Italeri BMW motorcycle with sidecar

[paddy]

Well off we go again, it's been so long since i built something i can't remember what the last model was but it was probably the British triumph military motorcycle from Italeri ? Anyway this is quite different,
This is a re issue by Italeri of the mid 70's ESCI model so we are looking at 40 year old tooling but that's not a problem, even some modern kits could learn from some of this classic stuff. I haven't actually opened the box yet but looking at this picture those look like mighty fat spokes on that wheel :-(

 

[moon puppy]

Paddy at the modeling bench, that's a nice Christmas present for us all.

 

[Sherman 18]

A monster kit.

:woohoo:

 

[phantom II]

Well i'm sure you know that Germany was famous for their tanks...

Bring it on :coolio

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[Iron Mike]

Looking forward to watching this build.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

I don't know if I have this or the plain cycle in my stash, but I definitely will be watching and taking lessons from our resident 'cycle guru!

 

[paddy]

Maybe a little more research would have been in order I measured the spokes in the kit wheels and they are about .9mm or in English thats .034", this on a 1:9 scale model is about .300" or 7.7mm
a normal spoke would be about 4 mm so these are double actual size.
Or so you might think !!!!!!
Looking at these wheels they are rather odd. The germans have been very clever in producing a 3 wheeled bike with all the wheels the same ie: interchangeable which is why they carry one spare ( fits all)
Consequently the way they are laced is odd and the width is very odd for the period as well ie: they have 5" rims all round. Std at the time would have been about 2.5" so half these.
I laced up one wheel with 0.020" piano wire.



It looks about right but looking now at period pictures and restorations the original spokes were actually somewhere between my wire wheel and the plastic wheel.



This is the kit wheel and you can see the kit spokes are out of register making them appear thicker than they are so before i go steaming ahead with more wire spokes i am going to try just trimming a kit wheel spokes down to nearer round and see what that looks like and what size i end up with. the wire wheel will be fine either way once its painted and used as a spare with a pile of baggage on top

 

[Iron Mike]

I like the look, Paddy. Can't say I'd ever go that far.

 

[moon puppy]

 

[paddy]

I know what you mean Mike but spokes are the one big giveaway on a photo thats its a model. I have started shaving down the plastic spokes and they look ok so i will do some pictures later, disadvantage is the wire spokes are crossed one behind the other where as the plastic spokes run through each other

 

[Iron Mike]

It will be a treat to follow. Thanks!

 

[paddy]

this is the wire wheel v the plastic wheel.
I prefer the wire wheel but in reality the plastic wheel is probably nearer what it should be. I got so hung up on motorcycle wheels i missed the point here. These are actually car wheels !!, the tyres are marked 500 x 16, quite why the germans used the imperial system on tyres (5" x 16" ?) i dont know but they still do today ...
As car wheels the spokes would have been this thick so although it looks odd on a motorcycle its actually correct and obviously done for strength in the field .......that said i have shaved the plastic spokes down a bit (about20%) but not the 50% i was planning on.
You will also see i have gone for the desert option rather than the German Grey option, mainly to give a contrast to the engine and brighten the whole thing up. I figure grey engine and grey bike was going to be a bit drab for display..

 

[Iron Mike]

They look really good.

 

[Skinny_Mike]

That's a lot of work! I like them both!

 

[moon puppy]

this is the wire wheel v the plastic wheel.
I prefer the wire wheel but in reality the plastic wheel is probably nearer what it should be. I got so hung up on motorcycle wheels i missed the point here. These are actually car wheels !!, the tyres are marked 500 x 16, quite why the germans used the imperial system on tyres (5" x 16" ?) i dont know but they still do today ...
As car wheels the spokes would have been this thick so although it looks odd on a motorcycle its actually correct and obviously done for strength in the field .......that said i have shaved the plastic spokes down a bit (about20%) but not the 50% i was planning on.
You will also see i have gone for the desert option rather than the German Grey option, mainly to give a contrast to the engine and brighten the whole thing up. I figure grey engine and grey bike was going to be a bit drab for display..

Both look great.

 

[paddy]

Made a start on the engine cases and frame. starting to look at where i can add detail now

 

[moon puppy]

 

[centaur567]

Nice wheels!! Great start> Gary S.

 

[tom1815]

Awesome work so far

 

[paddy]

I found these pictures in an auction catalogue , the outfit was sold a few years ago in the US




they show a load of detail not on the kit like the wires running to the fender light which i will add.

Made up some alloy pushrod tubes to replace the plastic, i am hopeless at painting plastic to look like shinny metal !!




I need to go and buy a can of coca cola now because i need the alloy they use in the cans to make some straps .