Wolf

Thanks Geoff, I love that era as well. I just wish the kit had a lot more injection moulded styrene. Much easier to work with and a lot lighter. For a 1/12th scale kit it weighs 7.4 oz and was difficult to handle at the end. Cheers, Wolf

Thank-you Chris. Much appreciated and I’m glad you like it. Cheers, Wolf

Thank-you Larry. I appreciate your comment. Cheers, Wolf

Just completed this build. Certainly not the easiest build as the kit is 90% white metal with the remaining parts in styrene (fuel tank, seat, and front fender) and photo etch. Lots of metal rods and wire for the spokes as well. Many parts were modified to enhance their detail and lots of scratch building details was necessary to build an accurate representation. For example the carbs were heavily reworked and the intake trumpets were scratch built to replace the horrible kit items. Top Studio detail parts were used throughout as well. Thinking far ahead in the instructions is mandatory as all parts had to be dry fitted well in advance to ensure they’d fit when the time came to add them to the assemblies. The #7 decals came from the spares box as no decals come with the kit. In the end I’m happy with the results but I think I’m getting too old to have to deal with all the wailing and knashing of teeth so the next bike will be another Tamiya offering. The last photo shows my previous Honda bike build alongside the Clubman as a size comparison. Cheers, Wolf

Congratulations on two beautiful builds! I agree with you that Gunze’s Hi-Tech kits are not the easiest to build as I just finished their 1/12th Honda CB72 Clubman kit that I received last Christmas. Lots of work involved in cleaning up the white metal parts and some were replaced with scratch built alternatives as their castings were quite rough. Nice models when finished if you can persevere through to the finish. Cheers, Wolf (who’ll likely stick to Tamiya’s 1/12th bike kits)

Thanks Chris! Cheers, Wolf

Very cool indeed! I wish I had one of those. I have a neighbour that could use a good stun from time to time. Cheers, Wolf

Thanks Warren. Yeah, the made a number of models of these old pumps. Lots of different logos too like Texaco, Phillips 66, and more. You could even wire ‘em up so the globe on top could illuminate. Thank-you Jim. Like I said, I wish I had bought more of these. It’ll look good with a couple of my Johan ‘32 Cadillacs sitting beside it. I imagine those ol’ V-16s were a bit thirsty.

Thanks Jay. The color is Tamiya’s spray lacquer Pure Metallic Red.

Something a little different. This is R&D Unique’s 1930s Shell gas pump. You used the handle on the side of the pump to pump gas up into the glass cylinder which showed how much fuel you were going to purchase. Gravity did the rest when you pulled the handle on the nozzle at the end of the hose. The silver conduits from the pump body to the top contained the wiring to illuminate the globe. I really wish I had bought more of these multi media kits.

Thank-you Bruce. Much appreciated. Vielen Dank Mathias!

Jetz muss ich sagen “Ausgezeichnett”! I built this same kit when it was first released by Accurate Miniatures. I found it to be an excellent kit although I did have to fettle around with the photo etch rigging to get it as straight as possible. It’s not perfect but it’s close. I hope you don’t mind me showing you a photo of mine in your thread. If so, please let me know, I’ll delete it. Cheers, Wolf

A few months in the making but finally done. I hope you like the end result. Cheers, Wolf

She’s done! The last bits to add, which weren’t included in the kit but visible in all the photos I’ve seen of the bike, are the four small pegs that extend from the bodywork to allow the rider to strap down any extra baggage he might need to carry along. Simple little items really but proved to be a bear to make as they are so small. I tried to find photo etch washers for the base and ends of each one but couldn’t find anything suitable. I wound up making them by punching out eight small styrene discs with the inside ones a larger diameter for the base end. I drilled out the centres to accommodate short lengths of stainless tubing which was much easier said than done but I eventually got 4 assemblies exactly the same. These were then painted in gloss black lacquer followed by Alclad II Polished Aluminum. I used 5 minute epoxy to secure them as it gave me lots of time to ensure proper alignment. All in all I’m quite pleased with the way the model turned out and I’m sure there’ll be a few more 1/12th Tamiya bikes on the bench in the future. Thanks for following along. …..and here they are mounted on the bike. I’ll have more photos posted in “Under Glass” shortly. Cheers, Wolf

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to my eye the front bumper and valance modifications are indeed beautiful. Well done Greg! With regards to the wheels and tires I personally think the stock wheels, hubcaps, and white wall tires give the Nomad such a classic look. That said I’m sure you’re going to use something that will look just right. Cheers, Wolf

