High Detail Hailwood Racer by Tamiya!

[CrateCruncher]

Yep, Mike "the Bike" Hailwood thrashed the competition with his Honda RC 166 GP bike winning a world championship in both '66 and '67. The bike featured a 250 cc straight 6 engine with dual-overhead camshafts and six carbs all nested together in a tiny amount of space.


Now Tamiya is offering a high detail version in 1/12. The bike will be offered as a plastic kit and no less than FOUR detail-up items available seperately. It looks like the folks at Tamiya are really trying to do this one right. The chain looks incredible. Here are some links to the HLJ site:

RC 166 Kit: http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM14113
Fork Kit: http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM12632
Wheel Kit: http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM12631
Chain Kit: http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM12633
Rivet Set: http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM12634

[Meetya]

The whole package looks awesome. As does the price.

[proosen]

That makes me wanna build a bike again, preferably with the whole lot put in to the build. Wheels and chain looks awsome!


Niclas

[CrateCruncher]

Whether your a fan of '60s grands prix bikes or not I think it's significant that Tamiya put this much effort into a new bike offering. From snooping around on the internet I think the base kit will initially retail around $65 and I hear the detail-up kits may be made in limited quantities. I found some close-ups of the press release build. While it looks slammed together quickly for the release, the tooling looks good. They used a lot of philips head screws to hold it together but thats easy to fix.

Here is a link to the Tamiya Canada site with better closeup photos of the finished bike and the detail kits.http://www.tamiya.ca/14000%20series/...6_gp_racer.htm

[MidMazar]

Nice to see a new kit from tamiya. Also to see detail sets is a plus, but too much for a kit and all the detail kits.

[CrateCruncher]

I found more info on the new Tamiya Honda RC 166 today. Here is a link to Tamiya Japan's site:

http://www.tamiya.com/english/produc...c166/index.htm

And here is a PDF file of the instructions(it takes a few seconds to load):

http://www.tamiya.com/japan/download...14113rc166.pdf

Looks like Hobby Link Japan has everything in stock now with the kit priced at $57.21 + shipping (12-21-09 exchange rate):

http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM14113

Here are some photo's HLJ snapped of the real bike. Notice in the last pic there is a fully detailed RC 166 engine next to the bike but no close-ups of it?!(@#$^Doh!):

http://www.hlj.com/rc166.html

All together, the kit and detail parts come to a whopping $187.03! Man, what the heck were they thinking - $40 bucks for a chain?! The good news is that, at least in my opinion, this could be built to a fairly high detail standard without ANY of the detail-up stuff. The basic kit comes with some photo-etch and metal transfers already. And the fairings are held together with magnets for easy removal - also included in the standard kit. The engine fins are molded in separate layers like the old Heller bikes, The kit wheel spokes are molded in ABS to make them thinner. All considered, $57 seems like a reasonable price for this IMHO. I think I'll buy a MFH chain kit and make the other detail-up stuff myself though.

[jano11]

Looks like I might buy a bike model kit after all.

[cinqster]

Great looking kit.

Shame Tamiya couldn't quite get round to doing a decent vac-formed windscreen though.

[viperofoz]

Originally Posted by jano11

Looks like I might buy a bike model kit after all.

Yeah, I just broke down and ordered it.... and all the detail sets.

What can I say... I'm a sucker for shiny metal trinkets for kits...lol
I simply added them all to my F60 order.... and my wife will be none the wiser,
atleast untill the credit card statement arrives

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by jano11

Looks like I might buy a bike model kit after all.

yep - me too

I am fighting soooo hard not to buy this kit and all the up-grades. Bet I give in eventually though...

[jano11]

Originally Posted by klutz_100

yep - me too

I am fighting soooo hard not to buy this kit and all the up-grades. Bet I give in eventually though...

Incurable is the word.

[Macio4ever]

Already gave up... The kit & goodies are on the way from hlj to my stash

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by Macio4ever

Already gave up... The kit & goodies are on the way from hlj to my stash

When they arrive let me know and I'll drop over for that coffee!

[Macio4ever]

Sure, I will!

[CrateCruncher]

While you guys are looking over all the bits, please snap a few pics and share your impressions with the rest of us.