Tamiya Ducati 888 Superbike 1/12

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 8:22 am

This will be my entry into the GB, I've got this in my meagre stash, and will start building it once I've finished my current project (Jagermeister Alfa 155 DTM which I would've entered, but I have already started it).

Will be built completely OOB, and will get some box and sprue pics uploaded in the next few weeks before I start it.

I have a nice new pot of Mr. Hobby - Super Italian Red C-158 to paint it with

Basic Specs of the actual bike are:

Engine Displacement: 888cc 'L' Twin
Power: ~135BHP
Weight: 142Kg
Six Speed gearbox

Although Ducati managed to win the WSB series with this bike in 1992 with Doug Polen (#1) on board, I will be making the sister bike of Giancarlo Falappa (#9), because an Italian on an Italian superbike is just the way it should be, and 9 is my lucky number

gaz45 · Post by **gaz45** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:18 am

Nice choice mate i have built this one it goes together really well

chief5437 · Post by **chief5437** » Sun Jan 06, 2019 4:51 am

Sweet! Nice choice buddy

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Wed Jan 09, 2019 11:13 am

Well I hope this works as Flickr seems to be having a few issues this morning.

As I said I will be building straight out of the box, but I have managed to find some sexy reference pics and I will be trying to replicate the machine as closely to these photos as the kit allows. So if there any minors present, ask them to leave the room and prepare yourselves for some gratuitous bike porn....

What a machine!

And if anyone else is building this and looking for SUPERB reference pics, then this link to Sothebys has some amazing detail photos that I can't embed on here for some reason, but here is the link if anyone is interested: Ducati 888 Detail Pics

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:27 am

Super cool project

Kevthemodeller · Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 6:31 am

Oh yes this and the 851 are my favorite racing Ducati's

Looking forward to this one mate

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Mon Jan 14, 2019 11:56 am

Just to keep this ticking over before I start, I've been finding as many reference pics as I can, now you won't believe this chaps, but I've managed to find a pic of her with all her clothes off......

And one of the engine, some nice colour references for the greens and dull browns that are called out in the instructions, not sure what exotic material they are in real life or why they are coloured green?...I'll keep looking into it

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Mon Jan 14, 2019 12:17 pm

Photos of the actual bikes from 1992 are very difficult to find, pre-digital age, there are probably 100's of actual photos gathering dust in a fanatical Italians photo album in an attic somewhere, but for now, these are the best I could find online:

My man Giancarlo Falappa on the #9 machine:

Doug Polen on the #1 bike, wheels seem to be a gold colour here as you might expect from 90's Ducati, I think mine will be still be black though, we'll see

:

SteelScooter · Post by **SteelScooter** » Mon Jan 14, 2019 12:23 pm

I have the same kit and didn't really like the "Police" (Italian clothing brand) livery. However, Studio27 do a lovely set of decals printed by Cartograph that are much nicer IMO.

BTW I am the owner of a 1995 Ducati Superlight 900 that took a lot of its styling cues from the 888.

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Mon Jan 14, 2019 1:12 pm

SteelScooter wrote: ↑Mon Jan 14, 2019 12:23 pm I have the same kit and didn't really like the "Police" (Italian clothing brand) livery. However, Studio27 do a lovely set of decals printed by Cartograph that are much nicer IMO.

BTW I am the owner of a 1995 Ducati Superlight 900 that took a lot of its styling cues from the 888.

Lovely bike!

Can definitely see the influences there, they just put slightly different fairings on it and whacked a number plate on the race bike by the looks of things

I think I'm going to stick with the kit decals for now, Italian bike, Italian rider, Italian fashion house, just seems right to me, but I'll bear the Studio 27 decals in mind if the kit decals don't behave themselves for any reason.

Thanks for the input

Shunter · Post by **Shunter** » Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:19 am

Can’t go wrong with a bike build. Look forward to seeing it come together.

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Wed Jan 30, 2019 8:15 am

Time to get this one going then now that the Alfa is finished.

