Global Scale Modeller

Got the bitten by bike building bug, following on from my very recent Meng BMW R1250GSA. I bought this as a treat to myself for Christmas, after seeing a few builds on go old Youtube and a few mates have them in the flesh so to speak. This isn't a current model any longer it was replaced by the 1100 in 2020, bigger engine, new frame, suspension, instrument cluster (TFT), colours and a host of other parts, if you're interested See here

This kit is the is the 2016/17 bike as far as I'm aware.

Nice little colour supplement



Instruction booklet of 32 pages, not colour this dates from 2017 bit before colour became the norm. But still Tamiya's excellent standard.
















Parts to Sprue layout sheet


Sprues
















Decals and stencils



Let the building begin

Oh yeah!
Always wanted to do one of these big scale Tamiya bikes. Will be looking forward to seeing how you build it up.

As I briefly skimmed by this I thought that is nice for 1/12. Then I was looking at the parts and sprue trees and thought that is a lot for 1/12th, then it hit me...... 1/6 Wow!

This is going to be great!

digger303 wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 5:39 am

cor wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 10:49 am Oh yeah!
Always wanted to do one of these big scale Tamiya bikes. Will be looking forward to seeing how you build it up.

It's a really nice kit, but it should be for what it cost, so far it's not disappointing

DRUMS01 wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 9:26 pm As I briefly skimmed by this I thought that is nice for 1/12. Then I was looking at the parts and sprue trees and thought that is a lot for 1/12th, then it hit me...... 1/6 Wow!

This is going to be great!

It's a monster, really nice kit

We're off Quality between this and Meng 1250 GSA is obvious in many ways. But not that big in moulding detail but how the parts are moulded, how it's been engineered mould lines/joins will be invisible when the kit is assembled. The plastic is far better quality, screws aren't monkey metal, the 2, yes 2 screws drivers actually fit, no push fits.

It's great when things fit and don't slow the build down.

1/6 scale?

You are really spoiling us. I can already see this build being epic. Off to a great start

digger303 wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2025 11:46 pm It's great when things fit and don't slow the build down.

Tamiya kits come with a built in warm hug for the modeler. No one else comes close on fit quality and engineering.

Nice start Kev,
Can you show us a size comparison between the Africa twin frame and the Meng BMW GSA please?

Regards,
Keith.

I have to say M/B have no interest to me but this model and the multiple builds on Y/T have left me in awe at the quality, and contents.
Fantastic to see, and gosh ain't it huge.
DW

Donkeywalloper wrote: Fri Feb 21, 2025 9:48 am I have to say M/B have no interest to me but this model and the multiple builds on Y/T have left me in awe at the quality, and contents.
Fantastic to see, and gosh ain't it huge.
DW

I'm the same but its great to appreciate the kit quality and the modeler's skill. Its also good to see your mates efforts as it all comes together.

Oooh I am into this one

digger303 wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2025 11:46 pm It's great when things fit and don't slow the build down.

barryf1fan wrote: Fri Feb 21, 2025 2:36 am

Donkeywalloper wrote: Fri Feb 21, 2025 9:48 am I have to say M/B have no interest to me but this model and the multiple builds on Y/T have left me in awe at the quality, and contents.
Fantastic to see, and gosh ain't it huge.
DW

Stokesy44 wrote: Sat Feb 22, 2025 8:12 am

Donkeywalloper wrote: Fri Feb 21, 2025 9:48 am I have to say M/B have no interest to me but this model and the multiple builds on Y/T have left me in awe at the quality, and contents.
Fantastic to see, and gosh ain't it huge.
DW

I'm the same but its great to appreciate the kit quality and the modeler's skill. Its also good to see your mates efforts as it all comes together.

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sat Feb 22, 2025 6:43 pm Oooh I am into this one

fellas, I'm hoping it's going to turn out a goodie

Mpfiend wrote: Fri Feb 21, 2025 9:19 am Nice start Kev,
Can you show us a size comparison between the Africa twin frame and the Meng BMW GSA please?

Regards,
Keith.

