Tamiya Kawasaki Ninja H2R

Feels so good to be back in the arms of a well-engineered Tamiya kit. These pieces fit together so well they almost don't even need glue. 

Maybe it's just me, but this looks a lot like a toilet from this angle.  

Really taking my time with this build. The patience to paint those tiny little bolt heads. I suspect that these hoses are going to give me fits by the time I'm finished though.  

Really hope these hoses hold through the rest of the assembly. That supercharger adds a nice blast of colour but took a lot of time to paint. Especially since I made a couple mistakes along the way. 

Engine work completed. The finish on the intake chamber shows a bit of brush marks. Will need to touch that up a bit. 

The attention to detail on this kit so far is awesome. Everything fits perfectly.  

That Park Green is really sharp. With just a little Chrome Silver mixed in it adds a nice finish to the frame. 

Very glad those tiny 2.5mm screws were magnetized. I don't exactly have sausage fingers but I'm still prone to feeding the carpet monster from time to time. 

 

I'll have to touch up the rear damper a little because some of the green paint on the inside of the spring was still a little gummy when I slid it in place.  

Swing arm was a very simple assembly, and that damper looks better with the paint touch-up. 

Rear brake caliper has been mounted, and yet another length of rubber tubing. This one will give me some troubles later, but nothing I couldn't overcome. 

 

The rear wheel looks sharp. That decal that spans the circumference of the small hub was probably the hardest one to work with since I started the hobby.  

For the first time this is actually starting to look like a bike. Going to have to clean up that rubber tire though. Everything sticks to it. 

The green decal stripe inside the rim was in two parts. I think it took about a half hour of massaging to get them just right.  

All these loose assemblies have now come together.  

The stand holds the bike up nicely while while I get to work on the exhaust system.  

A moderately successful attempt to replicate heat staining, using unstirred X-14 Sky Blue, X-7 Red, and X-26 Clear Orange. Not bad for using a brush.  

Overall the exhaust turned out pretty well, and the attach points from the sprue were carefully chosen so as to be hidden from view once assembled. 

I don't have a good tool for punching out the holes in the disc rotors, so I tried doing a base coat of semi-gloss black and dry-brushing on the titanium silver so the holes would look a little less solid than on the rear wheel. 

The front fender was surprisingly stubborn getting the parts to stay glued together. All good now though, and both the wheel and fender socketed into position quite well. 

The decals just keep getting smaller. And I haven't hit the smallest ones yet.  

Forks are attached and line up rather straight - a testament to Tamiya engineering. (Are you listening, Revell?) 

Six different colours of paint went into these handlebars. Can you spot them all? 

After all the painting, the final step on mounting the handlebars was to connect all the cables.  

I had to expand my toolkit during this step. I commandeered a pair of tweezers from my wife's vanity, otherwise it would have been substantially more difficult to fit these hoses/cables. 

Cutting this mesh to fit was a bit of a chore, given how much of it wanted to pull apart. The rough edges won't show as much once the cowl is put over top. 

The air intake fit quite easily and snugly in place. 

The parts for the seat mount were also a gem to fit together. I had no clear red for the tail light though, so had to settle for heavily watered-down X-7 Red. I think it did the trick. 

It took a little bit of work to open up the frame and jimmy the seat mount into place. But once it was in, it snapped nicely to the frame and is now held in place tightly with a couple of screws. 

Spraypainting outside in sub-zero temperatures yielded some unexpected results on the fuel tank. Some of the metallic flake clustered together and thickened near the front. But the fuel tank covers should obscure the worst parts, so not a huge deal. 

Yep, the fuel tank covers obscured most of the paint snafu from yesterday. There's a small part that's still a little noticeable, but that adds character. 

This kickstand was a mother to get in place. There is very little material around where the screw goes, and it was tough trying to get it to attach to the stubborn socket in the frame while trying not to break it.  

The instrument panel looks pretty sharp. The decals in this kit seemed to be much easier to work with than in some other Tamiya kits.  

Looks much more comfortable with a seat. Just a few stages remain to complete this project. 

In the natural light, the difference in paint tones is quite subtle. With the flash you can really see the difference. 

The side cowling is assembled from three parts per side. I was worried about the stability of these, but thankfully they screw onto the main cowling. 

This thing looks mean. It's like Darth Vader and Batman ran head-first into each other. 

Construction is now complete, with nothing but decals remaining. You can see a bit of the paint problem here on the fuel tank, but it isn't too severe.  

Front view of the completed assembly. The metal transfers and waterslide decals will add some colour soon. 

I was nervous working with metal transfers for the first time but they were more forgiving with replacement than I had expected. Adds a nice sharp detail to the finished kit. 

Another metal transfer here on the fuel tank, with a view of the instrument panel.  

The front profile looks better now with the transfers and decals all in place. 

It's not perfect, but I'm still very pleased with the completed build of my first ever motorcycle kit. It won't be my last, that's for certain.