Post by jbwelda on Oct 11, 2017 17:50:55 GMT -5
I had been searching for this kit for some time, but it was always too much money for me since I had no interest at all in the truck and only slight interest in the motorcycle trailer, although I was to learn that part would change. One day on ebay I chanced upon this one for a mere twenty something plus shipping and jumped on it (Hint: search automotive models for buy it now only and look at most recent postings first...sometimes real deals appear and then disappear very quickly.)
So now that I had it what should I do with it? I decided to make it a modern old skool ride, not a chopper, with a raked but not extended front end, and stripped of a lot of extra baggage. Used a Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland photo etch front wheel, actually used the tire that came with the bike but used the spokes, hub and rims that came with the RMM set. Purposely left it a spoolie, no front brakes. Would have liked to have a chain drive but since all modern Harleys have belt drive figured it matched the rest of the bike. Everything else was pretty much out of the box, except the seat I cut down the one in the kit, but I think I am looking around still for more a "saddle" seat to replace it with since I don't like the way it sits in the frame too much. Oh, didn't use the wider handle bars from the kit, instead raided a Revell parts pack Triumph for short low bars, kind of a different thing for a Harley I know, but I like them much more than the wider ones that came with the kit. I could have used, and considered using, some "ape hangers" as they seem very popular with the outlaw biker crowd these days. But I like the low light look of the bike sort of stripped down to its necessary parts, and that's what I tried to capture here a little.
Hardest part was fixing the kickstand in position to actually hold up the bike. Took some doing, strangely enough.
The trailer, as I mentioned above, really didn't do much for me due to its over-Harley stylizing but I built it anyway and just figured I would paint it black and be done with it. Then I noticed that it pretty much perfectly fits the old AMT streamliner go karts of which I have a few unbuilt laying around, so I grabbed a painted but empty shell and posed it on it. I think I am going to look for another of these kits and just cut the Harley engine out of the frame and adapt it to the go kart shell and frame and make a Harley Davidson go kart racing setup. Might even build the Ford truck then!
Thanks for looking and here are some pictures, and a bit of running commentary along with it. Comments criticisms questions cheerfully addressed!
jb
This one shows the effect of the fork rake, makes the bike sit low in the front and stretched out just a bit. Most would then run an extended fork but I always liked the look of a stock or even shortened fork. Oh and that's a velocity stack from some Revell 32 Ford instead of the stock HD air cleaner.
A look at the kit boxart for those unfamiliar with the kit:
and their buildup on the side panel:
a look at the frame neck before surgery, actually during surgery as I had already made the cut to spread the neck out increasing the rake of the fork about 15 degrees. Note that the frame/engine consists largely of two pieces, left and right halves. This makes assembling the front end and the rear axle/tire assembly a real pain in the neck. Instead had to glue frame together and then deal with the consequences as I fitted parts later. Came out ok but took some planning and compromises to get it to work.
And here is with a wedge inserted after spreading the cut. I then painted it with flat black to contrast a little with the "factory" black of the rest of the frame. Just like you do it in your garage!
finally, a look at some of the pieces during construction. I used the kit rear wheel though dechromed and painted with some Tamiya Gunmetal, even though originally I thought I would put a PE piece back there too. But it is so hard to see in there I figured it really didn't matter. The front wheel, on the other hand, really makes the bike in my opinion, and I was amazed how easy it was to build it and swap it for the kit wheel. Looks much better too and would not have been a problem to use the kits dual disks if I had wanted to...but whats an outlaw bike without a suicide brake system?
Thanks again
jb
So now that I had it what should I do with it? I decided to make it a modern old skool ride, not a chopper, with a raked but not extended front end, and stripped of a lot of extra baggage. Used a Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland photo etch front wheel, actually used the tire that came with the bike but used the spokes, hub and rims that came with the RMM set. Purposely left it a spoolie, no front brakes. Would have liked to have a chain drive but since all modern Harleys have belt drive figured it matched the rest of the bike. Everything else was pretty much out of the box, except the seat I cut down the one in the kit, but I think I am looking around still for more a "saddle" seat to replace it with since I don't like the way it sits in the frame too much. Oh, didn't use the wider handle bars from the kit, instead raided a Revell parts pack Triumph for short low bars, kind of a different thing for a Harley I know, but I like them much more than the wider ones that came with the kit. I could have used, and considered using, some "ape hangers" as they seem very popular with the outlaw biker crowd these days. But I like the low light look of the bike sort of stripped down to its necessary parts, and that's what I tried to capture here a little.
Hardest part was fixing the kickstand in position to actually hold up the bike. Took some doing, strangely enough.
The trailer, as I mentioned above, really didn't do much for me due to its over-Harley stylizing but I built it anyway and just figured I would paint it black and be done with it. Then I noticed that it pretty much perfectly fits the old AMT streamliner go karts of which I have a few unbuilt laying around, so I grabbed a painted but empty shell and posed it on it. I think I am going to look for another of these kits and just cut the Harley engine out of the frame and adapt it to the go kart shell and frame and make a Harley Davidson go kart racing setup. Might even build the Ford truck then!
Thanks for looking and here are some pictures, and a bit of running commentary along with it. Comments criticisms questions cheerfully addressed!
jb
This one shows the effect of the fork rake, makes the bike sit low in the front and stretched out just a bit. Most would then run an extended fork but I always liked the look of a stock or even shortened fork. Oh and that's a velocity stack from some Revell 32 Ford instead of the stock HD air cleaner.
A look at the kit boxart for those unfamiliar with the kit:
and their buildup on the side panel:
a look at the frame neck before surgery, actually during surgery as I had already made the cut to spread the neck out increasing the rake of the fork about 15 degrees. Note that the frame/engine consists largely of two pieces, left and right halves. This makes assembling the front end and the rear axle/tire assembly a real pain in the neck. Instead had to glue frame together and then deal with the consequences as I fitted parts later. Came out ok but took some planning and compromises to get it to work.
And here is with a wedge inserted after spreading the cut. I then painted it with flat black to contrast a little with the "factory" black of the rest of the frame. Just like you do it in your garage!
finally, a look at some of the pieces during construction. I used the kit rear wheel though dechromed and painted with some Tamiya Gunmetal, even though originally I thought I would put a PE piece back there too. But it is so hard to see in there I figured it really didn't matter. The front wheel, on the other hand, really makes the bike in my opinion, and I was amazed how easy it was to build it and swap it for the kit wheel. Looks much better too and would not have been a problem to use the kits dual disks if I had wanted to...but whats an outlaw bike without a suicide brake system?
Thanks again
jb