Kawasaki zx-rr 2006

Hi everyone, this will be my first model for around a year due to home improvements etc etc, or basically the missus has been keeping me busy! So it was good to get started on this kit which strangely enough the missus had a bit of say in choosing .... apparently she wanted a green bike in my model cabinet!! I have posted a few initial photos of early stages. I will not be using any detailing parts, apart from cf here and there and a bit of drilling etc. so it will pretty much be the basic kit.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/frame.jpg
Frame and swingarm painted with Tamiya Semi gloss

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/allparts.jpg
Pretty much all the parts cleaned up and painted in basic colour before any detail painting. this time I decided to do a lot more prep work than usual, and get all the parts clipped off and painted ready for assembly, normally I don't have the patience for this and just fumble along bit by bit!

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/body.jpg
body work painted using Zero paints, with one coat of clear, ready for decalling.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/alcladparts.jpg
Exhaust - alclad chrome, ready for heat staining and detailing, also radiator in alclad white aluminium.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/cfparts.jpg
Parts ready for carbon fibre decal, I first prime them then paint with a slightly darkened Tamiya metallic grey, over this I will use cf decals which I have made, wich are basically black graphic on clear, which allows the grey underneath to show through, then I will clear coat them, will show detailed photos when theey are done.

Nothing exciting here to see yet I guess, hopefully will start the decalling on bodywork and enghine assembly next, any feedback or questions welcome.

Interesting CF technique, will follow that one and see how it turns out!
/Joel

Very nice. Clean work!:)

very nice work - look forward to the progress

looks great so far this is tamiyas best bike to date nice and clean build
i will be wacthing this close :grinyes:

looking good

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/DSCN1050.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/frontfender.jpg

have applied my decals to cf parts over Tamiya grey metallic, the front fender is most accurate for colour, I think I will spray over these with smoke and maybe a thin blast with black just to knock back the contrast a little, however the grey metallic does stand out more with camera flash than in reality. Next I will apply graphics top front fender and give a couple coats of gloss clear.

This turned out just great Col! I agree on the idea of toning it down a bit but the basic pattern looks perfect. Is that one piece over the fender or multiple parts with perfect joins?
/Joel

Its 2 pieces, either side, the join down middle ain't perfect, but the kawasaki graphics will be covering this anyway, the decal backing I use is pretty easy to bend even without microsol etc, I once bought crazy modeller cf decals and found them a real pain in the ass to use and microsol had no effect on them, so I continued using my own!

Looks great! I preferrably use Scale motorsport CF decals as they conform like shrink wrap when going over them with the old hair dryer. But your way seems to do the trick so why not continue with something that works!
/Joel

Made some progress at weekend, did most of the decalling, most parts ready for assembly now:
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/allparts-1.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/brakes.jpg
carbon brake discs painted, rear brake drilled etc.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/engineradiator.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/engine2.jpg
Engine painted and given a slight wash to bring out some detail, radiator given wash and detail painted.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/exhausts.jpg
Heat staining airbrushed on using Tamiya clear blue, orange and smoke. welds brought out with chrome silver.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/bodywork.jpg
All body panels decals applied, there are more decals than I first thought on this bike! Will leave now for day or so then give a few coats of clear.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/wheels.jpg
Rim decals applied, these went down easier than usual, sometimes these can be a real pain in the ass, just need clear coating now.

Should get front forks painted and assembled next, along with the clear coating.

Made a bit more progress, painted up forks, brakes and most of the fiddly bits, so pretty much ready to assemble the whole model now.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/rearsets.jpg
rearsets, drilled out the holes on these.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/chain.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/grips.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/forksetc.jpg
Front forks - Just sticking with kit parts here, as I am a tight arse! used some self adhesive foil gold at base of forks to add realism, applied decals to callipers and give a slight wash.

Parts looks very nice, the finished bike will do so, too.

One question: how did you colour the front-brakes?

Parts looks very nice, the finished bike will do so, too.

One question: how did you colour the front-brakes?

Basically sprayed them with tamiya Titanium gold and give a slight wash with a thin metallic grey mix. Logos are decals.

Looks great. What paints have you been using for the engine? Chain could need a bit more detailing on the link rivets and perhaps a wash.
/Joel

Looks great. What paints have you been using for the engine? Chain could need a bit more detailing on the link rivets and perhaps a wash.
/Joel

Hi Joel, thanks for comments, I agree chain could do with a bit more contrast in detailing, may have another look at that. On the engine I used Vallejo metallic grey acrylic, which is very good, I used this as there is a real shortage of Tamiya paints in the UK at the moment. However I was happy with the results. the aluminium colour was done with a tin of humbrol metalcoat I had lying around, again due to Tamiya shortage, again i think that looked quite good too. The top and bottom of engine is a mixture of tamiya Titanium Gold and metallic grey. The radiator is alclad white aluminium. both were given a wash using thinned down metallic grey and black.

Have clear coated body work and started assembling bike, should be done in next day or so..

