b-body fan Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 I like the history lesson in the beginning of this thread. I'm curious about something though. When you got this you had a thread about it. Somebody mentioned the roof line and the rear light being off on the kit. My question is, with a production # of 65 over 4 years, these were probably hand formed bodies. Could there have been some variation from one to another? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted August 19, 2015 Author Share Posted August 19, 2015 I like the history lesson in the beginning of this thread. I'm curious about something though. When you got this you had a thread about it. Somebody mentioned the roof line and the rear light being off on the kit. My question is, with a production # of 65 over 4 years, these were probably hand formed bodies. Could there have been some variation from one to another? Good question. From what I know, Pocher used one specific 1:1 car that was being restored at that time as the reference for this kit, and they had all sorts of access to it all throughout the restoration. My guess would be that Pocher got the measurements right based on that specific car, and that there may be slight variations between bodies of different 1:1 cars. In my reference photos I definitely see two different styles of rear fenders on different cars, so thinking that the roofline and size of the rear window could have varied from car to car seems like a logical guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b-body fan Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 That's where my head was at. It just didn't seem logical to me to put so much detail into something only to botch something so flagrant. Thanks for that bit of information. I'm thinking about purchasing this kit from a friend of mine. The deal is stellar. However, I don't possess your skills and it's still a lot of money. I'll be following this closely. Thanks for your reply, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted August 19, 2015 Author Share Posted August 19, 2015 That's where my head was at. It just didn't seem logical to me to put so much detail into something only to botch something so flagrant. Thanks for that bit of information. I'm thinking about purchasing this kit from a friend of mine. The deal is stellar. However, I don't possess your skills and it's still a lot of money. I'll be following this closely. Thanks for your reply, Mike.Well, if it's any consolation, this kit is supposedly the best-engineered of all the Pocher "classic" kits. If you have any desire to build this kit one day, and you have a good deal available now, buy it. Even if you don't build it right now, buy it now. Prices will only go up in the future. And even if you ultimately decide not to build it, you can always resell it... probably at a profit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b-body fan Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Sound advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bismarck Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 That build is mind boggling Harry!! I like details, but that kits on a whole other level!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaymcminn Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 There was definitely more than one roofline on these T50 coupes...the Heller 1/24 kit is based off of the same style as this one. Can't wait to see how this turns out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twokidsnosleep Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Ok, so know to be careful with pistons and rings. There is pressure fit and then there is "way too tight it is going to explode" fitBust anything else???Paul Koo talked about opening up every drill hole with a tap so as to not snap off screwsGoing great so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted August 20, 2015 Author Share Posted August 20, 2015 Paul Koo talked about opening up every drill hole with a tap so as to not snap off screwsYeah, I know about that. Pocher screws are incredibly brittle, and the slightest torque will snap the head off immediately.Then there's the "melting" trick... you drive the screw a turn or two, just to get it to stay in the hole, then you touch the tip of a hot soldering iron to the screw head and push gently. After a few seconds the screw will get hot enough to melt the surrounding plastic and you can push it into place with the tip of the soldering iron. You have to be careful to not let the screw get too hot or it will melt the surrounding plastic too much and distort it. It takes a little practice to "get" this technique, but once you get good at it, it can't be beat for "driving" Pocher screws. Also, this method only works when the screw is going into a hole where there is a lot of plastic surrounding the hole... like into the side of a frame rail, for instance. In some cases, the screw will need to go into a hole that is surrounded by very little plastic. In those cases the melting method is no good... the surrounding plastic will get distorted. In those cases you have to use the "ream the hole slightly larger" method.What I tend to do is avoid scews when I can and just glue pieces together like a "regular" model. In some cases screws are the best way to go, but in many cases the screws are out of scale and the head is visible in places where there would not be a screw head in real life, so I fill the screw holes with styrene rod and glue the pieces in place. Perfect example of this is the engine side covers (see previous photo I posted). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted August 20, 2015 Author Share Posted August 20, 2015 Cam gears in the timing case... