for an hour or so and it is not touching it:anguished:

            I have read about the swinging arm issue a few times, I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

            Comment

            • Guest

              #7
              Originally posted by papa 695
              First of all Welcome back Graham, and looking forward to the build.
              Thanks Ian, good to be back :smiling3:

              Comment

              • Guest

                #8
                Got most of the big engine parts put together and just about sorted, a coat of primer has raised a few issues but that is what it is there for certainly nothing serious so far.

                [ATTACH]291253[/ATTACH][ATTACH]291255[/ATTACH][ATTACH]291254[/ATTACH]

                The colour of the plastic is a tad weird. The gold coloured parts are supposed to be painted with Flat Black + Gloss Metalic Brass at 50/50. If I rember correctly from the WWII Triumph build, this gives a warm gunmetal colour but I prefer to use Tamiya Dark Iron for this. The cylinder barrel, the finned part, will be aluminium. Most reference pictures appear to be black or dark grey for the gold parts, or at least the crankcase. Not 100% but I would have thought that the crankcase would have been cast alloy by that time so I am assuming it was painted. If anyone knows, I would be interested to know, just seems an odd colour if it was painted, why not just black?

                Comment

                • Guest

                  #9
                  Looking good so far graham

                  Comment

                  • Guest

                    #10
                    That will be an interesting project to follow :tongue-out3:

                    Comment

                    • Ian M
                      Administrator
                      • Dec 2008
                      • 18264
                      • Ian
                      • Falster, Denmark

                      #11
                      I have selen photographs where the crank case are painted black and in a natural dark aluminium.
                      Group builds

                      Bismarck

                      Comment

                      • Guest

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Ian M
                        I have selen photographs where the crank case are painted black and in a natural dark aluminium.
                        Same here Ian but it is the old restoration issue, it is impossible to tell from the original pictures. I don’t want it black as it will be too harsh, the Tamiya Dark iron may be too ‘metalic’ so it may end up being the brass and black mix. Plenty of time to experiment but, sadly, not today. I am cooking Sunday lunch for 10 people with tea to follow.........

                        Comment

                        • Guest

                          #13
                          Just a few pics of the engine in its final colours. Only thing I have changed are the little coil springs on the cylinder head. There are two each side and the kit parts don’t even resemble what they should look like so I made my own.

                          [ATTACH]291364[/ATTACH][ATTACH]291365[/ATTACH][ATTACH]291366[/ATTACH]

                          Comment

                          • Ian M
                            Administrator
                            • Dec 2008
                            • 18264
                            • Ian
                            • Falster, Denmark

                            #14
                            well here one that is not a restored job.
                            [ATTACH]291379[/ATTACH]
                            Not a great help but it shows that its not black...[ATTACH]291379[/ATTACH]
                            Attached Files
                            Group builds

                            Bismarck

                            Comment

                            • Guest

                              #15
                              This picture is on the instruction book. In this, the cylinder looks black and the crankcase and cylinder head look the same mid grey. Heller state brass for cylinder head (even on though the boxart it looks like black). Looks like mine will represent a really badly thought out restoration by someone who is colour blind....... good enough for me :hugging-face:

                              Comment

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