DocRob

Thank you Kevin, but she´s not for sale. We are talking about the most expensive motorbike in the world . Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, not showing the seat too closely was on purpose, because I touched it with a dot of CA on my finger, when I added the last rivet and have a paint lift there. I will redo the leather finish, when the spare parts arrive, which are on their way from Japan, thanks to MFH. I even thought about applying real leather to the seat, but the contour would have made it very difficult. Cheers Rob

Looking great with all those stencils, Chris. Somehow you seem to have some serious bad mojo with clear parts right now. I couldn´t really see the scratch on the photo and might let it be there, If I were you. Cheers Rob

Looking good, Carl, the Canards alter the whole appearance of the bird. Cheers Rob

I have no idea about the Vallejo metal colors, but the Tamiya lacquer colors can be brush painted. Some colors of the LP range cover better than others, but the blacks are especially good and my go to specially for car modeling. Gloss black is really high shine, mixed with about two thirds of leveling thinner and a pefect base for chrome or polished aluminum. I tried this with Alclad and AK`s Extreme Metals. The semi matte black is perfect for non shining car parts, there is nothing better out there. Cheers Rob

Thank you Paul, I hope for the best. It´s my first contact with MFH, other than purchasing kits. Cheers Rob

Today, I attached the foot rest, and finished the instrument panel, which is a little kit in itself. The main instrument consist from different PE layers, which receive decals then, to add some depth to it, nice touch, MFH. As the fuel tank is polished, I decided to only brush finish the IP for a bit of contrast. There are also tiny PE hands for the main instrument, but I´m not sure, if I use them. Then, I airbrushed the saddle with semi matte black, after some relatively less thinned black Mr. Surfacer 1000, to achieve a tiny bit grainy finish to simulate the leather. Afterwards, I inserted tiny rivets around the saddle, which was extremely tedious. With the last rivet, I smeared a tiny dot of CA glue onto the saddle and will have to finish it again. Maybe, I will use the hairspray method for this, airbrushing flat black on top and then rub partly away, for a slight worn finish. The seat is not finally attached in the pics. I hope, MFH reacts soon and I can purchase the missing parts. Other than that, the Crocker is near ready, but I hope the bad mojo of the last days doesn´t carry over to the next built, as it already spoilt this builds end. Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl and Peter, it´s indeed annoying. I´m nearly done with the kit and this is some kind of a sour ending, but totally my fault. I sent an email to MFH and hope they will answer soon. Cheers Rob

looking very good, the decals crept beautifully into the panel lines, the shape and quality issues with the canopy are strange though. Cheers Rob

Despite some progress, today was kickback time. In the morning it dawned to me, that I haven´t seen the round clear acetate instrument glazings for a while and after a very long search it was confirmed, they were gone . After that, I installed various bits and pieces around the handlebar. Among them the very prominent finely engraved and polished large head nut, which seems to pre-tension the fork suspension. When wanted to glue it in place, I saw a tiny dot of CA, which was left by my fingerprint. Back to polishing, but guess what, the part flew away, never to be seen again . I heard it hit somewhere in my shelf and searched for more than two hours without finding it, browsing through all the tools and boxes there. I´m pretty frustrated now and will reach out to MFH, to ask for spares to purchase and drown my bad mood with some Manhattan´s Anyhow, that´s how the Crocker looks now. Cheers Rob

Some of the works are a bit delicate, but besides the chain, everything is flowing and pure joy. It´s somehow like a TamiWingnut kit in metal . Cheers Rob

It comes close Carl, these MFH bike kits are a pleasure to work with. Still the best alternative, than buying an original one, which is the most expansive bike in the world. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, I may be on track, to add the Crocker to the Twin GB , just joking. I like the headlight too, but it seems, it was mostly painted and not polished on the real bike, but as it only has to please me, I took the freedom. The wiring was a bit delicate. It called for un isolating 0,3 mm wire and then wiggle the bare part, a hair thin around the tiny connection pegs, which have a diameter of 0,5 mm or 0,6 mm and finally glued into place. Not with my clumsy hands . Drilling through the connector pegs was enough of delicacy for me. Cheers Rob

Looks like a flying cross for the moment Peter, a rare sight. Some modeling companies out there seem to completely rely onto cad systems, for designing the kit, as well, as for producing the manual. Generally these kits look great on the sprues, like your A-10, but I guess, they were never build by a real person with the manual at hand. Knowledge about how to put something into CAD doesn´t lead to a good result, without the knowledge what is necessary for a thorough kit design. I hope you fight your way through this one and not without fun, doing so. Cheers Rob

