Here is a picture of the frame after I have installed the rear spring and shock absorber. This spring actually works, sort of. The rear wheel frame pivots on its shaft, so if it is moved the spring will actually compress slightly.

However, the model is not designed to take this stress. The top bracket is only glued to the seat bracket and not securely bolted down, so if too much force is applied the glue bond will break. Nevertheless, it is possible to adjust the rear wheel position slightly.

Installing this spring was tricky. I glued the top bracket down, then pushed the rear wheel frame down as far as possible to put glue on the bottom bracket, then raised the rear wheel frame until the stars aligned and everything fell into place. I then reinforced the top bracket and seat bracket with epoxy steel glue to ensure the bonds were as strong as possible.

This is the underside of the motorcycle seat that Rei will sit on. As my colours are pearlescent blue and violet, I wanted to show you that I had shaded this piece to match the similar shading that I had done on the cowling.

This is the same piece from a more normal perspective. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't seem to pick up the colour shadings exactly. The purple is more visible than it appears. I suspect this is because of the pearl effect and various light reflections. I did slightly overspray the purple with blue to blend the colours.

This is the rear wheel. It has silver spokes underneath the masking material, which was cut out of a plastic coffee can lid.with a 2 inch inside diameter circle cutter. I had put two coats of gloss black on the tire, then a coat of Tamyia smoke paint to provide a slightly duller tone.

I know that I will have to fix up the boundary on the wheel rim with a brush when I take the mask off.

Next, come the decals.

Well, the decals are on. Here's how I did it. First, I cut the decals out of the sheet using my hobby knife. Then I put on one decal at a time. I put the decal in a plate of water and after about 30 seconds tested it with my brush. When the decal appeared to be loose I picked up the paper using a pair of tweezers, with decal attached, and laid it over the wheel where the decal needed to go.

Then, using my brush, I nudged the decal off the paper while pulling the paper away with my tweezers. This left the decal in approximately the correct place. Using my brush I could slip it under the film and move or nudge the decal into its proper place. At times I used my fingers to move the decal, but I had to be careful. When the decal was set I partially blotted up the excess water with a paper towel.

I then applied some decal solvent that supposedly softens the film and helps the decal snuggle down onto the surface of the model. The instructions warn you to not touch the decal after the solvent has been applied. Apparently the decal can wrinkle and look funny, and this actually did happen. But, it flattened out as the solvent evaporated. Leave your decals to dry overnight.

Well, the rear wheel is on the bike. This was a bit of a challenge as I hadn't pre-fitted the chain assembly. The instructions, poor as they are, show that the chain should be cut on the top to feed it through the hole in the rear wheel frame. I did this, and when I tried to align the sprocket with the axle hole I could see that it wouldn't fit.

So I removed a link on the bottom. Being smart, I also removed a link on the top. But this was a mistake. The missing link on the bottom caused the sprocket to align correctly but the top was now short a link!

I had to put the missing top link back. I did this where it wouldn't be seen behind the frame. I still have no idea why, if the bottom is too long by one link, then the top is not also too long by one link? Go figure.

Here is a picture of the front wheel after it has been assembled. It went together reasonably well since we prefit this earlier. I did have to slightly enlarge the holes for the brackets that slid over the two wheel shock absorber shafts as they had been painted and the fit would be too tight.

Here is the motorcycle with both wheels on and many of the smaller pieces attached. You can see that the next step is to attach the exhaust system and radiator.