A link to the instructions if anyone wants to have a look through: Scalemates Ducati Instructions

Obligatory sprue shots to start off, this kit is familiar to a few people on here so I won't bore you with close ups of specific parts etc unless anyone wants to see anything in particular then shout up. Typical Tamiya quality though, beautiful crisp mouldings, hard to pick any faults at all.

Even the chrome parts look a nice tone, but I will be stripping and painting from scratch again (will be my first time stripping chrome parts!)

I think the box may have took a few hits in transit, the windscreen has almost snapped off it's sprue, hopefully hasn't done any damage to the part itself once I trim it off and clean it up

Decals look really nice too

Can't wait to get going, initial plan of attack is to strip the chrome and make a start on prepping the fairings for paint, then begin work on the frame and engine.

Little bit of snow to contend with here first though

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 8:18 am

So I made a start on this one over the weekend, I've got plenty of time before the deadline so I'm just going to relax and take my time with it, aiming for perfection (for my skillset at least!) so I won't be rushing.

Got a real urge to build an Italeri Truck Kit for the GB as well in the time, am I allowed multiple entries?

Anyway I digress, I've started with the fairings on the bike, the tank and rear section had seams all the way down, so these were marked and taken back with sponges

Then the whole assembly had a good going over with various grades of wet and dry to smooth, ready for primer now pretty much:

Front fairing also had similar treatment, with the addition of a joint to fill and smooth:

This is still in progress, waiting for my sprue goo to fully cure, as I just couldn't get a perfect seam, so I applied a bit thicker and I'm having another go:

Chrome parts also stripped back using oven cleaner:

And the bike stand going together, I'll be painting all the red items at the same time:

That's all for now folks.

Kevthemodeller · Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 8:27 am

Watching with interest

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Tue Feb 05, 2019 7:55 am

Managed a few more hours on this last night, I spent well over an hour on this seam on the front cowling, gently taking it back with went and dry (wetted) it now meets my standards of 'perfection' I'm striving for

Hard to photograph, but it is smooth as silk

Did some more work on the stand, again, this seam is probably something I would've just thought 'That'll do' in the past, but I'm setting out to fix it this time

Sprue goo applied ready for sanding once cured:

And I put the rear trailing arm together, the instructions say to fit the chain prior to assembly, but I will just cut and rejoin the chain at a later date, and the trailing arm will paint much better pre assembled like this, again probably spent a good half an hour removing seams, awkward parts to sand

Completely against the flow of the instructions, but I will just make up as many sub-assemblies as I can prior to painting, as I don't have my airbrush set up permanently, I have to dig it out and set it up every time which is a bit of a pain.

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:49 am

A little bit more done on this, nothing too exciting to post...yet...but moving in the right direction...

Seam sorted on the bike stand, much better!

Engine and exhausts glued up ready for cleaning up and then paint:

And I started removing the seams on the tyres, I use an emery board and coarse sanding sponge for this, but they get 'clogged up' quickly so you have to keep renewing them. I will wash the tyres in a boiling cup of water once I've finished, they have a strange whitish wax on them (release compound maybe?) that only appears once you start rubbing at them, but a scrub in some hot soapy water usually cleans them up nicely

I might get around to shooting some paint at something on the weekend.

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Fri Feb 08, 2019 8:37 am

Cleaned up the engine block and exhausts last night, decided to fully assemble the exhaust, I test fitted to make sure it could be fitted to the 'V' engine in one piece and with a bit of fiddling it can be located, so I went for it.

It will paint much more cleanly in one piece like this I think, also filled a couple of joint line and ejection pin marks, will clean it up tonight once fully cured:

Shunter · Post by **Shunter** » Fri Feb 08, 2019 11:13 am

Nice work and making good progress. The cowling seam looks great.

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Thu Feb 14, 2019 8:00 am

Lost my momentum a little with this one, but I have managed to get a little bit done this week, I'm going to try and break out the airbrush at the weekend and start bringing this thing to life.

I cleaned up the filler from the exhaust, now ready for primer.

