Rei on a motorcycle is one of the few resin figure models I have found that is far more than just a pretty figure. The kit contains a model of both a motorcycle and a figure. There are over 90 parts and this kit is, essentially, two resin models in one.

This is certainly not a beginner's kit because of its complexity. In fact, this kit is going to be an interesting challenge to build because I am going to have to learn some new skills.

Decals? Who ever heard of decals on a figure? But they are on Rei's racing suit and all over the motorcycle! I've never done decals before and this will be a new experience for me.

By the way, as you go through this work in progress you can click on most images to see a full-sized picture.

One of the first problems that everybody has when building models is figuring out a way to manage the pieces. I carefully laid out model parts on a big piece of styrofoam, then studied them to try and understand what they were. Some parts were easy, such as Rei's hands, arms, and legs, but the motorcycle was almost incomprehensible.

I set the pieces out on a 19 inch by 29 inch sheet of styrofoam that is about 4.4 square feet in area. Remember, this is a 1/6 scale model so the figure is a reasonable size.

I spent about two weeks studying the pieces and researching information on the Internet. One useful source was the Vispo site. These are the people who made this model and they had some pictures of the motorcycle. These helped somewhat. Another interesting WIP on HobbyFanatics was helpful, too.

The second problem I had was deciding where to start. There is really only one way to solve a problem and that is to break it down into smaller problems. Then, go to work solving what you can. I couldn't do the motorcycle so I started with what I could easily understand. I began to assemble Rei.

I wanted to completely dry build the model to make sure that the parts all fit properly. With a model of this complexity the pieces have to be pinned together. So, we take our time and drill small holes and insert pins into the piece. One problem, of course, is to figure out where to drill the opposite hole in the mating piece.

What I am doing here is employing a technique called blind pinning. Drill a hole, press the tip of a nail into it, then press the mating piece into the sharp point. This will leave a small mark in the mating piece and show you where to drill the matching hole. Easy, huh?

For pins, I use small nails that I cut the head off. You see in this picture how the nails are inserted into the hole. Twist them in with a pair of needle nose pliers.

You want the pin to fit snugly in the hole so choose a drill that is the same size as your nail. Most household drill sets have a minimum 1/16 inch drill and this is satisfactory for big pieces, but if you are pinning small pieces you might need a smaller drill.

You can buy really tiny drill bits at most hobby shops. You can even buy small steel rods that you can cut into pins, if you don't want to use nails.

Pin all the pieces, jam them together, and here is Rei in her glory. She is laying on her back because I haven't pinned the face and her hair bangs together, but there are pins through the shoulders to hold the arms on and the boots and hands are pinned to the legs and arms respectively. I also pinned the back of her hair to the neck.

It is nice to see Rei together like this. I want to see how the model will go together before I get to the point of no return. By doing this I can see that I will need to fill the shoulder joints slightly with resin as the arms don't quite mesh properly.

More on this later.

Now, I had to tackle the hard problem and figure out how the motorcycle went together.The instructions, photocopied beyond recognition and printed in Japanese, were mostly useless to me.

Fortunately, I was able to recognize the engine and the frame pieces, and this was my key to solving the puzzle.

The frame is pinned in three points to the engine, just like a real engine is mounted to a frame! Who would have thought that the sculptor put this motorcycle together just like a real one?

This is how the frame went together. Each frame piece had three pins. These slip into the engine mounting holes cast in the model.

I did occasionally have to take a drill bit and remove chaff, or enlarge a hole so that the pins would fit. Usually, this just meant twisting the drill bit in my fingers.

The wishbone type piece that's showing on the right of the model holds the rear wheel. There is a shaft at the end that slips over resin pins molded on each side frame. I had to carefully drill out the ends of the shaft with the proper sized drill to get these to fit. This rear wheel can actually twist up and down in the frame to position the rear wheel height.

And this shows how the motorcycle frame fits inside the cowling.

The rest of the job was pretty much trial and error. It was like solving a puzzle. But now that some of the pieces were gone it became easier to figure out where the rest of them went. There are still one or two pieces that I don't know exactly where they go. But I'll figure it out eventually.

This shows the motorcycle with Rei sitting on it and completes the essential dry fit of the model. I now have a fairly good idea of how to put the model together. Also, because it is pinned, I am reasonably confident that the final result will fit properly.

The following pages will be more colourful, I think.