I’m thinking about begin a 1/6 Africa Twin from Tamiya thay I have on the shelf… I knew that this will happen for following your thread… hahaha.
Progress ! Looks very good indeed Michael - I can’t wait to you start hanging bits on it . Agree 100% on semi gloss for the frame as it will offer a contrasting base for all the polished stuff.
I also find most metallic flakes to be out of scale . I modeled Japanese aircraft in 1/48 for years . The Japanese used a metallic blue/green coating on many components called Aotake and none of the commercially available paints look right in 1/48 scale . I found spraying a base coat of aluminum then lightly dusting over with a highly thinned coat of blue looks better . I don’t know what the 1/72 builders do - poor souls .
Looking forward to more work on the Duc !
Cheers- Richard
Edit - If MFH ever does a Norton I’m in - just about ready to pull the trigger on the Barchetta.
Michael,
The frame still looks great, and the semi gloss is just right as it will as Richard said give you just the right contrast to both gloss and matt finishes.
Metallics have always presented problems in model paints because they just can’t get the metallic flakes small enough to act and look like the real paint. I’ve got the Tamiya Mercedes C9 just waiting to be built, but I’ve yet to find any proper Aluminum Metallic paint, and I’ve tested Gravity, Scale Finishes, Tamiya Acrylics, Mr. Color ( which is the best of the lot), and Zero paints. None really look right. So I went back to Alcad 2, and they look by far the best, just a lot more prep needed and a min of two full bottles, plus the paints are on the expensive side.
Joel
@SF-07-18D @RDT1953 @Joel_W Thanks guys, interesting thoughts on metal flakes. I should have a photo of that shortly, but in the meantime we have power, in the form of a 750 V-twin.
More to come soon…
cheers
Michael
5 Likes
Love the Yuasa battery - kit supplied decal ?
1 Like
Michael,
WOW!!!
What a fantastic job you’ve done of prep work on the various metal parts so that there’s such a variation in tonal range as one would certainly see in the real bike. And the weathering on the cylinder sleeves really adds depth and even more realism.
As Richard said, the battery just jumps right out at you. Looking forward to your next update.
joel
Hi Richard, yes indeed, a MFH decal. There aren’t many for this kit but they are nice.
cheers
Michael
Thanks very much Joel for those comments about the engine. The extra shiny bits are Richard’s Blue Magic, amazing stuff and something I wish I had had for the last couple of big kit models.
cheers
Michael
Moving on but not without mishap.
Got the rear fender and seat hump in plus the shocks. I had laced up the wheels some months ago but not fitted the tyres because I didn’t want them to attract any dust. So fitting the rear today I drop the hub on the floor and sprung some of the spokes. After much gee whizzing, I re-attached the spokes.
I had also made the chain last year when I did the wheels, MFH said 102 links would do it but it is much too loose so probably 100 or 99. I will take the wheel off and finesse the chain.
cheers
Michael
4 Likes
Michael,
Just amazing progress. I’m still not sure if it’s real or a model. It looks that good.
joel
Not much time for progress on the Duke and what time I had was taken up with the rear wheel. After dropping it and reattaching the spokes once I got it on the bike it was clear the hub was no longer straight so a complete strip down, all 85 parts, cleaned up the old glue, redrill the holes to clean them up and reassembled. Still took a bit of finessing but got there.
Did get the rear brake on, surprisingly its on the left, gearchange on the right. I have been riding bikes since the 70’s and I have never had that. Our classic bike specialist Richard may know whether that was common on older bikes or just an Italian thing.
Centre stand installed but not yet effective.
cheers
Michael
2 Likes
Not only Italian thing. Montesa, a spanish brand, also had gearchange on the right some years ago, and if I’m not wrong some other makers also. I had the chance to drive one of those Montesas with right shifts.
The bike is looking very nice so far!!
Just beautiful Michael - no BS here, at first glance I thought you had posted a pic of the real thing .
British Bikes mostly had gearchange on the right .
IIRC the US Dept of Transportation mandated that all motorcycles sold in the USA as 1975 models must change on the left in an attempt to standardize things .
All my Nortons shift on the right where God and the Queen intended gearchange should be ! To make matters more interesting the Nortons have Burman pattern gearboxes so it is up for first gear and down for the rest . I have Japanese bikes as well that shift with the now standard left side , down for first . I never have problems with the left side/ right side bit but the gear pattern sometimes trips me up .
