Cato

And while your testing that, try buffing (and or polishing) adjacent areas. If it's durable, that may truly give you 'chrome'.

Beautiful. Now you can do the polished ally hood on the Shooting Brake with that.

How to make real leather look like...real old leather...(I hope) Comparing the above seat shots with the natural leather skin as it comes to my 'older restoration that gets use' philosophy, I have finished the rear seat back-good as I could get it. Thanks for the encouragement to continue with it, I think I can use it. But since this is my leaky, sweaty old girl that gets in-season drives across the continent, the seats could not be 'right off the goat' new. So the following happened to try to capture this fairy tale brainstorm: Yep, all those dainty little asses I drove all over the continent buffed the leather to a shine and wrinkled it a bit. Well, their backs in this case; the bottoms are coming up. (Did I really say that?) For you leather modelers, here's how I did it. Scuffed the bare leather (lightly) with a gray scuff pad (gasp!). This cleans it nicely and doesn't hurt. Then good old transparent boot polish (they're leather right??), applied with finger, then brushed, then buffed with soft shoe cloth. Finally a random rub with a two pound weight to flatten the foam for creases. Less is more with this step. The effect are subtle and change with the light source. Tucked under the rear roof, mostly only the sheen will be seen. But the fronts will be more exposed. Hope you approve:

A very nice and tasteful build Bruce. What scale and kit is this? The body panels are very well aligned. The paint scheme is very pleasant and somewhat unusual. The white tires don't hurt it - you can test before completion by mounting the black side out on one side of the car and compare to the left with white showing. Then make your choice. Great to see another classic on here - well done.

Brilliant and beautifully done Sean.

Thanks DeeCee. Brilliant solution to the dust and storage problems.

Fantastic site and tools - thanks Joe.

Great idea about the cheap fabric-for-patterns tip. Wife has miles of it. I miss the most obvious solutions sometimes and chase my tail for days after.

DeeCee, would you mind showing the fish tank solution? Sounds like a great idea.

Yes I have scrap for the one end pleat. Will experiment with scraps to get good seam joins.

Your employer may notice the shrinking inventory of dental paraphernalia....

:lol: Which is a nice way of saying 'What a jackass!' I (literally) laughed out loud when I read that Harry and Lord knows I need that now - thanks. And thanks Skip and Scott. Scott, you're absolutely correct - I'll have to buy a gray goat to have enough to finish it seems. I think I understand your instructions but I'm not near finished. Yes I will make curved side arm rests and the bottom seat area will come up above the bottom of the back a good amount. I just need time to noodle it out. I'm literally holding something in hand and visualizing what to do with it. I'm not even doing my usual sketches of what's in mind. I think I'm sort of disoriented since this seismic disruption in my normal building routine.........

The leather is from Pitthards in the UK. I agree with your premise about dissatisfaction later on. And I always make 3 of something to keep one because I second guess myself to death. But I will do this piece to completion just to learn the feel of things. If it's junk I'll start again.

Some movement... -but not at the previous pace. I chose to build and upholster the seats instead of the tedium of intense detail, thinking it would be a reprieve. Boy was I wrong.... Despite some input from previous Pocher builders who've done 'non-standard' interiors, this is coming more difficult to me than other obstacles I've figured out. So I starting building a 'test mule' rear seat, thinking I could scrap it as the problems arose. Most of this has been a WAG as far as dimensions and materials. So here is the 1:1 Phantom Continental rear seat I chose. Figuring it's not TOO difficult and should be doable for an upholstery dummy like me: I had previously sourced a medium charcoal, .5mm thick kid skin and a stock of balsa planks and boards. By eyeball, I decided the Pocher plastic seat back and base needed to be cut on the 'arm rest' sides to lower them. So I did the math to fit the 15 pleats of the seat back in place. I raised the back edge on my back rest plank to end just below the rear window edge as I like that close-coupled look. I rounded the top edge as I saw the 1:1: Roughed into the plastic seat shell. The rounded top edge not added yet: Remember, at each juncture, I was prepared to throw this away and start again. But so far, no harm done. Wanting a plush feel and look, I cut up some thin shell foam and CA'd it to the pleats: A better look: What I had overlooked in this process is that I wanted a soft seat with depressions from seated patrons in the leather. I should have contoured the planks before applying foam. But again, thinking I was wasting time anyway, I kept going. At worst I'd waste 28 sq. inches of leather (gasp...). All the professionally built Sedancas I've seen have ram-rod straight seat backs which I think is not 'natural'. Reason is that many of them use MMC resin seats. Beautiful upholstery, just not as 'life like' I think. But before that I was bright enough to test the adhesives that might work. Sure enough, thin CA immediately stained through to the finished side. I knew contact adhesive would be too quick with no room for error. I tested my fave, Loctite super gel CA and no bleed through and a bond that left a bit of positioning time. I read that Pacer Bondini would work as well too. So I cut the leather and began in the center. I used my thin MM ruler to press the skin into the groove between two pleats. Worked great. So I alternated left and right, adhering into the grooves. But I soon saw a dummy problem; I didn't cut the skin wide enough; those slots really eat up leather. I would fall 2 pleats short on each side. Throw away and start again?? Pushed my luck and 'let in' enough skin on one side to cover. The key was getting the mating seam to not stand higher or show glued edge. Got away with it on one side and have not yet done the other. But I will and maybe I can actually use this in the car. The top pleat edges will be stretched and glued in place if the side addition goes well. I'll have to cut the center pleat near the bottom to inset the center arm rest. Then make the base and two separate seat cushions. Gotta figure those out first. What say - should I can this and start over??