Here you go mate

Doesn't seem like much has happened but this is almost 2hours everyday for almost a weeks work. Some of the colours Tamiya suggest and/or tell you to use/mix don't really cut it, the frame in life is a black metallic but it's so subtle you'd hardly notice it, until you put just black next to it. Tamiya ask for TS40 which is the same albeit not aerosol as LP40, it's way too metallic, so I mixed my own. Similarly to engine side casing X31 & X33 1:1, it's way too light and the wrong shade! What's in the picture is close but still not right and it's going to change as I'm not happy with it, watch this space Tamiya also wrongly ask for too many components to be NATO black that again are just black ABS plastic in life.

There's a fair few bolts to paint

Not sure what Tamiya have done to their decals. There's 2 sheets of them, smaller sheet contains smaller detail decals, they take an age to wet and lift and they are stiff and boards. A little bit of Micro set/sol and they almost fall apart, this almost caught me out just managed to save the oil filter decal completely destroying it's self

Kevthemodeller wrote: Tue Feb 25, 2025 4:33 pm

Mpfiend wrote: Fri Feb 21, 2025 9:19 am Nice start Kev,
Can you show us a size comparison between the Africa twin frame and the Meng BMW GSA please?

Regards,
Keith.

Here you go mate

Hi Kev,
Thanks for the comparison photo, it's quite a bit larger than the GS, I was surprised. (1/9 v 1/6 I guess is quite a step).
I have the GS in my "stash" and now have the Africa twin on order too, Thanks!
Really nice, progress on the painted parts, this work takes time so I'm not surprised it has taken a full week to achieve this.

I found this video about another build which looks quite accomplished and mentions the paint differences you have noted. you may find it useful, unless you have already seen it?


Regards,
Keith.

Nice start ! Love does desert bike ! Will follow the build for sure.

Mpfiend wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2025 9:32 am Hi Kev,
Thanks for the comparison photo, it's quite a bit larger than the GS, I was surprised. (1/9 v 1/6 I guess is quite a step).
I have the GS in my "stash" and now have the Africa twin on order too, Thanks!
Really nice, progress on the painted parts, this work takes time so I'm not surprised it has taken a full week to achieve this.

I found this video about another build which looks quite accomplished and mentions the paint differences you have noted. you may find it useful, unless you have already seen it?


Regards,
Keith.

Thanks Keith this will be useful

As mentioned I've repainted the side casings there's a Honda dealer not far from me, I took these in and they are a match as far as I can see.

Engine is now built just need fitting into the frame





Engine in the frame all very painless




Rear shock next

Nice work on the frame and engine Kev.

Amazing work. Tamiya are great but the build is beautifully clean

Hope you put seals in the engine or it is gonna leak oil!
Man that is great

Thats looking real good. Are you gonna dirty it up a bit, or keep it showroom clean?

Kevthemodeller wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 4:50 pm As mentioned I've repainted the side casings there's a Honda dealer not far from me, I took these in and they are a match as far as I can see.

Kev,
Can you share your paint mixtures for the frame and engine casings please?

Regards
Keith,

As for the engine in the frame, beautiful work, as normal!

Ben

Mpfiend wrote: Sat Mar 08, 2025 8:23 am Nice work on the frame and engine Kev.

Stokesy44 wrote: Sat Mar 08, 2025 8:28 am Amazing work. Tamiya are great but the build is beautifully clean

There's been the odd thing which could have been better engineered and has surprised me, more on that later.

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 2:24 pm Hope you put seals in the engine or it is gonna leak oil!
Man that is great

It is very well engineered and using different metal paint really helps bring it to life.

cor wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 7:56 am Thats looking real good. Are you gonna dirty it up a bit, or keep it showroom clean?

it's going to be showroom finish, I hope

DRUMS01 wrote: Mon Mar 17, 2025 10:19 pm As for the engine in the frame, beautiful work, as normal!

Ben

Very kind words Ben

Mpfiend wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 8:40 am

Kevthemodeller wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 4:50 pm As mentioned I've repainted the side casings there's a Honda dealer not far from me, I took these in and they are a match as far as I can see.

Kev,
Can you share your paint mixtures for the frame and engine casings please?

