DocRob

Well it must be a replica, as all six originals were together some years ago, all in their classic livery. Nonetheless, an interesting video, thanks for posting. Cheers Rob

The speedy little Honda was a fast project indeed. It took me only two weeks to accomplish and leaves me with a "is it really done ?" expression. The fairing was the most problematic part of the build. I sprayed it with AK´s Extreme Metal flat aluminum and when I added some mild Tamiya decal fluid, I got a bad paint surface. The fairing needed respraying and then, I glossed over the flat aluminum with Alclad aqua gloss, after my Mr. Color GX100 clear wasn´t working. Not for the first time, it produced a candy cotton effect, equal, which mixing ratio I took. When it works, GX100 is perfect, but often it doesn´t for me and I don´t know why. Then I applied the decals which were generally nice to work with. They contoured well with Tamiya Mark Fit Strong fluid applied on top, using a hairdryer as well. For some reason, the 1 of the #16 deformed a tiny bit with the Mark Fit, but I corrected this with a marker. The numerous tiny metal rivets were applied, using a flat cut toothpick with low tack double sided adhesive tape. Before, the molded rivets were cut away with a sharp blade and after marking the center with a steel needle, I drilled 0,5 mm holes. Cheers Rob

You are right Count, I haven´t sanded the body parts entirely, only where refinement was needed. I have that on my "next time" list. I worked a lot with resin, even building a complete resin aircraft, but never had such a fragile coating. It didn´t help, that in case of the Cobra, test fitting was needed more, than with other kits, due to it´s complicated nature. Epoxy primer is another thing to try out. I will speak with my mechanic / body work repair friend and hear, what he suggests. The Cobra was meant to be a learning project, in a field, I have not very much experiences, like car body finishes. Cheers Rob

The Trumpesteers measured around the cutting line obviously . Cheers Rob

Thank you Hubert. My wife smuggled two jars of etch primer to my place recently, which I want to try out soon. With the final assembly of the Cobra, the problems were more connected to bad adhesion of the body color on resin, despite cleaning the resin and priming properly. Cheers Rob

Thank you Kevin and Chris. I noticed, there is still no RFI-section for cars or bikes, only armor and planes, not really fitting The doors were besides the bonnet, the most problematic areas of the build. I spent many hours to get it right, even added magnets to help. There are so many parts involved, which had to fit perfectly, it was a nightmare. I may be able to better the situation a bit, but the hinges are not in reach anymore. It looks worse on the pictures than on the model. Due to my handling the doors might have opened a little and I haven´t seen it. For some reason, the body color is very vulnerable, despite cleaning the resin body with alcohol, proper priming and airbrushing. The adhesion is sub-optimal and it is very easy to have paint lifts. For my next MFH build, I will slightly sand the body parts. But hey, it´s done and this is what counts, besides the lots of fun, I had during the build. It was challenging, but only some of the last parts of the build were frustrating. I should have chosen a bit simpler kit, but when I look at the Cobra Coupe, sitting on the shelf, I´m a little bit proud as well. Cheers Rob

Yesterday, I airbrushed the fairing, gas tank and rear. For the parts, I used Tamiya´s LP bright red with Mr. Color pink primer as a base. Today, I started decaling, which worked well. The Tamiya decals were easy to use and the carrier film is nearly invisible. The tiny rivets on the seat proved to be difficult to apply. I used a flat cut toothpick with low tack double sided adhesive tape, which helped a bit Cheers Rob

Thank you Gus, I´m happy, that the Cobra Coupe is done. I learned a lot through the build and it was mostly fun. The hanging doors are witness of my failures. They look worse in the pics than they are, but I may try to fix them. Yesterday, I opened the hood to add a missing piece, by removing my tiny bolts, which held the bonnet in place and it didn´t felt as bad as seeing the doors gaps. Anyway, I´m up for the next challenging build, but it will be one with less doors and hatches . Cheers Rob

