The MFH Rescue Centre

[paddy]

So here we have a part built MFH 1/9 Brough Superior bought in an online auction.
Someone has assembled part of the engine and put it in the frame and assembled one wheel. unfortunately he has hand painted the black parts and they look awful.
First job is to see if i can get this all apart and then check if i have all the pieces. this is a £500 kit which i paid £120 for. so basically 25% ..if i can build this into a half decent model i can sell the new boxed example i have for probably more than £500 and have enough to buy something else

Plan B is to build it as a wreck...mix it with a couple of italeri model of the same scale and build a diorama like this....

This a load of old bikes found in a yard in Bodmin UK. There are three Brough Superiors here, ...restored they would be worth up to half a million each.

T.E Lawrence (of arabia) was killed on his Brough Superior in 1935

So this is what i bought although the picture the auction site used didnt show any assembled parts :-(

this what has been done, note brush painted black...yuk

these are the parts i have. On the face of it i think its all there but because of the strange way MFH number there parts on the instructions but dont number the parts supplied its hard to tell. ...I have asked MFH for a parts list, lets see what happens.

I did wonder if i could leave the engine assembled but i am not happy with the finish on the metal and now i find the front cylinder is crooked

 

[centaur567]

You can do it! Another masterpiece in the works.
Gary S.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Ditto what Gary said Paddy! You can do it. I have seen you do amazing things.

 

[paddy]

Have i got a treat for you today ? not just 2...but 3 out of focus pictures you lucky people
I stripped down the work that had already been done on this model using Acetone, spirits, paint stripper and a roll of kitchen paper towel
One of the beauties of these models is they are 95% metal so Acetone strips the paint and CA glue quite easily but i would love to know why acetone only ever strips 95% of the paint ? you are always left with a little bit to clean up.

This what we started with, it doesnt look to bad in the picture but a £500 model deserves better than brush paint...

Front wheel with spokes, i may remake these. thankfully the spoke nipples are fine.

Engine parts with individual cooling fins separated . Most of the engine is held together with hex head 0.5mm pins which didn't survive so i have ordered some more and will need to drill the old ones out, no problem.

Frame and fuel tank cleaned up fine, surprised to see the tank itself is resin with alloy side panels. The resin had been brush painted and deserves some special treatment with the spray gun and lots of clear coats.

I have been unable to get a parts list, its the only model on the MFH site without one available to download. I did email them but haven't heard back. it really is essential as parts are numbered for ID on the instructions as you would expect but not marked on sprues or packaging so you need a list. The pictures on the instructions are not good enough to identify small parts.

 

[centaur567]

Wow, that's quite a tare down. Good job! Gary S.

 

[Rhino]

There he goes............
Paddy's at it again. That "motor bike" thing.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

If you have a small ultrasonic cleaner, put the parts in a glass jar filled with acetone and set the jar in the ultrasonic with water around it. The ultrasonic will carry from the water through the glass jar and agitate the acetone which should work quite well. Just make sure the jar doesn't sit on the tank bottom and has a lid, and that the top sits above the water.
This should take care of the stubborn paint residues.

 

[paddy]

That sounds like a really good idea. Looking forward to giving that ago
Thanks for that .

 

[Rhino]

I would post "Up from the Ashes" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang again, but you resurrect so many of these orphaned models it could seem repetitious.

 

[paddy]

Ok so i found out what went wrong here for the last builder.

MFH made 2 versions of this bike, a 1926 model and a 1934 model. they only give a parts list for the 1926 model
I have the 1934 model which is a much more recent issue.
The early model had wheels the same size. the later had a larger front wheel. the guy who originally started this had built the smaller dia rear rim on to the front wheel hub. You could get away with that on the early model where the wheels were the same size but not this model. My guess is he downloaded the 1926 parts list for this 1934 model.

I,m glad i decided to strip his front wheel down now or i would almost surely built the other wheel with the remaining wrong hub before realising what was going on..
It had been bugging me that this guy had spent £550 GBP ( the receipt was in the box) and just gave up so quickly so my detective work has solved that.

 

[Rhino]

For those of us on this side of the Pond, that is $730.45 in today's US dollars. Just gave up, huh?
He must have had a very small schwanstucker, indeed.

 

[paddy]

I think we all have given up with a kit at some point, i know i have with alarming regularity.

These MFH models are a challenge even for experienced modellers because the method of construction is so different from conventional kits.

Obviously this is the basic frame in white metal. the original builder had drilled 14 holes in this but he missed 6 other which i have now added..even now i can see i have missed another hole in that lug on the bottom frame rail for the foot rest.

The instructions dont tell you to drill as hole, they dont tell you if it should be through or blind and they dont tell you what size.
The builder has to look at each part then follow that part through the stages in the instructions and see if its miraculously attached at a later point to something else where there will likely be a rivet in the picture. You need to identify the rivet, measure it and drill to suit. The rivets are all different sizes and are given a number but without a parts list you dont know which rivet it is of the dozens they supply .
If you miss a hole in the frame for example and you paint it and assemble the engine in the frame then find you cant get a drill to drill the hole you are sunk.
The mistake on wheel rim size the last guy made is understandable, the instructions dont tell you the wheels are different sizes and which is which. I had to do my research online looking at these bike that have gone through auction sites etc to try and identify which wheel is front or back.
I could go on but you get the idea. You get a box of bits and some pictures where the bits go. the rest is up to you
I get that this might be daunting for someone who religiously follows instructions and builds OTB.

 

[Sharkmouth]

I get that this might be daunting for someone who religiously follows instructions and builds OTB.

After looking at so many Dragon Models Limited (DML) instructions, many of our attitudes are like:

 

[Heavens Eagle]

It is even with other brands of kits. Building the Zouki Mura Ho 229 Horton, they would have you assemble something like 30 parts to the frame bottom then place the upper part on the assembly. It is then supposed to miraculously all line up.

Yeah, Right! Never going to work that way.

After looking through the instructions, I determined a different order and used the frame top to align all the parts that went in between before gluing them to the bottom frame. This worked perfectly and there were ZERO alignment problems, but it was a tricky build up.

 

[paddy]

Its always hard to find pictures of what you are actually building with these vintage cars and bikes. Original pictures are the only way to get it right as all survivors over the years have had alterations and parts replaced.

So really pleased to find this

Brough made loads of versions of their SS100 but this "Alpine" model looks the closest thats in the box albeit that the brake lever on the front hub seems to be on the wrong side but having already established the different wheels fitted i can live with this.

I supplied Ducati spares for classic 1970's bikes for many years and even in the 1980's Ducati's would vary quite considerably from bike to bike on the production line, mostly built from whatever was in the parts bin on that day.
Off topic but i bought a Ducati 900ss 1979 and the previous owner had some pictures of himself and a friend outside in the factory with their new bikes which they had just collected with consecutive frame numbers. They had different wheels , forks and brakes

 

[Brokeneagle]

This will be a 'doozy' of a diorama!

 

[paddy]

This is a build that continues to throw up surprises...

I have rebuilt the wheel i had to strip down as it had the rear rim on the front hub

But when i came to build the rear wheel.....they dont give you a jig. Basically you only get a jig for the larger front wheel so you will have to make one for the rear wheel which is what i have done

 

[paddy]

A little bit of engine work while i wait for some paint on the wheels ro dry

Mostly balanced together so ignore the gaps

 

[Rhino]

I like the mechanical look of these motorcycle models.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Looking good Paddy!