HTH - Richard
1 Like
That’s a beautiful build!
Among my stable is a Royal Enfield Bullet. I have read that when they changed from right side shift to left for the American market that it lost a little bit of its feel and that it’s a little looser. I don’t know - it seems to work okay for me. But there is a kit available to restore it right side shift function.
What I would like is a simple kit to convert a Sportster to right side shift, as my Buell Cyclone has a highly modified Sportster motor. I plan to make a dirt track bike out of it (yes, at almost sixty still looking for ways to seriously injure myself) and I’ve always wondered how you’re supposed to shift with the left foot when you’ve got it stuck way out for support when taking those curves.
I’ve thought about getting a Pingel electric shift for that reason.
To complicate things (and insure no one under seventy years of age can easily steal my bike) I like to run a suicide shifter. All of my ground up builds run off of Sportster or Buell motors, so I’ve designed a simper but effective foot clutch:
Which of course requires a pretty unusual hand shifter:
2 Likes
Michael,
Outstanding job on stripping, repairing, and rebuilding the damaged rear wheel.
Joel
The standard shift was always on the right until the US (the largest market for bikes) insisted it changed over. Consequently all my bikes have the shift on the right (as in correct!) side apart from the modern Guzzi, but I may investigate changing it! Even Harley Sportsters had it on the right to go up against the European competition between introduction in 1957 and 1975 (this is before Jap bikes got popular). My Guzzi V7 Sport (1972) is right foot, Norton pattern and my Laverda Jota was right foot too (1980) - it was the main reason for buying it, latest bike you could buy with correct shift! I recall the early Bridgestones and some Suzukis had a cross shaft so you could mount it either side. The main reason for the right shift originally would seem to be that the gearbox end where the change shaft came out was on that side on most (separate) gearboxes, which was then attached to the hand change, so that you could depress the (left) clutch lever and shift with your right (many bikes had lever throttles at that time, not twist grip). It had to be that way because most bikes had pre-unit engines (i.e. the engine and gearbox were separate) and the primary chain drive logically went on the left. Naturally, when Velocette invented the positive stop gearbox in the 1930s and most bikes went to foot shift, the lever stayed on the right. There are other important benefits to right foot shift, especially if it uses the old “down for up” racing pattern, like Norton, Velocettes and Vincent (all “racing” factories BTW). First in the UK, we race around a track clockwise, so the corners are mainly right handers. You may want to change up coming out of a corner with the bike laid over, but it’s unlikely you want to change down, so being able to just toe the gear down for up is useful, no having to try and get your toe under the lever. The other good thing is standard human biology, most people find it more natural to coordinate opposite limbs, so left hand right foot good, left hand left foot bad; this is why you will never see a horse pick up both feet on the same side! Finally, if you do drop the bike, it won’t wipe out both brakes!
BTW stunning work on the Ducati! It really does look real (except there’s no chain lube all over the back end!). I like the way the crankcase splits in the correct place for the cover over the gearbox output sprocket. The silver on the seat looks good too, just how I remember it. A real one recently changed hands over here for £155,000.
@SF-07-18D @RDT1953 @18bravo @Hohenstaufen that was better than watching the history channel. I am amazed somewhere in government there was a person interested enough to decide on standardizing gear change in the mid-70’s. It would also explain why I haven’t ever come a cross one. My first bike was a Kawasaki KH250 triple two stroke in '78. Every bike I have had since then I guess has followed the standard.
Richard, do you only have the Norton? I just wondered if you switched from bike to bike there would be confusion. 18bravo I saw the picture of your garage and bikes and the theory of N+1 for ownership. I did like the Triumph 675 Daytona, I almost traded my current bike for the Triumph Moto2 replica but since I only operate 1 I decided it wasn’t that practical. I am impressed with the customization you have done. The foot clutch and hand gear change is unusual but I understand what you mean about the flat tracking and having to change gear while your foot is on the track. I know in MotoGP that have so much lean now they moved to rear brake to a button on the handle bar.
And good point about not the both brakes on the left hand side of the bike. I done that before.
cheers
Michael
cheers
Michael
In the old British industry, there were only a few gearbox designs. The Norton one is actually based on the Sturmey-Archer design. The others were Burman (used by Ariel and AJS among others and Albion (used mainly by Royal Enfield, but also by Vincent on the Comet single). Vincent used their own design post war on the twins.
Agreed but I have always heard of the pattern of one up for first and three down as the Burman pattern.