Heller Laverda 750 SFC 1:8th scale

[DikDolan]

Ayup folks.
Here's my next build in progress, and I think it's going to be a struggle..

Laverda 750 by dik_dolan, on Flickr

Inside the box
Lav2 contents by dik_dolan, on Flickr

It has four sprues that are very heavily "chrome" plated. For example the wheels
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This is a bit of a conundrum and I haven't even started yet. Trying to touch up the cut bits to match the admittedly nicely (even if over done) done "chrome" finish would be tricky if not impossible, and I know the real Laverdas have polished aluminium wheels, not chrome, so I think the proper thing to do is remove all the chrome from the wheels and paint them. This is scary.

See Not even started and I'm already dithering...

I experimented with bleach and that barely touched the cut off section of sprue. I then tried drain cleaner that I had under the sink. That was a little better but still very slow- 36 hours to clear one small part. I then bought and tried caustic soda so that I could make up my own evil brew. This worked a little better, but it still took a long time. De-chroming each part on a case by case, as needed basis was not really practical, so I got brave and decided to remove it all (gulp!)
One sprue did clear in a few minutes, but the others still took 36 hours or so. As a mate said on another forum "That first sprue must be genuine Laverda chrome"

Lav6 test by dik_dolan, on Flickr

My plan is to use Alclad polished aluminium, chrome and maybe steel on some of the bits. Tamiya gunmetal and others for the rest. I do have a Molotow chrome pen refill that's supposed to be a good "chrome" paint too, but I've not tried that yet.... maybe on a few bits here is a good time.

I've test fitted a couple of the parts now- a wheel, brake drum, part of a front fork and front mudguard. So far they look a bit rough. Lots of poor mould marks and a distinct lack of mounting alignment tabs (compared to say a Tamiya kit). For example to make one of the front fork lower sections, you join two halves together.... but there are no locating pins at all. just butt both halves together and eyeball it to make sure they are on straight and true. The part numbers for the forks in the instructions didn't match the sprue numbers either, so that might get interesting. They are also pretty rough and will need a lot of sanding and filling and sanding I think.

I suppose this counts as "The start"
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A few bits are now glued, and the sprue goo filler applied in a few spots. Even some provisional sanding has occurred. No paint yet.... that might be a while. The bits inside the wheels, hubs, brakes etc are just being test fitted.

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This is my first try at making and using "sprue goo" as a filler, as used and recommended by the chaps on the ISM live shows and, well everyone else too=) So far so easy. It's been applied to the front mudguard brackets, and a couple of spots on the wheels and forks so far. Once it's dried I'll find out how much it shrinks and how easy it is to sand. Hopefully easier to use than the old almost dried up tube of squadron filler I have.

Hopefully more updates soon, but I need a rest now.. Wish me luck!

[DrSprue]

OOhh this looks fun!

[DikDolan]

Small steps, but some paint has now been squirted.

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I'll try to remember to list the paints used so I can keep track=)

I used slightly watered down stynlrez white primer then Alclad Polished Aluminium on the wheels, Tamiya X10 Gun Metal on the hubs and Tamiya X6 Orange on the fork bottoms, front mudguard and swingarm. The frame has had a primer coat and I'm thinking of using some Vallejo Silver on that (to be decided). Gloss coat where used will be Alclad Aqua Gloss.

A long way to go yet, I've not even started on the engine or body work yet. Feels weird, because all the Tamiya bike kits I've made always start with the donk, this Heller kit says "wheels first" and who am I to argue... at least this way I shouldn't get too lost I hope!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Excellent start, looks like a very interesting project
Good to see something different from a diffferent manufacturer.
I have a couple old Heller Bugatti’s in the stash I cast a wary eye at once in a while.

