Rotten Box - Rotten Kit ! Matchbox 1/12th Suzuki RG500

[tigersteve]

I spotted this old kit on Ebay , with full explanation of it's condition , so bought it with an upgrade in mind ......
As the decals were clearly useless, I decided on trying to convert it to as near as I could get to Mike Hailwood's 1979 Isle of Man Senior TT .His last ever win on the Island, making him at the time the best ever TT racer with 14 wins .

The kit is nowhere near to the quality of Tamiya, so I don't expect a great result, but as a great fan of Mike the Bike, I am giving it a shot !

[tigersteve]

With my limited experience and resources, I am not going to attempt , drilling discs or fitting the small wings (spoilers) on the fairing that were not around on Sheene's bike. I have got a front slick tyre to replace the old treaded one that came with the kit , and will start by stripping off all the awful 'Chrome' then see where I go from there ! I have got new decals from Japan so hoping for at least a resembalance of the real thing !

[tigersteve]

Made a start on the engine , wheels , exhausts and forks. Glad to see the back of the 'chrome' !

[takeslousyphotos]

Good stuff Steve. Yes, the chrome on kits is nasty. The engine block looked like a boiled sweet until you put paint on it............ I'll keep an eye on your build. I'm interested to see Peter

[Dave Ward]

The kit is celebrating it's 40th birthday! That chrome is really bad, a great start in getting rid of it! Matchbox only made four 1/12 motorbike kits, and they're pretty rare - the rarest being the Vincent Black Shadow, I believe, and in consequence can fetch silly money. Good to see you building & not 'collecting' it!
Dave

[Nicko]

They had a selection of ex-Sheene Suzukis on display at Motorcycle Live last year. Four individual throttle cables all lock-wired to the twist-grip; amazing attention to detail. I've got quite a few bike kits in the stash so I'll enjoy following your build. Great so far...


Nick

[Tim Marlow]

The Vincent has been rereleased several times by Revelli believe....I’d love one but even the repops go for daft money....good start on this though....following with interest.

[simontie]

Will keep watching...i always take pictures of the decals in old sets you never know when you might need to print a set just scale them against a know dimension

[tigersteve]

The kit is celebrating it's 40th birthday! That chrome is really bad, a great start in getting rid of it! Matchbox only made four 1/12 motorbike kits, and they're pretty rare - the rarest being the Vincent Black Shadow, I believe, and in consequence can fetch silly money. Good to see you building & not 'collecting' it!
Dave

Correct Dave ! (Never see the point in collecting boxes of kits !!)

[tigersteve]

Getting a bit further - not a very nice kit really , but I'll press on !
Engine installed ...


Forks make it start to take shape .

[Jim R]

Hi Steve
Well considering the age and quality of the kit you're making a really nice job of it. As you say it will never be up to modern Tamiya standard but looks like you'll end up with a fine model of Mike's bike.
Jim

[tigersteve]

Some more progress on the bike ....




Also started on the bodywork



Messy at the moment ,only using aerosols but hopefully will clean up a bit better !
We will see......

[Jason Crausby]

Looking good so far... and to be fair from what I can see of the figure...it does bear a good resemblance to the late, great Barry Sheene!
Jason.

[tigersteve]

Nearing completion of the bike now , reasonably happy with it , but the body work is proving very hard to get a nice finish . The decals are for the Tamiya model and these are slightly different in size and accuracy compared with the older poor quality Matchbox version .......

I will do my best not to make too much of a hash of it !

[simontie]

do you still have the old decals? I would be tempted to cut them out soak them and see if they will separate?
also look up “MICRO-SOL” decal softener not sure if i can add a link to the destruction pages but goggle it worth a read and might assis you in using the originals or in fitting the new studio27 ones or even a combination of both!!!
your body work looks ok seepage is always an issue its a learning curve to make sure you get good adhesion on the tape i always try to remove it very soon after so i can wash any issues away most can be masked by the decals also if you feel brave gently rub it all down with 1500/2000 grit all in the same direction then add a clear coat you will love the finish apply your decals and recoat clear again.
Hope this helps