Another Pocher Alfa!

[Harry P.]

This one is the full-fendered touring version of Scale-Master's Monza.

The frustration that goes along with building a Pocher is incredible. Practically every part has to be re-engineered to some extent, from reaming out screw holes (almost every part), to major surgery (getting the doors to fit, for example).

I'll spare you the gory details and let the photos do the talking.

The engine/trans is 95% done. The block is sprayed with "Odds 'n' Ends" pewter from Walmart, and the rest of the components are done in various combinations of metalizers, black washes, etc. Everything here is out of the box with the exception of scratch-built hose clamps. The head hasn't been installed so you can still see the pistons in their individual metal cylinder sleeves. What a shame that all the engine internals will never be seen again!

The head/cams assembly. What you see here is comprised of more than 60 parts!

The front axle is done, minus the brake shoes. The "operating" brakes simply CAN'T be built to operate, no matter how careful you are. The precision necessary for the system to work isn't engineered into the kit parts. Since the brakes won't work and the shoes will not be seen once the wheels are mounted, I think I'll just leave them off. Still have to paint the tie rod black...

[Mike]

I've heard of Pocher's but never seen one out of the box or in progress. Very nice work. 8)

[les paul]

Ohhh!! that's realistic, the engine seems very truly.

[Harry P.]

Lots of progress...

I left some scuff marks on the dash to simulate a little wear and tear. Also, you can't tell from this picture but the gauges all have clear epoxy "glass" on them. And the various loose wires you see are part of the headlight circuit and will be routed neatly later...

[bsoder]

Harry!!..you've been told before..no building real cars here "Model Cars"ONLY... don't make me tell ya again

[Mike]

Mind blowing detail on that kit. The guage cluster looks real as do a lot of other components.

[MrObsessive]

Very good work so far Harry! Keep up the progress! 8)

[Harry P.]

Here's an example of the kind of "mistakes" that are sprinkled throughout this kit. The upper mounting arms for the rear shocks are too long, causing the shocks to splay outward at an angle...

The fix: I'll have to disassemble the mounting arm, remove a section of it, and epoxy the remaining lengths together, in order to get the shocks to mount vertically.

Other little problems...the door latch assembly protrudes too far on the inner side of the door, making the inner door panels impossible to mount flush.

Some of the screw holes on the body lack the matching receiving hole on the chassis rails.

The oil lines, when bent according to the full-size template provided in the instruction manual, don't fit.

And so on...

[Harry P.]

Here's what 3+ hours of building produced:

What you're looking at here is comprised of 146 pieces. Each wheel is built by lacing each individual spoke. Each wheel has 3 layers of spokes, and each layer has a different spoke design and lacing pattern. Each spoke also has an individual nipple that must be installed with the correct end facing towards the wheel center!

Here is an idea of the size of the spoke nipple...

I'm not sure how many of these I dropped...but I do know that I recovered fewer than I dropped!

I hope I don't run short by the time I get to wheel #6!

[hookedonplastics]

This is looking just fantastic, Harry! Good job!

[novadose71]

Looks great so far. The detail and realism of these kits is amazing, it's great to see it unfold before our very eyes. Good luck finding your nipples Sorry , couldn't resist.

[Harry P.]

Looks great so far. The detail and realism of these kits is amazing, it's great to see it unfold before our very eyes. Good luck finding your nipples Sorry , couldn't resist.

I found several of them! I might have enough left over to build a model cow...

Anyway..I got the body on the chassis to see how things line up. To my surprise the body fits! About the only real misalignment is that the gas filler isn't quite centered in the body's opening, which I'll take care of by reworking the opening a bit.

Here's a shot of the reworked upper rear shock mount. I had to cut out part of the length and epoxy the rest back together to create a shorter arm, which in turn now allows the rear shocks to mount straight vertically. Mission accomplished!

The body comes with the seat molded in place. I decided it would be a whole lot easier to upholster the seat if it was separate from the body...so after about a half hour of carefully scribing along the seat/body line with the backside of my x-acto blade here's what I have:

This is how the kit should have been made in the first place!

[Mal.au]

WOW Harry that is awesome

If those nipples for the wheels are metal try running a magnet over the floor where you think you dropped them

Mal

[Harry P.]

WOW Harry that is awesome

If those nipples for the wheels are metal try running a magnet over the floor where you think you dropped them

Mal

Actually I managed to find most of the ones I dropped, but as it turns out there are about 30-40 extras! I guess Pocher figured that people would lose quite a few of them..

[Jairus]

I see your first mistake!

You showed us bare plastic parts when you cut out the seat. Up till that point I almost could believe that I was seeing a real car being assembled!

