1:12 Tamiya Hayabusa - been keeping me busy for a month or 2

[TransAm]

Now before you lot start taking the piss out of my poor modelling skills this is the first one I've built in 8 years!

I built a couple of Tamiya 1:12 motorbikes (an FZ250 and an RG250) a long long time ago, so this Hayabusa X1 isn't my first, but even so I am quite pleased with the results.

As you can see from the box in the background, the metallic candy apple red is not the right colour, and it should in fact be gunmetal metallic and gloss red colours. In retrospect, that metallic candy apple red came out so well that I wish I had just done the whole thing that particular colour, and not bothered with all the masking tape!

The candy apple red goes on in two stages, first a coat of silver, then the red which is like a transparent burgundy.

The masking was a bit of a nightmare, I got a bit of paint bleed so I had to go 'round afterwards with red gloss and a paintbrush to touch up. You can see in the first pic that I don't have the steadiest hand - also towards the end I rushed it a little bit as I just wanted to get it finished.

Ah well, live and learn :lol:

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/2510/picture0197ej.th.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0197ej.jpg)

http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/125/picture0208jk.th.jpg (http://img393.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0208jk.jpg)

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/6693/picture0184vv.th.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0184vv.jpg)

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4413/picture0044ft.th.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0044ft.jpg)

Heres a picture of the real thing:

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/4279/topx12dw.th.jpg (http://img359.imageshack.us/my.php?image=topx12dw.jpg)

Bike specs and information:

http://www.mickhone.com.au/x1.htm

Current work in progress is a Yamaha RZV500, and after that I will start on the FZR750 (you can see the box in the pics).

I will take some better pics when all three are built, maybe do a bit of a diorama.

[bmagni]

niiiiiiice, excellent work dude, some forn pics, 3/4 wouldnt come bad... the paint is really good, congrats !

[stracing]

looking pretty good even if you had an 8 yr break
which part of the bike did you need to mask?

i've built 2-3 bikes and i've given up on it. my hands are too big for those tiny hoses and screws. i have some 500cc and motogp bikes sittng here i refuse to build.

[sikx5]

Looking Pretty sweet mate! Nice work!

Do you have any pics of the RGV? That was one insanely quick bike, my eldest bro had one, then crashed it as it got stuck on the powerband one time, one crazy machine.

[sameerrao]

Nice handiwork there mate!

[momodels]

AWESOME bike, congrats :shock:

[TransAm]

looking pretty good even if you had an 8 yr break
which part of the bike did you need to mask?



I did the gloss red first, then masked it up, and then silver basecoat followed by candy red second.

It was the silver that bled!

I don't have any pics of the RG250 or the FZ250, these things don't survive well when you move house so they got thrown away :( . Back then I couldn't afford spray cans so it was all brush painted, not cutback with sandpaper or anything.

This model got the full works - coat of primer, sanded down, paint layers sanded with very fine grit paper, and finally turtle wax rubbing compound and wax! I just rushed it a little at the end, alas!

[stracing]

oh i see it now, i thought they were shadows :oops:

for the silver bits, have you ever tried using chrome foil? i've used it on a few models before and sometimes it turns out quite good.

also the masking, did you run your nail over the edges of the tape? i used to get paint bleeds all the time especially on widow edges but someone told me to run my nails over the edges and that solved the problem

[TransAm]

ST:

I thought I had done a good job firmly sticking the tape down, but I didn't run my nail across it! Thanks for the tip!

Silver foil I haven't used, but I can imagine what you mean.

BTW, do you mean foil like you buy to wrap food in, or specialist modelling stuff?

I did use sellotape/scotch tape over the instruments on the dashboard to give it that effect of clear plastic.

[RC45]

Bare Metal Foil http://www.bare-metal.com/

ANd for the masking tape, did you use model grade tape ? It is thinner, with less grain and different adhesive compound - much easier to get the edge snug ad have no bleed.

Bleed on a 1:1 car that Fooze is painting may be invisible after a wetsand, but on a model, than .1 or .2mm bleed is impossible to remove.. :)

[stracing]

the type of foil RC mentioned. the stuff you buy to wrap food is too thick plus it doesn't have adhesive backing

[TransAm]

I used the masking tape that came with the Tamiya Busa kit. It was finer grain and thinner than the Scotch stuff.

I have just done the RD500LC fairings using normal masking tape - the older Tamiya kits don't have dedicated masking tape in the kits - and it actually came out as good as, or possibly slightly better than the Busa :? I think the results are due to STR's tip. Cheers mate!

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/258/picture0260qi.th.jpg (http://img263.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0260qi.jpg)

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/7138/picture0256rz.th.jpg (http://img263.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0256rz.jpg)

There is a dark blue stripe which will go between the two colours so I can cheat by ensuring the stripe covers the bleed where possible, although this isn't quitre as per the original bike (see the pic below).

The primer bits will be gloss red, RC already knew that though I'm sure!

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7162/c206p63rx.th.jpg (http://img340.imageshack.us/my.php?image=c206p63rx.jpg)




I need to go to a model shop later to pick up some clear orange and red (the Busa came with pre-coloured turn/rear lights) so I will get some modelling masktape then...