Front wheel cleaned up, tyre dry fitted and seam cleaned up, looks good to me:

Frame halves assembled, I've left the rear shock out for now, I can still build that separately and fit later, even though the instructions say to fit it before the frame halves are assembled. Hopefully be cleaner the way I've done it, a fair bit of work to clean up all the sprue points and seam lines on this although it doesn't look like it:

chief5437 · Post by **chief5437** » Fri Feb 15, 2019 5:44 pm

What’s taking you so long?!

Seriously though, nice work in those seams. The hard work will pay off in the end! Don’t rush it like someone else does

DRUMS01 · Post by **DRUMS01** » Fri Feb 15, 2019 6:34 pm

Good looking build of a nice duck; I always liked that one.

Ben

gaz45 · Post by **gaz45** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:07 pm

Looking good so far mate
I have built this fit

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Fri Feb 22, 2019 9:31 am

gaz45 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:07 pm Looking good so far mate
I have built this fit

Thanks, that looks great, I'll be happy if mine turns out looking that good!

I've lost my mojo a little with this, not sure why, so not much has happened over the last week or so, hoping that absence will make the heart grow fonder and I'll get back to it soon. At least there is plenty of time before the deadline, working out the order in which to paint things is annoying me a bit, too much like hard work after a long day at the office....I just like to glue stuff together and switch my brain off, but that's not possible with this kit

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:57 am

Well against my better judgement, I decided to force myself to carry this one on, airbrush wasn't behaving at all, so it was a bit of a patience tester laying down some paint on this over the weekend

But I did manage to make some progress, so I'm counting it as a win, hopefully get a good run at it now over the next week or so.

Not many photos I'm afraid, but here is the Ultimate white primer laid down, and the metal bits primed in black:

And I did manage to lay the red down as well, I think it will look ok once the decals and clear go down, despite my aribrush's best efforts to sabotage the project

:

Cowling will be left to cure for a few days while I work on the engine and frame, before decals and clear.

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Mon Apr 01, 2019 8:23 am

I made a little more progress on the Duke this weekend, again, not too many photos, just keeping my head down and plodding on, but it is starting to slowly come together now.

Cowling has been fully decalled now, these are some 'in progress' shots, they look wrinkled, but this was straight after I hit them with raw X20-A, they have all settled down now, just one tiny wrinkle, which I hope will dulled down once the clear goes down.

And the engine block is going together too:

I also spent a few hours painting all the black components yesterday afternoon, there ARE lots of them! Wheels, mud guards, various carbon bits and bobs, brakes, radiator hoses, etc etc etc, so they are all curing today, before I carry on with the build.

The main frame of the bike has also been painted and some of the details picked out, will try to remember to take more pictures this week.

To do list this week: clear coat the cowlings and wheels, then crack on with building up the frame, still a fair bit to do, a lot of work goes into these bikes

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Mon Apr 01, 2019 9:31 pm

Clear coat went down on the cowlings tonight, I think I’m happy with it, see how it cures overnight, I used my go to combination of MLT and GX112 clear at 50/50, it did try to do the weird foggy frosty thing where it dries before it hits the part, but a drop more MLT sorted that out, still LOADS to do, so I won’t be tempted to try and handle the cowlings for a while yet, hopefully alleviating my tendency to stick a big stupid fingerprint in my nice smooth clear coat the day after I lay it down

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:48 am

Clear looks to have been kind to the decals and cured ok, should come up nice with a bit of a polish, I won't go mad though, just a quick once over is all it needs I think, it is a race bike after all, not a garage queen.

Again, sorry for the poor quality photos, this was first thing this morning and the 'sun' had barely come up, will try to get another picture in proper daylight, but you get the idea for now:

And here are all the black bits that need my attention now, various carbon and gloss finishes to be applied to all these parts

Kevthemodeller · Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:15 pm

Looking good mate

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Wed Apr 03, 2019 7:53 am

Cheers Kev, getting a bit of mojo back now I'm actually seeing some progress, felt like I was getting nowhere with it for a while.

