Tamiya Yamaha FZR750R

Started painting the frame and test-fitting the two halves together. Trying to perfect my brush technique with metallic paints.  

The two halves fit together quite nicely. They may require a bit of touch-up on the seams, but overall feels like a good solid frame. 

I may need to resecure those pieces of vinyl tubing inside the frame. I didn't use tweezers, and now they feel a little bit loose. I have a slight thumbprint to buff out of the chrome as well.  

These parts didn't fit together as snug as on the Ninja. Those ones almost felt magnetic but these were a little wiggly before cementing. 

A little fine detail painting and plenty of vinyl tubing in this step.  

I always appreciate a decal placed somewhere that will likely never show on the final kit. Just knowing it is there is like having a secret kept from the rest of the world. 

I sure hope I have those angles right, or connecting the tubing is going to be really difficult. Who am I kididng, it's going to be difficult without pulling them off anyways.  

I thought I was going to drive myself mad trying to get all those tubes attached. Had to use a white backdrop to get my aging eyes to see properly to do so. 

A little finicky getting the engine to sit in place without snapping any small bits off. But the screws hold it in place nicely, so no shifting. 

 

 

Been busy with grading final assignments but squeezed in some time for a little detail work.  

Getting some use out of my Xmas present to drill out the holes on the discs. 

Much better. Heightens the authenticity a bit. 

Tires are a good fit with minimal seams down the middle.  

I hadn't really noticed before how particular Tamiya kits were with painting instructions. So many callouts and unusual mixes. 

Ok, you're right, Peter. It does look a lot better with the holes drilled out. 

Painting out the parts before assembling the shock absorber. Springs take a long time to dry. 

The tricky part of this assembly was compressing the spring enough to slide the cap on the end, while trying not to bend the inner piece.  

The stand was a quick two-part assembly that needed a little sanding to reduce the seam. I went with XF85 Rubber Black for the wheels instead of XF1 Flat Black.  

It was a tricky fit slipping that shock into place and snapping it home. 

It's starting to look like a bike. An upside-down bike, but a bike nonetheless. In retrospect, I should have used the stand I just built to support it for this photo. 

Stuck with the basics this time around. Trying to attempt any type of heat staining on these pipes would have just turned out messy. 

Looks better upright, and the stand is keeping things safely off the table while the cement on that exhaust sets up.  

Attaching the radiator was easy. Connecting all the hoses to it? Well, that was a different story. 

Tail light assembly went together well with minimal touch up required. Tamiya's clear paints do a great job of coverage without coming out too thick. 

The width of the ends of my hobby knives were the perfect thickness to build a drilling desk so that the discs wouldn't bend while being drilled. 

A look at the before and after. As much as I hate to admit it, Peter was right. It is worth the work to drill them out. 38 minutes per disc well spent. Don't mind the paint slop, the outer ring hasn't been painted yet. 

Managed to improve the seam line on the seat cowling. Completely made a mess of it the first time and had to re-sand it all back down. It's at a point I can live with now without risking further messes.  

My state-of-the-art spraying booth. Custom built.  

I knew from the start that Tamiya made a bad design decision to expect the surface of the front fender to be covered with a pair of half-side decals. They were really stiff and not well-cut, so they fit poorly with a horrible seam. 

Scrape them all off and break out the brush, I say. It still needs some touch-up and the colour isn't a perfect match, but it's way better than I was ever going to get with those decals. 

That's no unicycle, just the front forks. That tubing was a little stiff but after a few pop-offs it looks like it's there to stay. 

Now it's a bike. Front forks attached, and a test fit of the seat and fuel tank assured me that it will come together nicely. 

Decals on the fuel tank were much better. They still managed to sneak in a couple of small wrinkles but they're not terribly noticeable. 

With the fuel tank and seat cowling in place, the front cowling and details are all that remain. 

Decals settled nicely into the gauges on the instrument panel. It set up slightly askew, but won't be as noticeable once the cowling goes on around it. 

Testors cement did a nice job on mounting the headlights into the frame without any clouding.  

I was debating between painting the cowl white or keeping it clear. I opted for clear so that fewer details would end up hidden. Again Testors comes to the rescue, with far less clouding than I experience with Tamiya cement on my Mercedes. 

The lower half of the cowling was nicely designed. It snaps in place with two small pins. Easy assembly with no risk of cement ghosting. 

In hindsight, those mirrors might have been a good item to try my first attempt at bare metal foil. As is, the chrome silver does a decent enough job. Here you can also see some of the seemingly unavoidable wrinkles in the decals. 

Assembly complete, and decals have begun.