Liquid chrome pens by Malatow are excellent at repair the trimmed portion of a chrome sprue....clearly you don’t need that now but in case for future. I can’t say enough about how good they are

[DikDolan]

Cheers=)
I do have one of the molotow chrome pen refills, but haven't tried it yet. I'm sure it will get some use on this kit, there are a lot of bits that will need chrome finish that I removed. It just felt safer to me to remove it all from all the parts on the sprues, than to snip then strip each part as and when, especially when stripping the chrome takes 36 hours or so. There are a lot of tiny "chrome" bits! I'd never finish the kit=)

[DrSprue]

Excellent start, looks like a very interesting project
Good to see something different from a diffferent manufacturer.
I have a couple old Heller Bugatti’s in the stash I cast a wary eye at once in a while.

Liquid chrome pens by Malatow are excellent at repair the trimmed portion of a chrome sprue....clearly you don’t need that now but in case for future. I can’t say enough about how good they are

Been seeing this used alot for Auto builds, thanks for the link Scoot.. gottaa get it!

[DikDolan]

Well thanks to Scott's post, I had to have a little test.

This is the rear wheel axle, and the thicker section will be on view as a wheel spacer once it's all glued together. It's one of the pieces that was on a sprue I de-chromed, so it did need something shiny doing to it. This is just Molotow liquid chrome pen refill brush painted on thickly a few minutes ago.

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And here's a closer look.
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I must say I'm very very impressed! No idea how long it takes to dry or how tough it will be etc, but for ease of use and shininess it gets 10/10.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Yes, just don’t mess with it or it will lose its lustre. NO TOUCHY!!!!
Usually liquid chrome products are BS, but this stuff is the real deal

[DikDolan]

Awww but it's sooo shiny...!
I want to hold the precious. must touch..... no dik, bad! awww you're no fun.

[kpisnuts]

Great bike, looking forward to watching this build.

[RossiM1]

Loving this build Dikolan, I had a Jota back in 1979 it was a dream to ride but a beast to maintain ended up swapping it for a Hailwood replica Ducati
Good luck will follow this with very keen interest mate

[DikDolan]

Wow that's cool, 2 of my dream bikes. A mate had a Laverda 750sf maybe 35 years ago or so, that thing really made the ground shake!

I'm not 100% on the orange yet, to my eyes it looks a bit too yellow (the photo makes it look a bit darker than it looks to my eyes), but that might just be the lights in my kitchen. I'll have a better look tomorrow in daylight. I hope it's good tho, because trying to mix colours, in a large enough batch to redo all I've done so far, and all that's left (the big bits!) sounds like a recipe for wasting a lot of paints to me=) It's so much easier to just use the jar that's marked "Orange" and say it's close enough=)

[DikDolan]

Hmmm I think we have a problem....

Lav 13 tyre problem by dik_dolan, on Flickr

The real Laverda has 18" wheels front and back, and so does this kit.... but the kit tyres are 18inch rear and..... 19 inch front.
Now what the hell do I do??
My first thought is give up. 2nd thought is cut a section out of the tyre and try to glue it back smaller (what glue?? ). This is so damn annoying. Help!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Hmmm
Can you increase the outside hub diameter with an inset piece of styrene??
Maybe a wire inside the tire to decrease its inner tire diameter??
Barring those, yes you could cut a section with a new sharp blade and Ca glue or contact cement it back together. Might need a few careful measurements to see how much to take off....cut it open, lay it into the rim and then mark where it rejoins in perfect fit and do the second cut there.
Just thinking out loud here for ya.
Dont quit!!!

Edit: this gluing chart says CA glue for rubber to rubber

[DikDolan]

Thanks. I've contacted Heller using their webpage "contact us" page, letting them know of the problem. I'll have to wait for their response before I do anything drastic.

[DrSprue]

Thanks. I've contacted Heller using their webpage "contact us" page, letting them know of the problem. I'll have to wait for their response before I do anything drastic.

Yea, I see that kit is about 4 years old. I would think Heller would send you a new piece. Happened to me with a bad part on an aircraft kit from Revell once and that kit was around for much longer. Good luck Dik.

[DikDolan]

I've also emailed the ebay shop I bought it from just to give them a heads up that they might have a problem with the others in their stock, unless mine was a one-off screw up. I don't expect him to do anything, it's not his fault at all, the kit was sealed and new etc, but I thought it best to let him know.

