Tamiya Suzuki Katana build

[kirk13]

It's true that the devil finds work for ideal hands. While on holiday with the folks I randomly scanned eBay. For one reason or another,I started looking at Tamiya bike models,and was blown away by how cheap some of them were. I figured the classic GS1000 Katana would be a cheap,fun quick build. Sadly,I then picked up an issue of Classic Racer with an article about AMA Superbike hero Wes Cooley. Let's just say things spiralled out of control,with me scavenging the swinging arm from an RG500 I'd abandoned years ago,and grabbing a half build Katana custom spec to get better shocks,forks and exhaust.









Most of the painting has been done with Humbrol aerosols,with detail work done in Humbrol and Games Workshop acrylics,and weathering in Windsor and Newton inks. For reasons of convenience and laziness,I've used superglue through out rather than polystyrene cement.

[Chako]

Looking good! 

[kirk13]

Looking good! 

Cheers Dan

[Zed]

That's so cool Kirky  my mate had a katana when I had my z1000 I rode it a couple of times, lovely bike 

[Smashie]

Very cool mate   I always liked the look of the katana 

[Gerhard Gerber]

Very cool! 

Just have to mention I was bitterly disappointed initially, was thinking "katana belongs in the edged tools section  " when the images loaded and the penny dropped 

[kirk13]

Cheers guys

There's still one or two touch ups to do,but here's the finished article!

[Kev D]

Nice work  that looks great

[kirk13]

Nice work  that looks great

Cheers Kev

[AimlessWanderer]

That turned out nicely John 

[kirk13]

That turned out nicely John 

Thanks Al

[Smashie]

Nicely done, more patience than I can manage 

[kirk13]

Nicely done, more patience than I can manage 

It's just Lego with paint Mark

[Ron Who]

 

I've got this one stashed for the coming winter.

[Smashie]

Nicely done, more patience than I can manage 

It's just Lego with paint Mark

It's not the model itself, or the paint, it's the smurfing glue 

[kirk13]

I've got this one stashed for the coming winter.

Electroglide in blue? Very nice Ronald,I'll look forward to seeing that

[Ron Who]

I've got this one stashed for the coming winter.

Electroglide in blue? Very nice Ronald,I'll look forward to seeing that

Yes it's the movie bike. It'll be a few months.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I've got this one stashed for the coming winter.

I think I built that exact model 20ish years ago!   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Cheers guys

There's still one or two touch ups to do,but here's the finished article!

(Image removed from quote.)

That looks awesome Kirky!  On first glance you'd be hard pressed to tell that it isn't a real one!

I had read many years ago in an article of FSM how to age a car model so that it looked more realistic and not like a showroom version or showcar- heat the plastic and apply a few dents, leave off one (or more) hubcaps etc to show what the real car would have encountered in a couple of decades of life and use.  Of course I became obsessed with that and started building everything from real world looking cars on the street to complete junkers.

Were you tempted, even just a little bit to put some oil stains on it and some blackened exhaust tips? 

Def

[zoidberg]

Cheers guys

There's still one or two touch ups to do,but here's the finished article!

(Image removed from quote.)

    

[kirk13]

Cheers guys

There's still one or two touch ups to do,but here's the finished article!

(Image removed from quote.)

That looks awesome Kirky!  On first glance you'd be hard pressed to tell that it isn't a real one!

I had read many years ago in an article of FSM how to age a car model so that it looked more realistic and not like a showroom version or showcar- heat the plastic and apply a few dents, leave off one (or more) hubcaps etc to show what the real car would have encountered in a couple of decades of life and use.  Of course I became obsessed with that and started building everything from real world looking cars on the street to complete junkers.

Were you tempted, even just a little bit to put some oil stains on it and some blackened exhaust tips? 

Def

Grant,there's actually quite a bit of weathering on this one,but it is quite subtle. Even a hard used race bike(which is the idea of this one) is kept surprisingly clean. I had thought of adding grime,to give it a post race look,but having a model I'm very pleased with,I didn't want to risk stuffing it up(not that I've ever done that before )

I've traditionally done heavy weathering on my aircraft and armour(if photosmurfit wasn't being an arse I'd repost the Panther I did for work),and I've got half an idea to do a heavily weathered 1/24 pick up truck at some point.


I ordered a Tamiya Ducati 888 earlier,so there's another project kicking off soon

[kirk13]

And here's the progress on the 888

[Smashie]

And here's the progress on the 888

(Image removed from quote.)

That look very impressive John 

I regret turning down the opportunity to buy one of those a few years ago 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Looking great so far!

And if you need reference photos on a well used pickup, let me know- I see dozens of them every day! 

Def

[kirk13]

And here's the progress on the 888

(Image removed from quote.)

That look very impressive John 

I regret turning down the opportunity to buy one of those a few years ago 

Cheers Mark

[kirk13]

Looking great so far!

And if you need reference photos on a well used pickup, let me know- I see dozens of them every day! 

Def

Cheers Boss,I might well take you up on that

[Top-Gear-24]

How did I miss this topic ... 

That Suzuki is just awesome, can't wait for the rest of the Ducati pics  .

Thanks for sharing them mate  .

[kirk13]

How did I miss this topic ... 

That Suzuki is just awesome, can't wait for the rest of the Ducati pics  .

Thanks for sharing them mate  .

Cheers TG,thank you mate

[kirk13]

Some update pics on the Ducati

[Zed]

   looks great mate