Honda VFR Yellow

Honda VFR800 build notes When I finished the Fujimi Honda VFR800 model in 2012, I vowed to never try and build this model kit every again. Well, here I am, building the same model. The reason is that this model is a commission build for a man in Texas who once owned the real motorcycle. There is a lot of work in converting the police version (the only version the kit has ever been released) and there are many corrections that need to be done to the engineering and details of the kit. Fujimi has released some other very good motorcycle models – the Honda VFR800 is not one of them. These build notes were prepared throughout the construction, to explain how to overcome the shortcomings of the kit and to convert it from the police version to the street motorcycle version. The basic kit is a curbside (no engine and little chassis detail) with plastic (yes, plastic) tires integrated into the wheels. 1) Basic Construction The design of the kit would have you sandwich the central plate between two halves of the gas tank/frame pieces. This leaves it almost impossible to paint pieces in the proper sequence, or even get paint to certain areas. To remedy this, the cylindrical mounting tabs are trimmed to be semi-circular. This allows the central plate to be slide inside the painted bodywork during final assembly. The following photos show what was done. Photo 1 - central plate - before Photo 2 - central plate - after 2) Front Bodywork One of the glaring things about this kit is that there are three openings in the front fairing and one underneath the gas tank that are completely filled in. On the real motorcycle these are open and either some engine parts can be seen through the opening (underneath the gas tank) or there is a mesh screen. In addition, there are a number blind holes for mounting some of the police accessories and these need to filled in. Photo 3 - front fairing pieces, red need to be opened up and green need to be filled in Photo 4 - right side fairing with mounting holes filled in and three areas opened up Photo 5 - assembled fairing 3) Swingarm and rear shock The rear brake and swingarm are molded as one piece and the backside of the swingarm is hollow. This is quite noticeable on the finished model. Photo 6 - backside of swingarm Photo 7 - backside of swingarm filled in In addition, the rear shock spring is badly molded and the shock itself is off-center and not vertical (as viewed from behind). It’s unlikely that this is the way the real motorcycle is designed. The shock was removed the swingarm ground out to accept a larger version. A new upper mounting plate made of sheet styrene. The spring itself is an extra one that come in the Tamiya detail fork set made for the Honda RC211V ’06 model. The shock body was made of machined styrene and the rod from polished aluminum. Although you might not see it very well on the finished model I just couldn’t let it go the way it was. Photo 8 - rear shock not central to rest of motorcycle and not vertical Photo 9 - rear shock mockup Honda VFR800 build notes – part 2 4) Exhaust The exhaust consists of three main pieces - The pipes from the engine to the collector box The pipes from the rear two cylinders run down the right side of the bike to the collector box under the engine. The two pipes are molded as a single piece, with very little definition to them. I drilled out the end holes and replace with 2 mm diameter solder. There will be some additional lining up of the pipes during final assembly. Photo 10 – Kit exhaust piece Photo 11 - Exhaust pipes made of 2 mm solder - The collector box The collector box is under the engine and is attached to the extension of the front fairing. It’s not very accurate or detailed, but is pretty well hidden under everything else. The weird thing is that the center stand, the way the kit is designed, cannot possibly move past this piece. This is not a big deal as the bike will be displayed on its center stand. - The final exhaust pipe and muffler Since the muffler is a high mounted piece, the pipe and muffler need to be modified and/or scratchbuilt and this will be done later 5) Rear sprocket and chainguard The chain is being replaced with a photoetch version. The Hobby Design Kawasaki Ninja ZX- 12R chainset is the perfect match for the diameter of the rear sprocket. The one option was to use the chainset as is, but this would not have the same sprocket detail as the real bike. Photo 12 - Kit piece of chain and sprocket In order to do this properly, the sprocket was separated from the chainguard. The center part of the sprocket was saved and will be added to a machined sprocket teeth. The scratchbuild sprocket is made from 0.5 mm sheet styrene. The machining was done by: o Cutting two triangular pieces of sheet styrene, one 0.5 mm (0.020”) thick and one 3.1 mm (1/8”) thick, They were then joined together with forced fit styrene rods and thick Tamiya cement just on the corners. o The piece was then mounted on the dividing head of my milling machine and the 45 holes for the teeth and the 18 other holes were drilled. The holes for the teeth did not all drill at the right spot, possibly due to the 0.8 mm diameter drill bit wandering a bit. Well over half the teeth will be hidden once the photoetch chain and lower chainguard is added, so the mistake won’t be visible. Photo 13 - First layout of chain and sprocket Photo 14 - Sprocket being machined. Photo 15 - Modified center portion, machined sprocket teeth and photoetch chain In order to get things together at the end, the chainguard needed major work to match the real bike, and to make sure that the chain will fit inside. The backside of the chainguard was thinned using a rotary tool. Sheet styrene as used to widen the chainguard and then add a back piece. Photo 16 - Chainguard before modification Photo 17 - Chainguard after modification 6) Paint The other good news is that I stopped in at D&W Auto Body Supplies on Michener Road (north of Highway 7) and explained to the guy behind the counter what I was doing. I gave him the paint code and he found it with no problem. It is a 3 part system – yellow basecoat, pearl and clearcoat. He mixed up a few ounces of the basecoat, with reducer and it came to only $20. I did not take the pearl because it would look out of scale for the model. I tried the basecoat on bare plastic and it did not react. I will have to do some more experimenting doing it over primer and then see how the Tamiya clear pearl and clear react. If things don’t work out, I can still mix Tamiya yellow lacquer to match the correct yellow. Honda VFR800 build notes – part 3 7) Photoetch chain I didn’t set a lot of goals this week and just as well, as I only was able to build the photoetch chain. Below is the technique I use and some additional tips I have learned doing these Hobby Design chain sets. I have a little jig that I use to hold the photoetch inner plate. It has two styrene strips glued to a base. The inner plate is then held down using double sided tape. This helps raise the plate a little so that the pins can go all the way through. I also usually build the chain inside a model box lid, which helps contain all the little parts from going flying, never to be seen again. The plates are separated from the backing and then the plates and pins are placed in a separate containers. Photo 18 - Set up for building chain There are 3 main steps to building the chain: One – add the pins to inner plate Two – Add sprockets and sandwich between second inside plate Three – Add all the separate outer links Photo 19 - First step, partially done One - I usually put three pins in a row, add CA glue using our super thin applicator, add a drop of accelerator, then repeat at different section while those three pins dry. The whole thing is then removed from the jig and the missing pins added. Two – Place the sprockets in the partially built chain and the add the other inner plate. There will be some jiggling of the pins to get them to line up with the holes. CA glue is then flowed down the pins, followed by accelerator. Photo 20 - Second inner plate attached and test fitted to model Three – The individual links are then added and CA glued in place. I usually do two links at a time, glue them and then move to another section of the chain while that dries. Photo 21 - Outer links added and test fitted to model Tips for building these chains: o The most difficult thing about building these chains is picking up and placing the pins and links without jostling things so that the ones already place don’t dislodge. I have tried a few different tweezers and have settled mostly on a pair with a bent end.

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