Nice job on those corrections, it is looking great! Now, you gotta do something about that front wheel camber.....

[Harry P.]

I've tried mocking up the front wheels on the axles, and actually the camber isn't too bad. The real cars had quite a bit, and this one has maybe a hair more than that, but still passable. At least the front wheels aren't at a crazy angle.

Here, however, is a real rat's nest of problems: the doors. First of all it took about an hour of filing, sanding and reshaping to get the doors to fit correctly in the body openings. Now for more fun and games: The inner door panel is supposed to be held in place by 3 screws. The problem is that the inner panel is flat, while the outer door has a pronounced curve along the upper edge. No matter how tightly I turn down those 3 screws, the inner panel will stay flay. The fix: I removed the 3 screw bosses from the outer panel. I'll put a blob of epoxy on the outer panel, place the inner panel in position and squeeze it all together with a small C-clamp until the epoxy cures, forcing the inner panel to conform to the curve of the outer one.

Another problem: when the door latch assembly is in place it won't fit between the inner and outer door panels. I'll have to shorten the latch arm A and thin down the latch B to get the whole works to fit. Then of course there's the problem of actually getting the little door catch pin to fit into the opening on the body...

Also notice the groovy psychedelic swirl in the inner panel plastic. Oh well...that goes away when the panel gets upholstered.

[Harry P.]

The body wasn't sitting quite right on the frame, because the gas filler neck and the corresponding hole in the body didn't line up. Since the gas tank was already permanently installed and couldn't easily be relocated, I moved the hole in the body instead.

Sheet styrene patch from below...

A little bondo from above, some sanding to contour the bondo to shape, and a cone-shaped grinding bit in my Dremel, and presto! Hole has magically moved to the correct location...

[Harry P.]

Almost 900 separate parts (146 per wheel) and 13 hours later, and here's what you get:

Now...to paint (would be prototypically correct) or not to paint (gee...they're so shiny! )

[Harry P.]

Big problem last night.

The Alfa has a remote oil tank located under the driver's side floorboard, and the filler neck protrudes through the right side running board. However, the filler tube and the hole in the running board were offset quite a bit.

I thought about trying to pry off the oil tank and relocating it, but that would mean making new oil lines...not to mention the stress on the chassis as I tried to pry off the tank (it was epoxied into place). I was afraid I'd cause all sorts of "collateral damage", with bits and pieces of the chassis assembly breaking and flying off in all directions.

So I decided to move the hole instead. I measured how far the hole had to move, and made the cuts shown here. Distance "A" is how far the hole had to move forward.

Then I glued some sheet styrene under the cut out area, switched positions of the cut out pieces and glued them back in place onto the sheet styrene "backing".

Now the hole lines up with the filler tube, but I have some delicate filling and sanding to do on the running board...

[Scale-Master]

I'm glad I only built the "simple" one! Keep it up Harry, you're doing very well with this one! I am enjoying only watching, not participating... Can't wait to see it finished!

[Harry P.]

A little progress. It's far from perfect, but it'll do...

[Harry P.]

It took a lot of re-engineering, but I finally have the door latches working.

Here you can see the range of motion that the latch needs to have in order to operate:

I had to enlarge the opening in the inner and outer door panels so that the latch could move far enough.

The inner door panel interfered with the screw holding the latch pin in place, so I had to cut away a part of the panel in order to give the latch room to operate. I also had to make a hole in the panel to accomodate the nut holding the latch arm in place:

Also, in order to get the latch mechanism to fit between the inner and outer door panels, I had to thin down the latch arm to about half of what it was, and cut the door handle shaft short...so it wouldn't extend past the inner panel. Other than all of the above...the door latches were a piece of cake!!!

In the end you won't see the altered inner panel because the upholstery will cover it:

[MrObsessive]

Thanks for keeping us up to date Harry........I always wondered how those Pocher kits latched their doors. Gives me an idea for something in 1/25!

[Harry P.]

Thanks for keeping us up to date Harry........I always wondered how those Pocher kits latched their doors. Gives me an idea for something in 1/25!

Bill, if there's anybody here that can create "Pocher-like" detail in 1/25 scale, it's you...as evidenced by the door latch mechanisms on your Turbine Car, and the rear hatch struts and hinges on your Magnum.

[MrObsessive]

Bill, if there's anybody here that can create "Pocher-like" detail in 1/25 scale, it's you...as evidenced by the door latch mechanisms on your Turbine Car, and the rear hatch struts and hinges on your Magnum.

Hee Hee! Thanks! I had in mind more on getting the handle's push button to open the door instead of forcing it open or shut by pulling on it.......................Stay tuned!