And now for something completely different...

My mom sells second hand clothes out of her home. Traditionally, not by ebay.

My mom is a huge fan of Japanese motorcycles, but way too timid to drive one.

My moms birthday is on April 19th.

You may be wondering why I'm telling you this, but all of these facts are important to this build.

Yesterday the doorbell goes DING and when I open theres my Mom with a grin on her face, handing me the Tamiya Ducati 916 in 1:12. Turns out one of her second hand clothes buying friends has a husband that got the modeling bug, promptly bought a way too complicated kit for a beginner, broke the second part he cut from the sprue (the chain), tried to glue it back together with a huge dollop of all purpose glue, dropping it back on the sprue where it bonded to the exhaust, threw the whole thing in rage back into the box where it bonded to the decal sheet. We've all been there.

So back to the matter at hand, my mom hands me the kit with Bambi eyes whispering "Please save this." It is 4 and a half weeks before her birthday, so you can probably see where this is going.

This is a 10 year old kit where 90% of the time is spent on building up an incredibly detailed version of the rather complicated engine only to hide it all under covering plates. Luckily Tamiya recognized this problem and delivers screws to attach the covering plates so you can take them off to show off the engine.

As mentioned some of the parts were affected by the previous owners disillusionment, mostly the decal sheet. I was able to salvage the chain, so we should be good for the most part.

With the short time frame left until I have to have it completed there'll be some cutbacks I'll have to do qualitywise, meaning I'll mostly be doing brushwork (and spraycans) instead of using the airbrush and I won't bother too much about making seam lines invisible. She won't see them anyways. Also no PE upgrades.

Updates will be posted after every building phase, of which there are 10 in total.

So without further talking you to death, here's phase 1, the swingarm and back shock absorber



You may notice a lack of decal on that part in front of the shock absorber, it's one of those that got killed by the previous owner. Also note the little bulge on the chain to the lower left. This is where thing were broken and doused in glue.

Well, this is going faster than I expected. Phase 2 is done and the first 23 parts of the engine are assembled.

I haven't touched plastic models for the last year or so, so I expected to be considerably slower, but it seems I learned a thing or more after all.

Phase 3 - Engine installation



I really need to look into sourcing some AlClad That frame looks like it was chewed up and spit out. Only under the harsh light of the flash though, it's alright in real life.

I've had some bad experience with non drying gloss coats before, so I'm aiming at getting the main build done within this week, then next week fix it up where necessary and weather it a tiny bit in the engine department. Gloss coat should be up by the end of next week to be on the safe side.

The last model I made for her (ok, it was one of the first ones I ever built) was a Ford Model T and the gloss coat didn't try for weeks. It's now known as the Fuzzy Model T for all the dust it gobbled up.

Phase 5: Attaching the rear wheel



I can't believe how much fun this kit is, I need to get me some more Tamiya kits...

wow, going together pretty quick and looking pretty nice at the same time

You're not slacking with this one, aren't you?
A lovely build, especially knowing it's brushpainted.

No picture update today. Haphazardly destroyed part of the main frame when foolishly trying to force on the headlights.

No worries though, repairs are proceeding smoothly.

Repairs are done and we're back on track. Only missing covers and the rear view mirrors now.

Looks great- Mom will be very happy.

Carl