Modelling in scrap metal Pt 3 - Final

Well, for those of you who have been following this epic saga, you have my eternal simpathy as you obviously have no life. But, if this is the best you can do, then I'll at least do my bit and give you another and final episode of building models out of scrap metal or as I call it, "scratching in scrap" or as my wife calls it, "aren't you ever going to come out of that bloody shed....ya dinners getting cold!!!!!"

Well, here's where we're up to.......

[img][/img]
[img][/img]
[img][/img]
[img][/img]

You can see that I have added a few more details in tin. On the right side, these are the oil tank, the tool box and on the left is the battery, the chain guard and brake lever and rod and also the rear sproket which is made from a flat washer which I carefully cut with a very thin disc in the angle grinder to form the teeth. The foot pegs and brake pedal are more rod and these are bolted to the bottom of the engine throough one of the engine bolts. The tail light is made from a socket head bolt drilled out a bit welded to some tin shaped as a number plate bracket. The seat base is again tin with a nut welded to the under side at the front which secures a screw and at the rear, two small compression springs are held in place by small pieces of rod welded in place. If you look closely, you may even notice small nails welded and bend to the bottom of the oil tank, the throttle body on the handlebars and on the top of the carby and cylinder head. These are for oil lines, throttle cable, spark plug etc.

Next is to bog and sand everything especially items such as the mudguards and fuel tank but I also pay a lot of attention to frame joints and engine casings as well. When mig welding in full size, a bit of deviation or waves is fine but in this scale every small blemish stands out like......well you know! So its time to dismantle everything for detailing. It can take a lot of thought to work out how to attach each item in such a way that they can be separated for individual painting. Once everything is ready, the painting begins. First up is anything in chrome. I hate this paint as it never really seems to harden. I have a home chroming kit on my wish list but in the meantime, if anyone out there has any hints on how to make it go hard and still keep its chrome appearance, please let me know. So the rafters of the shed now have items such as wheels and engine/exhaust dangling from pieces of wire with bright, clean fresh chrome gleaming in the autumn sunshine. The frame is painted in black lacquer. This is where authenticity collides headon with appearance. In the old days frames were painted in a satin finish paint which was heated and baked on. I could use satin black but for appearance I like to use gloss lacquer. It dries hard and quick and it doesn't chip. So the frame and the entire front end has joined the wheels and engine hanging from the roof in glorious black. Now for the fun part. The fuel and oil tank. It's a fact that at this time of year here in central NSW, it can be very difficult to find a suitable time envelope with warm temperatures suitable for spray painting auto enamel. Hello clogs and blobs. So to an old trick my panel beater father in law taught me, distract the missus and steal her hair drier. Heat up the part in question and then spray. Here I'll show a couple of photo's of the finished article before finishing with more subtle details.

[img][/img]
[img][/img]
[img][/img]
[img][/img]

I gave everything about a week to dry and harden, before finally putting everything back together. Once it was all back to being a bike, the smaller details started. For control cables, I cut lengths (to suit) of small guage auto electrical wire. Cut it a bit longer than necessary, strip part of the end and then start pulling out the inner copper wire. I find that if you start with just one outer strand and then another and then another, pretty soon you can pull out three or four at a time. The empty outer casing is now your control cable. One end gets pushed over one nail and the other over the other. For example, the throttle body end to the nail on the top of the carby. For the spark plug I use a red piece just for some difference. For the oil tank hoses, I use a slightly larger diameter cable. Note also the speedo cable. Speaking of which, the face is hand painted as is the oil guage mounted in the headlight shell. The headlight lense is still not to my likeing but its the best I can come up with. I simply hang the bike up so that the headlight is pointing straight up and then pour hot glue in so that it's just flush with the shell. It looks fine while hot but as it cools, it takes on an opaque appearance. The tail light is better. It is done the same way but after cooling, I paint it with bright red nail polish. On the tank, I cut two small pieces of thin rubber and glued them on as knee pads. Next is to glue the drive chain in place. The best I can find for this is some cheap jewellry chain from of all places Spotlight. Again, if anyone out there has better suggetions, please let me know. This is superglued to the rear sprocket and into the drive cover. A final go over with detailing paint and we're ready for the seat. The final step is to upholster the seat. In this case, the real item has nail heads showing on both sides so firstly I drilled holes on each side. Next a small piece of foam is glued on then followed by a piece of auto upholsterers leather. This is hot glued underneath. The rear seams are really difficult in this scale so I'll have to keep practising this. Lastly, small bullet head nails were pushed through the holes and the hot glue holds them in place. The seat is then simply screwed on.

So, here is a photo of the actual real bike......
[img][/img]
And here is my scale rendition of it......
[img][/img]

And so gentle readers, as the sun sets on another completed project, my tired worn out old eyes spy yet another half finished bike on the bench, another engine for which I have special plans and another motorcycle I am dying to build. So....into it!

these bikes are fantastic, i look forward to seeing more.

This is beautiful stuff !! Your very tallented Pete ! Have you ever tried working with Brass ? I know the costs are higher .

Sean

Thanks Sean. Coming from someone as talented and precise as you, that is high praise indeed. As for using brass, my current project will be detailed with it. I'm building a very large scale (approx 1/ early 20's board racer. The v twin engine is so big it's already got open air tappets with exposed valve springs. I'll be using brass for things such as oil and fuel lines.

Actually Pete, anyone who can scratchbuild a model is tops in my book. Your BSA model is the work of someone who is enthusiastic and talented, and the end result is an art form to be enjoyed by all. Thanks for your building in scrap metal series - I've thoroughly enjoyed reading each one.

I second that Terry I throughly enjoyed reading the series , mate you should be very proud of your work which I'm sure you are !!
I can't wait to see the start of your next project , being a board racer what scale is it and is it an Indian ??