Regards
Keith,

Keith sorry I didn't write down the mixtures got too involved and forgot to. When I mix these one off colours I take a generous guess as to what I'm going to need (un-thinned) add about 25% and mix it in old (cleaned) Tamiya jars. I can tell you what paint I used and a rough guess as to the ratios.

Frame was Tamiya LP5 and Stainless Mr Metal Color it was about 5-1
Engine cases AK Extreme Metal Brass and Bronze about 7 - 1

Those are best guesses but not far off and you can play with each.

Doesn't look like much but there was a lot of prep and some unexpected work as mentioned in my previous post regarding Tamiya engineering

Upper shock body wasn't a good fit required some filler which really surprised me and the same for the shock base mounting being in two half's. The shock body is one cylinder they could have done the same with the base mount, some cost savings here I think.

The ejector pins marks on the lower shock wishbone are actually perfect for casting marks that are on the real thing these would be casting pouring and raising marks, so I left them. Same goes for the shock linkage (see above) casting, there's a casting line right down the middle. It's cast in a two half mould.

Paintwork continues to be pin sharp

Kevthemodeller wrote: Tue Mar 18, 2025 6:39 pm
Keith sorry I didn't write down the mixtures got too involved and forgot to. When I mix these one off colours I take a generous guess as to what I'm going to need (un-thinned) add about 25% and mix it in old (cleaned) Tamiya jars. I can tell you what paint I used and a rough guess as to the ratios.

Frame was Tamiya LP5 and Stainless Mr Metal Color it was about 5-1
Engine cases AK Extreme Metal Brass and Bronze about 7 - 1

Those are best guesses but not far off and you can play with each.

Thanks for the info Kev.

Stokesy44 wrote: Tue Mar 18, 2025 8:51 pm Paintwork continues to be pin sharp

Thanks mate

Mpfiend wrote: Wed Mar 19, 2025 8:40 am Thanks for the info Kev.

You're welcome mate

It's slow but steady, a lot of colour changes and prep work. There's a few right pains as well, some cost cutting which is disappointing on kit that cost as much as this and it being a Tamiya! More on that later.
Rear caliper sub assembly

The ejector pin marks on the mounting plate won't be seen once assembled

Drive chain sub assembly, forgot to photograph them painted

Now the cost cutting (in my view) the wheels, what a nightmare On paper they look to be a dream to assemble............. err No They're awful the wheel rims are in two half's, the front with a straight join, the rear with a trench zig zag pattern, both didn't join seamlessly. In life these are cast/machined perfectly smooth. They required many hours of filling/very careful slow sanding and refilling to achive that. Every spoke hole had to be drilled out/cleared these are angled. Some areas are slightly misshaped i.e. flats or concave where they should be convex , it's slight but it's there.
The front wheel, I didn't take a picture of the rear wheel started to lose the will to live I think


Then there's the spokes This is where I feel cost cutting has most certainly taken place. The spokes are moulded as part of the hub, these are long and thin especially the front wheel. They have mould lines on each side along their entire length, including the tiny peg that fits into the wheel rims They bend very easily, they do fly back but this, their size (about a 1mm) makes removing the mould flashing a right pain, it took days to remove, then paint and mask


Then come the assembly, it all looks straight forward. oh no
You're given a jig to assemble each wheel. If you look closely you can see the ghost line on the wheel rim centre and where all the spoke holes have had to be drilled.

Spokes painted, these are tricky to paint and each has to be masked off before the hub can be painted.

Rims and spokes ready for assembly

As mentioned on paper it's a simple matter of fitting each rim the the correct jig, line up the rim/jig marks and fit the spokes over the centre shaft in the jig and poke each spoke in it's adjacent rim hole Err not really
The first half of the spokes is straight forward, the second half is where the trouble starts, and boy does it The spoke half's are set at an angle to each, so they appose each other to an extent, this make joining the hub centres really difficult. If you worked on metallic finish paint you'll know the slightest drop of glue or forcing will damage the surface. The hub centres can't be glued together then fitted, there's just too many spokes bent, trying to glue the centres after both half's are fitted is a right nightmare. The spoke tips scratch the rim surface, because of the mould flashing and rim holes needing drilling, getting to spokes in most of the holes was difficult without damage. I'd even coated the wheel rims with 3 coats of clear matt (in life they're almost flat matt) they still scratched the finish. I had to disassemble, repaint, clear coat twice

