Aces Wild Custom Chopper

This is the Revell 1/12 scale Aces wild kit which is part of their Custom Chopper range.
These kits all come with alternate parts and decals that can be mixed and matched to the builders liking.

These kits are not even close to Tamiya or even Hasegawa's bike kits but do go together without  a huge amount of work and the simplicity makes them a nice quick build, and the finished product will look good on display with a little care.

Its never ideal to have all the parts boxed together, but in the case of the end opening Revell boxes it actually prevents more damage than loose parts in those boxes would cause.

Plenty of chrome here, sadly as its kit chrome it will need to be stripped and repainted with Alclad.

White frame parts will need a bit of cleanup, but overall nicely molded.

The kit chrome needs to be stripped back before any glue can be applied, workbench looked like a glitter factory exploded after it was all done.

I did as much pre-assembly as possible to begin with. It makes cleanup of seams, primer and paint easier further down the track.
Scratching up the surface also makes it much easier for the Simple Green to take off the kit chrome.

The shocks needed to be cut apart so the mounts can be painted with the frame and the cylinders painted with the engine parts.

Even better illustration of why this part needed to be painted with the frame.

Everything got a blast with Army Painter primer to check for seams etc.

These cool little blades from Hasegawa (Try Tools I think it is) make it easier to get the engine fins looking like 1 part as sadly the parts have a massive step when fitted right out of the box.

 Matchstick used to make it possible to hold and paint front fender.

 First layer of Alcad Chrome on, will go back and hit some parts again to give some variation in tone.

These parts got a coat of Alclad Aluminium (brakes etc) and Candy Base (the tanks and fenders).

Alclad Chrome plus camera flash really shows the imperfections in the mold and my cleanup :-)

Frame etc got a coat of Alclad Cobalt Blue Candy which really works well with the chrome engine block.

Decals done, plenty of softener needed to get them to confirm to the curves but they got there.

The decaled parts then got a couple of coats of Future/Klear, the container keeps dust off while they dry.

Seat, painted with AK Tyre Black fitted, lights, stands and exhausts fitted. Just the tank and front fender needed. Rear Fender had Future/Klear brush painted on, amazing how well the proper stuff self levels and leaves a great finish. Just make sure you give it plenty of time before handling as it stays soft for a while.





And the finished article