Well, I'm calling it done and its been put on a high shelf in 'the model room' in the hope that nobody can look too closely and its less likely to get bits knocked off it. I started this one on 15th March last year and initially it was an exercise in attempting to re-spoke the wheels to an acceptable level. That didn't go too badly so I then set to work on the other parts. All the bodywork needed loads of cleaning, filling and redoing before I was happy and likewise the frame had horrendous seam lines to deal with as did many of the other parts. Some of the engineering is questionable to say the least - both the seat and tool case have no means of attachment other than their very thin edges and assembly of the rear shock absorber - compressing the spring over the damper rod while fitting the two halves of the body and holding it together while it dried - was a real test of patience. The chain was actually not too hard to assemble and is pretty much still workable as is the suspension at both ends.
When I finally had a complete set of pretty much finished components, the real test started. I managed to get the engine into the completed frame in two large lumps and then squeeze in the swinging arm and rear suspension linkages. The rear wheel went in ok but it took a long time to get the length of the chain looking somewhat correct and joined together. After this point the whole thing became more and more fragile with each added component, not helped by some fit issues and there were a few times where things went backwards. I applied lots of punched hexagons to try and emulate fasteners and these were also used to cover the many screw heads used in the final assembly. The vinyl tubing provided by Italeri was in the main replaced by some black wire that was more in scale and less prone to kinking.
Fitting the last dozen or so components pretty much sapped all my resolve and I was glad to see the end of it, got a few pictures before I knocked any more bits off and put it up on said high shelf.
If i'd had any sense I would have been better off dry-fitting the whole model before painting anything although its difficult to see how that could be achieved successfully. Paints are mainly Tamiya and Mr Hobby with mainly A Stand for the metallics.
Anyway, here are the pics.......
And the usual 'for scale' shot..........
Note that I didn't try to move it about too much in my 'photo studio' in case it fell apart!
Hope I haven't put anybody off this kit, but it nearly got chucked out of the window a number of times! Thanks for looking.
Nick.
When I finally had a complete set of pretty much finished components, the real test started. I managed to get the engine into the completed frame in two large lumps and then squeeze in the swinging arm and rear suspension linkages. The rear wheel went in ok but it took a long time to get the length of the chain looking somewhat correct and joined together. After this point the whole thing became more and more fragile with each added component, not helped by some fit issues and there were a few times where things went backwards. I applied lots of punched hexagons to try and emulate fasteners and these were also used to cover the many screw heads used in the final assembly. The vinyl tubing provided by Italeri was in the main replaced by some black wire that was more in scale and less prone to kinking.
Fitting the last dozen or so components pretty much sapped all my resolve and I was glad to see the end of it, got a few pictures before I knocked any more bits off and put it up on said high shelf.
If i'd had any sense I would have been better off dry-fitting the whole model before painting anything although its difficult to see how that could be achieved successfully. Paints are mainly Tamiya and Mr Hobby with mainly A Stand for the metallics.
Anyway, here are the pics.......
And the usual 'for scale' shot..........
Note that I didn't try to move it about too much in my 'photo studio' in case it fell apart!
Hope I haven't put anybody off this kit, but it nearly got chucked out of the window a number of times! Thanks for looking.
Nick.
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