[DrSprue]

Yea, thats a good Idea Dik. Who knows... I hope its a one off, and not something like what airfix did to there latest Hawker Sea Fury. I think it was that one that had messed up rudder issues.

[DikDolan]

Dave Coley, the seller I got the kit from has just let me know he has a spare tyre that he's sending me. It appears to be another 19inch tyre, but it's great to have to practice my cut n shut tyre resizing skills on=) Thank you Dave!

[DikDolan]

Progress has been a bit slow, flu thing and the tyre problem have really knocked me back. I have been managing to do a few minutes on it at a time, inbetween shakes/sweats and aches. Oh well onwards.....

This is where I'm up to now:
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The frame is pretty close to being done, it's had its coats of stynlrez white primer and a wafting of Vallejo Silver, footpeg hangers are on and painted in Alclad Polished aluminium:
Lav 15 by dik_dolan, on Flickr

The rear shocks are done, and I've finally made a start on the engine. You can just about make out the cylinder fins being trial fitted together. No glue or paint yet, they will need a bit of TLC to remove some rough edges, cut marks and plastic flash.
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And finally here's an "arty" (lol) shot of the front forks that have had a bit of molotow liquid chrome thrown at 'em.
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Still a long way to go yet, not even started on the fairing/seat/fuel tank/side panels, and a million small bits. Exhausted now, so dunno how much I'll get done over the weekend.

[DikDolan]

Posty delivered the 19" tyre Dave Coley sent me as a spare test piece, only it wasn't just the front tyre, it was a big box stuffed full of approximately 95% of a full kit - Heller 1/8 Kawasaki endurance racer, which included the 19" front and.... and 18" rear tyre. woohoo!


I'm pretty sure I can get that rear tyre to fit on the front wheel of the Laverda. It's a tiny bit wider so might be tight especially with the mudguard, but jeez man this makes things so much easier!


Thank you so much Mr. Dave Coley!

[DrSprue]

Wow, you see... its friends like that, who make up the great part of this hobby. I am sure he went out of his way in many areas to help you... Man thats cool! Well Done Dave!

[DikDolan]

Yeah Tony, indeed sir!

I got it to fit=)
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Got a bit clumsy and over-forceful and managed to break one of the mudguard mounts a bit, but it's easily fixable and hideable with a touch of glue and paint etc so no big deal. Even my own ineptness can't take the smile away today, thanks to Dave=)

[DrSprue]

Wow that looks Awesome!

[DikDolan]

A bit more work and repair to the front roundy bit.

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Most of the time has been spent on the engine lately. This is an old kit (originally released in the 70's I think) and it shows in the amount of sink holes, flash and poor fit of a lot of the parts. It's hard work getting everything to fit neatly. The barrels and cylinder head are made up of about 80 parts that have to fit only one way round and one way up, and the instructions are not exactly helpful, but after a few trial fits I think it's ok. It's still far from perfect, and I haven't even started on primer and paints yet, which I'm sure will show up how bad my prep work is...

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I'm hoping that I can airbrush the motor as a unit, then touch up and paint the bits that are not "engine" colour- bolt heads, exhaust fins etc. I'll find out in another day or so I guess.

[DikDolan]

I got fed up sanding ickle tiny parts on the engine, so I decided to have a push at getting the rolling chassis mostly done.

Lav 22 by dik_dolan, on Flickr

[DrSprue]

Its looking great Dik, but wow, so many pieces for that engine! My arthritis would have kicked in big time with that task! lol

[DikDolan]

Heh yeah Tony, putting the motor together is a literal pain in the.... hands. It must have taken me 7 or 8 tries to get the layering right, then 2 days of solid sanding, drop of sprue goo, more sanding and it's not done yet and then almost a day of dithering before I actually committed to gluing them- "is that right, naw, can't be, looks right, uh I dunno... but what if it's wrong?"

This kit is really pushing my abilities and patience, but it is oddly therapeutic too- fighting the urge to run away screaming is therapy, right?

