Adam Baker
Active member
I've got a Tamiya 1/6 Harley Davidson FXE Superglide motorcycle model that I built about 15 or 16 years ago, while I was a teenager. I showed it a few times at some contests, and managed to win a few awards w/ it, including 1st place Jr's & Best of Show Jr's w/ it at a show I attended.
B/c of its age, and how I built it originally, its slowly been shedding parts over the years, but AFAIK, I have most, if not all, the parts that have come off of it. Anything I don't have, I could either make myself, or source replacements.
The kit has a lot of chrome parts that I didn't both stripping the chrome from when building, and as everyone knows, chrome doesn't glue very well, so a lot of the places that are loosing parts, are on the numerous chrome parts that were glued together.
So I've been thinking about maybe carefully stripping it apart and restoring the kit, using the experience I have now, that I didn't have when I built it the first time. The plan was to take all the chrome parts and strip the chrome, and repaint them w/ Alclad, or some other chrome paint. All the painted parts would be stripped back to bare plastic and then repainted. And then I would reassemble it again.
However, a couple friends in my model club mentioned that they thought I should leave it alone, and think about purchasing a new kit and building it. However, b/c of the cost of the kit (about $100.00), that's not the most viable option, but its something I've thought about.
So what are peoples opinions on this? Should I restore it, or buy a new one and build it? I don't think I've got any pictures of it right now, but I'll take some tonight when I get home from work.
B/c of its age, and how I built it originally, its slowly been shedding parts over the years, but AFAIK, I have most, if not all, the parts that have come off of it. Anything I don't have, I could either make myself, or source replacements.
The kit has a lot of chrome parts that I didn't both stripping the chrome from when building, and as everyone knows, chrome doesn't glue very well, so a lot of the places that are loosing parts, are on the numerous chrome parts that were glued together.
So I've been thinking about maybe carefully stripping it apart and restoring the kit, using the experience I have now, that I didn't have when I built it the first time. The plan was to take all the chrome parts and strip the chrome, and repaint them w/ Alclad, or some other chrome paint. All the painted parts would be stripped back to bare plastic and then repainted. And then I would reassemble it again.
However, a couple friends in my model club mentioned that they thought I should leave it alone, and think about purchasing a new kit and building it. However, b/c of the cost of the kit (about $100.00), that's not the most viable option, but its something I've thought about.
So what are peoples opinions on this? Should I restore it, or buy a new one and build it? I don't think I've got any pictures of it right now, but I'll take some tonight when I get home from work.
