My current project: 1/12 Tamiya Honda Pons NSR500

[Mike C]

Not much built yet, just some small assemblies. Here' the box art 1st:

Engine:

Shock:

PE rear brake rotor. I put in on a Dremel mandrill in a pin vise and spun it by hand against a sanding stick to put in those grooves into the brake rotor.

PE chain assembly:

Swing arm assembly:

Engine installed in frame:

 

[Keavdog]

Lot's of progress.  I sure do like those Tamiya bike kits - so well engineered and a joy to build.

[Mike C]

Here's a few more pictures:

[Mike C]

Here's some fresh paint work on the fairings. This is straight from the airbrush. I try to paint as defect free as possible but there's always some contamination that has to be polished away. Otherwise this paint finish is so smooth that it doesn't need polishing. There is a little dust you can see in some of the photos too.

[Keavdog]

Looking good.  That PE chain... dude.   Is that a TopStudio product?

[Mike C]

9 hours ago, Keavdog said:

Looking good.  That PE chain... dude.   Is that a TopStudio product?

Thanks. It's from Scale Motorsports.

[Mike C]

I finally painted the front shock struts. Quite a process of masking and unmasking and hand painting too.

[Mike C]

Here's further progress, it's starting to look like a bike now.

[Keavdog]

Great progress.  Surely looking like a bike - it's great when you get the wheels on!

[Mike C]

Well, finally here's some more progress. I had some issues preventing me from doing much model work over the past few months. I got a really nasty cold in late Nov. that lasted through into Jan. Then after that was over I did a little work. Then out of nowhere I had three weeks of insomnia and I'm finally over that. But just as I was getting over that a few weeks ago I caught another cold. But this cold was much milder and I was almost over it in a week. So I finally got back to working on the exhaust system, painting the heat staining, adding those tiny wire loops for the springs. Then I ordered the Top Studio springs. I found one vendor that had them. So I got them in a week. A bag of 20 so that will do a few bikes. I used eighth on this one.  Plus it was quite challenging mounting the tunes pipes with the Scale Motorsports PE brackets. But I got them. The springs were the last thing installed just today and yesterday. So now here's a bunch of photos going aroinf the bike and some close up shots on the exhaust system. I hope you like it.

[PatW]

Superb work! How do you get the cables on and keep them on please?

[Mike C]

Cables? You mean the rubber hoses that are used for the brake lines and stuff? Most just stay on. When they don't I use a little super glue.

[NYLIBUD]

Amazing work.