Testors Lincoln Mint Harley-Davidson FXSTS Springer Softail. Kit # 7201

[Nolan]

As promised in my introduction.  Here's some of my progress building this kit.  Prices for complete unstarted kits for Harley motorcycles are getting pretty steep, so I started looking through the online sites.  I found and bought 2 glue bombs to get enough useable parts to build the full kit.  The first kit, the engine and springer were not salvageable, but the second kit had an untouched springer and engine.  From prior experience with the Revell Sportster kit, I put the frame together on a jig to make sure it was straight.  I put the engine cases, cylinders, heads, and intake together, then used a razor saw to straighten out and gap the fins.  Once I had them looking better,  I painted the engine and frame Rustoleum High Performance Gloss Black straight out of the spray can and ran a Molotow pen over the edges of the fins.

I had decided on a black with red scallops paint job, so I painted the tank red with Rustoleum High Performance Red and masked off the tank and sprayed the black paint. 

Nice first try, but too busy and uneven.

That’s when I discovered I needed a lot more practice masking and laying out the scallops.  I stripped the paint with QCS Model Safe paint stripper and tried again.  This time I tried the original pattern on one side and a wider pattern on the other side.  I liked the wider pattern much better.  So I prepped the tanks from the second kit and painted them in the wider pattern.  I also painted the front fender with a scallop design.

 

 

The rear fender proved to be much harder.  I wanted to paint the same pattern I used on my ’73 Shovelhead, which proved easier said than done.

This is me circa 1983(?) tooling down 680 in San Jose at about 70mph, cause I can't drive 55.

55mph makes me feel like I'm parked!

I painted and stripped the rear fender 4 times before I just gave up and called it ‘good enough’.  Once I had the designs painted, I color sanded them to knock off the rough edges, then sprayed a coat of Dupli-Color 1K Clear, baked it for a day and wet sanded the clear.  I put on a second coat of clear and let it flow out for about 30 minutes and baked it for about 4 hours at 113 degrees.  It was so smooth, I didn't polish it, just left it sit for a couple of days and waxed it.

The kit handlebars were pretty goofy looking, so I got some measurements off the interwebs for a set of Flanders #3 Ape Hangers and 3D printed a set of two piece bars. I have used the Flanders #2 bars on a couple of bikes I've built and the #3 on one.  The #3 bars looked killer, and were killer to my shoulders after about an hour on the road.  I promptly went back to the #2 bars.  I cut the handlebars off the kit risers and drilled them out for my printed two piece bars, but didn’t like the height.  I modeled a set of the risers in various heights with separate clamps and printed them.  I also modeled a set of drag bars, and the various Flanders #0,# 1, &# 2 bars.  I liked the medium risers and #3 bars best.  To avoid handling them after spraying them with Molotow chrome refill, I detailed the controls/handgrips and glued them to the handlebars, then masked off the controls and airbrushed them with the Molotow.

 

The seat in the kit looked like it was about a foot thick and didn’t fit all that well, so I cut it down considerably until it fit better and painted it Tamiya Rubber Black.

The kit springer actually has some spring suspension movement, as does the softail suspension, but the rear suspension sets the rear way too high, which I didn’t discover until after I had assembled it.  I drilled and pinned it to limit the suspension travel to where it sat at the right height.

I plan on building a chopped rigid framed version with an extended springer, so I modeled one using the dimensions off the kit springer.  I’m working on modeling a factory Harley springer because the kit springer has some scaling issues.  I’ll eventually print some scaled 4 inch over, 6 inch over, and maybe even an 8 inch over springer to see which I like best.   I’ll probably run the extended front end with a set of drag bars on the short risers I’ve printed and will convert the glue bomb frame to a rigid with a bit more rake, or be lazy and just build the rake into the springer bottom and top trees.  I mean who cares if the thing would handle like a wheelbarrow with that much rake in the triple trees?

 

 

The rear fender struts didn’t fit very well so I had to do a lot of grinding and cutting on the frame and the struts.  I ended up stripping the chrome off the struts and drilling them so I could pin them to the frame and fender.  I cut the nuts off the struts, which were just round lumps and 3D printed new acorn nuts that would cover the front dowel pin hole.  The rear dowel pins went through the turn signal mounting hole and I left those pins long to mount the shorted turn signal stalks.  After gluing on the new acorn nuts, I painted the struts with Revell Chrome paint and left them to dry for about a week.  The Revell is much more durable than the Molotow, but isn’t quite as bright.  It is still very easy to damage with too much handling.

The S&S air cleaner started out as one I downloaded from GrabCad, but eventually, I just started over and measured the air cleaner off my old Shovelhead and made a new model.  I airbrushedit using Molotow Chrome refill.

 I liked using the kit stand during the build, but felt it was too tall for display.  So I  3d printed a new shorter version of the stand and will attach it to the frame with some wire clamps.  I included a couple of #4 clearance holes so I can bolt it to the base of a display case.  The supplied tubing for the cables and hose was too soft for keeping it routed the way I wanted it.  I slid some 26 gauge single strand wire through the black tubing so I could form them to shape and they would hold the shape and position.  I had the wire from a spool left over from the old days of working on electronics that used point to point wiring wrapped around socketed posts that held the Integrated Circuit chips.  Old timers will know the joy of trying to troubleshoot a large wire wrapped mainframe board with a short circuit or a loose ground clip.  Younger folk, just be glad for modern printed circuit boards and surface mount chips!  

I just need to finish up the cabling, plumbing, and put a Kansas license plate on it.  I also need to find a display case big enough to hold the thing.

I'm still deciding if I want to try making either a decal or 3d print a new clutch derby cover with the Grateful Dead "Steal your Face" skull that my brother acid etched for my '73 shovelhead.

I’ll post the finished model in the Under Glass Section.

 

Nolan

Edited November 15 by Nolan
Left out the details about the clear paint

[mustang1989]

Man this is just NUTS Nolan. That bike looks almost as if you could get on it, start it and ride away..............

Very convincing work bud. 

[Nolan]

Thank you, I appreciate the kind words!  My wife sent some of the photos to our daughter and for a minute, she thought I had gotten another motorcycle.

I just noticed the laced leather clutch and brake lever covers in the last photo of my shovelhead.  LOL!  Another one of those things I thought were a good idea until I went for a ride and discovered how annoying the flappy laces were, whapping against my wrists.

 

Nolan

[Ulf]

Incredibly nice build, mc kits are not easy to build, you have succeeded very well. Nice to see your Shovelhead, I had a 73 a few years later than you, today I have a soft spot for the style of your bike but I only a Harley parked in the garage of dreams.

[slusher]

Fantastic looking Harley!