Honda NR 500

The kit decals had been water damaged, but I was able to soak most of them off the paper and use them. Sometimes it took almost an hour for them to release, with a little prodding.
The base color is a gray I mixed with Testors enamels. The C/F and Honda decals are from the kit. Some of the decals were just too well ingrained with the paper and unusable, but fortunately I had a partial sheet that contained those most of those elements. Interestingly the color was different between the sheets, but that worked to my advantage since I am going for a semi-distressed/used look.
The Kevlar decals are from Studio 27. After the composite material decals were applied I tinted them, (and the gray), by airbrushing Smoke to accentuate some of the shapes and recesses. The chrome fasteners are BMF, except for the ones on the fuel filler, just hand painted silver for them…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00111.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00112.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00113.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00110.jpg

Very clean and great decal job - as usual. I'll be watching you! :smokin:

Scale Master - just a heads up - this is the Honda NR 750 oval piston bike - I saw this bike 1:1 scale in person at the International Motorcycle Show in Phoenix Arizona back in 1994 - awesome bike - I also have this kit to build at a later date - I will keep an eye on your thread. Looks very good so far - John

Yes, I am aware it is the Oval Piston, thanks. I have built two of these kits already, one for the Tamiya America showroom, which is when I realized how superior to any previous Tamiya cycle kit it was, and a subsequent one for my collection. (And the kits just keep getting better!) I still have one more in my unbuilt stash, I like building these... This one is for pure building enjoyment while I continue to wait for paint to cure on another project...

More decals and some painting… and some sub-assemblies.
Front fairing now has driving and HID headlights. Mesh grille was replaced with a coarser pattern.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00114.jpg
Gauge cluster is ready for installation…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00115.jpg
Seat is done and installed, same mesh used here too.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00116.jpg
Inner rear fender was textured, BMF for the fasteners.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00117.jpg

Excelente modelo. Felicitaciones

Drilled out the front rotors, 174 holes if I counted correctly. Painted the chain and other components, did some assembly...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00120.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00119.jpg

Scale Master - nice wash on the fork triple tree - brake and swing arm look very good too. How did you paint the chain so well? - John

Scale Master - nice wash on the fork triple tree - brake and swing arm look very good too. How did you paint the chain so well? - John

Thank You.
For the chain I sprayed it gold and just freehand brush painted the rest. Put a color on, let dry, paint another, let it dry... It does help to plan out what colors and the order you want to apply them. - Mark

The frame is mostly painted and almost ready to have sub-assemblies built on to it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00126.jpg
The front fork/wheel assembly is ready to be installed; the rotors received a final dry brushing of silver to lighten them up more consistent with the graphite I was going for.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00129.jpg
The rear swing arm is ready for installation…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00130.jpg
The engine is coming along but needs more paint work and building…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00127.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00128.jpg

Nice progress, fantastic bike. I guess it's one of those kits where Tamiya spared no effort.

BTW, what John18d was trying to say is that it's an NR750 and not an NR500.

Scale-Master - what was the basis for your choice in colors for the engine - frame - front - rear suspension swing arm? Some of the colors I can understand but others?? - It's all looking very good, but I wonder if there is a theme to this build? - John

Nice to see the NR500 in custom colous, great job so far

I've been calling it a 500 for so long, even after reading the history in the kit I still made that mistake! Thank you for the clarification.

Gauge cluster looks briliant!

Engine is ready to go into the frame…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00131.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00132.jpg
And is in the frame…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00133.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00135.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00136.jpg

Mirrors are done. Made the reflective faces…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00145.jpg

Into the final stretch…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00137.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00138.jpg

The license plate just needs to dry before installing. I made this one with raised lettering; the reflective clear I used does not photograph as well as it looks in person.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/NR500/DSC00146.jpg