Asuka on a Motorcycle is perhaps the most popular of the two Evangelion girls. To my mind she has the nicer pose, which is why I assembled Rei first as a learning experience.

To view the previous WIP for Rei on Motorcycle, click here. I would encourage you to view this construction to see how these models are put together. This WIP will focus primarily on the ways that I want to improve Asuka, having learned some lessons from building Rei.

My plan for Asuka is to give her a girlishly pink bike to go with her red costume. I will use pearl paints for the bike, but this time I want to try for an exceptionally high gloss finish on top of the pearl underlay. I want the bike to shine, which is something that did not happen with Rei. I am also going to improve the windscreen clarity and chrome quality as I had some problems with this.

This picture will show some of the pinning that I have done for this model.

At this stage of the construction I am sanding seams with 200 grit sandpaper and filling various holes and other flaws with Mr. Surfacer 500 from Gunze. Once I have the major preparation complete I will sand the pieces with 400 and 600 grit wet/dry paper and then apply the first coat of primer.

With the pieces pinned, Asuka can be pre-assembled. This pre-assembly or dry fit of the model is useful to see how the parts and sometimes the stars align. Once I dry fit the motorcycle I will be able to set Asuka on it and ensure that her arm can properly rest on her helmet.

Nothing is glued and everything can be taken apart. For another picture click here.

Asuka's bike has a different style cowling from Rei's. This picture is showing how the sides and front piece fit together. The sides actually fit on to the bottom of the fuel tank and I have taped them together with masking tape.

The front piece and sides are going to be glued together so the seams can be filled and the cowling painted as a unit. It is important to ensure that they are glued together in the proper position. For another view click here.

Twenty minutes after I glued the front and side pieces I had a Eureka moment! I realized that I should have prefit the bottom part of the cowling, too. The bottom seam also has to be glued and if the sides are misaligned or twisted then there could be problems.

I was using epoxy steel glue for these joints. Although the epoxy was essentially set it wasn't completely hard. By taping the bottom of the cowling to the sides and using a rubber band to pressure the bottom into position I was able to coax the previously glued joints into their proper place.

Now, with the bottom seam glued with the same epoxy, I let this sit overnight to fully harden. When it had dried I disassembled the cowling into its top and bottom components by removing the masking tape. Each cowling part should now fit to the other and also to the motorcycle when it is assembled.

It's time to work on Asuka. The legs will be assembled now because she can be painted as one unit. I'll paint the arms separately because they have to be attached after the front parts of her racing suit.

When assembling flat joints like this the joint must be ground out after gluing and filled. You cannot leave a thin joint or a hairline crack will eventually show up. You have to widen the joint and fill it, and then sand it smooth. The wider joint is less sensitive to shock and vibration.

Click here to see a few pictures of the ground out joint after gluing and sanding.

If Asuka is going to sit on a pink bike and look like a young girl then she really needs proper pigtails. They should have bows, or fancy elastics with colored balls on top!

So, here they are. I made these out of two part resin epoxy. Click here to see a picture of the back hair piece with the pigtails loosely attached.

I really must think of another kit modification to reinforce the idea that she is only 14 years old. She may be a rebellious teenager but we shouldn't forget that she is still just a young girl. Maybe she should hold a teddy bear or a balloon, rather than sunglasses in her hand? I know. How about a flag? Click here.

It's now time to pre-assemble the motorcycle. I have attached the front and back wheels to their frame pieces with small 1/2 inch brass screws. You can see in this picture that the V-shaped front wheel braces do not fit the wheel shock absorber shafts very well, and that is because the shafts are not really round. This is a resin casting quality problem. I am thinking that I might want to put a small sleeve around the shaft to get a better fit. I will have to see what I can find.

For a few more introductory pictures of the dry fit motorcycle, click here.

As I was working on this pre-assembly I realized that I had to go all the way. I couldn't skip any steps. I needed to see the motorcycle in its final configuration, exactly as it was going to be. I had to make sure that Asuka was going to be able to sit properly on her motorcycle with her arm resting on her helmet. I didn't want any surprises once everything was painted.

I suppose the biggest surprise I found was that Asuka is looking down and not up. The motorcycle tilts slightly to the left and Asuka is essentially standing up and not sitting on the motorcycle. Her foot rests on one pedal and the bike does not want to stand on its own because of the tilt.

Click here to see a number of other pictures, including the toothpick that is propping the bike up.