Not to my knowledge, there is only a manual pointer indicating the max rpm, clamped where the dial shows 18000 . Cheers Rob

Thank you guys, I can´t believe it´s only ten days into this build, it seemingly ends to fast. That´s mainly because it´s so much fun working on the Honda, where, typical Tamiya, you can concentrate on paintjob and finish, because it builds up mostly by itself, except the wheels of course. Cheers Rob

The sun is shining for a change, so out with the Honda and my camera. Cheers Rob

There was a little sunshine outside and I decided to add some natural light pics of the Cobra Coupe. Cheers Rob

Thank you FA, there are actually magnets included for two lower fairing parts. For the huge main fairing, I have to see, if there is a way, to build it removable. By design, it´s fastened with screws. Cheers Rob

The Honda starts to look like a bike, slowly. I completed the front section, adding adding brakes, fender and front wheel, The tyre was aged a bit, using Flory grey clay wash, to accentuate the profile and branding. I added the cockpit, which only has only one dial, guess what, a rev counter. I also attached most of the tubing, but there might be changes for better fit under the fairing. BTW. fairing and tank were airbrushed in alu-silver and bright red. Cheers Rob

Ah, Mike, I miss it a bit. I was getting used to the permanent challenge. It´s easy to get sloppy with a near perfect Tamiya kit. Cheers Rob

Thank you FA and Hubert, it´s an easy kit to shine with. The worst with Tamiya kits being, if it doesn´t look perfect in the end, only you are to blame . Cheers Rob

Lots of sub assemblies got finished over the last days. The mighty six in six exhaust was airbrushed in semi matte black (Tamiya LP-5) and added with some fittings, build to the bike. When I glued together the three per side exhausts, I fitted them temporary into the engine block, while the glue was still not fully cured, to have the proper spacings and layout. The fit was perfect again. I even managed to exchange the sides for the exhausts wondering about, how to lay deep into the curves, but found out my mistake in time . Another addition was the front fork, which is a working full metal affair. The area around the handle bars looks a bit wild for now, but that will change soon. Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl, with bikes, it´s all about material reproduction to my eye, foremost the different metals with their individual colors, shines and depths. In thes larger scales, it has to look right or it´s just plastic. I´m happy not to have chosen the Tamiya PE chain and used the 3D printed one from Falcon Models. It fitted perfect and is very detailed with it´s single link appearance. Cheers Rob

That came out pretty well, Kevin. Camo looks fantastic. Cheers Rob

Looks cool Martin, isn´t it fun to leave the comfort zone sometimes. Cheers Rob

What I especially like about bike kits are the different metal finishes, you need to let it look realistic. Here, I used aluminum, titanium a mix from jet exhaust and copper and chrome, all from the AK Extreme Metal range. Chrome got a undercoat of gloss black, the others were sprayed directly onto the plastic. I was lazy, avoiding masking and sprayed the 3D printed chain in aluminum complete with the chain sprockets. The chain should look like steel and was therefore treated wit a heavy dose of black panel liner, followed by Uschi chrome pigments, which I rubbed in. The tyres received a treatment with a grey Flory wash, to enhance the detail and let them look a little less plastic like. The fit and engineering is still fantastic and putting together the kit is pure joy. Cheers Rob

It is a really beautiful kit, Mike. Unfortunately, the extra sets are hard to get, actually. Some years ago, it was the same, but then suddenly they were available in Japan, where I bought them. Cheers Rob

Fantastic result, Chris, your Spitfire is a beauty. I like the beautiful weathering. Cheers Rob

Looks fantastic, good that you are no photographer, if you were, we wouldn´t post our meagre pictures anymore . Best of all, paint, finish and weathering match perfectly. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gus and Carl, the wheels look very good indeed and it was worth the extra work. I don´t know, where the difficulties arose. I guess there were tiny tolerances with the jig. I´m happy, that it´s done now and fortunately there is no "ping" test necessary, as it´s not Mike Hailwood´s live depending on it. Cheers Rob