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The down's & down's of a Pocher 1/8 Rolls Royce.


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012.jpg013-1.jpg4a0df275-eacb-4703-8d87-d1be9cf667fc.jpg017-1.jpgHi all,
Here are a few Pic's of where I am currently at with my Pocher Rolls Royce. I won't bore you with the details of the build up to now, but all I will say is that the more I go on with this then the more I have nothing but total admiration for my two Pocher colleagues, Codger and Roy. And as for the guy that built the Merc on here just using the kit instructions,( or should that be Part's List!) I just bow, and bow some more to his unbelievable level of patience.
Sorry Codger and Roy, but I cannot see me getting Pocheritis any time soon. I think that the price that these kits are going for now just does not make them a viable option. The fit of parts is appalling, okay, they are from the 70's, but even so, the effort you need to put in to get a decent finished model at the end of it just does not seem worth all that outlay of your hard earned cash. You can buy some really good 1/12 scale Tamiya kits for a sixth of the price of one of these, and you know that everything will be a good fit. I admit that you will have to make some additions to suit your taste, but you can say that of any kit. I am just glad that I got mine for a bargain £300, but even then it still brings tears to my eyes!!

Anyway, I hope you like the pic,s. Sorry about the one with my ugly mug in it, but it is just to show how confused I am as to know what tool to use on it next!!
Oh! And my hair was still a mousey colour when I started this model!!

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Larry! Larry! How can you say that???

Your pictures are an inspiration to see; I'd kill to be at that stage! You've won the game. You're almost home and dry. Why the despair now???

You're workmanship is beyond reproach which is a testament to your problem solving and patience. Don't quit now! The interior (your specialty) is art work. You've got the Lady on the nose already, beautiful panel alignment and are ready for the final stuff.

C'mon-smell the roses!

Put the hammer down or use it only for wife-beating. Your rant may dissuade prospective P- builders but your work surely has them salivating. I've built a good share of Tammy 1/12's and I'll tell anyone-after one of these, you'll never go back. Look at Roy; he mows them down one after another and has his own Pocher museum of beauty. The only higher plateau for him is to scratchbuild unavailable and rare subjects!

Please keep up the beautiful work and show us more often!

And don't complain about white hair-mine is flesh-colored. :hanging:

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Larry! Larry! How can you say that???

Your pictures are an inspiration to see; I'd kill to be at that stage! You've won the game. You're almost home and dry. Why the despair now???

You're workmanship is beyond reproach which is a testament to your problem solving and patience. Don't quit now! The interior (your specialty) is art work. You've got the Lady on the nose already, beautiful panel alignment and are ready for the final stuff.

C'mon-smell the roses!

Put the hammer down or use it only for wife-beating. Your rant may dissuade prospective P- builders but your work surely has them salivating. I've built a good share of Tammy 1/12's and I'll tell anyone-after one of these, you'll never go back. Look at Roy; he mows them down one after another and has his own Pocher museum of beauty. The only higher plateau for him is to scratchbuild unavailable and rare subjects!

Please keep up the beautiful work and show us more often!

And don't complain about white hair-mine is flesh-colored. :hanging:

Sorry Codger. All I am saying is that I don't think they are worth the money that is now asked for them. I think the majority of modeller's on here would not even entertain the price in the first place. even if it was an easy build. On top of that you have to pay out quite a lot more on various things to replace the rubbish one's in the kit.(ie. the interior)

I am sticking to my guns, I will finish this one, and that will be it for me as far as Pocher is concerned.

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A gorgeous addition to the ever-growing list of Pochers on this forum.

It looks superb and I just love those seats!!!

I know what you mean about the dire quality etc, but for me, its all part of the enjoyment of these huge projects.

Keep going and keep us posted.

Roy.

BTW.... In addition to the knife and hammer, I frequently use a bottle. (Normally Chardonnay)

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Sorry Codger. All I am saying is that I don't think they are worth the money that is now asked for them. I think the majority of modeller's on here would not even entertain the price in the first place. even if it was an easy build. On top of that you have to pay out quite a lot more on various things to replace the rubbish one's in the kit.(ie. the interior)

I am sticking to my guns, I will finish this one, and that will be it for me as far as Pocher is concerned.

Don't be sorry-you are correct. The cost is ridiculous if you just look at the quality you get. It becomes more correct when you see a finished example on your shelf however.

As far as not being a 'shake and bake' kit, I understand the reticence. But in my case, it became a perverse challenge to my jokingly-called skills. And I fell in love with it. In fact, I can't imagine actually finishing it and having nothing to do.