The cost cutting firstly the wheel rims I think for the cost should have been solid, second the spokes, these should be metal wire or at least better moulded.
Putting the tyres on the difficulty bonding the hub came and bit me, the spokes all collapsed on the rear wheel, I had to completely rebuild it
Eventually I got there





I'm not saying the kit is bad, far from it you just need to really think about what has to be done make sure you protect the metallic finishes and lastly have a more skill then I've got. Front wheel left to do and I'll be glad when it's done
The swinging arm and rear wheel are mounted, just the tyre valve to fit

Absolutely superb. It looks stunning.

Hi Kev,
The wheels sound like a real challenge, thanks for the explanation of how you got them together.
It's a shame there isn't a CNC machined update set for this.
The bike is coming along really nicely and looks very convincing.
I'm already looking forward to the next instalment.

Those wheels. But you got them looking awesome in the end.

You sure put lot of work on those wheels but they did came out perfect in the end ! Surprised it was so much trouble being a Tamiya kit. But never built a bike before so not sure how they are with those kits. Curious on how much time did it take ?
But however how much it is, you can be proud on how it came out ! Nice work !

Stokesy44 wrote: Tue Apr 01, 2025 10:36 pm Absolutely superb. It looks stunning.

Thanks mate it's getting there

Garion77 wrote: Thu Apr 03, 2025 11:33 pm You sure put lot of work on those wheels but they did came out perfect in the end ! Surprised it was so much trouble being a Tamiya kit. But never built a bike before so not sure how they are with those kits. Curious on how much time did it take ?
But however how much it is, you can be proud on how it came out ! Nice work !

Thanks mate, there's a few little surprises cost cutting I think.

cor wrote: Wed Apr 02, 2025 11:30 am Those wheels. But you got them looking awesome in the end.

Mpfiend wrote: Wed Apr 02, 2025 9:03 am Hi Kev,
The wheels sound like a real challenge, thanks for the explanation of how you got them together.
It's a shame there isn't a CNC machined update set for this.
The bike is coming along really nicely and looks very convincing.
I'm already looking forward to the next instalment.

It's a very nice kit sadly it's let down in parts.

digger303 wrote: Thu Apr 03, 2025 11:53 pm

Lot's of colour changes, takes an age and you've got to be so careful when assembling/gluing, slightest slip and the metallic finishes are shot
Rads and cooling system


Bash plate and various side covers. The bash plate in life has a almost anodized finished which I've tried to capture.

DCT mech and lever

Rads mounted, pictures are a bit dark



Exhaust

The heat shield isn't chrome as per the plated parts in the kit, it's polished stainless steel, but not to a brilliant just polished. I've since polished the shield in this picture slightly to give it a more polished finish.


Forks

Painted ready for assembly

Everything looks so crisp and perfect. When it goes together there's no sense of scale from the plastic, its so well detailed and engineered.

Superb work putting it together

Another superb update, thanks for documenting everything so clearly.

Amazing update again ! Stunning work ! What type of metallic paint do you use to have such a smooth and crisp paint job ?

Stokesy44 wrote: Sun Apr 13, 2025 8:00 pm Everything looks so crisp and perfect. When it goes together there's no sense of scale from the plastic, its so well detailed and engineered.

Superb work putting it together

Mate. It is a nice kit and as you say mostly very well engineered.

Mpfiend wrote: Mon Apr 14, 2025 9:03 am Another superb update, thanks for documenting everything so clearly.

Garion77 wrote: Wed Apr 16, 2025 9:40 pm Amazing update again ! Stunning work ! What type of metallic paint do you use to have such a smooth and crisp paint job ?

I've used 3 types of metallic paint, Ammo Mig, AK Extreme and Alclad 2.

