Thanks to Al for starting this group, here's my first posting in it. It's the iconic Ducati 916, one of many in Tamiya's range of 1/12 scale motorcycle kits. The 916 virtually defined the way sports bikes should look in the 1990s. First shown to the public in 1993 it drew instant acclaim. Designed by Massimo Tamburini, the bike won Motorcycle of the Year Award in 1995 for its looks. The President of Ducati, Claudio Domenicali, was quoted as saying that everyone on the planet loved the 916, something of an exaggeration perhaps, but we get his drift. Anyway, onto the kit. I comes in Tamiya's usual packaging:

Construction starts with the swing arm assembly, and I've attached two pictures of this.

Thanks for looking, George.

Thanks for looking, Gregor. I'm no expert on what might make a good starter bike, but, you're an experienced modeller, so I don't think any of them would give you too much of a problem. I've mainly built the Tamiya 1/12 series, and really haven't had any problems with any of them except due to my own mistakes. Some of the older kits can be had for reasonable prices, but look out for problems with the decals, especially if they are Tamiya's own, rather than Cartograf ones. I prefer the racing bikes (this Ducati is my first 'road' bike), but that's just because I like racing machines, especially if they're red and from Italy! I've tried a couple of Hasegawa kits, but found them a little bit more difficult to put together. So, if you're inclined, pick one that you like the look of, I'm sure you won't go wrong.

Hi Al, unfortunately I know nothing about these kits, except that possibly the Revell kit might be the old Matchbox kit, but a Vincent Black Shadow is a real classic, the fastest bike on the road for a long time. I'd love to see your build of that. If you are able to view the BBC series Top Gear, they did a London to Edinburgh race of a new steam locomotive vs a Jaguar XK 120 vs a Vincent Black Shadow, I won't tell you which was the fastest, but it wasn't the Black Shadow!

Extra effort like opening cooling & lightening holes are what can make or break a model that shows off a lot of it's mechanical features.

Dear George,
that promises to end up as a fantastic model.

I drove this bike from 97 to 98 and worked for Ducati during these years. Later I felt she was too sporty for me in terms of seat position and I replaced her by more comfortable bikes.
The design was done by a Massimo Tamburini (by the way: the TA in his name represents the TA in BIMOTA) and to some extent by South African Pierre Terreblanche who later became chief designer of Ducati S.P.A. and was responsible for the beautiful but disliked 999. The design of the 916 had become too iconic to allow the successor to look differently and Pierre was too proud to just make an update to the 916 design. The two bikes that followed after Piere's dismissal (1098 and 1198) picked up the basic 916 design elements and also continued her success on the market.

Your model perfectly suggests the different materials and paints of the engine. I just don't trust my eyes how much it does.

The red varnish of the bike was very well done these days and by the way an extremely expensive part of the production. That's the reason why Ducati started to produce the "dark" models having a fairly simple flat black look.
So add two or three more layers of clear coat than usual to the tank and the cowling and you're there!

All the best.

I see another masterpiece coming along here George.
Will keep watching.
Simon

Thanks for looking, Halvar, and especially thanks for your valuable insight. I've watched a great video called 'Twist the throttle - Ducati', I think it's one of a series made by an American Motorcycle Magaziine, which confirms what you've said. The issue of a glossy finish is an interesting one for me. My own feelings are that we are trying to make scale models, and to some extent the finish has to be scaled down as well as everything else. Anyway, we'll see how it looks after the red paint has been applied.

I know Tamiya enjoys the reputation that their kits fall together but these motorcycle kits either have the construction steps in sequence in the instructions or you need to develop a strategy for your approach or maybe both. It's going to be a shame to hide the guts with the body panels.