This is a Tamiya kit, #14804. It is a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R.
NOTES: Decals and painting instructions are included for both the 2000 and 2001 Ninjas in 4 color schemes (Green, Silver, Red, Blue). The decals are made with extended clear sections that match the body pieces allowing you to line up the decals properly. The handlebars turn when the model is completed. Perhaps the nicest detail, for me, was the working kickstand. I have mine on display with the kickstand down, but the kit also includes a clear stand for displaying it with the kickstand up. If you get bored with one way, just change it. Very cool! This kit includes a real spring for the rear swingarm and tiny screws to hold the handlebars and wheels allowing them to move freely. A tiny screwdriver is also include for the screws.
BUILDING TIPS: Several steps show that you shouldn't use cement on a couple of pieces. My recommendation is to test fit the pieces first (as you should always do) and then decide if you want to cement or not. Most pieces fit snugly and hold other pieces down. Most of these pieces are the body faring. My feelings are that they leave them uncemented so you can remove them to display the detailed engine and frame.
PAINTS REQUIRED: I list Tamiya's Paint designation as well as the color name, so that you can get whatever manufacturers paint you want. TS = spray, X = Gloss, XF = Flat
| TS-17 | Gloss Aluminum (Only need 1 of these colors) |
| TS-18 | Metallic Red (Only need 1 of these colors) |
| TS-38 | Gunmetal |
| TS-50 | Mica Blue (Only need 1 of these colors) |
| TS-52 | Candy Lime Green (Only need 1 of these colors) |
| TS-53 | Ebony (this is listed in one place as Deep Metallic Blue, but elsewhere as Ebony. I chose to call it Ebony because of where you use it on the model. Blue would only look good on a Blue bike.) |
| X-1 | Black |
| X-2 | White |
| X-7 | Red |
| X-10 | Gunmetal |
| X-11 | Chrome Silver |
| X-18 | Semi-Gloss Black |
| X-27 | Clear Red |
| X-31 | Titanium Gold |
| X-32 | Titanium Silver |
| X-34 | Metallic Brown |
| XF-1 | Flat Black |
| XF-5 | Flat Green |
| XF-28 | Dark Copper |
| XF-56 | Metallic Grey |
I painted this model with Testors Metal Flake Red. This color is semi-transparent allowing some of what it is painted over to show through. I undercoated the entire model with Gold to enhance the Red color and bring out warm highlights. The wheels will stay gold to give the bike a more exotic look.
This was my first motorcycle model ever. It didn't turn out nearly as good as I had hoped. You can't tell in these pictures, but in some places you can see the gold undercoating where the spray didn't reach properly, and other places it ran where too much was deposited too quickly. One of the side decals didn't get placed properly fast enough. It stuck to my finger and tore a little bit. I learned a lot on this model, though, and will do much better next time.
PICTURES:
