Adding details to revells custom chopper

That’s pretty much what ‘feature’ models are for! To inspire you to build! Then a few weeks ago Revell releases this gorgeous Harley Chopper kit, so I couldn’t resist, I had to build it.

OK, so you’re probably thinking, “Two issues in a row with motorcycles in them?” Don’t worry, this is the first motorcycle (if you don’t count the Cherry Pie motorcycle) I’ve built in over 30 years! After seeing John Teresi’s beautiful drag bike in the last issue, I began to get the urge to build one.

But I didn’t want to go overboard on the build. Number one, I didn’t have the money, and number two, I didn’t have the time. I did, however, want to make it stand out on the NNL table. The first thing I did was apply Archer resin cast rivets, followed by painting the frame, tanks, and fenders a semi-gloss black(right photo). Then I covered them with metalizer (see page 34). 

Extra details like oil lines, brake lines, etc. were added here and there, but the big thing these days is to keep all this stuff hidden in the frame, and even the handle bars! So I kept it down to a minimum. 

The bike came out good, and I’m happy with it, but Revell is about to re-release the 1/8th scale chopper. That might be fun.

The gas tank, oil tank, and fenders received Archer resin rivets and weld decals (http://www.archertransfers.com). These are a great way to add rivets/welds to any surface. You apply them like normal water slide decals. The oil tank was stripped of it’s chrome plating and all seams were filled and smoothed. Everything was given a coat of black over a gray primer surface. I didn’t make it smooth & glossy because I wanted a bare metal look, not a ‘polished’ metal surface.

I wanted the frame to look rugged and raw, so weld seams were added all over the place! Normally I would mold in all these details and make things as smooth as possible, felt kind of weird to be adding welds!