[DrSprue]

Heh yeah Tony, putting the motor together is a literal pain in the.... hands. It must have taken me 7 or 8 tries to get the layering right, then 2 days of solid sanding, drop of sprue goo, more sanding and it's not done yet and then almost a day of dithering before I actually committed to gluing them- "is that right, naw, can't be, looks right, uh I dunno... but what if it's wrong?"

This kit is really pushing my abilities and patience, but it is oddly therapeutic too- fighting the urge to run away screaming is therapy, right?

So true buddy, but yea... its coming out very nice!

[kpisnuts]

Looking good you are putting a lot of effort into this.

[DikDolan]

Here's a typical example of why this kit is both frustrating and fun. I'm gluing in the small piece of engine casing marked by the arrow I added and being held in by the small red clamp, and you can see how poor the fit is, with gaps to the rest of the casing and the engine cover that's clamped in place. Nothing really fits well, every part needs a lot of filler/sprue goo and a lot of sanding to fill gaps. It's therapeutic in a way, because it's not really difficult, but it takes a lot of time and care. No rushing this to get it done or it would look crap, and I don't want it to look crap=)

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I keep having to do small bits like this, glue, wait, fill, wait, sand, more filler, more sanding.....on nearly every piece. So it's going to take a while yet=) Lots of smoke breaks and cups of tea are key!

Brew time.

[DikDolan]

Progress is slow but it is progressing mostly forwards, but one or two small mishaps. Engine colour on the real bike looks to be mostly flat aluminium. I tried a Tamiya "flat aluminium" and a "metallic grey" and neither looked right, and neither did an Alclad I tried. So I've had to resort to the Vallejo Aluminium again. It's maybe a little too light, but I'm hoping to give it a gentle dark oil paint wash to at least make it look a little more grubby and used and enginey=)

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One persistent problem I'm having is that some of the plastic parts just don't want to "stick" using the Tamiya extra thin glue I usually use. Most parts are fine, but some, especially the ones that once had "chrome" just don't stick. I've had to use superglue on them, which is not ideal because it gives very little time to adjust and position the bits before it's on for good. Nerve wracking!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Looks marvellous, so,glad the tire thing worked out in your favour
My current favorite aluminum is Mr Metal Color Aluminum.
http://www.mr-hobby.com/en/itemDetail.php?iId=137
Sprays and brush paints smooth as silk. Been using it a lot on my builds at the moment.

[DRUMS01]

Super nice clean work for such a booger of a kit, and those cylinder head fins look like a pain but they will be nice once finished.

Keep up the nice work!

[DikDolan]

Cheers guys, but...

Damnit. another step backwards...

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I'm trying to paint the 3 engine cases to get a nice shiny polished aluminium finish. Didn't work. With the wheels and footrest hangers on the frame I just used my normal white primer then squirted a couple of coats of Alclad polished aluminium paint on and they came out great. I thought I'd try a bit harder for the cases, and used the Alclad gloss black primer. The primer finish was lovely, very shiny gloss. Then several very fine coats of the polished ally paint which so far however refuses to go shiny. It looks dark and almost like the gun metal finish on the hubs.

I now have two choices I 'spose. Strip the cases and retry using white primer etc, or keep applying more coats of the Alclad in the hope that it suddenly goes blingy...

I'm thinking option one is the best bet..

Grrr argh etc.

[DikDolan]

Just went for option one. It's a new bottle of Alclad, and just to test that it's not the paint itself, I sprayed a bit straight onto some white card... went a lovely shiny finish right away. I guess it's just very translucent, and doesn't like the black gloss underneath.

The cases have now been stripped using IPA washed and given a coat of white stynylrez primer.
This kit and my screw-ups are starting to get to me... Please let something just be easy and go right first time, next time.

[DikDolan]

A bit better attempt.

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Still not perfect, but not sure how many more tries I can afford, both for my wallet and my sanity=)

[DikDolan]

Anyways, here's the engine just about ready to go in the frame. It's had a bit of an oil paint wash to darken and scruff it up a bit, then a coat of matt varnish. Cases stuck on with TET and clamps, so far they haven't fell off....





