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Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 / Brass Build


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The Project So Far...

This project started as a Pocher Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Kit in 2011, but has grown into a mostly scratch build in brass. I thought I’d post a few images of the build for the fine Modelers on this forum. Very few of the Pocher parts remain; the engine block halves are the original Pocher parts, but most other engine assemblies have been cast in white metal or built from scratch. The terrific Pocher wire wheels are being used as well as many metal fasteners. This car is an amalgam of my favorite features from several of the surviving examples.

The cockpit panel is aluminum with machine turning details from a Dremel and small brush.

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The firewall is brass featuring a vintage Autovac unit, cast extra spark plugs, and wiring busses.

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The scratch built brass radiator with plumbing.

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Most engine parts are cast or scratch built.

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A brass alternator with wiring.

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The manifolds are cast from white metal.

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Supercharger details...

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The start of a brass chassis...

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Suspension assemblies are mostly scratch builds...

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The brass cockpit floor with scale hardware.

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Leaf spring assembly...

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The Pocher body is used as a body buck for fitting components.

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Brass steering wheel...

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The chassis is assembled. I will next add wiring assemblies a construct a metal body.

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Edited by Dougritt
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Superb.

I have several of the Pocher kit in various stages of rebuilding and upgrading, including a bastard flathead-powered dry lakes car, but nothing even coming close to what you're doing here.

Most impressive.

EDIT: However, you should probably post this in the large-scale "Big Boyz" section. Don't be surprised to find it moved.

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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Although I work in 1:24 scale, I have the utmost admiration for anyone who takes on a Pocher kit in 1:8 scale. Actually, in this case you have gone far beyond just building a Pocher kit out of the box and incredibly you are scratchbuilding almost all of the major parts yourself. This is not merely assembling a scale model car kit, this is true engineering in 1:8 scale and your technical skills involved in the detail of this build are up there at the very highest level. Even my best builds in plastic or resin do not come anywhere close to your exquisite brass creation. I shall pay attention to further work by the master craftsman.

David

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Just caught this, thanks to whomever moved it to big boys

We haven’t had the luxury of a proper Pocher Build since Cato finished his Rolls and before that Harry with his great classics

THIS is beyond just a build, this is car manufacture !!! I am super impressed with what you are fabricating here

Please continue to show us as it develops B)

Edited by Twokidsnosleep
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17 hours ago, Twokidsnosleep said:

Just caught this, thanks to whomever moved it to big boys

We haven’t had the luxury of a proper Pocher Build since Cato finished his Rolls and before that Harry with his great classics

THIS is beyond just a build, this is car manufacture !!! I am super impressed with what you are fabricating here

Please continue to show us as it develops B)

I agree!  Please keep the updates coming.

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20 hours ago, Twokidsnosleep said:

Just caught this, thanks to whomever moved it to big boys

We haven’t had the luxury of a proper Pocher Build since Cato finished his Rolls and before that Harry with his great classics

THIS is beyond just a build, this is car manufacture !!! I am super impressed with what you are fabricating here

Please continue to show us as it develops B)

 

i cant think of anything else to say ... but thank you very much for the pics Douglas

 

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Hi guys-

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. Since the last post, I have decided to rework the fuel tank. I made an assumption that the tank was internal and the aero tail was cowling. While perusing many auto sites, a photo showing the proper tank construction popped up.

 The original tank (incorrect):

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Here is a reproduction tank being built like the original:

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The internal baffles can be seen. They reduce fuel sloshing. Here is another image showing the assembly:

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So...my initial tank assembly goes into the scrap bin! I have reworked several assemblies so far; the cockpit floor, chassis cowling, to name just a few. Here is the chassis underside...several of the chassis members have since been updated to be more accurate.

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I mentioned earlier that the car will be fully wired before the body goes on. It seems that the only wiring diagram that exists is in low resolution black and white. I traced the circuits and created this color diagram.

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Some more research on the original instrumention revealed that most of the 1/8 graphics available are incorrect. I decided to create these Jaeger instrument graphics from scratch in Illustrator. Sadly, much of the detail will be lost when reduced to 1/8 scale. Again, I will toss out the previous versions!

CE4BED72-3255-40C5-BCCE-9B1B6D8582C5.jpeg

 

Edited by Dougritt
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I have one full Alfa Pocher kit and a second that someone started and likely have lost most of the parts for

After I do the first kit oob, I was toying with the idea of brass and mods for the second one....maybe a Muletto

I am taking vigorous notes here. So many kits, so many projects, so little time 

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