California Street Chopper

[James2]

This will be a in between’r build. I will try to document as much as possible. After dechrome I cleaned gently with a tooth brush. To say the pieces are small is a huge understatement, and just as finicky. Alignment pins are useless. I found it much easier to remove them and clamp parts together with alligator clips. I like liquid glue for this so I can do sections at a time for better alignment. There is a lot of cleanup needed, magnifying glass is recommended!

[stavanzer]

Very Nice, so Far!

What did you use to strip the Chrome?

Thank You for Sharing the Build with us!

[James2]

Thanks Alan, I use Oven Cleaner, the real brand not the knock off. It does a great job for me. Here’s a small update

I filled the sink marks in the rocker boxes, aka Panhead and the back bone of the frame. This thing is so small holding and sanding is challenging. 

Next I started cleaning up the Springer front end. This kits fork leg was not molded correctly and they were bent badly. 

I ended up modifying the axle spacer and engineering my own assembly order. Having built several large scale bike kits and a few 1:1 bike helps. 

 

[mustang1989]

This looks like the same kit that is in the new Model A truck kit from Revell.......right? Progress is looking good so far James.

[James2]

9 hours ago, mustang1989 said:

This looks like the same kit that is in the new Model A truck kit from Revell.......right? Progress is looking good so far James.

It is the bike from that kit. The Springer front end is a challenge but hopefully it will turn out. 

[James2]

Some bench time this afternoon. Keeping with my own imagineered assembly, I made a bushing and axel so to install the wheel after the frame halves are glued. 

Did some adjusting to the springer and sanded the putty filler. Did I mention how small and finicky this thing is!

Edited April 13 by James2

[mustang1989]

This is coming along just great so far James. It'd be awesome if there were some AM aluminum spoked wheels or wheel kits for this bike as I'd really like to build one of these. 

[James2]

Eric Ritz built a 1/25 bike with metal wheels but I don’t know where they came from. 
I made a velocity stack and worked on the exhaust today. Getting ready to prime. 

 

I like a single headlight and found spotlight in my spare parts that works just fine. 

Edited April 15 by James2

[Speedpro]

Cool! Tooling looks very poor. But it looks like you got a handle on this.

[Paul Payne]

First 1/25th scale motorcycle in many years! Is this a bonus kit in the new Revell model A pickup?

[James2]

I thought it is a repo, but don’t really know the history. I will say it’s  bit rough, very small and finicky pieces. I’ve had to redesign the assembly to make it work my way. 

There is a discussion somewhere here…

[Paul Payne]

When you go to mounting the tires, heat them up in hot water to soften them- those wheels are fragile!

[James2]

Pretty quiet day, shot a little Alclad on the bike parts. Black base frame and oil tank. Chrome on the bits, my wife’s nail polish on the gas tank. The smaller or should I say tiny parts will get brush on Revell Chrome.