Čechie-Böhmerland 1927

[AlanG]

The first assembly to be built from the kit parts proper is the engine. A lot of use is made of laminating to card of various thicknesses, to provide the relief. This suits me fine - I often do so even if a kit uses a different method.

The first section is the crankcase, with oil pump and magneto detail.



followed by the cylinder, with the overhead valve gear. I toyed with the idea of separate cooling fins, but finally decided I was too lazy, so made up the cylinder as supplied.



These need to be fitted in the frame separately, otherwise the complete engine could not be manoeuvred in. The crankcase rests on (actually under) flat bearers attached to the tubular frame, then the cylinder goes on top. Long pushrods have to be fitted between the two once they are in place, and two spark plugs (one of them a spare) attached.

[AlanG]

We come to the inlet pipe and carburettor. The inlet pipe is a long, doubly-bent tube linking the carburettor underneath the rider's seat to the cylinder head. All that is provided is a rectangle of paper to be rolled up into a solid rod, and instructions to cut off tiny wedges and reassemble them according to a diagram next to the part.



This seemed much too hard for me, so I produced a simplified version to roll into a hollow tube, much as for the frame.



The carburettor pieces went on that, and then the whole thing was fitted.



It is a bit weird that this long pipe has no support except at the front end where it it bolted to the cylinder head, but then what do I know about such things?

[rmks2000]

Originally Posted by AlanG

It is a bit weird that this long pipe has no support except at the front end where it it bolted to the cylinder head, but then what do I know about such things?

I agree. I would think the weight of the assembly would crack the flange.

As far as making tubes, one technique I haven't tried is rolling a thin paper tube around solder or wire, wetting it, and then bending it to shape. You could do this two ways: 1. just use the solder/wire for the elbows (otherwise you wouldn't be able to get the solder/wire out of the tube); 2. use the solder for the entire length, with all the bends, let the paper dry, and then cut into sections as appropriate (so as to remove the solder/wire), and reassemble. Of course you could also simply use solder/wire for the frame, but I like the fact that the frame and pipes are paper.

[motorcyclemodeler]

Alan, your bike is looking terrific...
I really like how it is coming.
Keep up the good work!

[BobGurkin]

Excellent bike. I loved your Harley and this is looking just as good

[AlanG]

Next comes the "transmission", which I take to be a gearbox. This sits behind the engine, and is chain driven, in turn driving the rear wheel by a second chain. Gear change is by hand lever on the right-hand side, and there is also a kick-starter.



Moving further back, we come to the (main) saddle. This is a half-round leather bolster with room for the rider and first passenger. Apart from a fit mismatch between the curved top and the rear piece this didn't give much trouble. I think that this is a particularly good piece of printing - it gives a very strong impression of distressed leather.



The instructions suggest making the spring, the crosspiece and the longitudinal braces from bent wire, but my wire-bending skills leave something to be desired, so I opted for paper. A bit tricky to cut out and fix, but probably better than I could have done with wire.

[Papercut]

This is a cool machine and I am enjoying watching you build it............
Rick

[AlanG]

Further back yet we come to the second passenger seat. This is built on a frame perched high above the rear wheel, which also carries the rear mudguard and two torpedo-shaped auxiliary fuel tanks. Both frame and seat are built up to a considerable thickness with card, so are quite tricky to cut out. At least the seat has an edging strip to hide the mistakes.



The Google translation of the instructions from Czech throws up many delightful and sometimes inscrutable phrases. Here it assures me that "the result will be quite realistic sofa".

Again the springs and grab handle are to be made from wire, and again I used paper instead. The solid "springs" look a bit questionable, but are probably a lot better than I could have managed otherwise.

There were two problems with the tanks. Firstly, of the four conical tank ends, only two were provided in the printed kit. For me this was not at all serious, as I could easily print another couple, but for aomeone making the kit from the original sheets it would have been a bit of a show-stopper. The second was a minor fit problem with the tank filler caps. The bottom ends are shaped to fit over the cylindrical tanks, but much too deeply for the relatively large diameter of the tanks. I prepared new ones with the correct shape but painted with the colours of the originals, though just trimming the originals to fit would have been possible.

[AlanG]

Two simple components today - the rear mudguard and the large rear "toolbox".

[enrico63]

A very original bikes and your building does honor to her!!