Harley Davidson FXE/F-80 Fat Bob 1/12 Scale by Imex

[thejerseydevil]

I am one of the few members in the b&m model car club I belong to that are into building motorcycles. One of my earlier builds was a Honda 70 Trail Bike that went over pretty well during one of our meetings some years back. As result, I kept on building and collecting motorcycle and mini bike models. 

The kit below was marketed by Imex and produced by Imai of Japan who also sold the kits under their own name. I picked this one up online for about $25 plus shipping. I built this kit a few years ago. Looking back on this kit, I would say for the most part the fit is excellent in about 99 percent of kit. The only exception is that I had to cut out some of the transmission case or cover so that I could fit one of the chains beneath the cover. The frame came in about 12 pieces, but despite the fact of the complicated assembly some of the parts fit so well you could literally snap them into place!

One of the biggest challenges in this kit was figuring out how to paint the cast aluminum wheels. I feel in order to create a realistic look, you really have to use different metallic paints to try to imitate all the different surfaces you will see on a Harley as as some of the other bikes.  

[tubbs]

nice build. yet another subject matter i never indulged in. i can see how painting them rims would be a bit of a hassle. came out really sharp.

[thejerseydevil]

Thanks Tubbs! As for the wheels, the hard part was figuring out how to do them as opposed the process of actually painting them.

Here are the steps involved as best as I can remember :

1.) Airbrushed entire wheel with Tamiya semi-gloss black.
2.) Filled the insides of the wheel with silly putty to mask the black spokes and the area where they met the rim.
3.) Ran a 4 mm Moltow chrome pen around the rim while the silly putty was still in place.
4.) Coated the sides of the rims painted with Moltow chrome pen with a water based clear to protect the rims when mounting the tires. 
5.) Removed silly putty.
6.) Used 1 mm Moltow pen to do the bare metal area on the spokes.
7.) After a couple days when all the paint was dry I mounted the tires over the rims - finished. 

[BUCKY]

That's a fantastic looking bike! Just right to start out the category. Thanks for posting it up!

[thejerseydevil]

You are welcome, hopefully I will have some new stuff soon.

[topside]

Nice job - clever use of Silly Putty, too.
Had a Sportster decades ago, and recall cast alum, polished alum, black & machined on it.
Seems the Japanese make the best model kits.

[tubbs]

yep, i hear more and more that silly putty is a mainstay at the workbench anymore. thank for the detailed description. lots of work, but the results are spot on.

[thejerseydevil]

Thanks for the compliments both of you. As for Silly Putty, I got the tip from Scale Automotive when it was around; which was worth the subscription price alone. Not only do I use it for masking, but I also use it to hold parts like mirrors in place while there drying.

[Jcon]

Beautiful bike build!!!

[dogfish7]

Use to own an FXE, back in the day and yours looks spot on.

[thejerseydevil]

Thanks everyone! Much appreciated!