Thoughts on Hasegawa bike kits...

[Seamus McRae]

Hi all

General question for the motorcycle guys here. I've been eyeing off Hasegawa's 1/12 Honda NSR500 (to do a Gardner machine) & am curious how Hasegawa's GP bike kits compare to Tamiya's.

[The 5th Horseman]

Hey man...

I have purchased both the Honda and the Yamaha - years 1989 and 1988 respectively - and although i have not started them yet, i have inspected the kits closely.
So i cannot tell you how they will go together, if they have fitment issues or inaccuracies, i can tell you they have a lot of parts and lots and lots of details. They both include alternate parts for the front suspension and front brakes. And front brakes ARE drilled.
The decals - especially the Honda for the Rothmans livery - are AMAZING.

So in my opinion they are most definitely worth a try, having also seen a couple of them built up in various modelling videos.

hope that helps

[John18d]

[quote=Seamus McRae;7231682]Hi all

General question for the motorcycle guys here. I've been eyeing off Hasegawa's 1/12 Honda NSR500 (to do a Gardner machine) & am curious how Hasegawa's GP bike kits compare to Tamiya's.[/QUOT


Seamus - I concur with the Horseman.

The detail of the Hasegawa bike kits are equal in quality and maybe a bit better in details to the Tamiya bike kits - Hasegawa does not use the screws like Tamiya - they use small pieces of metal rod for the axles for example and then a small plastic bolt head to go on top so that no screws are visible- The fit and finish is as good as Tamiya and the decal quality is good too - You will not go wrong with the 1989 NSR500 Hasegawa kit - in fact it is a better kit than the 1986 NSR500 Gardner kit from Tamiya.

Cheers
John

[The 5th Horseman]

If you want to add a little something extra to the kit, a company named Fat Frog produces some beautiful 3D printed parts for the chain and rear sprocket.
It instantly upgrades the look and is not really expensive, around 7.00 USD (+ s&h) or something from Hobbyeasy in Hong Kong.
Hasegawa have produced a bespoke PE set themselves, but its getting harder to find now. It includes the front discs and a pre-formed mesh for the carburetor cover instead of clear part of the kit.
I got both of the above and have not regretted it.


Cheers

[John18d]

Seamus - there are other detail kits available for these Hasegawa bike kits - you don't necessarily need to buy the Hasegawa Photo-Etch sheet - Hobby Design makes a full detail kit that Has PE and a PE chain and some resin parts etc etc - - The 1989 NSR500 Hobby Design detail set is available and usually sells for about $47 USD - I have these HD detail kits and they are worth the price of admission. Unfortunately HD has not yet made a detail set for the Hasegawa Yamaha YZR500 kits

Cheers
John

[Seamus McRae]

Thanks for your replies gentlemen. Appreciate all the responses