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted August 20, 2015 Author Share Posted August 20, 2015 There are multiple problems with the engine valley cover. Sink marks, plus the spark plugs and the flanges of the water pipe are molded in, making paint detailing them tough. What I want to do is saw off those flanges, save them, and glue them to the water pipe so I can paint the water pipe and flanges as one unit. I also want to remove the molded-in plugs and replace them with more detailed scratchbuilt ones. Step one is sawing off all the surface details. Save those flanges! Then I sanded the surface smooth to get rid of all the sink marks, and drilled out the rest of the molded-in spark plugs... And finally I used a round grinding bit in my Dremel to give those spark plug openings a chamfer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Those kits are crazy cool. Even if I raided the piggy bank to buy one I know I could never build it. So................. I will just follow along and watch you build them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twokidsnosleep Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 (edited) Thanks for the tips Harry, those little tricks and warnings will come in very handy.Anyone can build it Ray, just like any kit. Harry SHOWS us how the devil is in all the details that make such a big differenceNice work on the engine cover...one pic is missing, Â though ????...ahh there we go, razor saw to the rescue Edited August 20, 2015 by Twokidsnosleep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Basher Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Thanks for posting these WIPs, Harry. Both this and your Woody are really fun to watch. It's great to see what can be accomplished by someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to make it right. I'll never be able to afford a Pocher kit, but the techniques and attitude you show could be used for any model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjordan2 Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 (edited) You're doing all this mind-boggling detail that can't be seen and still wondering about doing engine-turned finishes? Edited August 20, 2015 by sjordan2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted August 20, 2015 Author Share Posted August 20, 2015 You're doing all this mind-boggling detail that can't be seen and still wondering about doing engine-turned finishes?Nah... I decided against that. I know it was done on a lot of these cars, but it just looks gaudy to me. I'm just going to go with various shades and glosses of metallic colors on the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted August 20, 2015 Author Share Posted August 20, 2015 Got the supercharger/dual carbs assembly built, and I will detail paint it s a unit, but first I have to take care of a small problem... the fittings for the linkage/oil lines are molded in the wrong place... So I whipped out my trusty razor saw, removed the fittings, and glued them in the correct positions... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S. Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Amazing work Harry and interesting tid bits with the history and all. The hidden level of detail is incredible to me but very cool to see it go together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted August 22, 2015 Author Share Posted August 22, 2015 Like I mentioned earlier, Pocher engineered their kits to be assembled using hardware, not glue. That makes for many instances where their screws are either out of scale, shouldn't be where they are, or both. Here are just a few of the engine parts where I filled in the screw holes because screw heads would not have been in those locations on the real engine. I'll glue all these parts instead of using Pocher hardware... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted August 22, 2015 Author Share Posted August 22, 2015 These "BUGATTI" nameplates that go on the sides of the engine are really nice... metal with raised lettering. I painted them red and then sanded the paint off the raised area. Too bad that once all the engine components are added, these plates will become practically invisible... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted August 22, 2015 Author Share Posted August 22, 2015 I added scratchbuilt spark plugs made of aluminum tube and nuts from the kit. Pocher gives you extra hardware, so robbing the bag of nuts to use on the spark plugs won't be a problem down the road... I won't run out of nuts! And speaking of nuts and bolts... the front cover is supposed to be attached using only four screws, but in reality this piece is held in place with 12 bolts... so I sliced 12 "bolt heads" from hex-shaped styrene rod and glued them to the front cover (after gluing the cover in place)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted August 22, 2015 Author Share Posted August 22, 2015 No, this isn't the beginnings of a scale model flute... Many cars of this era had wiring looms to keep things neat and tidy under the hood. A loom is easy to make... just a length of aluminum tube with holes for the plug wires spaced evenly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted August 22, 2015 Author Share Posted August 22, 2015 Here is the loom in place. The mounting straps are thin aluminum cut from a pie pan. Pocher supplies nice molded spark plug boots, they look good as is, no changes necessary. All I did was cut off a short length of ignition wire at the boot end and attach them in place between the plugs and the loom. The last plug wire will run directly from the distributor to the spark plug, it won't need to go through the loom. I'll attach the cut-off parts of the ignition wires to the distributor and run them into the back end of the loom, so it'll look as if the wires are really running from the distributor through the loom and to the plugs... but it would have been impossible to feed seven ignition wires through the holes in the loom and out the back end. My way of doing it will look like that's what happening, only my way is much easier! BTW, those four holes in the valley cover are where the water pipe will attach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b-body fan Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Wow!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twokidsnosleep Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Sweet work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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