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[DikDolan]

I couldn't resist dropping it into the frame. Of course, the rear engine mounts don't line up! They aren't that far off, but enough to be a nuisance. Not sure yet on how to fix that, or even if I even need to. With this kit, there's always something...





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Here's a quick snap of the overall view


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As you can just about make out, the other engine mounts are all aligned.

[DrSprue]

Wow Dik that engine looks awesome and with the bike, when I looked over and saw that vallejo paint bottle, I could not see the actual scale and was amazed with that too. Hehe, a closer shot, I would have mistaken it for a much bigger one!

[DikDolan]

Heh Tony, that's just the lens on my camera messing with the perspective a bit. The bike is pretty big- about 10 inches/260mm or so.... though it has come close to being a lot smaller and many more very flat parts again when I get frustrated and start eyeing up my hammer collection=)

[DrSprue]

I dont know buddy, its looking really cool!

[DikDolan]

Cheers Mate=)

Here's a quick snap next to that same bottle and a 6" rule, gives a better idea of the size.
Lav 34 by dik_dolan, on Flickr

Ooops, I just re-read your comment about size, Heh yeah I get you now. Apologies, a lack of sleep and me being stupid helped me misunderstand!

[DikDolan]

Just had a small package through the letter box.... the missing tyre replacement from Heller=) Thanks guys, and thanks again to Dave Coley for sorting me out with one earlier. So if anyone needs a 1/8th scale 18" Continental bike tyre, I'll happily send this on.

[DikDolan]

Not much of an update I'm afraid, but progress is being made.

I really struggled with the exhausts, I just couldn't get the front pipes to stick onto the rear sections. It took me many tries before I tried a new bottle of CA glue- I guess my old CA has expired its stickiness, and TET just wouldn't work on that particular plastic. Anyways the exhausts are now in one piece and painted- sorry no pics of them yet.

The body work...... hmm that too has been a right pain, mostly because of the poor quality of them. Lots of filler and sanding, and priming and sanding and filling. After almost a week on them I finally got to stick some colour on using my shiny new Apex airbrush and tried thinning the Tamiya Orange with some Mr Colour Levelling Thinner- my first time using this and oh my gosh how great is it to use. I'm shocked, so shocked I just ordered 3 more bottles of the stuff! Nuts I know, especially as I have some Ultimate thinner on the way too, and for all I know that might be even betterer....

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[alextheblue]

That's a beast of a bike, looking really good. Beautiful finish on the fuel tank!

[kpisnuts]

Yes beautiful work on the tank nice and shiney and a nice colour.

[DikDolan]

A day ago I just gave the bodywork a nice couple of coat of aqua gloss, and everything was looking smooth and shiny. I opened the window to let some air in, and wandered off to another room. 15 minutes later I went back into my spray booth room (kitchen) and next doors cat had decided to play burglar bill/Spider-Man and feng shui expert.

The tank was on the floor covered in cat hair and assorted crap, so were a couple of jars of Tamiya paints, assorted tweezers sanders and pretty much everything else the cat decided would look better lower down.

The tank had several deep scratches, and is now being stripped and sanded... again!

The cat is still alive...

[DikDolan]

First of all here's a pic of progress from a couple of days ago


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"Very good" you may think.... but look at the rear seat section in the foreground. The decals went on, then started falling off, Nothing I tried would make them stay put- microsol/set did nothing, even tried a coat of aquagloss but they refused to stick. Also note the small raised section of the same seat section- that's supposed to be matt black. I masked it off and gave it a quick squirt of Ultimate black primer....only I didn't mask it well enough and it looked terrible, wavy, dodgy edges etc. My attempts to correct/bodge this only made it worse , so....


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If in doubt, soak in IPA, remove all traces of previous bodgery, and try try try again.


*sighs*

[DikDolan]

You can't do this to a real one...


Lav 38 by dik_dolan, on Flickr