As a follow up to the review I have started a build of the kit. No major issues so far, aside from my dislike of working with chromed parts, and a minor issue with the plastic-the black plastic does not seem to take cement as easily as the white. Detail of the parts is, however, excellent. I tried to lightly sand the brakes to dull the finish. Any tips on washes or paint to create a worn look would be great.













A screw is used to hold the forks to the tire. The tire can rotate, but with difficulty. The instrument dials are molded in white, to be painted black. Everything else was molded in black. I will hold off on the decals until the end of the build.







The grips were attached with CA glue, which helped fill the slightly oversize holes.



Next in assembly is the rear wheel. The sprocket and chain are one piece but don't fit snugly over the wheel hub. To properly secure things it should be glued. The cover sits at a slight angle, pressing the chain inwards.



I am currently working on the engine. More photos to follow.

I'm no expert, but you can tone down the chrome with a spray of stain clear over the chrome. Also, there is always stripping it and repainting using Alclad paints. Also, using various washes with various colors can also tone down things, but you'd need to experiment to meet your needs.

Thanks for the reply and tit, DC. To be honest, I am intimidated by Alclad, though I have seen great work done with them. I will need to figure something out because of the seam line that will be visible on the exhausts.

I finally have a small update. The engine goes together without much hassle and looks very nice. I used a base coat of aluminum and then painted Tamiya titanium silver over that. It seemed to match the color of the engine on the KZ1000P in our building.






I did a wash of Vallejo oiled earth that I was sent to review. It goes on smoothly and does not bead up. The black parts were painted with PollyScale steam power black. I need to touch up around the spark plugs. Next up will be the frame, and things should move quickly if I can just get the time.

Russ,

If you paint chromed parts with Humbrol matt varnish, you get something that looks like unpolished stainless steel. I tried this on a kit of a Vincent to tone down the shine which was just wrong in that context. However most Jap discs of that era look pretty shiny as they are stainless and the pads polish them. Don't be tempted to "blue" the exhaust pipes - on Jap bikes they are double skinned, so although they rot from the inside (nice!) they don't blue.

I have sprayed chrome with Tamiya flat clear, it makes the chrome look like cast aluminium