This chopper is based upon the Italeri WLA 750 military motorcycle kit in 1:9 scale. The kit is big, the finished model is about 30cm long and rich in details. The quality is good with no flash, but some burrs, and all in all well-fitting parts. I think this is the same as the WLA 45 kit of ESCI. Due to the many details the kit is a bit finicky to build and needs some patience even if you are an experienced model builder.
I originally did not plan to document the build, so I have not taken pictures of the kit or the grids. The kit contains some soft plastic ("rubber") parts, which I have attempted to glue with different sorts of cement to no avail, so I ended up replacing them with polystyrene parts. A lot of parts in the kit remained unused — good for the stash!
The finished model can be seen here.
The frame is a single part that is a nightmare to paint with a brush. Definitely use an airbrush or get a can of spray paint for this part! (I did not and it was not much fun.)
The 750ccm flathead motor is straight-forward to build. Only the pushrod covers need some adjustment. The picture shows the motor attached to the primary drive (back side) and the gearbox. It rests on the carburetor. Do not do this in real life! :)
Inserting the motor into the frame needs some gentle force. More so because I attached the gearbox to the primary drive first, while the instructions say otherwise. The fork uses real coil springs, which looks nice. The wheels are very detailed. Up to this point this is pretty much a build of a stock WL750, except for the color of the frame of course.
In this picture you can see the smaller battery case (to the right of the chopped-off rear fender), which makes room for the separate oil tank beneath it. The pipes extending from the tank to the crank case have been made from PS pipe and pipe parts from the kit. You can easily bend thin PS pipes after heating them carefully over a candle.
The fuel tank of the chopper is, of course, custom-made.
These are the risers for the handlebars: cut from polystyrene pipe, a hole drilled in one, and a matching cylinder carved into the other end with a milling drill.
Fuel tank painted and exhaust muffler installed.
The original WL750 has a saddle on a seat post, just like a bicycle. It is attached to the post and to the fuel tank with a joint using the T-shaped part seen in the picture. I have replaced the pins of the joint with a piece of wire, because the plastic pins tend to break. This is easily done by heating the wire over a candle and then pushing it through the plastic part. After cooling it will be firmly attached.
Fitting test of the wheels and the risers. Looks good!
The saddle will not be mounted on the tank and the post, but further back on the frame. The joint is attached behind the fuel tank and the rear part is attached to the frame via springs.
Fitting test of the saddle. Looks good so far, but I decided to file it down a bit further to make it flatter. The saddle is also a thermoformed custom part, like the fuel tank.
The saddle after filing down and painting. Also installed in this picture: the rods of the rear brake, brake pedal, pegs, a piece of pipe for guiding the bowden cable of the clutch lever, the pedal of the kickstarter, and the handlebar with the brake and clutch levers.
There is only one (brake) lever in the kit, because the clutch of the WLA750 is foot-operated, so I had to make another one. I did this by tracing the shape with a pencil and then cutting it with a milling drill. The pin for attaching the cable is wire. I have replaced most pins with wire.
Other side: the second peg, the heel-toe lever attached to the gear box with a rod, and the J-shaped fuel line installed.
Finally: all cables attached to their pins. There are five cables in total: front brake, clutch, and throttle bowden cables, as well as two cables running from the ignition distributor to the spark plugs.
Here are some pictures of the finished model.