Pocher 1/8 Aventador

[roymattblack]

More waffle from me - if I'm 'going on' a bit, apologies.....

Next, the centre console parts were fitted. Easily done using screws in typical Pocher fashion.

As with the Pocher classics, there are loads of different sizes/types of screws and fixings. These were all decanted into individual labelled pots for ease of finding and also for safe keeping.
One of the great aspects of Pocher kits is the amount of work you do without using adhesives. Most of the kit is screwed or bolted together. This makes it feel more prototypical and also prevents the occasional (or frequent) glue disaster.

The seat facing and shell just clip together and do so surprisingly neatly.
The finished seat – seat belt fixings still to be attached – clips onto the floor of the interior with some difficulty. In the end, a bit of careful tweaking with a fine screwdriver saw the seat in place.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that once fitted, the seat slides very smoothly on its runners so you can adjust the seating positions and make the driver’s seat nearer/further from the dash than the passenger seat. Much more realistic than both seats being identically placed, as in the vast majority of kits.

Next up was the main dashboard section. I'm building my car in the RHD option.
Here, I feel that Pocher have dropped a proverbial clanger though.
The dash is effectively one large and fairly detailed part which means there’s a lot of fiddly masking and painting.
Why on earth they included all of the switch panel and vent detail on the main part is beyond me. All of these pieces are sufficiently large to have been separate components making painting and the finished appearance far neater and better looking.

First, the main section was cleaned up, then washed/dried and then given a first coat of grey primer over all, and a second coat of white primer on the parts that will eventually be orange.
‘Why two different primers?’ I hear you ask.
I use Halfords primers and I’ve found that for no accountable reason, occasionally the white primer doesn’t ‘stick’ and subsequently any masking runs the risk of ripping the paint off.
Prime grey first, then white – no problem. The white is to make the orange parts brighter.

Also, the actual dashboard should really have been in two parts (or even three) as many Aventadors have split colour schemes here. Mine will be orange and satin black. More needless masking…..
Once given the basic two colours, lots of details etc will need attending to.

This ‘lack of component parts’ does give the whole kit a bit of a ‘cut-corners’ feel on the part of the designers. A real pity as this kit could be (and should be) just as complex as the Classic Pochers.
My Rolls Torpedo had over 3500 parts.
The Aventador has just over 1000 if you include the screws etc.

Roy.

Edited July 2, 2014 by roymattblack

[noeyedears]

Had the same dissapointment with the tamiya slr, the engine block, head, and a lot of the ducting are one moulded piece. A royal pain to mask and for a 40+quid kit a bit sad.

[roymattblack]

A very quick update.....

I'm becoming a bit disappointed with the kit.

It's TOO simple.

Superb quality, yes.

VERY 'buildable', yes.

Lovely looking model, yes.

However......

At the current rate of progress, it could easily be built in a week.

Not good for a £500 kit.

I need to 'go to town' on it........!

Roy.

Edited July 3, 2014 by roymattblack

[fredben]

Don't say that Roy, "its too simple" something may crop up and spoil the show.

[roymattblack]

Don't say that Roy, "its too simple" something may crop up and spoil the show.

Actually, that's a good point.

Best to keep my proverbial trap shut for now......

I'm probably still thinking in terms of my Rolls Torpedo, or even the Big C......

Compared to them, the Aventador seems like a Burago.

Roy.

[Codger]

Having seen other builds, I had a sense of that. However, 'too simple' is a relative term; it may be too simple for a builder of your caliber...

[roymattblack]

Nice of you to say that....

However - onwards.....

Once the two colours for the dash were sorted, I cleaned up the separation between the black and the orange where there had been a tiny bit of ‘bleed’.
Next, the switch panel was BMF’d – a task in itself as I had to foil the main surround and switch divisions first, and then apply tiny bits of foil to each switch in turn. One piece ‘overall’ wouldn’t go into all the little nooks and crannies without splitting, resulting in orange paint showing through, so lots of little bits it was.
Once done though, it looked ok.

The air vent controls were also foiled – pieces about 3mm x 1mm…….. But it looks nicer than paint.

While I was painting more stitches on the other seat in between tasks, I decided to look at the wheels.
They are nicely cast in a very dense plastic and are pre-sprayed gloss black. Once again, held on with tree trunk sprue tabs – 5 per wheel. Fortunately though the joins are around the centre line of the rims so once cut off and the tyres fitted, they are invisible.

The tyres…..

I had read that they are quite tough – typical of the Pocher classics – but I didn’t expect them to be made of the same kind of plastic as garden furniture! Hard is a serious understatement.
There are nice soft rubber upgrade tyres available from Modelmotorcars, but at around £85 a set, I’m sticking with the kit tyres.
They need heating to soften them to fit so I just left them on a table in the garden for about half an hour in the Sun and then they were put on the rims. Actually not difficult at all.
However, I really didn’t like the shiny ‘plastic’ look of the tyres so they were given a quick coat of Tamiya Rubber black before fitting. Amazing paint as it really does look like rubber when dry.

