Motorbike modelling: advice requested

[Weaver]

Little Cars do a lot of detailing stuff, mostly aimed at 1/43 car builders but a lot of the stuff is generic & will work for larger scales, such as lenses, coloured wire, fine tubing etc.  They also do Alcad II, Vallejo, Pro Modeller, MiG Pigments as well stuff for buffing & polishing.  They're good attenders on the show circuit, attending all the big ones & many of the smaller ones too.  They don't do online sales, so you'll have to ring them or contact them at a show.
http://www.little-cars.co.uk/list2.html

Yeah, I bought some stuff from them at Bolton, but the trouble is I won't see them again until Crewe.

[Weaver]

They have nickel silver instead, which has a similar high-gloss surface. Chrome plating would make the rods too thick, I guess.

With you. Trouble is, the nickel silver isn't made in big enough sizes: 1/12th scale fork legs come out at about 3mm OD.

[Weaver]

Getting the engine together at the moment. Some odd decisions by the toolmakers: bits of detail on top of the engine that will barely be visible when it's finished are immaculately reproduced, yet the clutch operating arm, which is highly conspicuous and has a cable attached to it, is a hopelessly innacurate plain "blade"....

I'm going to have to be careful to keep some perspective and not get bogged down in stuff like this. Having been up-close with bikes and their enignes for years, every little moulding compromise screams out at me, where a casual observer probably wouldn't even notice...

[Weaver]

Good tip on the wire: they have very fine black insulated stuff that might make good control cables.

another option would be to visit hobbycraft...they do coated wire for making jewelry in a variety of gauges and colours.....i use it for wiring cars and bikes and cos its wire not tube you can make it conform to shapes

Went in there today: they were out of the finest jewelry wire, but I got some 0.5mm black-sheathed florist's wire which is actually better, because you can strip the sheath back to simulate the end of a bowden cable.

[Mossie]

Just a thought, I remember my Dad getting hold of some very fine wire for me from a Fishing Tackle Shop.  You can get very fine wires for fly tying, mylar tubing in it's finest form might be useful for replicating braided tubing.  There's all sorts of other stuff used in lure making that you might find useful for your 'found objects' bin.

[Weaver]

Cheers Mossie: shame I'm not still at work: one of my guys was an avid fisherman so I could have asked him. It doesn't have to be super-fine (after all, the kit is 1/12th, not 1/35th), just a bit better than the 1mm tube they supply. I think the 0.5mm florist's wire will be okay for clutch and speedo cables.

Luckily, Jo's bike doesn't have any braided brake hose: just the "cooking" rubber variety. One thing the Japanese manufacturers do is put long, soft springs around rubber brake hose as a kind of extra protection. I have actually found a tiny spring that might do the job or might be too big: hard to tell without seeing it in context. The other thing that occurred to me was to get micro ribbed tubing from the site Jon posted and drybrush the "peaks" silver (well, steel and rust to be precise....).

I made a new clutch arm for it last night by carving a piece of Evergreen into shape by eye: not perfect, but better than the original. The old "fin" conveniently cut down to make the cable anchor.

By the way, there WILL be pics of this, but not until after the wedding!

[philp]

Weaver,
Not sure how much help I can offer as I have only done one large scale bike and that was during a 90 minute build contest.
But, Chrome paint is pretty common on this side of the pond in rattle cans.  Testors makes one as do Krylon and Rustoleum.  Maybe Halfords has a color you can use.

For forum questions, the Scale Auto Mag forum is pretty good.  Here is the link to the Motorcycle part.
http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/36.aspx

Sometimes posting pictures of the real thing showing what you are looking for can help others track down parts that will work, especially for her extras.

Good Luck.

[jcf]

Telephone wire is a good source of small diametre, soft wire, it is usually 24 Ga these days (.020" AWG, .022" SWG, .5mm Metric).

Wrapping a stripped wire around an insulated one is a great way to simulate a protected cable, it also works to mimic corrugated hose
or tubing.

While stiff, guitar strings are another source for cable.

[Weaver]

Thanks for all the tips guys, but MAN am I stupid sometimes:

I just noticed that the runner on the chrome sprue is exactly the same diameter as the fork legs, so all I need to do is cut two lengths off and there I am sorted....

Progress had been minor so far:

Engine together
New, correct clutch arm made
Brake discs drilled and sanded
Speedo drive removed from fork bottom  and re-fitted on wheel hub
Tank halves joined and sanded
Paint tests underway - playing with Tamiya red, silver, clear red and smoke to get the elusive deep maroon effect.

[Weaver]

Well, it's nearly finished, and since the event is tomorrow, just in time too!

I'd just like to extend my warmest thanks to the designer at Aoshima who, mischievous little rascal that he is, realised the comedy potential of making the instrument face decals 1mm too large for the recessed faces of the pods. My how I laughed when I discovered his little jape, last night.....

Normally I'd be wishing cartoon violence on him at this point, but under current circumstances and since he's probably Japanese, I'll content myself with wishing he's alive to read this.....