Harry P.

There are several things I'd do differently. 1. On my 1/16 woody I made the gap between the bottoms of the doors and the running boards too big. I was worried about the doors scraping on the running boards when opening and closing, but overcompensated. The gap should be half what it is, maybe even less than half. 2. I will re-think the gun locker. Positioned where it is, the gas tank intrudes into that space, making the space available for the guns very tight. As you saw, they did fit... barely. Next time I may keep that lower compartment as a tool storage area, and maybe build the gun locker into the inside of the main tailgate. I'm still unsure about the exact design of the rear end, but it will definitely change. 3. I want to make the windows in the rear doors sliders instead of roll-down. Because of the intrusion of the wheelwells, those windows could only be rolled down about half way, if that. May as well make them sliders. 4. There are various details in the construction of the body that aren't apparent when looking at the finished model, but can be improved for a simpler building sequence. I know that now, because of the sequence I went through. I know now what worked well, what didn't, what can be changed to make for a simpler/better process, etc. I'm very happy with how my 1/16 woody turned out, especially since I've never done that before. But "knowing what I know now," I can make the 1/8 version a lot better. The Pocher kit has those fantastic Pocher real wire wheels. They really are a thing of beauty. A shame to cover them up. But the kit also has full wheel covers, a look that I really like. I'm still not sure whether to go with the exposed wire wheels or the covers. Maybe I will go with the exposed wheels, just because I already have a RR woody with the wheel covers.

With a little clever photography, you never know...

Nothing wrong with your photography. I'm just saying that the scale of the surfaces are giving away the fact that the car is a small model. It has nothing to do with your photography, it's just a fact. If you shoot a scale model on a "full size" surface, you can immediately see that the car is not a real, full size car. Know what I'm saying? I wasn't criticizing your photos.

The kit hasn't been released for sale to the public yet. But certain people involved in the industry/hobby receive pre-production "test kits" to build and evaluate. For the kit manufacturer it's sort of like getting the official "seal of approval" from hobby big shots like Chuck (and others) before the kit is released to the general public.

Beautiful! If it wasn't for the scale of the surface giving it away, it could almost pass for real.

That's what I was thinking. Before I forget what worked well and what didn't.

"I think about you and I'm weak, though I'm in my prime. Set my watch and still lose the track of time. It seems to be, but can it be a fantasy?"...

"I was working part time in a five-and-dime, my boss was Mr. McGee. He told me several times that he didn't like my kind 'cause I was a bit too leisurely"...

"John and Mitchie were gettin' kind of itchy just to leave the folk music behind"...

You really have a knack for this sort of thing. Beautifully done, nice attention to detail, great rusting. A very fine piece of work!

Exactly. What... too logical?

For a long time, one of my model building "gotta do it" bucket list items has been to scratchbuild a 1/8 scale woody. I intended to take a Pocher RR kit and convert it to a woody. I've had this idea in my head for years. In fact, way back in 2010 I bought a Pocher "Star of India" RR kit from forum member Tom Allen (AzTom). Remember, Tom? My intention was to convert this kit by scratchbuilding the body of real wood. So why still no 1/8 woody? Well, I kept putting off the project because I wasn't sure that I could pull it off. And I didn't want to experiment on a complete, unbuilt Pocher kit and risk ruining the kit… so my 1/8 woody kept getting pushed into "some day" status. Last month, I finally decided that it was high time I got to work on this project, but I still didn't want to dive into a Pocher kit without even knowing if I was able to do what I wanted to do… so my plan was to build a "test" woody first, in order to see if I could actually pull it off, work out the building sequence, deal with any potential problems along the way, etc. I bought a 1/16 scale Phantom III on ebay, and a bunch of basswood from Hobby Lobby, so that I could build my test model. Well, ultimately I was pretty pleased with what I came up with. Yeah, I made mistakes, and there are some things I will definitely do differently on my Pocher woody, but all in all I learned a lot… the most important thing being that I can actually do this! I posted my "test" woody Under Glass yesterday. So now I'm pumped to do this in 1/8 scale. Today I dragged out the old Pocher "Star of India" RR and laid everything out on the dining room table. Going through all the parts trees, the instruction book, just handling all the parts got me so revved up to do this thing! And the best part is, Tom had already built the wire wheels (the part of building a Pocher that I hate!). Thanks, Tom! I just might have to re-think my summer vacation away from building...

That looks like something rendered with some very crude, early 3-D software before they got the bugs worked out!

I just realized I forgot an important detail. My hunting party isn't going to go very far without any petrol in the tank. Fixed it... Also, here's an engine shot. Kinda hard to see what's going on in there... the engine is mostly black. But it's a V-12 with dual distributors and two plugs per cylinder... so a whole lot of wiring going on in there!

Beautiful! And I love the interior shots.

Good man! Instead of drilling the pipe you could have taken a round file and sort of "twirled" it in the opening until the pipe walls were thinner.

That looks great! Nice work, Ray.

That's cool. I agree it needs some weathering, but even if you want to keep it "minty fresh," I'd still add a black wash on the wheels to bring out the detail. Also... you need to drill out the exhaust pipe some more. The thickness of the "pipe" is waaaaaaay out of scale.

Since it takes up more than one lane, how can it be street legal?

And if you don't chop it up what have you got? Just another 36 year old kit. Start chopping!

Then add an outside rear view mirror and you'll be finished! Beautiful model. The colors are so right for the 1950s. I don't think I've ever seen this kit built any better.

We're not old enough to remember that one!

I will. And since I'll be working in 1/8 scale, I hope to add a lot more detail and accuracy to the body.

Again, hundreds.