Imai 1:12 Suzuki FY50

[BrianI]

A facebook modelling group I'm a member of, is having it's annual limited budget memorial build.


For this, i found a rather jolly Imai 1:12 Suzuki FY50 for not much money at all. on thon internet auction site.


So here is my build log.


Box Shot:



Sprues:



Now the build instructions say to fit the front wheel, then glue the fork halfs together. However this will make it difficult to prime & paint the fork & bodywork, with the wheel in the way.


So I filled in the wheel axle mounts on the fork, filled them with off cuts of sprue. Then I drilled them, and the wheel axle so I could use an off cut of paper clip as a removable axle. This meant I could fit the wheel at the end of the build.



I also drilled the wheel rim and added an offcut of beading wire to make a "tyre valve"



Dry fitting the assembly together:




I done a similar trick for the kick stand, which according the instructions should be fitted before glueing the chassis halfs together.


So far, here is the frame and fork glued together, with wheel fitted:

[SergioSolo]

Cool little project!

[Davethepitch]

What a great little bike I would not mind a real one as I bet they do loads of miles to the gallon.

[BrianI]

Primer on!

I'm not expecting a build quality as good as the likes of a Tamiya 1:12 scale motorbike, after all this kit was initially released way back in 1979!! (I was 2 years old then), but with some basic detailing like thin insulated wire for brake hoses etc, it should look reasonable from a distance...

[Plopper]

Yep looking at closeups of that plastic reminds me of cheap plastic toys of the 60s/70s! Not going to be super detailed but looks like a lovely fun little build and ingenious kit bashing to make things easier for yourself.

I'm looking forward to the rest of your build log.

[Davethepitch]

Maybe old kit but looking good.

[BrianI]

Argh!!!!! The build was coming along nicely, until I decided to airbrush tamiya gloss acrylics (red, and white) on top of undercoats of tamiya flat paints, both thinned with tamiya X20A thinners, 3 days ago.

3 days later, paint still tacky to the touch, and scraping it with my thumbnail, it comes off down to the primer.



So now in a tray of cleaner to strip the paint work.

Set backs like these certainly don't do my modelling mojo much good.

[Plopper]

That's very odd! But these things are sent to try us! Back to the start and I bet it'll be even better this time!

[Davethepitch]

I had a similar problem the other week where the top coat just came off with the low tack masking tape when i was doing a stripe.

Dave

[BrianI]

Rage quit, before I did myself a mischief....


Yes, that's my teddy over there that I've thrown out of my pram....

[Plopper]

NOOOOO, bless ya, what made you finally snap dude?

I've done it a couple of times lately, not so much a rage quit, more of a CBA quit for me!!!

I bought a 1/72nd Spit and a Halfords Papercraft Spit (I may love making papercraft more than kit models, My head surely does without all the headache inducing smells from the glues and paints), I got to the end of the 1/72nd decided I hated it and just dropped it in the bin and never looked back. The Halfords thing, got about 3/4 of the way through and it just started falling apart, for every piece I was adding two or three were falling off!

OH! and around about the same time I did rage quit for sure with an Airfix VW Beetle, it was that badly moulded and poor fitting I snapped it and swore never to do another Airfix unless I know for SURE from reviews and word of mouth that it was a 100% good kit.

So after all that, to say you are by far not alone with rage quits, I think it's just all a part of the hobby some kits are just sent to bite us on the bum and annoy the ship out of us!!!

[Davethepitch]

I was traumered when my top coat came off and i had to start again.

[BrianI]

The main problem was major issues with airbrushing tamiya acrylics. For some reason they either stayed tacky, or cured but were easily rubbed off. really wasn't doing my mojo much good.