2003 Repsol Honda RC211V from Valencia
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The Bike
At the end of the 2003 MotoGP season, following a magazine competition to design Rossi's bike, Rossi himself selected this as the winning design. In perfect style, he lead from Pole throughout the race to take the win, having already got the championship under his belt. The RC motorcycles have gone through a large number of changes over the years as the Repsol Honda teams makes tweaks and changes constantly throughout the season.
The Model
There was something that stood out about this livery, so when I got the opportunity to get one I jumped on it. Another Tamiya 1:12 kit with a few extra's thrown in. This was the second time using Neodymium magnets, although I did find the normal size I use wasn't up to the job of holding the fairings on and the belly pan which was quite heavy. Normally I would use 1mm, but in this case I opted for 2mm for the extra strength. Scale Motorsport provide a photo etch set for this kit so I picked up one of those, along with the Tamiya fork set and a Top Studio clutch and chain. The TS parts are works of art in themselves I felt with this livery it didn't need any more than this, but the usual PE bolt heads were used to add a bit of realism. SMS carbon fibre decals were used selectively through the build as well. Finally, more accurate, thinner wiring was used to replace the kit variants
Completed December 2017