Beautiful attention to detail throughout Mike. Brilliant! Cheers, Wolf

Danke sehr Mathias! Wolf

Almost done with this build. The paint is on all the parts and it’s just a case of scratch building a few small details to finish it off. The red paint is Tamiya’s Pure Metallic Red, and as usual for me, decanted from the spray can and shot through the airbrush. Three coats of red and two coats of Tamiya’s clear gloss. I used tiny bits of decal to add some of the stencils for the various switches on the handle bar controls. I also finished off the front fairing assembly after receiving new clear parts from Tamiya. I always remove large clear parts from their sprues to avoid any stress cracks where they’re attached to the sprues. I placed the windshield and headlight lens in a small ziplock bag and placed them in the kit box. Apparently my Miniature Schnauzer pup decided they were of interest to him so he pulled the ziplock bag out of the box and left it on the floor by my workbench. I found ‘em with my foot. The headlight lens was split down the middle and the windshield had a small crack at the top so new parts were necessary. Thank goodness I was able to get replacements from Tamiya! All the rivets on the fairings were replaced with 0.9 and 1.2mm Top Studio rivets. The lower fairings had the large retainers at the bottom replaced with cast resin ones. I couldn’t find any their size so I took impressions of them and cast replacements. I wasn’t confident that I was going to be able to paint them cleanly as moulded as part of the lower fairings so casting and replacing them as separate pieces seemed the best possible solution for me. Once cast they were sprayed gloss black and then Alclad II polished aluminum and secured with future floor polish. I have to scratch build the four small stations that allows the rider to strap down any carry-on and then she’ll be ready for posting photos “under glass”. Cheers, Wolf (who’s already got Tamiya’s 1/24th Morgan 4/4 waiting in the wings).

Thanks Mathias! Cheers, Wolf

Thank-you Doyle. So far it’s a typical Tamiya kit. It just needs a little extra love in places. Cheers, Wolf

Thanks Daniel. Thanks for looking in and leaving a comment. Much appreciated. Cheers, Wolf

Absolutely gorgeous! I rode one of these on a trip through Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota back in September of 2019. I did 3,800 kilometres in 5 days on the bike. It was an extremely comfortable ride and a great trip. Cheers, Wolf

Things have been moving at the speed of life so it's been a couple of weeks since I posted my last update. This one is a bit bigger as a result. The two halves of the fuel tank cover and rear body cladding assembly were glued together and the seams sanded. They were then painted with Tamiya's white primer and resanded to ensure there were no trace of seams remaining. At the same time I decided to tackle the front fender which needed couple of small modifications. Based on photos found online there are two vents in the front fender that needed opening and also a couple of rivets that need to be added which help secure the front fender in place. Using a small drill bit I chain drilled holes to open up the vents and finished off with an X-Acto knife blade and some sanding. This was easier said than done but in the end I think it was worth the extra effort. I also drilled the holes for the 1.2mm Top Studio rivets I was adding and counter sunk them so the rivets didn't protrude past the fender's outer surface. The fender then got a coat of primer and three nice coats of Tamiya's Pure Red Metallic followed by two coats of Tamiya's TS-13 Clear Gloss. I really like Tamiya's lacquer spray and use it quite a bit, decanted from the spray can, thinned a bit more with lacquer thinner and shot through my airbrush. Next up was the instrument cluster for the bike and it was painted as per the kit instructions. I added the instrument decals and topped them off with clear acetate lenses. The fuel and temperature gauge lenses were punched out with my Waldron Punch and Die set. For the tach and speedo lenses I made punches out of brass tubing. Each lens has it's outer edge blackened with a sharpie before being installed and then secured with Future. The clock/date gauge was a simple square piece with the corners rounded off slightly. Looking at the instrument cluster and comparing it with photos I decided I would add all the various warning lights to the cluster. I punched out tiny lenses with my Waldron Sub-Miniature punch and die set, painted them with the necessary clear colours, backed them with white styrene discs so they wouldn't sit too deep, and locked 'em in place with drops of future. I'm quite happy with the end result. Cheers, Wolf

I absolutely agree with all the comments posted above. I also love your photography which highlights perfectly just how beautiful your build is. Definitely something to aspire to. Cheers, Wolf

Simply magnificent work Steve! Absolutely love it. Cheers, Wolf