It might seem as if I’m jumping all over the place with my build but that’s because I am.
Whilst waiting for one part to dry or whatever, I like to do something else.

I’m back to the interior again and now I’ve cleaned up and assembled the steering column, flappy-paddle shifters and steering wheel.
The paddles were thinned by about 50% as they were ridiculously thick.
The parts have been painted and foiled according to my reference pictures.
There is an insane number of miniscule decals to apply – one to every switch – and I was fortunate enough to see on a forum somewhere that someone discovered that the chrome ‘Lamborghini’ script for the dash ISN’T a foil sticker. It’s an ordinary waterslide decal.
Lots of unfortunate people have mistakenly tried to apply it attempting to peel it off the backing sheet – result – ruined decal.
I soaked mine in warm water…… Perfect.

The interior headlining part was cleaned, primed and sprayed satin black and then I used more of my ‘carpet’ to cover the main area. Maybe not prototypical, but better looking than an expanse of black plastic.

Roy.

[kpnuts]

That is amazing attention to detail and don't say things like too simple, some of us are mere humans.

[roymattblack]

On to today's efforts......

Before starting on the main body section I had to apply the remaining dozen or so miniscule decals to the dashboard area. Each switch had to be painted red or yellow, and a 1mm x 1mm decal applied. Fiddly, but it looks nice.
Similarly, tiny decals were added to the indicator and wiper stalks and the overhead light switches on the roof panel. There is also an ‘Aventador’ badge that goes on the dashboard. It’s about 4mm long and less than 1mm high, but it’s readable!

The main cockpit part is a huge pre-painted diecast piece. Superb finish and some of the satin black areas are already painted too.
Strangely though, Pocher have failed to do anything with the rear upper engine firewall. This will be completely visible once the car is complete. As supplied, the whole area is just very patchy orange body overspray! Mind you, it’s a kit, so a bit of painting isn’t a problem – it just seems odd that they have taken so much care with all the other body areas, and missed this part.

The frame where the rear window goes in had to be painted black – actually very quickly done by running a black ‘Sharpie’ around it. The firewall should actually have heat shielding material, so this was made using the foil top from a butter tub. Just about the right texture.
Fiddling about with glue etc to fit it seemed daft to me so I just covered the reverse of the foil with strong D/S tape before cutting the part out. Easy.
I didn’t want to get any glue on the rear window panel so I made up a self-adhesive window frame and added it after the glazing was dropped into place.

As I started to fit the roof lining and pillar panels, I noticed that a thin line of orange body paint would be visible at the edges.
Inner panels out again, and a ‘Sharpie’ was run around all the opening edges so that once the interior was complete there wouldn’t be any bits of orange showing where it shouldn’t.
Inner panels back in again.

The interior side panels and rear inner firewall were sorted next. After being painted satin black, some fittings were picked out in BMF and then the seat belts were fitted.
After that, the panels were test fitted into the cockpit.

The front foot well part was next. This is a substantial cast steel piece and only needed carpeting before the pedals were painted and fitted. Again, paper templates were made of all the odd shapes before being transferred to the carpet for cutting out.

Once this part was complete it was time to put all assemblies together…..

The main cockpit was turned upside down onto a thick folded mat to prevent scratches on the roof.
The headlining and pillar trims were screwed in first, followed by the rear firewall and side panels. Everything goes together with screws and I have to say that so far, every screw hole and fitting has lined up perfectly. Definitely better than the Pocher Classics in this respect.

However…. Then it was the turn of the dash assembly.
Does the saying ‘quart into a pint pot’ mean anything to any of you?

Getting the dash into the car was a serious mission. I didn’t want to scratch anything so care was needed and it took a good ten minutes of wiggling and juggling to get the dash into the car with the upper frontal area between the ‘A’ pillars, and the main dash inside, sitting level and up against the body panels. Eventually it was in, and screwed into place.

The floor/transmission tunnel/seats went in next – easy-peasy, but the front floor needs to be left slightly ‘out’ of the car so the foot well section can be wiggled in. Once together, more screws fixed everything nice and tight.
I now have a cockpit!

Engine next!

Roy.

[Codger]

Patience of a saint...

Roy, What brand and type is your 'satin black' of choice? It's very 'luxurious'.

[roymattblack]

My satin black is good old Halfords, over Halfords grey primer.

TBH..... I go through a HUGE amount of rattle-cans. Even the seat belt points were sprayed, and they are about 5mm.

I only use brush paints when absolutely necessary, or on the TINIEST of details..

Spray paints give a lovely 'smooth' result.

I think I'm not lying if I say NOTHING on my 'Big C' was brush painted except the steering wheel centre badge.

The Aventador has so far, only had seat stitching and switch red/yellow applied by brush.

It might sound a bit extravagant, but the results are worth it.

Roy.

