Ton-up-Tony

[Starryeyes]

First off I need to give a BIG thanks to Fletch for resending me the instructions I lost a year or so back . I was only missing 1 piece to the front fork triple tree that I had planned on modifying and beefing up anyway .. these cartoonish kits have heavier parts which bear a load on the tiny fork shaft . So I fixed that by sleeping with aluminum tubing and a small piece of aluminum rod. .. so far that’s the only missing part which was easily rectified . I also didn’t care for the facial pose so I did a little facial surgery removing his lower lip and opening his mouth then sheet plastic covered with Milliput then smoothing the reattached lower lip with Milliput as well .. his eye pupils were positioned straight forward so they were filled as well so I can reposition ..

[Fletch]

Hey Chuck,
I am glad you fixed his mouth! The original sculpt has to be one of the worst depictions of the box art ever! With your new "adjustments" it looks great!
Looking forward to the finish!

[modelcarfan]

Nice botox facelift work looking forward to seeing the complete work.

Have never seen this type of model kit and must have been around early 60s?

[Starryeyes]

Aug 26, 2022 11:54:51 GMT -5 Fletch said:

Hey Chuck,
I am glad you fixed his mouth! The original sculpt has to be one of the worst depictions of the box art ever! With your new "adjustments" it looks great!
Looking forward to the finish!

Thank you Fletch .. I still have a little more
messaging I want to do but not much .. I think I’m
closing in on as close as I can get without cutting his in a million pieces ..

[Starryeyes]

Aug 26, 2022 17:28:58 GMT -5 modelcarfan said:

Nice botox facelift work looking forward to seeing the complete work.

Have never seen this type of model kit and must have been around early 60s?

Late 60’s very early 70’s Brian .. something tells me 1971 maybe ?

[Starryeyes]

Made a little more headway today .. still in paint & detail mode ..the motorcycle is an ARIEL LEADER so I’m using a paint scheme I found on Google ..









2013 ford focus st 0 60

[Starryeyes]

Down to painting “Tony” and a few tiny parts .. allot of small detail parts will be painted under the magnifying glass .. shaping up slowing but I see some areas needing touch up which I expected… I’m very happy with the results of the Molotow chrome through the air brush .. getting closer !






prophecy watchers

[harley]

Nice to see someone doing a proper job on an incredibly rare kit! According to my Airfix bible the kit was orignally released in 1967 but only ran for a few years because the whole Weirdos thing hadn't really caught on in the UK at that time.
The irony is that no self respecting Ton Up boy (or girl) would be seen dead on an Ariel Leader as it was a ghastly two stroke and, back then, that was the domain of commuting hacks and a few odd race bikes!

[donculley]

Aug 29, 2022 2:27:51 GMT -5 harley said:

Nice to see someone doing a proper job on an incredibly rare kit! According to my Airfix bible the kit was orignally released in 1967 but only ran for a few years because the whole Weirdos thing hadn't really caught on in the UK at that time.
The irony is that no self respecting Ton Up boy (or girl) would be seen dead on an Ariel Leader as it was a ghastly two stroke and, back then, that was the domain of commuting hacks and a few odd race bikes!

Ok, at the risk of sounding ignorant , what does " Ton up " mean ? My Scottish cousin used to race dirt bikes ,and I never heard him use that term

[Starryeyes]

Aug 29, 2022 2:27:51 GMT -5 harley said:

Nice to see someone doing a proper job on an incredibly rare kit! According to my Airfix bible the kit was orignally released in 1967 but only ran for a few years because the whole Weirdos thing hadn't really caught on in the UK at that time.
The irony is that no self respecting Ton Up boy (or girl) would be seen dead on an Ariel Leader as it was a ghastly two stroke and, back then, that was the domain of commuting hacks and a few odd race bikes!

Actually after looking the instructions over I think this is an Ariel Sport ..not that is makes a difference on performance but still not a powerhouse like the super bikes of today ! Thanks for the kind words Harley !

[Starryeyes]

Aug 29, 2022 9:21:50 GMT -5 donculley said:

Aug 29, 2022 2:27:51 GMT -5 harley said:

Nice to see someone doing a proper job on an incredibly rare kit! According to my Airfix bible the kit was orignally released in 1967 but only ran for a few years because the whole Weirdos thing hadn't really caught on in the UK at that time.
The irony is that no self respecting Ton Up boy (or girl) would be seen dead on an Ariel Leader as it was a ghastly two stroke and, back then, that was the domain of commuting hacks and a few odd race bikes!

Ok, at the risk of sounding ignorant , what does " Ton up " mean ? My Scottish cousin used to race dirt bikes ,and I never heard him use that term

Supposedly it meant if your bike was capable of running speeds of 100 mph

[Starryeyes]

More updates .. after relocating his pupils for an over the should look I gave him a pair of eyebrows with a slight scowl obviously covered up by the goggles .. I cut out some thin sheet plastic and mixed a tad of Tamiya yellow and future floor polish and gave the goggles a slight tint for effect .. it was time to mount the front end and handle bars before installing the 4 tiny engine parts that remain . Hopefully I’ll finish up the torso and the rest and get this over to the “FINISHED” board ..

[harley]

Definitely heading in the right direction (unlike young Tony!).

[donculley]

This build is really looking great ! Your take on it is what it should have looked like originally

[Starryeyes]

Aug 30, 2022 1:57:17 GMT -5 harley said:

Definitely heading in the right direction (unlike young Tony!).

Hahaha !!! No kidding !