1971 Tamiya blast from the past

[paddy]

So this is Tamiya's 1:6 Honda 750 race bike. Its a bit of an oddity and was always in the shadow of their CB750 classic road bike.
The modal dates from 1971 so lets see how it stands up today.




First thing you notice, or at least i did, is the wheel rims are wrong. the picture on the box is correct with Alloy deep rims however the rims in the kit are shallow chrome steel which was std on the road bike so they obviously saved a few pennies and didn't bother to make the correct wheels for the race version, just used the ones they already had....strange thing is Tamiya released this as one of there pre built collectors range and that had the correct rims?

There is a guy on ebay that sells resin rims and spoke kits for this model so i purchased a set at an incredibly reasonable price. just hope i can deliver on them as i have to cut up the originals to get the hubs so no turning back once started.

Resin rims

Original kit rims

Resin rims now gloss black

Kit hubs cut out of original wheels

And stripped of their chrome

 

[moon puppy]

You talk about interiors of tanks yet you string spokes on wheels like it's childs play!
Carry on Paddy, can't wait to see this little pocket rocket.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Practice makes perfect and he has done a few Bob.

 

[paddy]

This one is not so easy as i will have to make a jig to hold the hub , centre to the rim and at the right height to get the right off set., hubs are rarely in line with the rim on the rear.

 

[Rhino]

This should be fun to watch!

 

[Bugatti Fan]

Converting kit moulded wire wheels to using real wire on them is not an easy task.
But boy does it make a difference !

 

[paddy]

At least there are only 40 spokes a wheel the ones on my recent Alfa were 60 spoke and it had 5 wheels

 

[paddy]

This is the current build, i made a crude jig to get the hub in the centre, should finish this later today, obviously only the hub is an original kits part

 

[moon puppy]

 

[paddy]

Well that didnt take long once you get going its quite quick to lace these up unlike some ..

Cut out the hubs

Make a jig

Try and keep everything flat

Job done

Hubs are not to pretty but once the discs are fitted you cant see them...

 

[moon puppy]

You make it look easy Paddy

 

[paddy]

Sorted

 

[Rhino]

BRILLIANT! Honda motorcycles I owned always had noisy disc brakes. It seems model Honda bikes do too!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Those are nice!

 

[Impisi]

WOW!

 

[paddy]

I turned my attention to the engine next. Like a lot of automotive subjects of the early 1970's Tamiya decided to just plate everything in bright or satin chrome. It was like they had discovered this great process and were going to get their money's worth by chroming everything

Anyway the crank cases on these bikes were painted a sort of ver light silvery colour
This is tamiya's finish

This was my first attempt with a grey primer and Tamiya gloss aluminium

I decided it was too dark so this is my second attempt with white primer and MRP white aluminium.


It doesnt look a lot different but under natural light its several shades lighter,,, ,, happy with is

At this point i did a little research and found that the rectangular hole in the top is where the starter motor would go with a chrome cover over it....this being the race version it did have a starter and it didnt have a cover which meant i had to box in the hole with some plasticard where the starter motor would have sat...
This would have been so much easier if i had done this before i assembled the crank cases

.

 

[moon puppy]

Did you strip the chrome or just prime over it?

 

[paddy]

I stripped the shiny chrome on the wheels but didnt bother with the satin chrome, the primer seems to have keyed to it, i obviously removed it where i had to glue it. I may regret not stripping it but it seems ok so far.