hey,
Many years ago,i came across Italeri's Harley Davidson WLA in 1/9,and now just for a quik break from our armor adventures,started working on this afew days ago.i was pretty much figuring it be a OOB,but thiers much room for improvement.I was going to let the instructions,be my painting guide,but recently found differances,the instructions call for most of the engine ,to be painted in silver/steel or aluminum but while looking over some web sites i found one restored motorcycle where the cylinder jugs and heads where semi-gloss black, does this sound right?, only motorcycles i ever had where Kawasaki Z1 900's.and they where all Aluminum.

Joe

Flakgunner,
Harleys & indeed British motorcycles of the period had the cylinders cast in cast iron, as it is an excellent bearing material & doesn't require a liner. It also rusts well, so was usually painted or stoved in matt black, to protect the metal & help heat dispersion, which is a particular problem with side-valve engines like the Harley, which run very hot. The head on a side-valve is a very simple casting, quite unlike what you are used to, being merely a lid for the cylinder. On British bikes, eg Norton 16H, BSA M20 etc, it is usually alloy. So paint the barrels black, the head your choice. Some army bikes I've seen have had engine bits (eg timimg cases, primary cases) painted in body colour (usually olive drab).