Kawasaki ZX-RR
Hello again!
This is Kawasaki's attempt at a Moto GP bike, boasting their famous 'Ninja' branding.
I think this bike is from the 2006 season, so will have a 998cc engine and will generate round the 240bhp mark.
The kit is a Tamiya 1/12, and is typical Tamiya quality. Apart from the decals... I had a nightmare getting them to conform. It's the first time I've had a problem with any of their decals, but they seemed to crumple on the model. It took a lot of patience and setting solution to smooth them out. I couldn't actually get the wheel rim decals to work, they seemed the right size for the back wheel, but overlapped too much for the front wheel. I double checked I hadn't put the wrong ones on the front wheel, but they were all the same size. In the end I just peeled them off and masked the wheels up and airbrushed the green rims on.
I used a Studio 27 carbon fibre kit for the model also, and that was up to its usual excellence! No problem at all getting that to go on.
Apart from the trouble with the decals, it's a really good kit! As with the last couple of Tamiya bikes I've built, I left several parts unpainted. The frame and swing arm are prime example. The plastic looks exact to the material used on real bikes. If I had painted them semi gloss black, they would have looked less realistic. Exactly the same with the actual wheel plastic, you would ruin them if you painted them!
The green fairings looked amazing as well, however there was a slight gap in the tail fairing which needed filled. I'm not sure if it was a slight design fault with the kit or my own, but if that gap hadn't have needed filled then I wouldn't have even needed to paint the fairings.
I think that's about it really, I'll probably think of something else I should have mentioned after I post this, but that's all for now!
And thanks for dropping by!
All Kawasakis should be green. I built this kit a few years ago, and posted it here as well, just had a quick look at it and the decals seem OK, but I didn’t bother with the carbon fibre... your model looks great.
Cheers mate, yeah I remember the one you posted.
I'd definitely have a green one if I bought one! Except for the ZZR. I'd have that in black with the green trim.
Stunning model of a great bike, Richard!
(I love bikes and) cannot stop looking at all your model details.
Such a pity we don't see Kawas racing at Motogp anymore.
All the best!
Thanks very much mate!
Yeah, no more GP bikes, but they still make some great superbikes!
Great build. The end result was worth a bit of drama with the decals.
Cheers mate! Yes, I got there in the end!
The carbon fibre decals were much better than the kit decals.
beautiful work
Cheers Bob, thanks very much mate!
I agree that sometimes unpainted is the best way to go! Great looking model.
Thanks very much!
If it's not broken, don't fix it!
You sure this isn't the real bike? Extremely realistic!
Cheers Robert!
I wish it was the real bike! I'd probably just sell it though and retire.
Great work Richard, your usual standard. This green is soo green, you know what I mean 😉 Liked!
Cheers mate!
Yeah, it's a bit loud!