Scale-Master

The radius rods in the kit are clunky chromed plastic with C type snap "fittings". And they are somewhat flexible. I drew up adjustable rod ends and joints and printed some out. I printed one set assembled together for the rear joints to make mocking it up and sizing the rods easier. The main radius rods are steel rod and the receivers for the control links are brass rod.

That tank is definitely a '76. Love those thumpers. I had a '75 XL250 with a 350 piston kit to make it a 305 and a super high lift Webcam. My riding buddy had a twin to yours and he kept it immaculate. That was a good looking bike. Yes, a model of that would be great, especially in 1/12 for me...

Nice work on those A pillars. Looks like a '76 XL 250?

I just built one a couple weeks ago. (It's here somewhere...) The interior and chassis are blue like the rear of the exterior.

I think it has a steep initial learning curve, but full immersion helped me catch on relatively quickly. Plus I needed to learn it for work. First print of the full manifold. Test printed the carb parts at the same time. In the end it looks like I'll have to machine hardware for them like usual. Although I was half surprised the lower linkage and springs grew…

Once I knew the base of the manifold fit the engine I added the runners and flanges.

Thanks Trevor, it's easy to lose a few days drawing these parts up, but it is rewarding too. Sure is nice having access to real parts too...

You're welcome. But I suspect you're having more fun punking the members here with your pretend game than wanting to change your "style".

Thanks Trevor! I designed a Weber 48 IDA carb in SolidWorks. I might have gone a little overkill, but sometimes those details print well. Even though I made the springs and hardware I'll probably print the master without some of those details and machine them in metal like usual. Linkages that can barely be seen… The screen is a separate part too. Idle and mixture screws with springs.

Why don't you post some in-progress photos so the people here can give you some tips in time for you to use them? If you truly want to improve, all you need to do is ask if there's a better or different way to get the results before going too far. You obviously can see these things since you point them out on the finished models. After all, there's no need to keep finishing models that you admit you wished had come out better when there's so much knowledge here ready to be shared.

I also made the license plate…

Thanks guys! These Starter kits for me are the most enjoyable to build as they are. Other brands detail up well, but these are what they are...

Thanks guys! I'm with you Chris, I was not a fan of the driver at the time, but liked the car. He did eventually gain my respect though.

Almost exactly one week after I started it… These are fun kits to build out of the box. Once you start detailing beyond that, the flaws really become evident. But they sure look cool when displayed as a collection.

Thanks Guys! I drew up the base of the intake manifold and did a test print.

I used BMF for the hood and trunk pins and then clear-coated the body. While the "wrap" of blue decals don't look bad on their own, clear coating really makes them look like paint.

I keep my "workhorse" VL loaded with a #5 needle & cone. I have a second VL ready to run loaded with a #1 set. I have a third VL with a #3 needle and cone, but use the other two most of the time as the overlap between them covers all the bases. The older VLs seemed to work consistently from one AB to the next, but the "modern" ones each seem to have a different personality and I've come across a few that work very poorly (or not at all) out of the box new. I think the quality of the old ones is far better than the new ones.

Thanks Chris! All the decals are applied. Some are layered, meaning a white image had to go down (and dry) before the yellow ones could be laid over and eyeball registered to them. So a little extra dry time was required. Fit is something that leaves a bit to be desired. Typical for these kits of the era.

I put about half the decals on, the main ones, and let it dry before adding more.

I had to hand paint the black trim and details before the ne next round of decaling.

Thanks guys. I've written a few articles about building and detailing them too. I've been building 1/43rd scale cars for over 40 years and I used to make the parts for kits. I was the lead caster at Precision Miniatures 1980-1983. I have the Coors T-bird kit (and many others of this era). It was abruptly "discontinued" when Coors threatened to sue. We also printed up decals and gave them away so others could build them. Turns out Coors could not stop us from giving the decals away, only selling them.

The tires (and outer rims) are the same in all these kits. I wonder why the Goodyear decals are also the same and the wrong arc for them… At least they react well with decal solvents.

Thanks Trevor! It's a nice break from "work" and the Lola. Know how simplistic the kit is makes throwing it together guilt-free. The interiors in these kits are very basic. In this era the roll cage was fully cast in the body. I used a shirt pin to make the shifter. The rest is OOB.

All the exterior blue is done with decals.

These kits are interesting in that they usually have the builder only paint one main body color and then decal the rest. I'm going to "paint" this one that way. Funny how the box is labeled as an '86 car but the decals are titled '87. First one applied…