Shaker Trike

[Nacho Z]

This is the MPC 1:12 scale Shaker Trike. I built this kit when I was a kid. I am guessing I was around 9 or 10. The box art of the original kit stuck with me these many years. I even made it to the museum where the Shaker Trike is at. I was lucky enough to pick up a nearly mint condition, sealed kit off of e-bay a while back. It is proudly displayed in my hobby room. The kit I built for the 2012 24 hour build was the re-pop.

I wanted to add a little extra detail to this kit. While I did add some, I did not add everything I wanted to. Two main reasons....not enough reference info / pics and not enough talent. (I was able to get a few pictures of the Shaker Trike while at the museum and they were of great help). This kit is very hard to make a clean build of it. To do it justice, you would have to strip all of the chrome, and there is a ton of it, and assemble the parts, fill the seams and have it re-plated or shoot some Alclad on it. Maybe someday.......

Here are a few pics of some of the items I scratch built.

I took a piece of sprue and sanded it to shape. A few pieces of sheet and rod styrene and I had the basic pieces to make the brake cylinder.





I made several attempts at making a key and key chain. Even at 1:12 scale they are pretty small.







I even made a battery that never was added to the model. I think I built it a little too large. Even if I built a smaller battery, I have no idea where it goes and honestly, no where for it to really go.

[Nacho Z]

Unfortunately, I did not add any extra detail during the 24 hour build. When I got home I decided to fix a few things I goofed up during the 24 hour and to add the extra detail. I ended of breaking off, on purpose and by accident, the following items....the body, both rear wheels, both wheelie bars, both exhausts, the seat, both foot rests, the handle bars and both headlights....yep, pretty much everything .

Here are a few more pictures of the trike. The brake line is solder. The cable ties are thread. I had ran the brake lines on top of the rear end only to find out that the body would not sit properly. I had to take it all apart and re-route them.

[Nacho Z]

Here are a few pictures of the finished trike. I have added dip stick tubes for the tranny and the engine. Both are hypodermic needles. The dipsticks can be removed. The engine's dip stick handle was in the shape of a knife handle (?) so I glued some sheet styrene together and sanded to shape. Also added an alternator bracket with PE bolt head. I scratch built a coil and added it. The kit came with spark plugs that were way too big and would have never stayed attached to the engine. Instead of using them I drilled holes and used brass rod. I painted them white to simulate a spark plug. I also BMF the headlight lenses.

The one thing I did not get done was the plumbing of the carbs. I may have to tackle that someday...

[zbuckster]

WOW! That's a sweet Trike. Nice workmanship.

[z24dude]

WOW, looks good John!!

[68chevy]

John you did a AWESOME job It looks great. The detail is out standingwork.

[Gary Kulchock]

Sweet model John. I'm impressed with the amount of work you got done in such a short time, and with the high quality of your build!

No more "Brolin Rule" Jokes guys! He has more than proven himself.

[wtsf150]

Awesome work John the keyand keychain was a huge hit with me but all the extra detail looks great
Willie

[goingsouth58]

that is neet vary sharp

[tool]

awesome build !

[intimidator]

That is great stuff!

[The Mad Modeller]

Very nice John. Like the scratchbuilding.

[Nacho Z]

Thanks for all of the nice comments guys, I appreciate it!

[roadhawg]

That is awesome!!!

[ferrarichip]

Nice job, great to see it totally done.