Some major steps got done, as I married the ready assembled fork with the rest of the bike. Alignment of the various parts connecting the fork struts was a bit fiddly, as you had to join a dozen tiny pegs into their holes, while adding CA glue all at the same time. The electric wires for the horn and headlight should be wrapped around tiny bolts, which I couldn´t do. I drilled three millimeter holes into said bolts and glued the wires in, after threading them through. The headlight got polished, as is the reflector for a nice and bright appearance. Cheers Rob

I think, there may be different types of print material which are more or less brittle. I found the Eduard Brassin prints to be slightly flexible. Cheers Rob

The tiny engine looks good, FA, albeit, I never paint parts on a sprue, but that´s just how different tastes are. Cheers Rob

Their main business are cars and bikes with only a bit of ships and armor. New releases are sold very fast often and then gone forever or until a re-release, so it´s better to be fast if you like a subject. I guess, the type of kits and the prices call for relatively small production batches. Not all the kits are full detailed, some are called proportional kits are a bit simpler made for a faster build. I have four more MFH kits in my stash, beside the Crocker and they all look gorgeous. The Crocker is my first venture in this direction, but I found the build so far relatively straight forward, with no real problem areas, besides the fragile chain. The quality of the parts and engineering are in a league of their own. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias, after the chain obstacle, I start to get in overdrive again with the Crocker. I finished the plumbing for the engine with all the metal tubes connected and I´m lucky that I did it now, rather than earlier in the build, like the manual suggested. I also polished various parts, like the headlamp, steering bar and started to build up the steering head and front suspension. @Bomber_County : I don´t think so, what´s needed is proper planning of all the steps and very good parts preparation. The chain was a beast to tackle, but most of the rest went together beautifully. It´s my first MFH kit and I would have thought it to be more difficult. In fact, it´s more fun than building plastic models, somehow. Cheers Rob

I added more of the crockeristics, beginning with the stands. There is one for the rear end and a side stand, which are both movable. I will see, If the side stand will hold the bike, when ready, as it feels pretty heavy now. It is also becoming difficult to handle, with all those parts added. For the stands, 1,4 diameter mm screws were used. I drilled 1,2 mm holes into the white metal and used a 1,5 mm drill bit to drill a cone into the opening. With a good fitting screw driver, it´s now possible to screw direct into the relatively soft metal. The tank, with it´s various fittings was added. The fuel tank caps were made from chrome plated white metal, which didn´t look too good, having marks in the surface, so I polished them. The shifting lever got it´s counterpart below the tank connected with a shifting rod. The mid section with the instruments is only added loosely as a guide for now. Next is some plumbing, connecting all the fuel lines and other wiring, before I will turn to the front fork. Cheers Rob

My experiences with 3D-printed parts are limited, but I never had breakages, even with the tiniest details, like the 1/350 gun carriages of the AA guns of USS Arizona, which included printed railings. I have some printed chain sets for my 1/12 motorcycle kits and they seem sturdy enough. I will tell, after I tried them . Cheers Rob

All the troubles were about the chain, Peter, the manual is very good with only some tiny mistakes, most of them obvious. Having that behind me now, I´m coming into a flow again, like with most parts of the build. A drive chain in this scale is fragile no matterer what and I have no idea, how to produce a better one in metal. I would wish for a 3d-printed option though. Cheers Rob

The chain haunted me again, when I fitted the polished sprocket housing. This part connects three principal areas of the bike and only the slightest bending or misalignment leads to not fitting exactly, where it belongs. To correct this, I pried the chain loose from the sprocket and cut away some more links to enhance the wiggle room for the cover and glued it in place finally, hiding the missing chain links. Next were the exhausts parts, which were also polished before. For this, I used the green side of a sponge first, followed by very fine steel wool and finally a cotton rotating tool on my Proxxon with Autosol polishing paste. The fitting was very good and a relief after the chain. Finally, I added some more wires leading from the chain guard to the fuel tank, the braking wire with it´s delicate to install return spring and last, the starter with it´s real rubber pads. Here is another shot, with the fuel tank loosely added: Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, I actually had some more issues with the chain, as it protrudes a bit to far around the sprocket. I had to pry it loose again and cut off some links for the housing to be placed correctly. Cheers Rob

I will follow you and your girlfriends build closely, an interesting project, which would never work with my wife. She dislikes modeling, but I guess, she would be good at it as an engineer with good hands and ideas. Luckily my wife accepts, that modeling to me is an important hobby, but that´s about it. I will start the hillclimber Fiat 500 later, I don´t even possess the conversion kit as of now, only the base kit and my soon to build schedule is already completely booked out . Cheers Rob