Harry P.

I agree. Nice tip and very nice photos, too! Now that's what this section of the forum is all about!

Yessir! You don't have to shovel any snow when it's 40 degrees!

So what is this? Some sort of 3D rendering software? More info, please...

Looking very nice!

It's supposed to be in the mid 40s here for the next several days. Not bad for the midwest in late January. I'll take it!

Q: Why is a failed romance more painful for people over 50? A: You wake up with an aching heart AND an aching back. Q: How can a wife increase the heart rate of her 50-year-old husband? A: Tell him you're pregnant. Q: What do you call a 50-year-old man with no gray hair? A: Bald. Q: How can people tell when they've entered their autumn years? A: Their shadows are wider. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The joys of life over 50: Your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable size. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service. You can have a wild party and the neighbors won't even realize it. People won't call after 9 PM because they don't want to wake you up. From now on, things you buy won't wear out. You enjoy hearing about other peoples operations. You get into heated arguments about pension plans. You can eat dinner at 4 P.M. There is nothing left to learn the hard way. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge. You don't bother trying to hold your stomach in anymore, no matter who walks into the room. Your eyes can't get much worse. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off. You can't remember who sent you this list. I say we all raise a glass of prune juice in Cranky's honor! BTW... you're now officially allowed to yell at kids to get off your lawn!

Pretty funny that they went to all that trouble, then left the very obvious mold seam lines and sink marks on the upper A arm...

Pocher screws are notoriously weak, really poor quality metal. I ream out all screw holes first; trying to drive a Pocher screw into the hole by force will snap the head off way too often. Glad to hear you had fun building yours. They really are a challenge... and a whole lot of fun.

I think an article covering the basics of working with PE parts would be great. So how about one of you people stepping up and writing one? If you're up for it, let me know and I can fill you in on exactly what I would need from you.

Yep, a little but of "un-assembly" or backtracking seems to be standard operating procedure for building a Pocher kit... even if you do your best to follow the instructions (which, BTW, in places are sometimes misleading at best and downright wrong at worst!), sometimes you just can't go on to the next logical step without taking apart something you had already built. Since Pochers are built with screws, nuts and bolts instead of glue, it's not too big a deal... just sort of frustrating. I think two months time to build a Pocher is making pretty good time. Of course I don't know how many hours per day you put into it, but at any rate you can expect to set aside a nice chunk of time for building a Pocher kit.

Good song...

Now that's just plain cool!

Absolutely. Much easier and safer to use sprue cutters than an X-acto for that job.

It varies a bit from kit to kit, but mostly the bodies, doors, hoods, most of the engine, interior and small detail pieces are plastic, the chassis rails are stamped metal, some chassis crossmembers are plastic, some metal... suspension components like springs and shocks are metal, and there are tons (hundreds) of metal fasteners (screws, nuts, bolts). The brake system and transmission linkages are stamped sheet metal, wheel rims and spokes are metal, upholstery material is vinyl, convertible top fabric is cloth. Grille shells and headlight housings are metal, windshield frames are metal. Pochers are 1/8 scale.

That particular kit almost never comes up for sale. In fact that's the first time I've ever seen one on ebay... so I really have no way of telling if that "Buy it Now" price is a good deal. I don't have any prior sales of that kit to compare to. But I can tell you that $1,000 for a Pocher kit is pretty much right in there as far as the range they sell for. If we're talking about unbuilt kits (not necessarily still factory-sealed but complete and unbuilt), they range roughly between $500 on the low end (the 1907 Fiat) up to $2500+ for the high-end ones (some of the Rolls Royces and especially the Bugattis, which are always the priciest of them all). If that kit is one you really want, and you can handle the price, my advice is go for it. Pocher kits are very expensive, but they're getting rarer all the time (especially the unbuilt ones) and the selling prices will continue to go up. And remember... that kit is 1/8 scale. A 1/8 scale big-rig tractor is going to be huge! But man, what an impressive display that would make on your shelf. If you have a big enough shelf, that is! To answer your question about whether or not you really need the instructions, here's a typical Pocher instruction book. Take a look and you'll see why instructions are not optional when you're building a Pocher kit. MB_K74.pdf

I think a lot of modelers take some sort of pride in "not needing" the instructions. I have to disagree with that philosophy, though... I've been building models for a lot of years, but I still look over (and more or less follow) the instructions every time. I don't always follow the steps in the order suggested, or follow every single step to the letter, but I always look over the instructions for every kit I buy, even the simplest ones. Like Dave Z, says, sometimes you're so familiar with a given kit that instructions really aren't needed, but that would be the exception, not the rule. And I would challenge anyone who has the "no instructions needed" philosophy to build one of my Pocher kits without using the instructions. I guarantee you'll never be able to do it. Not in a million years! Those babies are hard enough to build even with instructions... impossible without them.

The car is an 1899 Columbia (the same Columbia that makes bicycles) Landaulet electric car. Check out these photos... it's a pretty cool car! http://barchetta.mediacenter.studioline.net/-/Events-by-Year/2010-2019/2011/Auction/RM/Monterey/Day-I-August-19th/Lot-131-c-1899-Columbia-Electric-Landaulet/?Dir=1989807 Who got it right: NitroNeal sjordan2 MikeMc PatRedmond mr moto trogdor my66s55 Johnny ChrisR mr chips Badluck 13 bigphoto

Nice.

Like Aaron said... "proper," no... cool... yes!

Try a little ketchup on it... BTW... no harm, no foul. I figured that's what you really meant.

Well... I'd rather keep that a secret...

You mean shine it PARALLEL to the floor. Shining it perpendicular to the floor means shining it straight down.

Yes, you're right. They weren't doing it for aerodynamics, they were doing it for style. But still... very cool!

Yep, that Art Deco style from the '30s was pretty cool.

I build Pocher kits. So... yeah.