Carbon'd some parts up last night, I'm happy with them, it might look a bit over scale, but the effect is very subtle unless it's under direct light like this photo of the rear 'mudguard'

Apart from the bare engine block, I haven't actually 'built' much of the bike at all as yet, nothing has been mounted onto the frame of the bike at all at this point, should all start coming together now a lot of the parts are finished in paint.

The forks and handlebars need looking at next, as these are not even started, but they are last 'big' thing to do.

Kevthemodeller · Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Wed Apr 03, 2019 6:35 pm

Now that's looking really good

have you clear coated it?

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Thu Apr 04, 2019 7:48 am

Kevthemodeller wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2019 6:35 pm Now that's looking really good have you clear coated it?

Thanks again Kev, yeah the rear guard is clear coated there and ready to go on the bike.

Made some more progress last night, picked out some details on the front brakes, friction surface is still yet to be 'painted' to mimic the carbon discs, but I'll do that last

Decals on front mudguard ready for clear tonight:

Various bits and bobs in different stages of finishing:

Engine block nearing completion now, just needs touching up and some light washes

It's getting there slowly, cheers for looking in.

Kevthemodeller · Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Thu Apr 04, 2019 5:40 pm

Very nice clear coat work mate, it's all looking really good mate

DRUMS01 · Post by **DRUMS01** » Thu Apr 04, 2019 11:12 pm

Gary, that engine looks sweet already, nice job so far!

Ben

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 8:18 am

DRUMS01 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 11:12 pm Gary, that engine looks sweet already, nice job so far!

Ben

Cheers Ben, I'm not 100% happy with it yet, want to touch up the belt pulleys as these were done with a hairy stick, and apply a black wash to the block and clutch assembly before I call it done.

Made some more progress last night, just doing an hour here and there seems to keep my mojo ticking over rather than spending 3-4 hours at a time, so that's what I've been doing.

Stand is complete:

Wheels are cleared ready for tyres now, and a quick touch of the valve stem with chrome silver:

Fuel cap was supplied pre-chromed with the kit, but my reference pics show a carbon item, so I stripped the chrome and went black, think it'll look nice against the red of the tank.

Instrument binnacle complete and ready for fitting:

Front wheel guard fully cleared and ready to go as well:

Hoping to get a good run at it over the weekend, so I may actually have some assembly photos by Monday morning

Thanks for looking.

Kevthemodeller · Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 1:07 pm

Superb paint finishes Gary

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Mon Apr 08, 2019 7:54 am

As promised, progress WAS made over the weekend on this,

Engine finished and a light wash applied:

Exhausts ready to fit:

Shock mounted in frame:

Engine mounted:

Exhausts on, the fixing screws managed to break out the fixing holes in the plastic, which I was a bit peeved off about as I was very gentle, nothing a quick touch up with black paint won't fix, but annoying all the same:

Coolant pipes were VERY fiddly and couldn't quite get them to fit PERFECTLY, but they're pretty close

Rear wheel and swing arm fitted:

I think I'm going to try and tone down the carbon effect on the brake discs, we'll see, some touching up and details need to be picked out with a hairy stick, but it's pretty close to the back end being finished now:

I'll now concentrate on the front end this week, might manage to get it over the line next weekend, we'll see how we go.

Thanks for looking

Kevthemodeller · Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:53 pm

It's really coming together mate:th:

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Tue Apr 09, 2019 7:49 am

Thanks again Kev, I feel like you're my biggest fan

Minor progress last night (was pressed for time), but the battery went on last night, I doubt it will start with nothing attached to the terminals though

but this was always going to be built OOB, so it is what it is, mostly hidden by the fairings anyway.

I did a little dry fit of the forks, as I'd read that the lower crown was a tight fit, it turns out that that is correct, and it's a VERY tight fit, so I will have to address that, should be a fairly straightforward fix though.

Kevthemodeller · Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Tue Apr 09, 2019 10:12 pm

Gary30 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2019 7:49 am Thanks again Kev, I feel like you're my biggest fan

I'm a fan of bikes mate and yours is looking good

Gary30 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2019 7:49 am Minor progress last night (was pressed for time), but the battery went on last night, I doubt it will start with nothing attached to the terminals though but this was always going to be built OOB, so it is what it is, mostly hidden by the fairings anyway.

