Motorcycle scale

[Kardar2]

Hello,

So my club is doing a motorcycle contest. I never done a motorcycle. So I see a 1:12,  1:35 I am assuming that the 1:12 is bigger. Can someone please give me the demisions of the 1:12 homany inches tall is it and how long. Thanks karl

[Ace-Garageguy]

 Can someone please give me the demisions of the 1:12 homany inches tall is it and how long. Thanks karl

Measure a real one.

Divide by 12.

[Kardar2]

Wow it is only a inch tall I guess I need a bigger one. I hoping it was taller than 1:25 car. What  would be a good size to do ?

[Xingu]

There are several motorcycle builds down in the "All The Rest" section of the board. Browse through those and you can see the amount of detail the different scales offer. You might be able to decide on a scale that way.

[espo]

If you're not limited to a particular scale, Round 2 has reissued a 1/25th motor cycle kit listed as an AMT kit.  

[bbowser]

Most motorcycle kits are 1/12 or 1/9 scale.  They are roughly 5-6" tall.  I think the bigger scales allow a lot more detail and better looking wheels.  Spoked wheels in 1/25 are not very realistic unless you make them yourself.(something I have not tried but will on some unspecified future project )

[Pete J.]

Tamiya has been making bike kits for years and they are some of the best in the industry for fit, finish and accuracy.  They do 1:12 and 1:6 scale. The most amazing bike kit I have ever seen is their Honda RC 166 kit with upgrade accessories.  One of the accessories is a set of rims with stainless steel spokes and machined aluminum nipples and rims.  You can also get a individual link drive chain.  They just don't get much more detailed that that! 

If you look at that real bikes, 1:12 scale is actually and inch to a foot.  Therefor a real bike that is 4 feet tall scales down to a model that is 4 inches tall. 1:24 scale is a foot to two inchs thus a 4 foot bike is 2 inches tall.  A relatively easy conversion. 

[Kardar2]

Thank you all for the help 

[Mike999]

This may help for the future.  Doing it off the top of my head so may need some correction.

Motorcycle Kit Scales & Makers, from largest to smallest:

1/6 scale - Tamiya, huge and expensive.  Made a whole range of Harley-Davidson types, including a Police version and a sidecar rig.

1/8 scale - Revell & MPC did many motorcycle kits in this scale.  Revell's Triumph series started in the early 60s with the Triumph Tiger 100, Drag Bike and many others, including choppers.  Revell also did a 1/8 Harley Police Bike and many Harley choppers.  MPC did a Honda 750-4, some mini-bikes and others.  Probably the rarest MPC 1/8 kit is the "Then Came Bronson" Harley Sportster, licensed for a short-lived TV series.

1/9 scale - a favorite of Italian companies, for some reason, like Protar and ESCI.  Back in the 1970s-80s Protar did many 1/9 scale kits of Italian bikes, including a Vespa motor scooter.  ESCI is most famous for its 1/9 scale military cycles - BMW with sidecar, Zundapp, Kettenkrad tracked motorcycle, Triumph and Harley-Davidson WLA.  The Triumph and Harley were also released as civilian versions many years ago. Italeri has re-issued some ESCI 1/9 kits, including the Vespa and military versions of the Harley and Triumph.

1/12 scale - the large and excellent IMAI/IMEX series of Harley-Davidsons, also released by Revell. If you don't like to strip chrome plating, look for the IMAI "US Army Harley-Davidson FLH 1980."  It has no chrome at all, and includes a couple of (poor) resin saddlebags.  As already mentioned in here, Tamiya has a giant range of 1/12 scale bikes.

1/16 - Pyro did quite a few motorcycle kits in this scale, including BMW and Triumph racing versions with rider figures. They also did a 1/16 Harley Police Trike with figure.  Many of these kits were also issued as chopper/custom versions.  Way back in the 1970s, ENTEX released 4 1/16 scale kits of antique motorcycles - 1912 Henderson, 1914 Militaire, 1918 Harley and 1924 Ace. These have been re-issued at least twice by Aoshima in a "Vintage Bike" series (though not recently).

1/24 and 1/25 - not surprisingly, AMT, MPC and Revell have all done motorcycles in this scale matching their car kits. Probably the most famous are the Revell "Parts Pack" Harley and Triumph.  They were re-issued together in the 1980's as a "Grease" movie tie-in.

1/35 - for years the only bikes available in "Military Scale" were the BMWs and Zundapps from Tamiya and Italeri.  Though Italeri did a pair of Harley WLAs that were very nice for their time (the mid-1970s).  In recent years Mini-Art has released a range of Harley WLA kits with amazing detail.  Other companies have issued new kits of WWII-vintage BMWs and Zundapps, both civilian and military.