Yamaha VMAX 2009

[AlanG]

Another year, another model. Having finished off my light-relief Christmas model (the Canon Phoenix) I find that I can't keep my eyes off the new Yamaha VMAX, so I may as well give in. I can resist anything except temptation.

Well, here is a major model. Five PDF files totalling 47 A4 pages with nearly 800 parts, assembling into a HUGE model, apparently comparable with the MT-01 from three years ago.

I don't expect to post a blow-by-blow account of the build, but will put up a few photos from time to time to let you know how things are going.

First up, what scale? As usual, Yamaha do not specify the scale of the model. They did slip up once, though, when in the advance publicity for the MT-01 they quoted a scale of 1:5.5, so this might be a reasonable first assumption for the new model. For corroboration, I thought I might try a comparison with the original VMAX model from 1998. For the smaller-scale "Realistic" series of models, whenever I have found measurements of the prototypes and compared them with my models, I have come up with a pretty consistent scale of 1:7, though there is a certain amount of scatter.

The easy thing to measure was the lengths of the outermost pieces of the tyres - thus the circumferences of the wheels. For the old model, these come out as 283mm and 310mm for the front and rear respectively. For the new model the corresponding lengths are 368mm and 382mm. Assuming that these represent the same prototype wheel circumference (probably not exactly true, but not too far off), and that the old model is 1:7, this gives estimates of the new scale as 1:5.38 and 1:5.69. That is amazingly close considering the uncertainties about the assumptions. (I promise that I haven't fudged the figures to give better results - these are all my a priori numbers.)

So it looks as though 1:5.5 is a reasonable estimate of the scale. Since I try to have all my motorcycle models at the same scale, which for historical reasons is half that of the Yamaha "Realistic" series, I shall now have to go and print the first few pages at 39% (i.e. 5.5/14) of the original size, and start cutting and gluing.

Wish me luck, more soon.

Alan

[2Kamser]

good luck Alan, this will be interesting
think you will build this one on behalf of a lot of us, i for one does not have the guts yet to tackle a model this complicated

[peter taft]

Alan... You are THE man - excellent model, cant wait to see you bring her to life. Have fun {you will} and enjoy {you will}.

[AlanG]

Hi all

First, to 2Kamser, thank you for your good wishes, I may need to draw on them some time! Remember that a complicated model is only a simple one, over and over again.

To Peter - whoa, boy! I ain't done nothing yet, it's all talk. Tell me how wonderful I am in a few month's time. You can be sure I'll have fun and enjoy it, and also get cross and despairing at times with my incompetence. We shall have to see which mood finally prevails.

Alan

[Stev0]

I cant wait to see this.

The build of the model on the Yamaha website didn't even have edge coloring and kind of looked rushed.

[SEBRET]

Can't wait to see this one finished. My dad's a motor-freak and he keeps begging me to make this one. lol

[AlanG]

First news.

I printed off the first five pages on my usual 100gsm paper - on a single A4 sheet.



We start with the four cylinder heads for the V-4 engine, so I had a go with the top layer of the first, lots of little boxes clustered together.



It doesn't look too bad in the picture, but that rather belies the struggle to get there. The first problem comes from the new style adopted by Yamaha in the model sheets. The pieces are black, the glue tabs very dark grey, gluing lands are dark-medium grey hatched and separated with medium grey, and fold lines are lighter grey. In my small scale this all becomes very difficult to see, and hence score and assemble accurately. The other problem was that the paper was just too thick. Each little box was just that bit oversize which meant that they wouldn't fit together in the space available. It took fairly major surgery to get them close.

So, a recolouring session in GIMP to lighten the tabs and lands, and a reprint on standard 80gsm copier paper (not a lot thinner, but the lightest I had to hand).



Here is the result - acceptable, but not as good as I would like. Once I have done the other three I shall know whether I can do any better, and maybe rebuild this one.



Alan

[Grizley]

That's a very nice start there Alan, pretty small too. Makes my eyes go all googly(is that a word?) just thinking about it. Can't wait to see this one shape up as I'm interested in building this one myself. Good luck:D

[peter taft]

Me like already... way cool start, and like your initiative to re-colour areas to make the assembly better for you. This is going to keep me and many others riveted for some time. Great stuff Alan

[Nazgul]

Good start Alan..Looking forward to see how you progress...It will be an eye watering model at that scale...I too started with the engine but progress is slow...will be watching this thread...Good luck