discussion 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.

 

[Guest]

Always open to suggestions Richard, I am rubbish at sucking eggs (maybe easier if I didn't hard boil them first....) Remember this is very much a work in progress though. It is placed together to give me an idea of how it is going still lots to do

 

[Guest]

Ok Graham, just a couple of things I developed when building bikes:

1) Chains are always difficult to get them realistic but modern stuff have anodised outside plates of a yellowy metallic colour. Bikes of this age probably wouldn't have 'O' Ring chain but who would know anyway! What I did was an overall metallic grey first, then a Tamiya clear yellow with a spot of maybe brown and thinned a bit was applied to the outer plates only. This isn't as hard as it sounds if the plate detail is fairly raised. A small flat brush should only need a single stroke for each plate, working around the outside. When finished a dry brushing with the metallic grey mixed with a bit of silver brings out the edges of the plates and the rivets, which hopefully are standing proud. A bit of work but well worth it.

2) Bike engines give you loads of scope to play with metallic textures and I know that a lot of members here use things like Alclad to get realistic metal finishes. In my day it was all Tamiya metallic acrylics so I used to mix them to my hearts content. Most bike engine finishes of this age will be aluminium of varying degrees of polish, the crankcases will be rough cast so do those a spot darker as they don't reflect light as well and even mix in some talcum powder to give the finish some texture. Covers will usually be polished so do them a bit brighter and with a better finish and maybe even a coat of Kleer over the top. When you have the base coat on though it is sometimes worth experimenting with highlights and shadows so Tamiya clear acrylic smoke thinned down makes a very good pin wash for nooks and crannies and then using the same base colour with a bit of silver added makes a perfect dry brush medium to bring out the highlights. Finning especially benefits from dry brushing and looks very effective.

3) Upholstery such as seats need to be a semi gloss finish and the only way I was ever happy with this was to mix it myself. Usually about two parts gloss to one part matt will give you the sort of satin sheen you expect with vinyl upholstery. If you want to dry brush a worn look use the base colour but add a small amount of beige just to tone down the colour and then dry brush the seat. It should give it a slightly more worn look on the edges rather than a perfect all black finish, which looks a bit unreal to me.

I'm sure you are fine with everything else you are going to come across but those are a few bits I found worked quite well. Makes me want to build a bike again now! I wonder where that old Norton is in the attic?

 

[Guest]

Cheers Richard. The picture does not show it well but the engine has about four different Alclad finishes created by mixing dull and polished aluminium and chrome on the air intakes.

The chain is basecoated in Alclad steel but I still have to do the drybrushing, great tip on the washes.

Still a lot of work to do so your advice is very welcome. Now get in that attic and dig out the Norton lol

 

[Guest]

'av a 'eart gov! I'm still in the cold wild wastes of Northern Germany, but when I get home it'll be time to break out the glue and paints.

 

[Guest]

Inspired!

That's a great idea, making a model for a teacher. My woodwork teacher (back in the '80s) flew lancs in the war and trained in Canada. I built a model of the trainer aircraft he flew and gave it to him. He was somewhat overwhelmed by that. In a strange twist, 19 years later when viewing my current house (been here 6 years) there he was in the kitchen, I bought his daughter's house!

Back on topic, your bike build sent me scuttling up into the loft to dig out a Tamiya Ducati 900 Mike Hailwood replica that I remember starting a while back. It's taken my eye off the Lancaster I'm currently doing but at least I built the huge parts painting jig today to fix all those parts to!

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