I did a little dry fit of the forks, as I'd read that the lower crown was a tight fit, it turns out that that is correct, and it's a VERY tight fit, so I will have to address that, should be a fairly straightforward fix though.

Yet more superb work mate

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Tue Apr 09, 2019 10:51 pm

Gorgeous work indeed

Wow spectacular details there

jmurphy18 · Post by **jmurphy18** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:46 am

Awesome build you have going!

Nice work

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 9:28 am

It's really testing my patience this one, could be due to lack of sleep due to a 6 month old child

but I'll be glad when this is finished.

I very nearly ruined the clear coat on the fuel tank last night trying to fit the filler cap

but luckily nothing a quick polish won't rectify.

I filed out the holes in the lower crown so now the forks actually fit, just in the process of painting them up at the moment, which are three different colours, so it's taking some time as I want to make sure I don't ruin any of the finishes with the masking tape. Once the forks are painted, it's just assembly to the finish then.

The fairings have all been painted inside in flat black now too.

Thanks for the support! There are some amazing talents on display in this GB, so it's spurring me on to try and improve.

PS: And I don't know if I'm a glutton for punishment or what is going on, but I'm already looking at a few other bike builds I'd like to try despite this one wiping out my mojo completely

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:35 am

Plodding on with this, forks are halfway through being done, just need to paint the uppers an orange/gold colour, and then I'll apply a dark wash to the lower portion to bring them to life, and a quick swipe over the Brembo logo with red.

A night off tonight, and then hopefully get a good run at it over the weekend to get it finished.

jmurphy18 · Post by **jmurphy18** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 4:50 pm

Gary30 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 9:28 am PS: And I don't know if I'm a glutton for punishment or what is going on, but I'm already looking at a few other bike builds I'd like to try despite this one wiping out my mojo completely

ROTFL

We would never do things like that! Cool on your update. We got to keep trudging along on the build.

Kevthemodeller · Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Fri Apr 12, 2019 10:40 am

Keep at it mate, you;re nearly there

All a learning curve lessons learnt etc all makes it easier next time

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Fri Apr 12, 2019 11:11 am

Kevthemodeller wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 10:40 am Keep at it mate, you;re nearly there

All a learning curve lessons learnt etc all makes it easier next time

no more moaning from now on I promise!

It's meant to be fun this hobby isn't it, here's to a happy modelling weekend everyone

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 7:50 am

As promised, a more upbeat outlook on this

I managed to make some more decent progress over the weekend:

Forks nearing completion, they just had a black wash on the lower portion after this, just to try and blend the details together a bit:

Front end of the bike going on:

If you've been reading from the start, you'll remember I got a bit 'OCD' about this seam on the underside of the front fairing (which will NEVER be seen

) but I think it turned out ok in the end after paint and a quick polish

Thanks for reading, and happy Monday everyone

Kevthemodeller · Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 7:55 am

Very very nice Gary

Gary30 · Post by **Gary30** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 7:57 am

So where do we sit today....

The bike is now pretty much complete, the 'plumbing' was a bit fiddly, and I'm not at all happy with how the windscreen turned out, again, if you've read from the start, you might have seen it was a bit beat up after the delivery, unfortunately a little damage still shows after I'd cleaned it up

So I'm going to have a think about how best to sort it out before I take the final reveal photos.

Here is a little teaser shot, before the seat was fitted and a few more details were picked out with a hairy stick, fairings just needed another quick rub down after my greasy fingerprints wrestling with them trying to get them fitted properly, front fairing was very tight, but went on ok in the end with a bit of 'persuasion'

:

Reference photo for comparison:

Not a million miles apart I don't think.

I'm calling it done besides re-fitting the windscreen, which I'll show in the final reveal pics, thanks for reading....

And I'm definitely committing to another bike build after this, going to do some armour first though, maybe a nice summer project

Kevthemodeller · Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:37 am

Looking good mate