Italeri 1/9 scale MV Augusta 4-Cylinder 500cc 1964 By Al Superczynski

History

This Cardan transmission motorcycle, first built in 1950, reached a peak of reliability and competitiveness in 1956 when it adopted a chain drive transmission and telescopic front fork. The MV Augusta was ridden by some of the world's most famous racers including J. Surtees, M. Hailwood, G. Hocking, and G. Aagostini. Thanks to them this nearly unbeatable motorcycle dominated its category from 1956 to 1965, winning nine world titles. It continued competing for one more year, being retired in favor of a new, lighter, and more manageable three cylinder bike.

The Kit

Consisting of 115 plastic pieces molded in red, silver-gray, and matte 'chrome' along with rubber tubing and metal parts, like many other Italeri motorcycles released as of late, this is from old Protar tooling. The molds seem to be in great shape still as my review sample has no flash or sink marks. The only ejector pin marks I could find were on the inside of the exhaust and one side of the injector trumpets. As usual with large scale motorcycle kits many of the plated parts come in halves, meaning that the seams will need to be filled. It's best to just remove the plating and use metalizer on these parts after they've been smoothed out - unfortunate but unavoidable. There's also an overly-thick clear windshield and a nice pair of treaded rubber tires complete with full sidewall markings, something that's increasingly absent from new kits due to licensing issues. As would be expected from a large-scale kit the overall detail is very well done, down to a good representation of the weld seams on the frame.

Instructions are very well presented with clearly illustrated construction steps and Model Master paint callouts. Dimensions are given for the red/white color break, along with cut lengths for the tubing. Decals are printed by Zanchetti Buccinasco and are very sharp and glossy with an absolute minimum of carrier film.

Conclusion

Being a very basic bike compared to more modern machines this should be a relatively easy build and would be and ideal introduction to large scale motorcycle kits. It will make a nice shelf display on the workstand included in the kit. Our thanks to Testors for the review sample.