Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

Pocher 1933 Bugatti Type 50T


Harry P.

Recommended Posts

And the finished wheel...

Pocher tires are super stiff and almost impossible to slip over the wheel. I have found a simple solution... I put the tire into a small bowl of water and microwave the water for a minute or so. That softens up the tire and makes it very flaxible and easy to slip over the wheel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pocher supplies a thick nylon cord to use as the "steel" brake cables. But the cord is white! Duh!

I thought about painting the cord steel gray, but no matter what paint i used, I was afraid that the cord would wind up too stiff after the paint dried to be able to easily thread it through the various pulleys (and tight-radius turns) in the braking system. So I went to Hobby Lobby and found a suitable gray cord in the jewelry aisle.

b77_zpswp3hlgvx.jpg

Not sure why, but the cable looks much lighter in this photo than in real life. For all you old guys (like me) who remember film photography, the cord is about 50% gray... looks just like "steel" cable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The real car has a windshield that can be cranked open at the bottom to get some "flow through ventilation." The kit only hints at this with two machined plated brass handles, but not the cranking mechanisms themselves, which are very obvious on the real car... so I scratchbuilt them...

And here you can see them installed on the dash...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The floorboard comes flocked, so you're sort of stuck with the color of the "carpeting" as is. The kit supplies upholstery material for the seats and inside door panels, and every piece is diecut, which is nice... but the material itself is too thick and too stiff to go around tight corners and compound curves. Plus the "leather" texture is more like 1:1 scale, so it looks pretty clunky. I used my own material to upholster the seats (the stuff I always use, a soft, stretchy vinyl that has a pretty much in-scale "leather" look to it). The material itself is a very dark brown, but after I upholstered the seats I painted it a light "buff" color. I did use the kit's foam seat cushions, though...

To get the wood look on the steering wheel rim and shift knob, I first painted them the same color that I used on the seats (an acrylic craft paint), then "painted" the wheel rim and shift knob with oil-based wood stain. The stain sort of soaks into the acrylic paint, and the result is a very nice "wood" look. Because the stain is oil-based it takes forever to dry, so I used the dehydrator to speed things up...

That's it for the Bugatti for the time being. Now back to my RR woody...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Your Bugatti is really coming along fine and looking real good. I particularly like the way you are improving on the kit without resorting to after market parts. great work, and will be following the build with interest.

I also picked up on an earlier post about Hornby. They are a UK based company who have bought out the rights to the Pocher brand name. They bought out the Rivarossi model railway company in line with their own main product line and Pocher was originally a Rivarossi company. Hornby also now owns Airfix and resurrected the Pocher name with the Aventador kit, using the expertise of the Airfix company. As far as I know they have no intentions of resurrecting any of the old Pocher classics, although ironically they have set up a showroom at their UK HQ with an example of all the old Pochers beautifully displayed in dedicated display units. Kit manufacture has come on a long way since the old Pochers were in production in the 1980's, so the Aventador naturally should be much, much better than the Pochers of old. I wish that they had made a Bugatti Veyron kit instead!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I asked a Hornby USA rep last week (they own Pocher) and he told me that none of the old classic car molds are usable (they won't be bringing any of those older models back). While he didn't say what is in the future, judging by the models they are currently releasing, it won't be any classic vintage cars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Wow Harry! Thank for the link getting here. I read the whole thing. Very interesting and impressive. And a very nice job your doing with it. This is way beyond my patients and modeling skills.. But it's fun and educational see your work on it. I like the amount of research your doing to get things right. I really respect that.

Looking forward to seeing how this comes out in the future. Now I need to look up your thread on the RR and check that out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, Scott.

Right now I'm suffering from a bit of builder burnout and all of my projects are temporarily on hold until I get the "itch" again. It happens sometimes, but the urge to build always comes back to me eventually.

And of course, this one will eventually get done. It's too cool of a kit to just set aside forever. B)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, Scott.

Right now I'm suffering from a bit of builder burnout and all of my projects are temporarily on hold until I get the "itch" again. It happens sometimes, but the urge to build always comes back to me eventually.

And of course, this one will eventually get done. It's too cool of a kit to just set aside forever. B)

I've seen plenty of Pocher Bugattis, but I'm still waiting to see what you do with your one-of-a-kind Pocher Rolls as a shooting brake.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...