Here are some shots from the NAMES show of current progress on Jerry Kieffer’s 1/8 scale Harley Davidson “Knucklehead.” The Schrader valves in the wheels do hold air for the tires.
The scale value is about 4 psi, which gives the right amount of tire “flat spot” for the scale weight. However, when Jerry makes the tire pressure gauge to read the air pressure, he will scale it so it reads 32 psi when measuring 4 psi, so it reads out the scaled-up value.
There is quite a bit of oil showing in some of the shots, as he keeps it pretty well covered with oil to prevent rust. The grey material you see is not paint, but rather raw, bead blasted metal. It is all hand formed and silver soldered together with no fillers or “Bond-o” used.
The seat is copper but will be covered with very thin leather in the future. The speedometer is about 1/2″ in diameter and is now fully functional. This was one of the last major technological hurdles to be solved. It has two small magnets inside that have to be adjusted as a pair. It took several months to get this right.
The finished bike will eventually be painted red and cream to match the original he has restored and is modeling this miniature from. His goal is to have this running while sitting on the seat of the original.
It is hard to tell from the detail photos how small this really is.
