These are the engine pieces. The main casting is in two pieces, with a cover for the clutch, I think. The little piece is the cylinder block.

I had originally painted these a medium gray colour as is shown here. The clutch cover is a lacquer bronze. But I didn't like the gray, so I repainted these pieces in a titanium silver colour. You will see this later when the motorcycle is partly assembled. I think this looks more like a cast metal than this gray colour.

Here is the other side of the engine. You can see that I have sprayed the same bronze lacquer on this cover, too. Each side of the engine will be partly bronze.

You can also see that I have started work on the helmet.

Here is a closer picture of the helmet. Remember, there are two magnets in the dark base, one on each side near the back. I painted the inside of the helmet with a dark sea green type of colour as I wanted something slightly different from black.

I also need to clean my clamp.

Here, you can see the repair work all around the seam. I'll pack the inside of the helmet with paper towel or something to mask the inside before I paint the exterior of the helmet gloss white.

Here is Rei after I put the other side of her racing suit on and masked her body. The inner side of the racing suit piece is painted with my pearl violet. I jammed paper towel underneath her open racing suit and then painted liquid mask all over the paper towel.

I have found that I have to seal the work before applying liquid mask because it can occasionally leave marks on the surface when it is peeled away. If the surface is sealed this is safer because the piece can be washed. But in this case I didn't want to seal Rei's body so I covered it in paper towel. Hopefully the liquid mask won't soak through.

This picture shows the engine frame pieces. I painted these a metallic blue colour because I thought it would fit the overall colour scheme.

You can also see that I have been chrome painting some of the motorcycle parts such as the bike handles and brake assemblies. I sometimes despair using this chrome paint, from Testors. It's a great colour but I have problems with bubbles when it dries. In fact, if someone has some hints on painting with chrome paints, please send me a note.

Here is the chrome cylinder head and carburetor.

This is another picture from the other side. I have added the seat bracket.

Do you remember that the rear wheel frame at the back can pivot up and down, because it is not yet glued tight? The engineering on this motorcycle is quite realistic. There is a shock absorber, complete with spring, that attaches on the underside of the seat bracket to the rear frame.

Here is our fuel tank. Remember that I promised to show you some colour?

I have applied a couple of coats of Testor's clear gloss to the pearlescent paint. It's starting to look really good.