MPC Honda Trail Bike 1/8

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:24 pm

Wet Saturday hiding up in the nerd lab.
Decided to start a Nostalgia build for me.
We had one of these little bikes though it was a gutless POS, but holds some fun childhood memories

The kit is a “Retro Delux” .....meaning old dead mouldings with tons of flash
Seriously, tons of flash even on the chrome sprues and NO parts numbers on the trees. Instructions have part # referenced, but none on the plastic sprues

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:26 pm

First step is an oven cleaner bath for the chrome parts of the engine

Post by **Hawkmoon** » Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:27 pm

Have fun with the little fart box mind you a dose of methane might have improved the performance

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:30 pm

I have never seen rubber wheels like this

I have some Tamiya ABS glue, just testing some rubber flash on the sprue with it

Also tested BMF with red Sharpie as the body colour

Am going to try the Molotov refill in the airbrush to replace the chrome

Post by **barryf1fan** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 2:12 am

"Gutless POS"

I had a little Honda MR50 when I was a kid (6 or 7 I think) and this one does look terrible.
Will be watching this one.

Scott, you seem to pick some really challenging "projects" that make me

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 2:19 am

barryf1fan wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2020 2:12 am "Gutless POS"
I had a little Honda MR50 when I was a kid (6 or 7 I think) and this one does look terrible.
Will be watching this one.

Scott, you seem to pick some really challenging "projects" that make me

Yes, yes I do
Have a bit of nostalgia vibe building stuff from my childhood
Also pushing my boundaries and trying new techniques and materials
I get bored doing the same things over and over
Ultimate goal is to make an entire project by my own hands...and computers

Post by **Hawkmoon** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 8:24 am

Remember to spray the final molatow coat wet and you will be fine Scott

Post by **jmurphy18** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 4:02 pm

Looks like you have a really challenging build going LOL. Especially with the guessing which part Good luck I will be watching.

Loved Hawkmoon's comment on the methane

. Unless the rings and valves were chromemoly kiss them good by LOL

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 10:24 pm

Whomever decided that split rubber tires were wise needs to have their head removed!
Fortunately I had some Tamiya ABS cement that seems to work

This kit is starting to peeve me off

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 4:49 pm

Little paint craziness
BMF layer first, then red sharpie ink and then clear Tamiya red

The paint on our bike as I remember had a weird red-metal shade and this does get close to it.
I tried some of the Molotow chrome over Ultimate gloss black on a part for the Ferrari
I wanted mirror chrome effect and got, kinda shiny silver
Still have to investigate how to improve that.

Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 8:34 pm

A monkey bike as we knew them over here

Those tyres are just

Think its because it's cheaper to manufacture them, completely

I'm sure you'll overcome Scott

I think Tamiya make/made a version

Post by **Hawkmoon** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 8:42 pm

The cherry bomb put puts gona look da beast

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 2:50 am

It’s time for....

THE DREADED CHROME TEST

Some have waxed ad-nauseum on this subject, I will not.
Spoons all painted AllClad II gloss black

Then three chromes tested:
Alclad II Chrome
Molotov Chrome from a refill tube
Mr Metal Color Chrome Silver

Results, pretty obvious. I will let them sit and then try and polish the far right one

Stash · Post by **bfrd** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 11:21 am

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 3:15 pm

bfrd wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2020 11:21 am

Oh I loved The Tic cartoons...hilarious

Of course I messed with the spoons last night, though you re supposed to leave them 24 hrs.
Except for the Molotow spoon, not touching that for 48 hrs

Polished the Mr Color spoon on the right and then added an ‘electroplating powder’ to see if it improved....meh a bit shiny silver, not chrome

Then I did the same on the Alclad...it immediately came up as shiny as the Molotow

This is what I used

Post by **jmurphy18** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 5:40 pm

WOW, your spoon looks cool here Scott! This worked great !

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:12 pm

jmurphy18 wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2020 5:40 pm WOW, your spoon looks cool here Scott! This worked great !

Matthew made me do it @bfrd
I was just gonna wing it with the Alclad and he said to try spoons and test things first
So I was guilted into slowing down and modelling properly

Post by **Hawkmoon** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:30 pm

I think you will find that trying to polish the Molatow will detract from the finish .I once sprayed over molotow with a clear coat and it went silver so it may not like being messed with .I would also leave it for 72 hours minimum.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:33 pm

Hawkmoon wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:30 pm I think you will find that trying to polish the Molatow will detract from the finish .I once sprayed over molotow with a clear coat and it went silver so it may not like being messed with .I would also leave it for 72 hours minimum.

Yes indeed, I know better than to touch the Molotov Cocktail!!
Have to decide what chrome to use for where. Really this bike was no shiny show piece, so I may do a combination of the three
Only use the Molotow in places I won't be touching again.
Funny it is so fragile

Post by **Hawkmoon** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:42 pm

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:33 pm
Hawkmoon wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:30 pm I think you will find that trying to polish the Molatow will detract from the finish .I once sprayed over molotow with a clear coat and it went silver so it may not like being messed with .I would also leave it for 72 hours minimum.
Yes indeed, I know better than to touch the Molotov Cocktail!!
Have to decide what chrome to use for where. Really this bike was no shiny show piece, so I may do a combination of the three
Only use the Molotow in places I won't be touching again.
Funny it is so fragile

Yh its very fragile until its properly cured after that though its quite robust I have found.

