Cato

Are those black verticals on the cowl the rear view mirrors?

Looks terrific. Just make the left side the 'out' side when viewed. Too bad you can't pose the right side hood open-the pipes, I know. Well Skip??

It's a shame after all the work. But all done, it will not stick out like sore thumb I've learned. There's plenty of good stuff to busy the eye.

Well?? Did it work???

I thought you were drilling horizontally, front to rear. Vertical makes it easy. Please write in crayon so I can understand better.

How will you get the length of a drill bit, pin vise and some fingers between the cowl and the radiator / front fender? When 'under glass', maybe you can take out something twice the size to work on....

Thanks Bill. Super tech stuff. No hype, sponsors or BS. I wish him well.

No Skip that's the raw plastic. But I have wondered about a triple black scheme many times.

Some thoughts on classic Pochers... As you've read, I'm heavily involved in the body alignment phase of construction. The Rolls body has many elements front to rear which must all work together to produce the beautiful lines of the car. If you assemble the kit as delivered, none of those elements will be in the right places. Paul Koo's excellent DVD is essential for pointing out things that would take any builder much longer to figure out without the guidance. But I learned that you should use that only as a starting point and relentlessly check every dimension, fit and fastening location - before committing to final attachment and paint / upholstery finish. Here's my observations and example: The key is to get the rear wheel centered correctly in the fender opening-that's the primary goal. Pocher's attachment location puts the wheel way back in the opening because the rear fender (attached to the body) is too far forward. That looks goofy. If you put the trunk box in place, there's a big gap between it and the back of the body. So Koo says to redrill the body attachment hole (to the chassis) forward on the body by 5mm if you have an early kit or 3mm for a later kit. (This because Pocher made the hood lengths too short on the early kit and 'corrected' it on later kits. Their 'correction' is different than, say, Tamiya's correction...) Well, good starting point but if I had blindly drilled the hole where advised, I'd have a wonky rear wheel placement. Constantly moving and checking, I decided to start at the very rear. Putting the trunk in it's correct location, then placing the body rear right against it located the rear fenders correctly over the wheels. I pinned it there. I had to drill my location 7mm forward, not the Koo-recommended numbers. Every Pocher is different. Then I taped the windshield cowl unit in place. Then onto the adjoining pieces, the four parts of the hood. The hood tops fit perfectly between the grille shell and the cowl. I mean perfectly. But, the hood sides are 1/8" (!) too short. Now that I can live with because it's a simple matter to add styrene and blend in to extend them. The front fenders, being totally detached from the body are not affected. Another key is that I spent a great deal of time earlier getting the radiator dead vertical to the chassis providing an 'anchor point' for the front coachwork. Of course this required trimming and fiddling with the floor board and chassis many times but I won't bore you with that. So for best results and a pleasing model, don't be in a rush and take nothing for granted with a Pocher.

Agreed- the detail should be viewed from above. Just a couple of 'glamor' low angle shots with them.

Harry, a favor please. When you shoot this for Under Glass, please shoot a few photos from low angle. Meaning camera near flat on the surface. All the usual shots are 'model' shots being upper 3/4. Humans aren't that tall in 1:1 scale. I think shooting lower or level shots adds to realism of great models because that's the way we view them in 1:1.

Not here. There is too much linkage (shock, brake and locators) atop the axle that would hit the frame. Would require a kick in this frame. Also would lower this way too much. Turns out the rear ride height in now very acceptable since I've modified the floor to fit the body a tad lower. The open areas in the wheel wells seen now will be gone when I make closing panels. It's sitting just as I wanted now.

Yes, you are wrong...

OK we'll get Skip to do his up top.

And some details... The entire coachwork and interior and all the final finish.

End of a chapter... The last bits of the drivetrain and engine are complete with the addition of the radiator brace and the control rods for the starting carburetor and grille shutters. None of this comes from Pocher. The position of the rad and the cowl are now fixed (after a hundred measurements) so the body location is also finalized. Most of this will get obscured by coachwork so here's a last look: "> "> "> "> "> ">

Geeze Harry, you can start your own line of doll house furniture! Nice but the edges are butted not mitered... :lol: Seriously, no up top?

I understand completely and suffer the same ailment-I need 35mm eyes, not camera. I see things in my photos that I never realized before. I'm now using the camera as a tool to 'correct' or modify those things that appear untoward on screen but OK (or unnoticed) in person. Sort of refines my work.

Your solutions are brilliant as always. You can handle the last little nits easily after what you've done. But I must say a nit that still bothers me -and I'm sure you. That cork carpet. I know it's too late now and there forever but aren't you using an up top to conceal it??

This is exactly how Italeri engineered the 1/16 300 Gullwing. The door fit killed me, even after extensive test fits and alterations. My only choice was to pose them up (open), ruining the gorgeous lines of the car. That's your choice too. I chose to start the Rolls instead. Nit to pick: I'd run a little Smoke or wash on those corrugated pipes to tone them down a tad.

Thanks and welcome aboard Randy. I can't wait either...

All excellent tips. As follow-up, I removed the brake fluid quite easily with the recommended Dawn, hot-ish water and toothbrush. That's the good news. The bad news is my stripped part did not release all primer after 3 days in the BF. Will test with Easy-off as advised by Ace.

Tahoes, Expeditions, Escalades, Suburbans, Benz GLAs-all driven by 100 pound soccer moms. 6000 pounds of rolling death, in the hands of a nymph..

Very similar logistics to my RR which compounds the issue with hinge positioning tabs in the wrong places. Difference is yours is much smaller. Choose your poison. Can you run some brass rod inside that under-door body connector? To stiffen it? SKIP; DO NOT READ THE NEXT LINE. I've seen some guys put 3 hinges on the Sedanca doors; would that help strength and alignment?

Shameless 'beauty' shots ... While shooting the previous photos, I had completely for gotten that I could pose the front wheels. Positionable wheels to me adds so much natural animation to a model and lifts it out of the 'toy' range. So before I blow it apart and get it onto the work stands here it is. It will be a long time before it's all-of-a-piece again: