Triumph 3HW Motorcycle by CDW - FINISHED - Italeri - 1:9 Scale - PLASTIC

[CDW]

For my next project, I'll be building the WW2 vintage Triumph 3 HW motorcycle and taking a break from the railroad genre. 

 

At the start of WW2, Great Britain did not have all the technical equipment needed for such a conflict, therefore a lot of vehicles were ordered urgently. Motorcycles, mainly used by the well known DR "dispatch riders" for communication between different units, were converted from civilian bikes with small changes, like military colors and the addition of frames for canvas bags. Triumph proposed in short time the model 3 HW, based on the civilian Tiger 80, with an overhead valve engine and parallel forks. This model served on all fronts where the British Armed Forces fought, such as Africa, Europe and Asia. After WW2 these motorcycles were delivered to many other nations such as Italy and Greece where the Triumph served for a long time thanks to their reliability and robustness.

 

Following are the instruction pages and a photo of the parts bag inside the box.

 

I plan to finish mine as a "Factory Fresh Model" as seen on the upper left of the next-to-last photo page.

 

  

[Old Collingwood]

Different make I think  but thought I would post  it to you  I dont know perhaps colour reference   - 

 

OC.

[CDW]

47 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

Different make I think  but thought I would post  it to you  I dont know perhaps colour reference   - 

 

OC.

Thanks OC. 

I think that's a little later model Triumph than my kit version. Notice that the front forks on the reference photo are hydraulic where the kit version are the "springer" forks. Hydraulic front forks were a later development. The colors look like what the kit calls for and yes, that does help quite a bit. I believe that is the exact same engine and frame based on a cursory look at it.

[CDW]

Here we go with step 1 and part of step 2, with assembly of the engine.

Colors are Tamiya gloss black reduced with Mr Color leveling thinner, and AK Extreme Metal flat aluminum. Simple and straight forward.

 

Edited November 18, 2019 by CDW

[Old Collingwood]

20 minutes ago, CDW said:

Thanks OC. 

I think that's a little later model Triumph than my kit version. Notice that the front forks on the reference photo are hydraulic where the kit version are the "springer" forks. Hydraulic front forks were a later development. The colors look like what the kit calls for and yes, that does help quite a bit. I believe that is the exact same engine and frame based on a cursory look at it.

Glad I could be of help mate, its my pic taken at that last airshow I went to, I saw your post and thought  - "hang on a minute I have a  vet  motor cycle pic".

 

OC.

[popeye the sailor]

I built one cycle model in my day........1:9 is an odd scale.   still gonna built into a large bike   superb start as usual!

[Old Collingwood]

I was once a biker and used to own one of these  - loved it.

 

Stock photo not mine.

 

OC.

[CDW]

1 hour ago, popeye the sailor said:

I built one cycle model in my day........1:9 is an odd scale.   still gonna built into a large bike   superb start as usual!

1:9 scale is an Italian thing. Back in the 70's, a company called ESCI came out with a series of WW2 service motorcycles, this Triumph being one of them. In addition, there were Harley Davidson's, BMW's, Zundap's, and even a Kettenkrad. Since then, several other companies have re-released these iconic machines. Also, there is an Italian company called Protar who produce 1:9 scale street and racing motorcycles.

[TOM G]

Yeah,  i remember building some motorcycles,  it was like working on a fish out of the water......... at least for me it was.😄    i used testors metalizer on an F-102 a couple years ago........ and the stuff makes plastic look like real metal .   don't know if you are aware of it,  you want to go with the bottel'd  buffing.   you can see more about it on youtube.       you can't use metalizer over enamel paint. metalizer is lacquer, it will react like paint stripper on the enamel.    

Edited November 19, 2019 by TOM G
updated

[Baker]

Long, long ago I built the military version.
The original brand was Esci. i have build al there models on the 1/9 scale

Good luck with the build

[CDW]

49 minutes ago, Backer said:

Long, long ago I built the military version.
The original brand was Esci. i have build al there models on the 1/9 scale

Good luck with the build

Your Triumph came out super nice! Looks like the real thing.

Something I was thinking about last night and your model reminded me of it...the helmet carried on the back of the motorcycle does not appear to be a standard British issue, or was it? 

 

[Baker]

5 hours ago, CDW said:

Your Triumph came out super nice! Looks like the real thing.

Something I was thinking about last night and your model reminded me of it...the helmet carried on the back of the motorcycle does not appear to be a standard British issue, or was it? 

Thanks.

 

I think it's a standard helmet.

I built this model in the 80s (without help from the internet it was searching and guessing)

 

The 2 figures on motorbikes with the Airfix recovery set in scale 1/76 had roughly the same helmet. That was then my only reference

https://www.google.com/search?q=airfix+recovery+set&rlz=1C1SFXN_enBE500BE526&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=4SoVkQADE-nmUM%3A%2CixGGk9LuLJDy_M%2C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kR9S9CH25Ykw9FlDldhKTM74iBSFQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjhi5-L6_blAhWI66QKHQ1UCO0Q9QEwAnoECAYQCA#imgrc=bX6dobsw-r-wUM:&vet=1

Did a quick search on google, It looks like a real standard issue helmet

https://www.google.com/search?q=british+motorcycle+helmets+ww2&rlz=1C1SFXN_enBE500BE526&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwin3M6-6_blAhVRDOwKHQ_hBokQ_AUIDSgA&biw=1600&bih=757&dpr=1

 

Ps,

If I remember correctly. There are a few difficult construction phases in this model.

