In response to overwhelming public demand (i.e. motorcyclemodeler asked me) I shall post a few photographs of my versions of the rather delightful models recently made available on Akira O's web site. These models do not have a high level of detail, but capture quite nicely the feel of mostly rather idiosyncratic Honda machines. The given scale is 1:11, so I have reduced them by about 20% to fit my standard scale of 1:14.
First up is the model Z50A "Monkey". The Monkey was a tiny 50cc motor bike, originally designed for a children's ride at an amusement park. It was modified slightly to make it ridable (just) by adults, and released in 1967 as the Z50M. A new version with slightly more reasonable wheels - 8" (200mm) instead of 5" (125mm) - and a little more power came in 1969: the Z50A.
I made quite a few modifications while building this model, mainly because while redrawing the frame tubing to make it buildable for me I found that the proportions were a little awry. In particular the main spine tube was too long, so the distance between the steering head and the rear frame loops was too great. Fixing this had some knock-on effects, as the fuel tank now had to sit partially over the rear frame member, rather than entirely in front of it, and the seat and engine both had to be reduced in length to fit.
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First up is the model Z50A "Monkey". The Monkey was a tiny 50cc motor bike, originally designed for a children's ride at an amusement park. It was modified slightly to make it ridable (just) by adults, and released in 1967 as the Z50M. A new version with slightly more reasonable wheels - 8" (200mm) instead of 5" (125mm) - and a little more power came in 1969: the Z50A.
I made quite a few modifications while building this model, mainly because while redrawing the frame tubing to make it buildable for me I found that the proportions were a little awry. In particular the main spine tube was too long, so the distance between the steering head and the rear frame loops was too great. Fixing this had some knock-on effects, as the fuel tank now had to sit partially over the rear frame member, rather than entirely in front of it, and the seat and engine both had to be reduced in length to fit.
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