Post by **jmurphy18** » Tue Feb 25, 2020 2:29 pm

LOL on the Molotov cocktail !!

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Tue Feb 25, 2020 3:16 pm

jmurphy18 wrote: Tue Feb 25, 2020 2:29 pm LOL on the Molotov cocktail !!

They missed a huge marketing opportunity there

Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:32 pm

Some very nice looking metallic finishes there Scott

I've not airbrushed Molotow before but had some really good results just using the pens

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Thu Feb 27, 2020 7:51 pm

So I painted the Alclad chrome on some engine parts.
Also took two pics (different light) to see the kit chrome vs the Alclad

It isn't bad and I didn't try to polish the chrome at all

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:17 am

Kevthemodeller wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:32 pm Some very nice looking metallic finishes there Scott

I've not airbrushed Molotow before but had some really good results just using the pens

It comes in a refillable cartridge for the pens. That is the fat black tube in previous posts.
It has a nice fine nozzle tip.
As on forum member smartly advised, couple thin layers to coat and then a real wet layer to get the chrome shine
Then no touchy for a couple days
It was easy to spray and covered nicely...just have to be so careful with it

Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 8:25 am

I'll give it a try, on some of my up and coming bike/car builds I've got planned

Post by **jmurphy18** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 5:06 pm

this looks really cool Scott! Excellent picture and sweet chrome work!

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 5:47 pm

jmurphy18 wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 5:06 pm this looks really cool Scott! Excellent picture and sweet chrome work!

Ya not bad, thanks John
This kit's chrome is actually reasonable so I might just leave the wheels as is

It is nice to work out how to replace bad chrome when needed.....talking about you AMT

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sat Feb 29, 2020 6:03 am

Moving forward On the mini bike
Always helps to get a few decals and make it come to life
Bit of black wash and some oil stains on the engine

Post by **jmurphy18** » Sat Feb 29, 2020 5:47 pm

Cool! I like the deep red color!

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sat Feb 29, 2020 6:12 pm

jmurphy18 wrote: Sat Feb 29, 2020 5:47 pm Cool! I like the deep red color!

Thanks!
It is actually very similar to what the bike looked like

Post by **jmurphy18** » Sat Feb 29, 2020 7:22 pm

Very cool!!

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 12:43 am

I am telling ya guys, this f’ing kit

During dry test fits, I find that the air filter in no way shape or form matches up to its seating position on the frame and connect to the carb air intake. I can make one side fit but not the other

So I cut off the support on the barrel-like filter and drilled out the end

Now I can invert the filter and make a new support that will allow the carb line to seat too

Freaking ridiculous.

Post by **jmurphy18** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 2:18 pm

You do have one advantage as you know what the original look like where as I would be clueless to this and a bike like Barry builds.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 6:20 am

Well I have run out if weekend, no denying it

Gotta go to bed and rest for work in the morning.
I got the mini bike pretty far, just not quite done.
To speed things up, I am using the rest of the kit chrome “as is”. Trying to fix the sprue connections, seem lines, missed spots, chromed shards of excess flash ....Hell it would have been easier to strip it all

Anyways, here she is on a Sunday night

Post by **jmurphy18** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 2:39 pm

this looks really good! You did some awesome work here!

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 3:24 pm

jmurphy18 wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 2:39 pm this looks really good! You did some awesome work here!

Cheers John
I was seriously trying to get her done this past weekend, but found myself rushing yesterday
Nothing worse than trying to cement stuff on when the paint is not fully cured, or something else not dry, or you are compromising a part for its shitty chrome just to be done.
That is when it is time to stop and do something else

Post by **Hawkmoon** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 5:47 pm

Its a monkey bike Scott so its going to monkey you around.

Seriously though this ones giving you a hard time m8

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 8:54 pm

Hawkmoon wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 5:47 pm Its a monkey bike Scott so its going to monkey you around. Seriously though this ones giving you a hard time m8

...or I am a bitchy little such and such

You know what you are in for with an American model kit manufacturer

Would love to see how the Tamiya version is.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 12:30 am

Well she is all but done, just letting the kickstand cement set
Been a battle with every pin and hole, but I won.
This is not a Tamiya kit, most things don’t fit as expected and a few things left off like no horn

I added some wires and was going to make a key, but meh.

Final pics soon.

Post by **BobM** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:36 am

Wow, I guess I should keep track of what you are doing! Looks great!

Post by **barryf1fan** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:58 am

Looks great! Had some real trials with this one... but worth it in the end. Nice work, man.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 5:28 am

BobM wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:36 am Wow, I guess I should keep track of what you are doing! Looks great!

barryf1fan wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:58 am Looks great! Had some real trials with this one... but worth it in the end. Nice work, man.

Thanks guys

Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 11:40 am

Cracking build Scott, it came out real good

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:11 pm

Kevthemodeller wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 11:40 am Cracking build Scott, it came out real good

Thanks Kev, ya she is pretty good..some warts but not bad

Post by **jmurphy18** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:39 pm

this looks awesome Scott! Excellent build and details

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:18 pm

jmurphy18 wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:39 pm this looks awesome Scott! Excellent build and details

Cheers Murph

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:20 pm

Rest of the photos I have from Sunday

Post by **Hawkmoon** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 5:59 pm

This ones been put too bed very nicely and a credit to your skills

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 7:52 pm

Hawkmoon wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 5:59 pm This ones been put too bed very nicely and a credit to your skills

Cheers man

thank you for the kind words