Glad you will finish it.

Like you this will probably be my only one but that's because of crappy health onset...

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Sorry Codger. All I am saying is that I don't think they are worth the money that is now asked for them. I think the majority of modeller's on here would not even entertain the price in the first place. even if it was an easy build. On top of that you have to pay out quite a lot more on various things to replace the rubbish one's in the kit.(ie. the interior)

I am sticking to my guns, I will finish this one, and that will be it for me as far as Pocher is concerned.

Completely agree with you.

The only thing that is interesting is that they made cars you can't find in another brand.

But when I see the price the Pocher kits are going......... My god.

Don't tell me they are "Museum Quality", it can be but then it will cost you a little fortune.

My 1 cent.

Cheers,

Jamme

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Hi again,

Having finally got to the point of getting the bonnet (hood!) to fit reasonably well after a couple of evenings, I then decided to take the body all apart again! No, it's okay, I have not gone completely mad (yet!). This was the second fit of the body work, the first one being the one where you have to drill new holes, move the body back, fiddle around with the firewall etc., etc.,!! to get the right fit prior to painting the body so that when it comes to the final fit it will go on right, first time. Well, I needed to fit the body again, which is only a few screws, so that I could test fit the side trim panels. Just as well I did, because had I have fitted them before hand, the rear seat would not have fitted, but in fairness, this was probably because of the extra width of the seat due to me covering it in leather. But it turned out a good thing that I did refit the body for a second time because when I was fitting it, for some reason it did not look right compared to the first time when I did all the fiddling around to get the best fit. ( Are you keeping up with me so far!) Anyway, I carried on, and decided to check the fit of the bonnet as well, and of course the fit was lousy, even though it was nigh on perfect the first time around. Such is the joy of a Pocher kit!, or so I am told. (Sorry Roy and Codger, I just don't believe that!!)

Anyway, here are a few pic's of the side panels to show what I have done, prior to covering them.020-1.jpg

Here weare, all in bits again.018-1.jpg

I decide to cut the one piece side panels into three separate pieces because of the very brittle, horrible brown plastic. I lost count of the number of times this plastic has broken. Luckily enough the break has allways been a clean one, so easy to fix, which is just as well, because it happens time and time again!023.jpg

These are the two main pieces in the positions of where they will go. These should be screwed in, but that will look horrible, so I cut off the small "posts" where the screws are meant to go and filed them flat to the panel. Also, on the rear panels, I cut away the curved section that sits on top of the wheel arch, as this sticks out too far. The panel was then filed down flat, and a tiny amount was taken off of each edge to allow for the thickness of leather that is to be used for covering. On the forward panels the vents were sawn off as they were at an odd angle, and looked totally wrong. I will cut new, thinner ones from plastic, and then just glue them shut. On the real cars these were just a simple flap that was pulled open to allow air into the car from the louvres on the body sides. These were just painted black, or at least they were on the ones that I have worked on. On the kit though I will cover these in leather.022.jpg

This last photo just shows the door panel in position. (You can see three places where this has been broken and repaired!) Again this is screwed on in four places, which again, will look awful. I will be making a new one to sit on top of this using thin balsa, and this will be glued on using Epoxy resin.

Thank you for looking.

Larry.

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Larry, we are crossing the same bridges and winding up in the same places!

I too am hacking those brittle side panel and flattening the screw posts. Only putting screws where the hinges go. I also removed those inner flaps and will address just as you are. That's a great tip, trimming edges for upholstery thickness-I'll gladly trade you one.

I made a template first and then cut a rectangle where the pedals come through the floor. Now there's a nice opening that makes sliding the floor on and off much easier. When finally positioned I will make a styrene panel from the templates with slots for the levers and carpet over it.

Here's another: I am close to making provision for permanently attaching the floor to the chassis. When fixed, I can install the finished interior and then the body. I have redrilled the body for final position so alignment is set.

While I'm here, can you share how you made that beautiful piping or binding on your carpet? I'm stumped on how but I want it.

Sharing help is what's great about the Pocher experience.

EDIT: Your last photo says you will cover the plastic inner panel with thin balsa. Be careful of thickness lest the door not close fully.

Edited by Codger
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Hi codger.

I replied to your personal message about the carpet. Anyway, it's not too difficult, just a little fiddly. I will send you details. Have you purchased the carpet?

Larry.

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Hi codger.

I replied to your personal message about the carpet. Anyway, it's not too difficult, just a little fiddly. I will send you details. Have you purchased the carpet?