You can always ask if something is not clear

[CDW]

Just now, Backer said:

Thanks.

 

I think it's a standard helmet.

 

Thanks Patrick. I now realize they had a motorcycle helmet and it looks like the one in our model kit is right on the money. Up until now, I only had seen the Brodie helmets that are so distinctive in their look, and that's what threw me off when I saw the kit helmet.

[CDW]

Pictured here is the remainder of step 2, then the whole of steps 3, 4, and 5.

 

[CDW]

Steps 6 and 7.

The "FS" number called for in the instructions equates to Tamiya Black-Green and that's what I'm using, along with Mr.Color leveling thinner. In the end, a dry brushing with a lighter shade of green will be used to lighten the whole thing us just a bit. The black-green should work well to accent the shadows.

 

[grsjax]

On 11/17/2019 at 6:04 PM, Old Collingwood said:

Different make I think  but thought I would post  it to you  I dont know perhaps colour reference   - 

 

OC.

This is a Matchless motorcycle.

[CDW]

Just now, grsjax said:

This is a Matchless motorcycle.

Been a long long time since I heard that name, Matchless. Totally forgot about the Matchless.

[popeye the sailor]

look'in awesome.........keep going!    how is the 'tubing' behaving?   sometimes flaring it to attach to the pins is a pain

[CDW]

2 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

look'in awesome.........keep going!    how is the 'tubing' behaving?   sometimes flaring it to attach to the pins is a pain

No problem at all with the tubing fit here, unlike what we've experienced with other kits. I'm gluing the tubing to the pins with that E6000 glue. Works like a charm.

[CDW]

Today I made a trip to my local hobby paint supplier for a few things I wanted to try out on the Triumph project, some other items for future projects, and stock replacement.

Spray Gunner is a huge mail order warehouse for hobby paints, airbrushes, compressors, and related supplies. For those who haven't tried them out, you will be pleasantly surprised with the stock inventory and excellent service you'll get from Spray Gunner. Fast and efficient mail order. For me, the warehouse is only 20 minutes away and sometimes I go there direct if I'm going to be in the area anyway. 

 

In the front row on the far left is a green filter liquid. This is what I plan to use to "lighten up" the black-green base paint on the Triumph. In the middle of the back row is solvent 110. That product is used to wipe down the green filter after it's dry as it is an enamel based product. The super metallic paints are buff-able and a replacement for the old metalizer paints that were once sold by Testors. Mr,. Color leveling thinner is also pictured on the back row and is something I frequently mention using to reduce Tamiya and Mr. Color paints for air brushing. Typical water-based reducers will not work with Tamiya or Mr. Color paints. There are other paints that work well with this reducer, such as the AK line of paints. 

As you might imagine from the Japanese and RAF color sets, I have some Japanese and RAF subjects as future projects. 🙂   

[mtaylor]

CDW,  If find I'm having to look twice at your photos.  Are sure that's the full size motorcycle sitting on a shop floor? 

[Canute]

Great work as usual.

 

What is E6000 glue? Guess I missed that. And where do you get it?

[ccoyle]

E6000 is a family of industrial strength craft glues based on a tetrachloroethene solvent, i.e. not water-based. We usually have a tube of it somewhere around the house. Should be available at your local hardware or crafting store.

[CDW]

Just now, Canute said:

Great work as usual.

 

What is E6000 glue? Guess I missed that. And where do you get it?

Walmart has it. Like Chris said, it's a waterproof glue with a flexible bond that dries completely clear. I believe it's a form of contact cement and works well as household use, particularly well when repairing a cracked or broken ceramic item where other glues don't work so well. Bonds well to just about anything I have tried using it on.

Here's what it looks like:

[CDW]

Not a heck of a lot to show with step 9, but something is better than nothing. In any case, there was some fiddly work in this step.

 

[CDW]

Step 10 provides one challenge; the kit provides a vinyl "chain" that was molded in a round shape. Because vinyl has memory, I can't get it to behave properly and lay down the way it should between the drive sprocket and main sprocket on the rear wheel. I'm going to need to play around with this chain a bit to figure out how I'm going to deal with it. Need to remove that memory from the vinyl somehow.

[mtaylor]

Would soaking in warm water remove the memory?

[lmagna]

I think that if you make two circles that are the same size as the sprockets and place the "Chain" around them at he right distance, you can then hit the chain with a hair dryer. The heat should build a new memory.

[CDW]

25 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Would soaking in warm water remove the memory?

 

15 minutes ago, lmagna said:

I think that if you make two circles that are the same size as the sprockets and place the "Chain" around them at he right distance, you can then hit the chain with a hair dryer. The heat should build a new memory.

Good suggestions, thanks for that. I'm going to try warm/hot water first and then the hair dryer if the water doesn't work.

[CDW]

For a kit of this vintage (the molds, because this is a re-pop of the original), it's surprising the level of detail provided. Here we can see the seats, front and rear, seat frameworks with springs.

 

The seat covers are molded in a soft vinyl.

 

I've given the model a good coat of clear gloss sealer, an acrylic one that will provide the base for the enamel filter I will apply tomorrow. Without applying the sealer, the solvents in the enamel would damage the flat green acrylic and cause undesired results. A sealer like this needs a full 24 hours or more to cure before applying the enamel filter.

 

 

Here we can see the painted vinyl seat covers installed over the seat frameworks.