Eighties Contest Entry: Barry Sheene's 1980 YZR500

[robrex]

I'm also waiting on a detail set from Acustion, it's on order at HLJ but OOS and too expensive at Media Mix.
In the meantime I've done a bit more detail work.
I decided to turn the rear brake disc (even though it is in the PE kit).
After turning a suitable disc I had to remove the plastic part evenly so the new metal disc would fit.
I made a jig that the plastic part could push snuggly onto giving me something to hold in the lathe.


Next I removed the excess material measuring carefully to ensure a tight fit between parts.


I cut the instrument panel apart and turned new gauges on the lathe out of plastic stock.
Next I turned templates for the clear covers and made them the same way I made the screen earlier.
Here's the plastic before installation and the finished item.

The picture isn't the best of the gauge, I'll post some more when the front end is complete

More updates soon.

[sjelic]

I must get me lathe
this one will be outstanding!

[Murray Kish]

Murray

[klutz_100]

gasp! shock! .....jaw hits the floor! (again )

[robrex]

Another update

Made the overflow bottles out of old plastic sprue which I turned on the lathe. They are also drilled out so the overflow pipes will feed into them correctly.


Here are a couple of pictures with the engine installed. It was a real squeeze to get this sucker in there. I'll need to do some touch ups later!




I'll have a lot more updates soon as the Acustion PE set arrived on Friday.
Thanks for looking again.

[freakray]

Did you run the engine on the hot test stand before placing it in the frame?

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by freakray

Did you run the engine on the hot test stand before placing it in the frame?

I was thinking the same thing LOL

Good grief, not only does the scratch building kick ass but so does the painting!

BTW is this 1/2 scale version? Bloody looks like it!

[SkylineFan]

This thing is one of the best bike's I have ever seen Rob!! Excellent craftmanship!!!!!!!!!

[mic329]

Your work on the engine is stunning. I like the way you modify the gauge cover

Keep posting more progress!!!

[mickbench]

Are you going to put some real fuel in this, as everything else from the real bike engine is starting to appear..

How do you work with such detail at such a scale..?? Truly amazing..!! This contest has some great projects.. I'm learning so much by reading these progress threads..!!

Learning I've got a lot to learn..

[phase5]

i saw the bike on tue night at robs and i dont usually swear but fuck me i'm stunned blown away you should see this thing up close i tried to be picky to catch him out but could not fault it cant wait till this weekend to see it painted

[RallyRaider]

I continue to be amazed every time I check this thread out. Outstanding.

[robrex]

Thanks for the feedback!
Here are some updates.
First if you are thinking about building this kit and plan on using the Acustion PE set...don't. To start the chain provided is designed to adhere to the original kit chain, however, it doesn't align with the chain links. I counted the links on the original plastic kit part and the PE piece has 4 extra links!
Nothing else to do but...cut out each link individually from the PE piece!



This process took about 4 hours but the results are quite good




Next I moved to the front brakes. Again the Acustion set provides PE pieces that are designed to simply stick onto the existing plastic bit. However this left the brake discs looking way to thick. The PE set has two pieces for each disc but it is done on very thin metal and would be way too thin just sticking them together. I had only one option and that was to sand the plastic discs until I got a scale thickness that was more accurate.


In defense of Acustion, they do make very good detail sets and accesories (albeit expensive!) and this wouldn't turn me off buying their products again. I think this set must have been one of their early efforts.

Next the body gets the treatment!
Thanks again for looking!

[Murray Kish]

Looks great (as usual). Looks like a little extra work, but the results are amazing.

Thanks

Murray

[mickbench]

Worth the hassle. I used the P/E set on my Honda from Acu Stion, and again like you the bits were designed to mostly stick on top of the plastic.

The foot pedels in my set were too thin on their own, so i had to sand down the plastic pedels and attach them on top. The brake dsics were the same.

However I've got a SMS Ferrari 2003 GA upgrade set, and the brake discs are many PE parts, and you remove the old plastic ones.. Much better..

So, it's not just this PE set where Acu Stion expect you to stick on top of plastic.. The honda RA272 is pretty much the same deal.

Anyhow, great work, and this will be stunning when completed..