Here's another example of what I think is cost cutting and is similar to the wheel issues. Only this is now the bottom fork yokes, as you can see the excellent engineered fork stanchions side in at an almost 90* angle with the remaining quatre section of yoke fitting from the side. This creates a join at the front, Tamiya have tried to hide it, by the mating surfaces being a very shallow chevron and the rear is hollowed out to fit over a small raised land. The trouble is, you can't get both sides of the quadrant to mate, the radius of the mouldings aren't big enough, even with a few hours of careful filling it still doesn't fit well. The rebate in the stanchions aren't deep enough and filling them isn't the way forward they need to be turned and I don't have lathe. In life the rear has a gap as these are clamps so I went for getting the front join as good as possible and filling.
Gap front


Gap rear, which looks about right in life accept the inner moulding which I couldn't remove, or there would be nothing to bound to and these stanchions are heavy

Front gap gone

Air box


Headlight unit


Instrument brinicle there's 3 parts to this but forgot to photograph the pre assemble sorry

The mirrors had injection pin makes on them and right where they'd been seen. On kits this size and expense from Tamiya I wasn't expecting this sort of thing, the size really does make things stand out, come on Tamiya you can do better than this!
Pin marks

The mirror inserts are of poor quality they have pits that I've circled, again because of the scale these really stand out. I did toy with stripping them as I did with the exhaust parts but I wouldn't be able to get a mirror finish, well not a good enough one.

So I went for a polish, the pits are still there but greatly improved and the ejector pins marks are gone

More nice work. Cracking build continues.

Nice job on sorting out the lower yoke, interesting issue though.
Perhaps the anodising on the fork legs is slightly too thick? or the plastic has shrunk during the moulding process.
Anyway despite this the bike is coming along very nicely and your filling of the gaps is superb.

Stokesy44 wrote: Thu Apr 24, 2025 7:29 pm More nice work. Cracking build continues.

mate it's proving testing but not in ways I was expecting for Tamiya and a kit costing as much as this does

Mpfiend wrote: Sat Apr 26, 2025 8:56 am Nice job on sorting out the lower yoke, interesting issue though.
Perhaps the anodising on the fork legs is slightly too thick? or the plastic has shrunk during the moulding process.
Anyway despite this the bike is coming along very nicely and your filling of the gaps is superb.

It's just bad moulding/tolerance/engineering somethings I really wouldn't expect from Tamiya and a kit costing as much as this one does

Okay it's been a few weeks and I've been at the bench, just fighting more unexpected issues.

Mainly the decals on the tank and firings. They are utter crap, really thick and I'd say not fit for purpose on a kit of this level, I'm sure I've seen a YouTube video where the poster says the same thing! They're so thick it's impossible, well it proved that way for me, to get them to lay flat, mostly on the tank, they have absolutely no give. I used my go to decal solution Micro Set/Sol not much better than water, tried Mr Setter/Softer, not any better really. I then tried what I call the big gun Solvaset that stuff melts decals if you're not careful, slight improvement, but still not enough, then a hair dryer a little better. It's taken 2 weeks of messing about to get an oaky job, I'm far from happy with the results though. Creasing, bubbles, lack of adhesion on folds and flaking off. Tamiya, they're crap not happy

Painted and decals applied



Discs/Caliper's/Pads

The floating discs rivets should have been PE not plastic with two moulding points on each, right pain to clean up, again more cost cutting!




Assembled


Fitted to the wheel, you've got to be careful with these wheels they're fragile. The kit comes with a stand and it tells you to use it to maintain the wheel shape, they really aren't that robust.


Front end on

Fitting the mud guard is tricky, it's screws on and helps support the bottom yoke. The metal forks are superb but heavy and it's all too easy to break the bottom yoke.

Front wheel in, it's a bike at last You can clearly see the stand and that both wheels are off the bench.


Nose firing frame fitted


Air box fitted


Head light cluster and inner cluster surround fitted



TFT and inner firing infill fitted

Beautiful work Kev. The turn out continues to be excellent and it looks awesome.

You may have found Tamiya's Achilles Heal with the poor decals. With some kits, or ranges, their decals, for some reason, are just not up to it. When they bought out their flagships 1/32 WW2 aircraft range, the decals for the Spitfire and Mustang were terrible. I bought both kits and got my fingers burnt twice. Since then I've bought another Spit and Mustang along with a Corsair and Mossie. Aftermarket decals for all of them.