Motor Cycle help needed!!!!

[Guest]

I have a plan. I was talking to my daughters teacher last night at her review at school and he was telling me how his family were bike nuts. He and his dad in particular arebig Agostini fans and MV Augusta fans. So when I got home I had a dig around and the only kits I can come up with are the Italeri 1:9 scale Mv Augusta 500cc 4cylinder ridden by Hailwood and Agostini or the same 1:9 but 500cc three cylinder with only Agostini's name mentioned so I assume that this is the one he was best known on but I don't know..

The kit is around £35 which doesn't appear too bad compared to about the same price for a top end 1:12 scale Tamiya.

So, two questions. As I would like to build this kit as a thank you to her teacher, one: Does anyone know if these are good kits and two: If you were a fan of Agostini, would you want the four cylinder or the three cylinder which was later?

[Guest]

Well,well what a small world, my brother is a bike fan, and he has an R1 and has ordered a Brutale 1090RR, off hand I think its a 4 cylinder, I hope your going to shows us when its done Graham. Sorry I cant give any input on your thread Graham, I know zero about bikes, but like to see the models....

[Guest]

I don't know much about the kits but i am sure they will be thrilled to receive such an original and personal thank you. And especially if it comes out to your high standards.

[Guest]

This is the motorbike most commonly associated with Giacomo Agostini, (the man was a motorcycling god before Valentino Rossi was a glint in his daddys eye).

Google Image Result for http://lh6.ggpht.com/_aI3HlCvxF5g/Rd4MdpaR0iI/AAAAAAAAAI0/dYCYGRznb60/DSC_0269.JPG

It's a 3 cylinder 500c machine.

However, i'm sure any Ago fan would be delighted to receive any motorbike related to Ago himself.

As an aside, I have a kit in the stash which is an Italeri 1:9 MV Agusta F4, it's not bad but there are inaccuracies which I know will bug me when I build it, i've found typically, the only kit beside Tamiya to provide very accurate motorbikes are Aoshima's naked bike range.

Tamiya do a very nice Mike, the bike, Hailwood Ducati replica BTW.

[Guest]

I had the protar kit it was decent like m1ks says they are not up to par with tamiya. The fit is okay but the chrome plating was aweful and had a lot of flash typical protar. Noone will ever touch Ago's records not even Rossi ,they do'nt even include the Isle of Mann in the championship anymore so its not possible anyway.

[Guest]

So, are we saying that the 1:9 Italeri is not good enough? The 3 cylinder one is in the same markings as that picture in the link so that is the one I would go with. I am not bothered about the chrome as it will be stripped off and Alclad sprayed anyway. I have seen a box review of the 4 cylinder one where he mentioned a bit of flash and that the 'metal' parts were aluminium coated but would still need to be done.

[Guest]

Italeri is fine in fact a tad better than Protar imho ,yes they are very buildable kits just not up to par with the Tamiya/Aoshima line. I've got a 1/12 scale die cast that a friend got for me in Italy last year if you want I'll post up a pic

[Guest]

Sorry Graham, didn't mean to sound so negative, the Italeri, (based on my F4 kit bear in mind), aren't bad, just noticeable little things for builders especially if you're used to building Tamiya offerings and into motorbikes generally, for a built kit it'll be afar better than any diecast piece he could pick out of a shop and will make an excellent display piece.

The chroming isn't great but then it's no matter nowadays with the wonder of Alclad.

Ooops, hope I haven't put you off.

[Guest]

Graham heres the one at the Barber Museum

I'll look for more later

Trey

[Guest]

I have a very old protar Norton racer at home, which really appealled to me as it had a metal frame and forks etc. I struggled with it and eventually gave up as I seemed to spend all my time fettling up the parts and cleaning flash off everything. I'm sure it would still make into a good model but only after a lot of work.

[Guest]

No one has put me off lol. You are giving me what I asked for so thanks for that. I will go with the Italeri 3 cylinder, it has the markings of number '1' so I am happy it will fit the ill. Also, as in the pic above, the 3 cylinder has matt black exhausts so no worries there, i don't think it had alloy wheels and disk brakes at the time of Agostini though lol. I know the kit comes with spoked wheels and drum brakes, much more 'period' i think. They may be a pig to sort out if the chrome plate does not dissolve easily. Wonder if I could alclad onto the chrome plate?????

Thanks for the help guys, will keep you posted of it's progress when I get one. This is the kit, taken from themodeller.com, need to shop around for a price. If you see this John, can you check with your suppliers please????

[Guest]

Just realised that I had not mentioned this build, just been plugging away at it. Cannot say that it is a good kit but then again I have been spoilt by the Tamiya 1:12. This is one weird bike. Note the huge sump hanging out the frame, really odd. Being a racing bike of circa 1964, it is a tad basic compared to todays racing bikes, the black block just behind the carb intakes is a huge battery!!! The wiring is a bit sloppy at the moment but I do like the clear fuel pipes. Not a great pic as it was taken on my hone but at least it shows roughly where I am. The back wheels only roughly in place, I have yet to finish the rear shocks and front forks, both of which are sprung and work, which is fun.....

[Guest]

A smashing build Graham, a life like look to it.

[Guest]

I agree with Ray, very life like, at first glance thought it was the real thing, i'd be very impressed being presented with a gift like that.

[Guest]

Bringing back some very fond memories there Graham, I haven't built a bike in many years but I really used to enjoy them. This is looking very good and looking very realistic.

Not wanting to teach granny anything about sucking eggs but do you want any suggestions or are you happy and running with it?

By the way the huge sumps on bikes of this era was to aid cooling as water cooling still hadn't been developed so a lot of the heat was taken away by the oil and dissipated to the air by the finning on the sump.