Thanks for the complement Vontripps. I don't know if you heard the story about that bike. I had it about 90% complete and wrapped it up in "cling wrap" to protect it in a move. When I unwrapped it the plastic wrap had etched the paint so I had to tear the whole thing apart and strip everything down to bare plastic. It was my stupidity not the kits fault! I just took my Rikuo down from the shelf and noticed there are a lot of similarities between the two bikes. Please do a thread when you build it. I'm sure it will turn out beautiful.
DM, you should cut the fellow some slack man. These guys have done what, nearly 500 model releases in 11 years. It makes me tired just thinking about it! Anyway, I think that workmanship on the WLA looks amazing. I do wonder why he chose 1/9th though. (Edit: I now think it was so he could borrow tires and other odds and ends from the Esci kit.)
Here is a shot of a real Vincent Black Shadow. Mr. Vincent wanted to emphasize the top speed of this special bike with black enameled case and heads so he had a 7" automotive speedometer mounted to the headstock. It was so big it probably slowed the bike down at top speed but he made his point and the bike sold well.
An even rarer bike is the HRD Series A Rapide. It's the predecessor of the Black Shadow and nicknamed the "plumbers nightmare" because of all the external oil lines coming and going throughout the engine. It would make an amazing model in white metal with machined aluminum rims and real wire spokes.
Here is what I think is one of the coolest bikes of the pre-war era. It's called the Brough Superior and is somewhat infamous for one which dispatched young Lawrence of Arabia to his maker. Maybe I'm the only one but I think it also would look amazing as a model in white metal and aluminum.
. I like the older bikes anyway.