[noeyedears]

the kit is too simple? i have seen ppl slapping it together in a few days and wondered how. mind you they were not paying attention to the detsils as you are, which seems to be a bit silly when you are splooging so much on the base kit. i am sure yours will be a cut above the rest.

i had always marvelled the the sheer complexity of pocher kits, it was one of the attractions of them. it still looks awesome though.

i swing both ways. on the one hand i enjoy hacking kits up and trying to squeeze as much aftermarket stuffin as possible , or making little bits as my limited skill will allow. i just bought an acadamy flanker and every bit of am kit i could find including the wolfpack su-33 conversion just for the hell of it. one of the big draws of a pocher to me has been the kit comes with the full monty in the box, more than enough to cause all the migranes and temper tantrums i could dream of.

on the flip side, i am doing a gunze ferrari car kit as oob as i can, not just because i fancied a nice shake and bake, but the kit has a certain style and history , and it seemed appropriate to do it as is.(nearly).

i followed your sedanca build and am following codgers too, i am not sure i could cope with those kits, and , who knows, maybe a simpler aventadore would be more my skill level.

[foxfriend]

Hi Roy.

I saw one of these 99% complete at the show at Hendon. My impression was that it looked like a big scale die cast. Don't get me wrong, it was very nice, but it did not come across as a true Pocher kit like the 'classics'.

I think you should get this one finished and get straight onto the Alfa, a proper Pocher kit!!

Best Regards,

Larry.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Have to agree with the sentiments expressed above, while this is a magnificent looking model and you are doing sterling work with it, it does seem to lack the intricacy of the other Pocher kits i've seen on here, most of which are vintage cars of course.....These aren't something I'm at all familiar with though, so my impressions may be well off the mark.

[roymattblack]

You guys are absolutely correct.

Whilst it is large and complex (compared to other kits) it isn't in the same league as the classics.

It definitely has an element of the 'big Burago' about it.

I'm not saying it isn't worth the money, or that it's 'poor' in any way, but if you ever get a chance to build a Pocher, get an oldie.

I haven't started on the engine end yet and I suspect that's where the REAL detailing will begin.

Roy.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

If one were going to buy just one of these monsters, which one would you chaps recommend?

[roymattblack]

If it were a 'first time' I'd probably say one of the Alfa's.
They are complex enough - all the wheel spokes to add, engine internals etc - but not as quite complex as the Rolls Royce's or the Mercs.

The Fiat is nice, but actually pretty simple for the money.

Also, the Alfa's are generally around £15-£250 cheaper than the Rollers and Mercs.

Don't even THINK about the Bugatti's unless you win the lottery and have the patience of a Saint.

The Aventador is great. Amazing in fact.

BUT - There's something about a classic car that makes a lovely display piece, particularly at this scale.
Lambo's, Ferraris etc are stunning in real life but as a 1/8 display piece, they are a bit boring to look at.

Too 'smooth' and 'flash' if you get my drift.

The classic cars have character in spades.

Roy.

[Codger]

If one were going to buy just one of these monsters, which one would you chaps recommend?

Having built the Alfa and now the Sedanca, I'd say in order of complexity, easiest to most difficult:

The Fiat

The Sedanca

Alfa

The Torpedo

540 Benz

Bugatti

ALL of them have flaws and silly compromises by Pocher, some more egregious than others. None are shake and bake projects. You need a vision of what you want and a determination to trust your skills.

I agree 100% and Roy states this perfectly:

"The Aventador is great. Amazing in fact.

BUT - There's something about a classic car that makes a lovely display piece, particularly at this scale.

Lambo's, Ferraris etc are stunning in real life but as a 1/8 display piece, they are a bit boring to look at.

Too 'smooth' and 'flash' if you get my drift.

The classic cars have character in spades."

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I've been having a look at the price of some of these kits.....I think I may need a bit of a lie down!

[Codger]

I've been having a look at the price of some of these kits.....I think I may need a bit of a lie down!

And when you awake, you'll want aftermarket parts and / or a ton of material and tools to scratch build and correct flaws. Figure 2 to 3 times the cost of the initial purchase...

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Blimey doesn't really express it aqequately, does it?

[roymattblack]

Mr Codger isn't far adrift.

You don't 'need' the expensive extra's, and everything required to build a lovely model is in the box.

However, to take it up to 'the next level' involves a bit of ingenuity (not necessarily extra skill) and very possibly, some extra's which can be 'ouch'!.

Bear in mind though that considering how long the classics take to build compared to less expensive models, they aren't as vastly priced as it seems.

One of the Tamiya 1/12 can be £100 or more, and a Pocher at £400-£500 is definitely more than 5 x the kit.

Roy.

Edited July 7, 2014 by roymattblack

[Codger]

Apropos of nothing - the thought struck me that a 1/8 scratch built replica of your favorite guitar would look marvelous in the boot of this car-if it fits!

And if not, certainly in your Torpedo rear seat...

[roymattblack]

You mean like these ones....

(Not quite 1/8 though)

The white Burns Marvin is identical to one I own.

The flame red Stratocaster is actually a miniature of my very own actual Custom guitar - you can even buy one here:

http://www.ozminiguitar.com/others/263-miniature-guitar-red-flame-maple.html

Roy.

Edited July 7, 2014 by roymattblack

[Codger]

Fantastic-you're waaaay ahead of me.

Sometime, please display one in a car and post.