Large Scale Central

A three foot motobike

Modeling Figures
#1

i bought some “leftover” toys from an importer.

(very cheap, just what my customers want and need)

at pricing the toys for selling, i found one broken. two wheels missing. U$1.50 gone by the wind…

on second look that truck had a load. a bike with a sidecar. well, chinese… so it seems to be a generic model, nothing i could identify.

a little cleaning up the grates, some paint, and i will have a nice background bike.

as the comparison with the two figures shows, it must be somewhere around 1:29 or 1:32.

the moral of the story: even some of the “el cheapo” chinese toys are usable for modeling.

#2

You’ve got a head start…

#3

no, i didn’t see your pic! because i didn’t want to!

i’ve got so many unfinished projects, i don’t want to make a tricicle.

what make of bike might this have been originally?

looks like it is from the early 50ies or even older.

#4

I’m guessing a military Harley Davidson… WWII

Hey what’s one more Project?

John

#5

John, I agree, what’s one more project? I will never finish all the ones I already have, so why not one more I won’t finish?

#6

which one was the straw, that broke the camel’s back?

i’m 65 now, and i’m finally trying to grow up. (partially…)

#7

Korm, I refuse to grow up! Grown ups are grumpy people who are always worried about things that never happen. And, if those things do happen, they aren’t as bad as they thought it was going to be.

#8

Sometimes, the broken toys make the most interesting models.

#9

Korm

Your bike is an amalgamation of several different versions of the BMW R(series) 72.

The hydraulic forks were introduced in 1932 while the side valve engine did not come along until 1938. Licensing to produce M72 variations was granted to Russia and Ukraine (Ural) and to China (Chang Jiang) prior to WWII. In 1940 Germany began producing the R75 which matches your sidecar and jump seat. All Of these and many more models were produced after the war and sold all over the world mostly as kits.

These bikes are small and compact compared to the Bigtwin HDs and Indians. It is probably best suited to 1/22.5 or 1/24th scale but I am sure no one will notice if you put it in a 1/29th scene.

It would look great sitting on the street piled with traveling gear or it is entirely probable that your railroad acquired one of the early versions and converted it for use as a rail bike. It would be appropriate for any time frame from the mid 1930s right up to the present as the Ural is still in production in its 1944 configuration (modern brakes and turn signals excepted) and sold worldwide. One of its greatest features is the fact that the sidecar wheel is powered by sharing a driveshaft with the rear wheel making it two wheel drive.

A great find. I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

#10

probably nothing… as my layout is set in the time of the middle 19th century -the 18 hundreds