modeler gp Screensmoke

Screensmoke

Modeler GP 2004

No.111 / Fred
'03 DUCATI Desmosedici 2seater (Ducati Corse / R.MAMOLA)

My project is to try to reproduce the Ducati Desmosedici 2003 Two seater rode by ex GP500 rider Randy mamola. This bike was built by Ducati Corse to entertain VIP's, journalists and guests at special GP (Imola...). Mamola made the inauguration of the Qatar circuit with this model. The two seater is based on the Racing Desmosedici, main differences are the second seat, the modified fuel tank, additionnal footrests and a few modifications here and there. I will do my best to try to reproduce. I am a begginer, this will be my first attempt at scratch building so please be nice ;)

The picture of all parts detailled (extract from Pitwalk 2003 volume)

Picture of the Heller Kit (definetly poor quality) and the profiles of the desmo from the Pitwalk

A sample shot from the kit, you can see the engine parts and realise that the level of detail of the kit straight out of the box is very poor , definetly not tamiya

Some of the tools I used

This picture was my first action, i started by cutting the back of the tail to create the passenger seat

On this picture you can see the lines I drew on the tank to define where I should cut the model

Close up of the first cut, , I used a simple cutter and went several time on the cut

here are is the first holes, I tried to make it as even as possible to simplify the work afterwords

Global picture of the body, a little sanding is done

Picture of the first application of putty (I used miliput fine grain). To make the round aspects I used a small size marble

I used miliput for the back also , I prefered it to using plastic plates because of the back tail, which I has to create from scratch

The other Side of the body after a first and rough creation

View from the top, a little blur, (sorry)

I started sanding a lot and finishing up the body. I switched to gray primer to see more clearly the defaults and I started creating a place for the handles

I did A LOT of sanding in the round areas, very difficult reach since it is inside out and not outside in...:(

This my first attempt with the handles I used plastic tubes (quarter round to replicate the round aspect the handles have). I heated them with a candle, burnt my fingers :-( and managed to shape them the way I (almost) wanted

Other view, the left one I had to redo, because the alignment was wrong

A top picture of the first attempt to draw the necessary lines to simulate handle placement. When I did this picture I realized that the Tank trap is ugly and that I needed to do something about that

First carbon attempt (Museum Collection decals) on the rear wheel guard. Not too happy about it, I hope Microsol will help, other wise I will have to redo

The body is starting to look like something decent. As you cann see I holed out the tank cap to replace itby a nicer one, handles and lines are looking ok

View from the other side, still a bump in the back, I have to fix that, and a lot of sanding to do and it could be nice

While I has some time I satred improving the Pipes, I added som plactic strip (heated plastic tubes with a candle and streched) to simulate pipe welding, still needs some glue and sanding

I also started working on the wheels and started wearing off those tires

Lastly I started working on a first trial for the Fairings. I used Tabu Design decals and the Heller ones. The Paint is Tamiya TS-49 with TS-14 Gloss. I am a little disapointed with the decals, they "drip" a little .

And yes it is a Yoshimura Busa in the back (I was waiting for the paint to dry so I built one ;-)

And also as you can see, there is a little problem I have to fix : the bottom of the malboro is not parallel to the "Advance"

On the Front Fairing I drilled some Holes to add realism and to replicate the bike used by mamola in hot conditions (mugello and sepang I believe)

Right Side of the fairing, same parralelisme problem. And I also still have to paint the inside

Here's a little update,

I painted a bit of things to see how it looks like, you can see the exhaust pipes painted (I used black enamel humbrol and Alcad II Metaliz er

(Polished Aluminium for first coat and a little bit of burnt metal for secand coat)

You can see the pipe � little bit more clearly on this picture. I sanded a little bit of the welding, but I added some glue to add realisme to the welded parts. It is still in wip I have the springs to attach

On this picture you can see some od the work i did this weekend. I decided to use the Yamaha M1 front fork, the brakes are also exactly the same and they are much more detailled.
S o I will have to som work on the top of the fork to make it fit, but I think it will add to the realism and to the overall look of the kit.

You can also see the pipes I have created using miliput and plastic pipes. These are intended to replicate the coolants hose and tubes of the radiotaor wich are totally absent in this kit.

I also started working on the passenger footpegs, the first trial I made with miliput was not working so I used plastic sheet (1.5 mm) and cut the two footrests.

On this closeup you can see the work I did on the hose , the footrests and the rear spring which I re-crated totally as the one in the Heller kit is really looking terrible

This picture is bad (Taken with my phone) but you can see how I created the different details of the footrests.

I used plastic Tubes (Evergreen to create the actual footrest and two smaller evergreen tubes to simulate the screws that lie on top fo the footrest.

After I will cut the two smaller tubes very short to create the "button" effect.

I started working on the handlebars. Just as the rest of the kit, the details are very poor.
So I decided to drill the holeon the top of the fork, to gain realism and depth

I then decided to work on the pipes, because their shape is not easy to work, so I decided to use the photo-etch pipe springs that Studio27 makes. The hardest thing was to find the right spot. I used the documentation I gathered and realize there were two spots, at the bottom, when 2 becomes one and at the top of the back when they make a sharp angle.

here is the first placement of the springs (2 in 1) at the bottom of the engine.

