Motorcycle GB: Suzuki GSX1100S Katana – Tamiya 1/12

Tonight, I've finally had a bit of time to get some pics taken of my most recent completion, a Suzuki Katana. I've had this kit partially built in my stash for 12-15 years, languishing away only half completed.

At the time I started it, I was beginning to play around with different spray rattle cans, namely Model Master's Lacquer sprays. One such color was the red that I sprayed on this bike so many years ago. When I wasn't spraying that, I would typically use $1 enamel rattle cans that I could pickup at the Dollar Store down the road. The flat black provided a very nice flat finish (main saddle, which I added some texture to but pressing my shirt on the wet paint), and for $2 you could get a big rattle can of metallic silver color that was good enough for engines, and this very frame... By the time I packed it away half completed, the engine had a home in the frame, and body panels were all solid red, save for the black rear garnish, front fender half, and seat.

Fast-forwarding to last year, I found this little Honda Monkey kit at a LHS for cheap, and decided I'd have a go at it. That kit was such a delight, that I decided to dig the ole' Katana box out and see what I could make of it. It really didn't need much work, primarily that the wheels needed repainted and that odds & ends needed painted before final assembly. Unfortunately, after the Monkey build, all the further I got with the Suzuki was getting her onto both wheels. This left the fairings and tanks to be finished.

Fast forwarding to a few weeks ago, when our friends on this site created the popular Motorcycle GB, I decided it was finally time to finish this kit up and get it in on display! Setting the kit on the bench, I mocked up the solid red tank, red/black fairings, and went back and forth in my mind trying to decide if I liked the mix of black, red, silver, and chrome that was being presented. I was plagued by decisions such as, should I paint the rear springs a different color, or should I leave the turn signal lens clear (pretending amber bulbs), and should I to paint the chrome crankcases partially black? Most of all, I was concerned with the fact that the plain red on the tank was too similar to the kit's "SUZUKI" decal for the tank, and also that overall the solid red tank just looked wrong...

With the GB on-going, I was spurred on to take a deeper look in my stash for motorcycles. With this, I found not just my old Hayabusa build, but also its spare decals and my Yoshimura X-1 kit. The Yoshimura Hayabusa is red and black a combo which no doubt inspired me to paint this Katana red in the first place. With that inspiration revived, and a silver "SUZUKI" decal from the Hayabusa sheet, I plotted ways to get some black on the tank. With the tank eventually painted as presented, I decided to add some more black to the rear edges of the seat, a tinted windscreen, and then a few added details like the thinner-than-the-kit license plate. With all that, the decals, and some more clearcoat, I ended up with what you see here, and I'm super happy to call this one done after so many years.

I hope you enjoy the photos!

10 additional images. Click to enlarge.