Aoshima 1/12 V-Twin Wild Chopper Motorcycle Kit First Look
By Yvonne Carpenter, Front Range Auto Modelers (FRAM)
| Date of Review | March 2012 | Manufacturer | Aoshima |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | V-Twin Wild Chopper Motorcycle | Scale | 1/12 |
| Kit Number | 0000663-87 | Primary Media | Styrene |
| Pros | Good detail throughout; Only other choices for choppers like this are extremely old kits (so rough molds) or the newer Revell kits that are too simple and generic | Cons | Connection points for chromed parts will be hard to clean up without ruining the chrome |
| Skill Level | Beginner/Intermediate | MSRP (USD) | $56.95 |
First Look
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This is the Aoshima V-Twin Wild Chopper 1/12 scale motorcycle. This is a typical Aoshima kit with plenty of detail and options. Will look great out of the box or can be a starting point for a super detail project if you feel like it.
Upon opening the box you get greeted by 12x8 inches cardboard color poster of the 2011 Vibes Fox Girls. Just a little extra for the hobby room wall! Remove the cardboard poster and you see plastic bags containing 10 styrene sprues, instructions Sheet (in Japanese and English) and a small decal sheet with speedometer gauges and some pin striping .
On to the kit! We have 10 sprues: one sprue of clear parts, 3 chrome, 3 blue, 2 black and 1 gray. This is a very cool kit as it allows you to build the Wild Chopper with a mag wheel on the back and either a mag or spoked wheel on the front. And there is more! You also get to build a “pocket bike”, if you wish! The pocket bike is a mini chopper and looks like a very, very simple build with only a handful of parts.
As I inspected each sprue and browsed the instructions, here are my thoughts….There is a huge amount of chrome parts in this kit! If you are careful removing the parts from the sprues and gentle with the clean up you will likely take advantage of the chrome already there. If you are rough or careless with the parts and you want chrome at the end, you will be stuck stripping and repainting most of the chrome!
The instructions are detailed enough to get you from beginning to end without a problem, but only the actual build will confirm that. Painting instructions are called out thru the build, but my advice is for you to plan what color you want the bike to be (tank and fenders at least) and decide what will be chrome so you get to do some tasks in parallel while paint cures or the chrome is being removed. The tank will require special attention since it is made of 2 parts and will need to be glued together and the seam filled and sanded smooth to look good. Nothing complex, but this is where most of the attention is in a motorcycle kit so the seam has to be flawless…. If you choose to re-chrome the parts, the planning will help identify what needs to be stripped up front so you get that soaking on your favorite “de-chroming solution” while you prepare the tank and fenders. I don’t usually have a whole lot of spare time for modeling so I try to streamline the build to save time!
The exhaust was a pleasant surprise – the silencer is one piece except for the very tip which is made up of 2 parts. This means that if you choose to use the chrome in the kit, the exhaust can still look awesome as it will not have the horrible seam in the middle.
The springs on the rear and front shocks look very good chromed and with a good wash you could make them pass as real springs without a lot of work. But, if you are a purist, and don’t mind spending the time, this would be an area for some extra detail where you replace the molded springs for handmade ones (and you also would have to repaint them!).
The Engine is molded in mostly black with some chrome parts. You could leave as is or paint it – your choice. Some detail painting beyond what it is called out in the instructions plus a wash would enhance the realism and bring out the detail already molded.
The overall detail on the parts is really good and crisp, almost as good as Tamiya motorcycle kits, but from previous Aoshima kits I have build, the fitting of some of the parts can be tricky. Again, dry fitting is really important if you do not want to be fighting with painted parts at the end and have to touch up the damage you did trying to make things fit!
Along with the sprues, you also get 2 nice rubber tires with very realistic threading and some piping material for brakes, accelerator, clutch cables and spark plug wires. Not bad at all! The clear sprue is transparent so you will need to paint the rear brake lenses clear red and turning signals clear orange.
All in all, I am very impressed with the level of detail on this kit compared to other Aoshima kits. It seems they have been raising the bar with every kit and this one certainly does not disappoint! You get a chopper with details galore plus a mini-chopper. If you like the subject, this will be a great addition to your bike collection!
My sincere thanks to DragonModels USA for this review sample!