CAUTION: WD-40 will cause fisheyes in your paint. Don't even put the parts in the same room with the body parts. Steam the metal bits just to get the WD off. Wipe with lacquer thinner and store away until needed. For good measure, I'd 'Dawn' the plastic parts. Primer will not adhere if WD present.

Get the Easy Off. Don't try brake fluid.

True enough but you could duplicate it with hardware from Marvin or Scale Hardware for much less. The big expense is the resin castings - beautiful but the kit parts would suffice. Remember it's a display model in itself. Not meant for installation in a chassis and body where a good deal of detail would be hidden.

Pat, your wife rocks as a carpenter. No dust - ever: You could build these since you and she have the skills. One long one to cover several models or many for individuals. Put your shelving in and arrange these as you wish. PM me if you'd like some tips on case building.

That view is showing the intake side Skip. The carb, supercharger and beautifully cast intake manifold. As seen, it's $700 from MMC.

The original Easy Off oven cleaner. The 'no fumes' version is too weak. If you can, put the parts in ziplock bags (1 gallon I guess), spray a lot in and close for at least 6 hours. Use gloves, recheck every hour with toothbrush. Rinse with garden hose or slop sink. Wash with Dawn dish soap and start test fitting. DO NOT prime or shoot color until you've fit and modified parts to final configuration. Example: that hole in running board for oil fill is in the wrong place. Study about moving engine rearward in chassis - it affects a lot.

While parts are soaking in stripper and cleaner and repairing broken bits: A. Go here: http://modelmotorcars.com/ and download the Alfa instructions free. Pay attention to how many screws, bolts and rods you have / need. You can order spares from MMC and other places. B. Order the Paul Koo CD and study all the sections before construction. They all overlap and intersect, not necessarily in 'order'. C. Decide how accurate you want it to be; it needs major surgery in several areas to get the shape right and parts just to fit. Or build OOB and have a lot of fit and appearance compromises. Get lots of research material from all the big classic sites to see what they actually look like. Pocher's idea of fender / hood / cowl and seat shapes is largely fantasy. For instance, you can build it with only one spare and no 'batfin' on the rear deck. D. Consider spending for the MMC upgrades if you want a sturdy, accurate model. E. Make your own, (not out of cardboard like the MG) or buy the MMC work stands - like mine for the Rolls. Invaluable, like the Koo CD.

Joe, If I understand... May not work for you but I mark hole centers on a sheet of styrene first, along a straight line. Then use a common woodworking awl, sharpened to a good point, to punch the center holes. THEN use the circle template to mark the circles and punch / cut out. Works on brass sheet too.

Hi Pocher friends, While adjusting to a new way of daily life, I've begun to plan my next step in this project. It's a pleasant diversion from the serious side of things now - as is viewing this forum and your great projects. It has proven to be the most difficult as I just can't visualize how to proceed as easily as the rest of the build presented itself. As a 'soft landing' I decided to build and upholster the seats next. I have collected 1:1 reference shots and selected the type seats I want in the car. Been wrestling with how best to make them. I dug out some old balsa and basswood (still in dry, clean condition) and will only use the Pocher rear seat shell to construct the rear 'sofa'. I did some layout on the balsa but I now only work in brief spurts compared to the hours I've spent in the past. But I uncover the big chunk and it's nice inspiration to continue. No pics yet but when I've something decent to show, I will.

Yes it is; thanks Scott.