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/bodywork-1.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/tankandseat.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/nakedbikeleft.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/nakedbikeright.jpg

Next shots will be of completed bike, shot outside in some natural light, its always difficult taking indoor photos!

Love the shape of those cowls. Great work Col! And good luck on the assembly.
/Joel

Beautiful cowls! What clear did you use?

Beautiful cowls! What clear did you use?

I always use, Mr Top coat, goes down great over decals and is quick drying, only bad thing is the cost for really small cans!!! don't know why they don't make em bigger, normally use 1 and a bit cans too! I like to do last coat with a fresh can, also make sure room is quite warm where you are spraying. would like to try 2 pac one day but I believe it is very toxic and I would need a good spray mask, also not sure what it would do to my airbrush over time!! So for time being will stick to my tried and tested method I think. thanks for your comments dudes.

That clear looks a mile deep. I used Testor's One Shot gloss enamel an its pretty awesome too.

Bike finished, took some final shots.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/rightside1.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/rightside2.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/leftside1.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/leftback.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/frontwheel.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/backwheel.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/leftside2.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/rightside3.jpg

awesome!!!

The bike looks incredible, and your photo's look outstanding. Could you please post some pics of your set up you use?

David

Pretty obvious this looks stunning! I think the carbon fibre details look great too. The clear you used seems to have excellent results! I'm stuck with some Humbrol clear that seems to take forever to fully cure...makes handling extremely tricky and frustrating! I'm also interested to see your photo set up :)

To be honest guys my photo set up is really simple and nothing special. I have a Nikon coolpix5600 cam, pretty bog standard compact. The trick is to shoot them outdoors in natural light, ideally a nice bright day, however you get better reflections when not in direct sunlight, this produces too much glare. You may be ok in a room which lets in LOTS of natural sunlight too. Apart from that I would also suggest using a tripod of some kind, I use a relatively cheap mini one. The base is a sheet of white perspex which gives some good reflections, behind it is some polystyerene with some paper stuck over it. Oh yes, and what really makes the difference is shooting it on top of my wheelie bin!!!! (not really!). Another couple of tips, use the camera timer shot, stops any shake, and just experiment with the bike position till you see some good reflections etc. Thanks for your great comments guys, much appreciated.
Cheers
Col

Beatiful!:grinyes: :lol: :iceslolan :)

looking great

God, that is beautiful. Brilliant work.

I love the cf patterns. Overall is very clean and nice..

Ro

I must say you followed through with this one! Exceptional.
/Joel
ps. thanks for the timer tip for the camera set up. My camera has a terrible shutter lag.

Thanks so much for all your great comments guys, I must say Ireally enjoyed making this model as it was my first for a year, think I have the bug now, gonna make a customised version of the Yamaha Taira R1 next I think, gonna base the body work design on the more recent R1's using my own colours, below is a visual I mocked up of what it will hopefully look like, if all goes well!!!
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/r1.jpg

!!!WOW!!! ... Amazing love this bike makes me want to build another the photos are great some nice shots look forward to the next build

Do any of you guys no where I can get some white Yamaha Logo Transfers? Cheers

Thanks so much for all your great comments guys, I must say Ireally enjoyed making this model as it was my first for a year, think I have the bug now, gonna make a customised version of the Yamaha Taira R1 next I think, gonna base the body work design on the more recent R1's using my own colours, below is a visual I mocked up of what it will hopefully look like, if all goes well!!!
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/colbro1973/r1.jpg

I think there are some in the standard R1 kit. If you don't have it I'll check and see if they are still in my spares.
/Joel

Hi Joel, I don't have the standard R1 kit, in hindsight I should of bought that kit instead of the Taira Racing one! I would be most grateful if you did have a couple of spares, I can make most transfers except white ones!
Cheers
Col

Great work on this one! I especially like the home made cf. I'm going to have to try that out. Very clean painting and great photography.

Is the CFon the side cowlling home made or part of the Tamiya decals?

Do any of you guys no where I can get some white Yamaha Logo Transfers? Cheers

White Yamaha Logo's no prob's

the airfix M1 max biaggi kit has white yamaha logo's

http://www.migproductions.co.uk/catalog/images/Products/AIR07481G.jpg

the cf on cowling comes with kity, however mine was quite a close match for size and style.
thanks
Col

Beautiful work! Really outstanding....

I'm about to start this bike in a detailed version and would like to know if you have any tips or comments from building the kit - or does it just go together perfectly?

That looks really really good.
Man, you have the ability to take some great pictures.
You are good all around.
Excellent on the CF too. The reflections and glare look very accurate.
I like this a lot.
Andy

Beautiful work! Really outstanding....

I'm about to start this bike in a detailed version and would like to know if you have any tips or comments from building the kit - or does it just go together perfectly?


This kit goes together perfectly, as do all of the latest standard Tamiya kits, no probs at all. Can not vouch for any detail sets though, as I have not used any. Good luck with your build Ole, look forward to seeing your progress.
Cheers
Col