You see at the center the tube that is supposed to link the radiator with the engine. I thought it looked pretty bad so I decided ti replace it with som heavy tubes I had left from model master.
On the original bike the tubes are red so I will have to paint them.

When I assembled the engine, I thought : "What, that's all !". There is really not much to work with. So I decided to add some more details and cabling to the engine.

I started with the spark pluds, using documentation I gathered I could created those wires using old material from RCV Honda.

The cable are thin black cable fomr model master

I was also really disapointed with the tubes that came out of the radiator, So I decided to re-create them using plactic tubed from the plastic trees, I also used miliput to created shapes that could fit to the radiator.

Then I need to make the tube look realistic and show those blue Hose pipes and their clamps. So I used Tamiya Masking Tape, Rolled it around the tube and painte it Tamiya Blue

On this picture you can see the Fairings, which I have finished painting and decaling, It received 4 coats of TS 13 prime coating, it now looks okay.

I also started painting the saddle and tank unit with Tamiya Red, I will paint the handles later.

As I said above I tried to make the engine look more realistic so always using documentation (Pit walk collection Moto GP 2003) I added different hoses to the engine? I also added smoke "juice" to make the engine look better.

On this picture you can see the engine and the diffrent radiator tubing I created

When I first looked at the rear brake discI got really depressed. Not only was it very poorly detailled but also it missed the holes that the real bike has.

So I had to drill the holes without indications.

here is the final result of the dirlling. The most difficult thing, after finding the right sequence is to end up correctly where you started...It is not perfect but at least it looks a little bit better.

Just another exampl to show you how much this kit is depressing me...The Heller michelin guy at the left and on the right the michelin guys by Tamiya (Cartograph). event though they are not the same size (probably an error bu heller anyway) I decided to use the Tamiya Ones.

I added the aluminum clamps on the additional blue hosing on the pipes.

I used Flat aluminium decal sheet from Model master (I think). The tricky part was to cut them in very small strips, it gets pretty small at this stage.

While looking at the documentation I also realised thata lot of parts were missing, so I decided to add some.
I don't really know what this (fuse ?) but I had one extra and it fits almost perfectly with the missing part I was trying to replace.

So I drilled some holes in each of the tubes, used the model master wiring and wrapped it all together using tamiya masking tape

here is what it looks like when the masking tape is painted flat black.

And we continue....

On this Picture I ahve fixed the rear swing armand the new shock absorber to the frame, some of the wires. I have added the Battery with a piece of platic card covered xith Renaissance carbon decal.

I have also replacer the platic tibu for the radiator by braiderd hoses of model master

I have started to assemble, you see here the left side with few wires added, more braided hosse to look a little bit more like the documentation

A little Close up....The chain reallydoesn't live up to the standard, but I had no choice, given the time constraints, I could not redo entirely :(

Another Big Disapointment of the kit are the Heller decals, Not only can you see on this picture that it is not really precise (Ducati Corse logo is poorly represented) But also it craclkes very easily and doesn't support Micosol.

I am in the preocess of redoing the entire piece because of the decal :(

General view of the Body with 3 coats of TS 49 and 1 coat of TS 13 before painting the handles and putting the decals

I started to use a thin coat of TS13 and Smoke to darken a bit the different carbon parts.

Maybe too shiny ?, I will matt them afterwaord if necessary

Still drying up from loads of Microsol

The footrests almost finished painted with TS 29, X11 for the small bolt, the plates are covered with Renaissance Carbon decals and the footpegs are cover with Studio 27 Photo-etched from the RC211V kit

I've worked on the heat plate on the side of the exhaust, I used differents radioator phot-etched parts to add realism, of course I will need to cut it out and fix it with small screws.

Close up view before cutting and fixing

Because the Deadline is coming very quickly I have to speed up the process :

Naked view of right side, with all the wire added and tubes, the exhaust protection

View of left side, wires and tubes added

Top view when adding the main Tank (tank trapped changed)

View from top left

Left view with Seat and tail

Right view with Seat and tail

Top right

I've added the last but most important : seat cushion and footrests, I also added the front fairing

The seat cushion are temporary I need to find better material to recreate the back saddle

Top viw of both saddles and the "magic handles"

Left view

Close up view of the Additionnal footrests with brass copper for joinining them

I still have a couple of touch'ups to do (including the Number 2) of Randy, it should all be finished next week

But I already think it looks good in its box ;-)

Making of the Number 2 (Yes I am working on a macintosh and it works with an Alps printer) I use illstrator for decal design

The Alps printer mentionned above

Here are the final picture sof the model; I tried to take the best picture I could, but it is never as peftect as you want it to be

Any way here is the final result, I hope you like it, I hope you liked following this kit building, I did enjoy it a lot and learnd A LOT...

See you next year ;-), you can see more of my stuff at http://www.homepage.mac.com/screensmoke

Fred