disassembly of Maisto Harley

[Paul Payne]

Could anyone provide info on disassembling a 1/25th scale Maisto Harley Davidson knucklehead? 

Any help appreciated!

[chepp]

Sure! Until I retired about 3-1/2 years ago, I was the H-D guy in the new products department at the Maisto U.S. office. There are several ways parts are attached -- and they are not intended to be disassembled so some damage may occur when they are taken apart.

The axles are a soft metal with a head (like a small nail) on one end. Carefully grab the end with serrated long nose pliers and gently rotate it to loosen it from the frame/fork plastic on the far side of the wheel. Go slowly and work the axle with back-and-forth and in-and-out movements. When it's loose pull it out and the wheel will drop out. The tire can be "rolled" off the wheel -- it isn't glued on.

Most plastic details are a tight press fit or are glued in place. Because of toy safety regulations they have to withstand a fair amount of force to keep them from coming off and being swallowed/choked on by children. Using the sharp edge of a hobby knife (say, a #11 X-acto blade) carefully work it between the parts.  Gently twist the knife to use it like a tiny pry bar. If you can, work your way around the parts to pry them from different places. Chances are that one or more parts will break during removal. Generally, the mounting post will break and won't be seen when you glue the parts back together later. You might want to get two or more of the same bike, though, so if something goes wrong you can try again on another one.

The gas tank is probably attached by being heat sealed. A pin molded to the bike's frame will extend through a hole then the exposed area of the plastic pin is melted a little to hold the tank on. You can carefully cut through the melted pin to release the parts. Later, the only way to reattach them will be to use glue. Other bikes might have the tank attached by being "sandwiched" with the frame and fork parts. If so, you'll need to just use the hobby knife to gently work the parts apart.

To reattach, I usually used gap filling CA. When using any CA glue you have to be careful because vapors from it can leave a whitish coating on plated parts that is virtually impossible to remove. One way to prevent this is to have a fan blowing air away from the plated parts (and away from you, too) while glueing.

Please be very careful. It is possible to be injured while taking things apart. Work slowly and carefully. When using knives and tools use them in such as way that if you slip you won't be harmed.

[Paul Payne]

Thanks, Chepp. I plan on modifying one into a traditional bobber, similar to bikes raced in T.R.O.G. events. I will be using some after market parts and kit parts for the look I want. One other question- what kind of plastic are they molded in? Looks more like a vinyl rather than styrene.

[Mark]

What caused Maisto to end (for the most part) production of these?  Licensing, poor sales, what else is there?  These were very well done.  I have a couple of Franklin Mint Harleys that I stumbled into for cheap...next to the Maisto Harleys, you have to look really close to tell which is which.

[Paul Payne]

There seem to be a lot out there, often for very reasonable prices- maybe they saturated the market?

[Phirewriter]

They're still out there, until recently I was buying them at the Harley museum gift shop. Haven't stopped for a while since the current situational nonsense.

[chepp]

23 hours ago, Paul Payne said:

Thanks, Chepp. I plan on modifying one into a traditional bobber, similar to bikes raced in T.R.O.G. events. I will be using some after market parts and kit parts for the look I want. One other question- what kind of plastic are they molded in? Looks more like a vinyl rather than styrene.

Sorry, I don't know. The plastic might be ABS -- it's a little stronger and more flexible than polystyrene. Although it's a kind of styrene, I think, regular model glue won't secure it but you can get ABS cement that is used for plumbing pipes.

[chepp]

19 hours ago, Mark said:

What caused Maisto to end (for the most part) production of these?  Licensing, poor sales, what else is there?  These were very well done.  I have a couple of Franklin Mint Harleys that I stumbled into for cheap...next to the Maisto Harleys, you have to look really close to tell which is which.

They're still in the catalog (see www.maisto.com) but styles/colors are rotated in and out of the assortment. I wasn't privy to business decisions but most likely it was a cost-cutting move to offer only a set number of them instead of a larger variety.

[Paul Payne]

Chepp, thanks for the info. Disassembly and rebuilding is about the only option if you want a knucklehead (or almost any other bike) in 1/25th scale.

[peteski]

14 hours ago, chepp said:

Sorry, I don't know. The plastic might be ABS -- it's a little stronger and more flexible than polystyrene. Although it's a kind of styrene, I think, regular model glue won't secure it but you can get ABS cement that is used for plumbing pipes.

Stronger solvent cements for polystyrene (like Methylene Chloride, or even MEK) should work with ABS. There are also specific cements for ABS (like Plastruct's Bondene or Plastic Weld).

Pipe cement is designed for vinyl (PVC) pipes, not for ABS.  I would be surprised if those model parts were made from PVC.