1941 Indian Sport Scout (Gunze Sangyo, 1/12)

[CrateCruncher]

I want to share my most recent motorcycle build. The subject made by the American motorcycle company named Indian. It's their tarted-up Scout, called the Sport Scout and one of the last bikes produced before converting over to war production following the Japanese attack on Pearl. Sadly, Indian closed it's doors permanently way back in 1959. I wondered why Gunze would pick such an obscure (wonderfully obscure) subject and discovered Indian's were once quite popular in Japan before the war. Whoda thunk....








I began this model way back in 2000! Why did it take eight years to finish? It's a long story but the short version is that I wrapped all my completed body parts in Saran Wrap to protect them for an upcoming interstate move. When I got settled and opened everything up I discovered something in the plastic wrap melted the lacquer all the way down to the base plastic! Heartbroken, I couldn't bare to even open the box for years. Then one day after seeing one finished on feeBay I just got the bug to finish it. So in a way I feel as if I've built the model twice.

In addition to the many wonderful opportunities to work with wire and tiny 00-90 bolts and nuts, stainless steel spokes and photo-etch details I also moulded a more realistic seat from Milliput epoxy putty. The piping on the seat is aluminum wire tacked on with CA. While working on it I inevitably chipped tiny amounts of flat black off the cylinder cooling fins but since I noticed several prototypes I studied had the same chips I left it that way for "character".

By far, the most difficult part of the build for me was getting those fender valences to fit correctly. Gunze really didn't engineer them to fit as they should so they had to be redesigned so the little trim wire between the fender and skirt would look the right size. Overall, it was a very satisfying build and I'm glad it's finally finished!

I entered it at a local IPMS show. Here's a link:http://www.austinsms.org/contest.php

[joelwideqvist]

Great build and really fun to read the "behind the scenes"! My uncle has an Indian bike that he bought for 50 swedish crowns back in the 50's (that's roughly 6 USD...) When he takes it to shows people usually thinks he means 50 000 when he sais 50, and they usually thinks that is cheap...

Thanks for showing!
/Joel

[Robi J]

Unusual subject. Very nicely done !

Robi

[endac]

Looks fantastic, brilliant detailing.

[jano11]

What a beauty!
Superb execution of a wonderful subject.

You've got excellent taste in choosing the kits you build.

[dmacb]

Beautiful build

[sportracer02]

Nice model, I´d like to have the kit

[klutz_100]

Micha took the words right out of my mouth

Super subject and your gobbit of background on the subject was a very interesting and useful accompaniment.

From the photos your Milliput seat looks very impressive!

[gionc]

Originally Posted by klutz_100

Micha took the words right out of my mouth

+1 I agree

Ever loved Indian bikes design, but I never seen one by naked eye, just on moovies: want to make me one!

Great build, mmmm I re-took a look now: it's just fantastic.... mmmm I?m so envious

[ketje]

Very nice done. Love it, especially the rims. How did you tackel those steel spokes? Can you give a little description how you made them!

[CrateCruncher]

Well thanks fellas! Like I said, this kit was a heartbreak and I'm surprised it ever got finished. Ketje, I'll go you one better. Since I have an extra kit in my stash I'll do a mini-review.

Gunze Sangyo made a lot of multimedia bike kits. Most were Japanese subjects like the Honda CB72, Yamaha YDS, and many others. But they also made a few international bikes including the BSA Goldstar, the BMW R69 and the Indian Sport Scout. They all have metal engines and most even have metal frames. They all have photo-etch frets and wire wheels and some even have machined mufflers and beautiful stamped brass components. They are truly unique.

Here's a shot of the kit and parts:


As you can see there are a lot of different materials you will work with. In this kit the engine and frame are white metal while the wheels and body panels are mostly plastic. All Gunze photo-etch is thick stainless steel so you only get one shot to bend the part correctly: a second attempt always results in a cracked part. The white metal in the kits is brittle and it's not uncommon to find the forks or frame broken in a kit thats had several owners. (Broken frames are handled with a dab of JBWeld and pin reinforcement.) For the most part the casting surfaces are smooth and clean up fairly easily with a steel wool scrub. You will be required to drill many holes in the 0.5-1.0mm range. Gunze kits are kinda like Hiro car kits in that they don't just come together effortlessly like something from Tamiya. You have to trial fit and adjust (or sometimes redesign) most every part. Having three hands helps too!

Here's how the wheels go together:

The instructions have you snip each spoke to length, then place it on a wheel half with the others. The trick is to use a strong glue very sparingly so that when you bring the two completed halves together you obtain a tight, virtually invisible seam. After building a few Gunze wheels I realized it's much easier to start with a spoke the correct final length than go back and trim the excess off. The final wheel is very strong. I have never had one collapse.

If you feel you'd like to try one go for it. It's how I was first introduced to multimedia kit building. They vary in level of difficulty with the Tohatsu Runpet and Honda CR110 on the moderate side to the Rikuo RT-II and Indian Sport Scout among the more involved.

[cinqster]

Excellent looking model! I have the Rikuo kit hidden away somewhere waiting to be built, but I know just how tricky these kits are to build well; you've made it look very easy. I have a 1:1 Kawasaki Drifter which is a cartoon copy of this lovely bike - even the colour is the same.

[harto88]

really beautiful build and a deserving best of show. You don't happen to still have the instructions do you? I bought one of these kits off e bay and it only came with the first half of the instruction sheet - makes an already challenging kit doubly challenging to say the least!

[dmacb]

Well done

[Aldo Carvalho]

Great work over a wonderful and hard to see model
Sincere congratulations
AC