Motorcycle and All Terrain Vehicle Ideas

Mossie · April 11, 2007, 03:03:57 AM

Can anyone tell me which manufacturers kit motorbikes? I'm just after kits, not diecasts. I know of Tamiya of course, Revell/Italeri (I think Italieri have taken on the 1:9 Protar range?) & Airfix/Heller have done a couple of modern racing bikes & Testors do a few Harleys, but are their any others, especially road bikes?

Cheers!

Simon.

Captain Canada · April 11, 2007, 04:54:56 AM

Sounds like you've pretty much hit them all, Simon ! I'll ask my local shop guy if he knows of any others.

Mossie · April 11, 2007, 05:48:18 AM

Ah, was worried about that Todd! I though remember when I was about thirteen/fourteen or so my next door neighbour asked me to build a kit of an old Indian for him. I've no idea what manufacturer this was, but it was definately injection & not a bad little kit, well my clumsy teenage hands managed it! I thought there may be some small niche manufacturers out there that aren't well known in the mainstream?

ysi_maniac · April 11, 2007, 06:22:06 AM

Search in www.hlj.com They have hundreds. It is a very serious shop that I can recomend.

Mossie · April 11, 2007, 06:48:51 AM

Thanks Carlos! Quite a few there, not the bike I was looking for, a modern Suzuki GSXF but plenty to chose from. My brother is bike nut, & I'd liked to have built his current bike for him. There are other versions of it, plenty of older models as well as the much beefier GSXR Hayabusa, so these might do. Also, there are some of bikes he's had before, so they're an option too.

Weaver · October 17, 2008, 03:12:40 AM

Quote from: Mossie on April 11, 2007, 06:48:51 AM
Thanks Carlos! Quite a few there, not the bike I was looking for, a modern Suzuki GSXF but plenty to chose from. My brother is bike nut, & I'd liked to have built his current bike for him. There are other versions of it, plenty of older models as well as the much beefier GSXR Hayabusa, so these might do. Also, there are some of bikes he's had before, so they're an option too.

Exactly what model is it Mossie? If it's a GSXF1100 (sports tourer with an electronic screen) then I'd be amazed if there's a kit of it, because it was pretty much an also-ran model. If it's a GSXR (sports bike) then I'd imagine someone will have modelled it, because they're Suzuki's "flagship". If it's a GSF (Bandit), then I'm not sure: best selling bike, but not so glamorous...... There are lots of other variations on the GSX**** theme. Engine size matters too: some years of GSXR750 are just GSXR1100s with a smaller engine, but others are significantly differerent.

I'll ask around.......

Weaver · October 17, 2008, 03:16:45 AM

As to motorcycles generally, what I want to know is, does anyone make 1/72nd or 1/76th ones that ARN'T WWII BMW/Zundapp/Harley despatch bikes or sidecar combos? I had the idea of putting my Manx Triskelion model into a diorama where it's doing medevac for a crashed TT rider, but I couldn't find any suitable modern bike or ambulance (search time was limited due to it being a GB).

Mossie · October 17, 2008, 03:38:32 AM

Thanks mate, but this request was from about a year & a half ago, Jeff's merged the thread I guess for general motorbike ideas. My brother's into bikes & the idea was to build a kit up for him as a pressie, but he's sold his bike now as his job has taken him to Europe & he couldn't take both his bike & his car. I'm fairly sure it was a GSXF 650 or 750, but I'm going on memory & I'm not the most clued up on bikes. Once he comes back he'll probably pick up another bike & I might post another request then.

Still, if you can find a model then I might do it for him for Christmas! Other possibilities are older bikes he had, a Suzuki RG250 (never actually got it on the road as a kid because the insurance was as much as the bike!) & his first bike, a Honda C90 Grunter.....! I think Tamiya have done kits of these at sometime?

Weaver · October 17, 2008, 08:28:17 AM

LOL - makes mental note to check the date on posts......

I'll still see what I can come up with though.....

Weaver · October 17, 2008, 06:01:48 PM

Some more manufacturers who've done bike kits:

Aoshima -looks like it might be the best bet for a GSXF, since they seem to do more
"normal" bikes rather than just flagship models.

Bandai

Imai

Heller - did more than just the current Airfix/Heller racers; there's a lovely Laverda 750 SF on ebay at the moment (must resist, must resist)

Union - Japanese company, know nothing about them, but I've got a 20-year old half-built Harley kit upstairs from them!

Weaver · October 17, 2008, 06:15:18 PM

Somebody was asking somewhere (but I can't find it now

) about modern military trail bikes. Well Tamiya do a "JSDF Recce set" in 1/35th that has a modern trial bike with all the military kit on it, a rider and a standing figure. Can't tell what the bike is exactly: it looks a bit like a Suzuki DR350, but then most small trail bikes do.....

UK ebay has a slew of these, but most of them seem to be from Hongkong......

On the subject of Japanese kit companies, one of the problems is that, looking towards their biggest markets, they produce models of Japanese or American market bikes, which are not neccessarily sold or even well known in Europe.

Daryl J. · October 18, 2008, 09:33:53 PM

I've wanted to trick out either of Tamiya's 1/35 motorcycles, one with a side car to accompany a similar styled 1/35 VW Bug and Fokker DR.1/Sopwith Camel/Storch/SPAD XIII as the machines of a freedom loving, hard living, loyal rat pack of people.

The vignette from left to right: A trotting male figure, one of the aircraft above facing backwards being towed by a walking dromedary for 3 visual centers.

Daryl J.