Part 1 :- 1/6 Harley Davidson FLH Classic

Back in 2007 I made this kit before the days of having an airbrush and only a low budget digital camera. Got another one of these in my stash to make, so will be nice to see if I approach things in another way.

This was a "Newstar" remake of the Tamiya Harley Davidson and I knew the bike was going to be big by the size of the box & I was not wrong when I looked inside.  After my initial pleasure, I noticed that all was not well. with closer look at the sprues I could see some very serious problems to come.
Some of the "chroming" had not worked on one of the sprues & faded to its natural black plastic colour, some of the other chrome parts were scratched & some other coated parts had either a lot of "flash" or obvious mould lines

Mould "flash" on some parts

Poor Chrome effect on some parts

My wife’s idea was do a bright and mad "Custom" paint job on the bike as it will allow me to remove all the seam lines & scratches & give a personal touch. A quick walk to a local Halfords & with Sarah's help we chose a metallic red for the main parts like the tank, mudguards, etc. and a dark copper & a pale gold scheme for the old chromed parts married to a black frame.  
  
FRAME ASSEMBLY:- Parts 1,2 & 3
Please note the area marked to be removed to fit the rear foot rests later on. The only problem I had had was with part No.N8 that had a nasty seam line, so out came the sanding sticks & I decided to paint it the same colour as the frame.


Areas to be cut off and left on the frame

The chain in section 3 was painted in Tamiya Metallic Grey & given a black ink wash to bring out the link detail. I then sprayed the frame in gloss black & the completed suspension arm in satin black. I did not fit parts F7 & F8 as these were to be painted in the custom colours later. 



Chain and rear suspension arm fitted

ENGINE ASSEMBLY:- Parts 4 to 7
As the engine covers (Part No. L4 & L16) were going to be re-painted I built these up & put them aside. I built the cylinder cases without the bolt detail or spark plugs, as this will go on after spraying. The crank case minus the cover & oil pump was assembled with seam lines removed ready for spraying.  The crank case was done in Tamiya Metallic Grey, the cylinder head in Tamiya Chrome Silver & the rocker covers & case cover in Sovereign Gold.



Engine parts of 1/6 Harley painted

The push rods were also sprayed in the gold & the engine assembled.  All the bolt details were painted in to help follow the theme & some of the other bolt heads were highlighted in purple.



Completed Harley engine block

STAGE 8
With using our chosen scheme, I sanded off the chrome from the drive train covers, primed and painted them in the Gold. The gearbox unit was painted in Metallic Grey & the piping fixed with a small amount of superglue.


Gearbox cover painted in Gold

STAGE 9
The decals were fixed on the frame & the engine mounted in place as well as the gearbox unit.

Engine and gearbox mounted in the frame

STAGE 10
The sub assembly section in part 10 where the stand spring is fitted has a problem where no fixing hole has been drilled. I used a 0.3mm drill so that the spring hook would fit in the stand arm. The cover (G14) was painted in copper.  I would fit this unit to the frame & attach parts L23 & L33 before fitting the gearbox cover assembly you made in stage 8 as the locating pin for part L23 will be obscured.


Fitted gearbox cover and piping