Larry.

Possibly a forum glitch but I just checked and have no response to the PM. Thank you anyway!

Yes I have bought doll house carpet with very low nap and the right color. Appreciate your method for the edging.

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I'm still playing catch up as the last thing I bought was a very closely resembling orange from Tamiya and a very nice silver for the fenders.

Going for matching the chassis colour with the body.

currently struggling with the motor block and used putty to fill in the deformaties of the engine heads.

and realized I need a ruler or tape measure, something.

So I am still way at the beginning and my aim to have a rolling chassis before the end of this year with 2 months to go looks doubtful

Richard K

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I'm still playing catch up as the last thing I bought was a very closely resembling orange from Tamiya and a very nice silver for the fenders.

Going for matching the chassis colour with the body.

Richard K

Hi there...

Sorry for hijacking this build (looking brilliant btw...) but the correct orange for the Phantom Torpedo is Saffron.

I spent an age trying to match it and finally found this one:

It's a 1998 Citroen colour - 'Jaune Anas' code EHY. Get it mixed at a Halfords.

When put against the Tamiya colour you'll see they are miles apart. The Tamiya colour is far too 'orange'

The Saffron colour has a good deal of 'mustardy yellow' about it.

Love all these Pocher builds and comments/hints.

Roy.

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001-6.jpg003-7.jpg002-6.jpg

Here I am again with the latest part of this build. I have completed one side of the interior, which took me a fair while to do. This was mainly on the door which involved starting from scratch as the parts that come in the kit are awful. (I am sure Roy and Codger will agree with me there!!) The worst part of it was getting everything right so that the door closes nicely and has an even gap all round. Anyway, now that I have done one side the other one should be reasonably plain sailing, but as Codger has said about these kits 'never take anything for granted'!!

It looks like I am going to have to repaint all the body again!! For the blue I used Plastikote from a rattle can, which went on okay, but there is nothing I can use to polish it. I have tried everything, and nothing that I have tried works. Even the micro mesh system fails, instead of putting a shine on it, it does the exact opposite!! HELP ME SOMEONE!!!

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Looks bluddy amazing so far!

If all else fails with the polishing bit, buy a can of 2k from here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130988182120?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It goes on beautifully, dries to a really deep gloss and goes over just about anything.

You'll need to leave it for about 2 weeks to be really 'hard'.

You'll never use anything else again for a top coat. (Mind you, it stinks like God-knows-what when using it, so do it in the shed or garage.)

Roy.

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Larry,

That is unbelievably stunning and I don't throw words like that around. Mine will NEVER look that good. :hanging:

Your talent is certainly at the professional level having done it as your vocation.

Roy is right about his fave clear. It will not harm the Plasticote and can be cut after hardening. It would get all the peel out of the Plasticote with grits to maybe 4000 first.

Another possibility is Krylon Acrylic Clear which also won't hurt it. But it may not take polishing cloths like the 2K. It does, however have very low odor.

You painted it once in your flat-just wait for a nice dry day and give it a go.

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Thanks Codger. I have not forgotten about the carpet, it's just that something around here seems to be giving me a permanent headache!!

I have one of those too-it's called a 'wife' over here.....

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Codger wanted to see an update on this, and so here is a very small update. Now, I had to decide how I wanted to display the spare wheel on the trunk at the rear, do I have the cover on or off? I quite liked the idea of the cover, as it is quite nicely made, and looks convincing, but, on the other hand, I did not really like to cover up that lovely wheel that took so long to put together, what to do? I suddenly hit upon an idea, sometimes vintage cars that carried spare wheels externally only had the tyre covered and not the wheel centre! Easy fix, just cut the centre out of the cover, and there you have it.

But then another dilemma! When I fixed the rear bar, number plate and lights into position I thought how nice it would be to have the rear lights work as well as the headlights, but when I looked into it I thought it would be impossible, unless I wanted some wires showing, which was out of the question. But, with a lot of head scratching I came up with a solution, and in the second photo you can see the result.

Now, it's confession time! I suppose you can accuse me of being a bit of a big head here, and I do confess to being a bit 'chuffed' with the lights. This is because a 'competent modeller' I may possibly be, but this is my first attempt and electronics in miniature and I am as happy as a pig in **** at the results.

The last pic is of the headlining in the cab rear section, and the way I got around covering up the raw edge around the window, but this is how Rolls Royce did it anyway!002-7.jpg004-5.jpg005-6.jpg

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