Motorcycle: Honda Monkey 125 – Tamiya 1/12
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Completed this week is a fun little build that was a nice and enjoyable "Tamiya build", and a great break from the beloved winged things. Quality of the kit's engineering, parts' detail, and.. well, everything is the usual Tamiya quality. I haven't built a motorbike in about the same time it's been since I've ridden one, which is well past a decade now.. I immediately pick-up this kit at the local hobby shop, because I've always liked these little Honda's... and the price for the kit was entirely reasonable at ~$30 USD. It's important to note that while this looks like a kit of the original vintage Honda Monkey, this is in-fact a new model bike from Honda, with retro styling and modern tech, even ABS on select models.
So far as the build went, it only took about 2 weeks, and presented no problems what-so-ever. I painted it with a mix of Tamiya rattle primer (white on the tank) and Italian Red. Black Mr 1500 was used for much of the black along with Tamiya X1. Tamiya X-22 and X-35 was used where appropriate, and Vallejo and MM paints were used for the aluminum bits and for some other brushed on details. The red color, of course, does not match the gorgeous Pearl red on the real bike, which also has a anodized look to the front forks. This was my biggest concession with the kit, namely due for ease of build, anticipating that the results would still be highly satisfactory. Fit was perfect, and application of the vinyl hoses was a nice touch, as always.
Again this was a very enjoyable build of a mighty little "pocket-bike". Compared to a Suzuki Katana, you can see just how small this mini-moto is!
Looks like the Honda 50 my brother and I had back in the 1970’s. Good times. Cool build!
Yes Jim, a super retro look for sure. Retro is in in the motorbike market.
An amazing job, Andrew!
I recently bought the Tamiya Suzuki Katana model, really looking forward to build it, since, like in your case, It will be a pleasant break from the beloved planes.
Looking forward to your next motorcycle build!
Spiros, that is a great kit too, up to the usual Tamiya standard. I have one in process from over 10 years ago that I had planned to finished next. I'll get some shots of it next to this Monkey when it is complete! Looking forward to your build!
It would be absolutely cool to see your Katana side by side with your Monkey, my friend @pb_legend!
Looking forward to this build, as well!
You can't kid me! That's a real one!
Super-nice work, @pb_legend.
Thanks Tom.. per the usual Tamiya recipe, delicious results are all but assured.
That darn bike looks real Andrew. Job well done.
Many thanks Tom! It presents itself well in person too.
You took the words right out of my mouth with this post, Andrew, I've only recently completed the same model myself, hope you don't mind if I post my version very soon. It really is a terrific little kit, well up to Tamiya's standards, and you've made a great job of it. Definitely liked, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your motorcycles here.
George, I can't wait to see your Honda... Post away! Glad to hear you had an equal experience with the kit. 🙂
That's super cool!
James, glad you liked it!
Wow Andrew, that looks so real, well done, what a great build, I need to go buy one of those now.
Thanks for the kind comment @Anthonyricco. It's a great inexpensive kit to build, especially if it's your first motorcycle kit (just like the real thing) 😉 if you do pick one up and want to do some factory colors, note that Honda has released a few new colors in the last 2 years.