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larchiefeng

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Everything posted by larchiefeng

  1. Thanks Ron, I appreciate your input on the weathering. Coming from a master of painting realistic figures and just about everything else, it’s very motivational. I just did some work on the muffler with a few layers of weathered build up using a real F-40 exhaust as a reference. I’m pretty happy with it but, that post is a little bit down the line.
  2. Hey guys! It's been a while and I kind of lost track of where I was on the thread and the build. I did do some work on the Alfa and as with the F-40, work got in the way and I had to put things a way for a while. Once it got off the workbench it also kinda got off my mind as well. Winter came and went as did spring and now most of summer. I have been working a lot more than I ever expected I would and to tell the truth, when I get home I'm just plain tired and not too motivated to work on any models. However, having said that, I have been working on the Ferrari for the last month or so and documenting but, not posting. I wanted to make sure that, I was actually making some progress and that, I would be able to maintain some continuity. I didn't want to start and then stop again for months at a time. I have about 150 pictures worth of progress that, I will be posting over the next few weeks as well as continuing to work and take more pictures of what I'm working on now to post in the future. Right now I'm waiting on Uli at Autograph to get back from vacation in order for them to ship me some parts that I found were missing from the transkit. At this point I'll be picking from where I left off on the engine. I'm still working on the engine but, when I got everything back out of the boxes, I found some damage to the paint on the main body and one of the doors so, I'm going to have to go back and do some color sanding and shoot some more clear coats to fix it. This water manifold on the intake gets two sets on brass PE gaskets Later on, I discovered that, I shouldn't have paint the red on the fittings because the turbo water lines connection slips over them When I was looking for where the other end of the blue hose connects I found that it's supposed to go to the back of the outlet housing. So, I drilled a hole in it and attached a piece of rod to fit the ID of the hose. You can see the hole I drilled in the t-stat housing. Fitting the water manifold Test fit to make sure it's going to be the right length Hose clamps on the water hose and a piece of tubing inside with a hole to insert into the rod on the outlet housing. I find myself doing a lot inserting rods and ways to hold things in place without relying on just glue alone. It's always good to have a mechanical connection as well as a glue joint. The paint really likes to chip off the white metal even with the metal primer. Everything hooked up and you probably noticed that, I have decided to weather the engine to give it a little more interest. It is supposed to be a car that is track raced on weekends so, the body will be shiny but the engine isn't quite as clean. The front cam covers were just placed on here for the picture but, get permanently attached later on. The oil filter and housing have been on and off multiple times dealing with the four line per turbo connections. More later.
  3. Great work Harvey! I’m also in the Codger camp on the way it’s looking. The whole hand hammered 30’s look evokes just how the real car must have looked. Nothing was perfect back in the day and it looks all the more realistic for it! 🤔
  4. Hi Mike, Unfortunately as these Pochers get older the “chrome” tarnishes and the interior “leather” starts to come loose and peel away from the plastic and most of the metal on the frame and suspension gets rusty. On the upside, if they were assembled correctly they are easily taken apart by unscrewing the nuts and bolts. There might be a couple of things that were glued together but probably not many other than the interior parts. If you want to restore it, you will probably have to take it apart and clean them thoroughly and paint the metal parts. The interior can be replaced by using leather which can be purchased on eBay in any color fairly cheap. For a quick way to get the fuzzy stuff off get, a can of compressed air that, is used to clean computers and keyboards. You can use this to get into small tight places and blow it out. And, another quick fun fact, all the Mercedes engine and chassis’s are the same on all of the different kits with the only difference being the wheel hubs between the plastic and metal wire wheels. So, if you run across a Mercedes kit on eBay that is a basket case you can pick up cheap, you can use it for spare parts or to do a rebuild using both cars. I’ll be interested to see what you decide and how you progress.
  5. Thanks CC, I’m glad that my thread was of interest and got you thinking about what could be done with one. The True Roadster was produced well after the K74 and was “simplified” by using plastic wheels instead of the metal wire wheels. During the time I was building mine, I was buying and selling some Pocher kits on eBay and I picked up one of the kits that had chrome plastic wire wheels. I could have used the metal ones but the hubs on the spindles have to be the ones for the metal wires and I had already assembled the frame and I didn’t want to take it apart again. However, at some point in my thread I did build a second chassis, engine and metal wire wheels which, had nothing to do with the roadster. So, there’s another complete K74 chassis build within the K91 roadster build. I also did a lot of body modification because I wanted my roadster to different from everyone else’s. Anyway, if you have any questions or need any help just ask and I will be happy to assist. My roadster would not have turned out as well as it did without the help, badgering, cajoling and pushing me to try new things and stretch myself as a builder from a lot people here on this thread. But, I must call out one in person in particular, Codger, really pushed me and was of immense help in the journey of building the Pocher. If you haven’t read it, you really should read Codger/Chas’s build of his Pocher Rolls Royce. That is one of the true master class Pocher builds here on the forum. Building a Pocher really is a marathon and not a sprint and I’m sure that’s why there’s so many unfinished or poorly built ones available on eBay and elsewhere. If you do decide to take it apart you should probably invest in Paul Koo’s dvd for the Mercedes. When you do take it apart and after reading some of the information on the dvd you will see why things were so badly fit or assembled. I’m sorry that, I’m going on here but, I do have one question to ask; have you decided what you are going to do with it? Are you just going to lightly clean it up or are you going to dive in and make it something special? Speaking of getting back to the bench, I think that I might sit down today and get back to my trans kit rebuild of my F40 and continue watching The Open. I’m looking forward to seeing what you decide. I also know that Chas is hoping that you decide to go for a complete rebuild so, he will have another Pocher build to watch! Good luck!
  6. If you decide to take your Mercedes apart here is a build thread that might give you some info. It's not the Cabriolet body but, everything else is pretty much the same.
  7. I’ve been popping in now and again to keep up on your build and I must apologize for not commenting more. You are giving all of us a master course on how to scratch build a model. I’m not going to limit it to just saying a car because what you are doing transcends just automobiles. Anyway, today, I felt it necessary to comment and say that, this build is truly mind boggling to think that everything in front of us started out as raw material which has been transformed into this work of art! I’m in awe of your talent!! 🤩 😵 Great work!!
  8. Wow, milling the engine block and adding the holes on that machine really makes me feel like a shade tree mechanic with the way I did it! This is why I don’t feel any need to start a thread for my Alfa. This thread and others are so much better than anything that I could offer. Great work David!
  9. Thanks Pascal, Once again, another very talented builder that, I have learned a lot about scratch building from, makes my point about it being a great sharing experience here on the forum. So, Noel you have come to the right place to get inspired and motivated to get back to the workbench! All these guys bring a lot to the table for you to get going!
  10. Thanks guys, I appreciate the support. Welcome aboard Noel, I will look forward to hearing your thoughts and contributions. I agree Jan, I also wander into other topics just to see some of the great work other guys are doing. It’s not that I don’t like armor and airplanes and dioramas, I just don’t have some of the skills those guys employ. The other big reason is space for completed models and probably the fact that I have a few hundred car models sitting in boxes. I started acquiring a lot of 1/24 and 1/25 models of my favorite cars with the intention of having sort of a “hobby shop” stash for when I retired and then I could just happily work my way through the pile. I also started picking up a few 1/16 and then all the 1/12 Tamiya F-1 cars and pretty much all the 1/12 cars I could find. But, in the bottom of the pile I had a 1/8 Pocher Mercedes True Roadster that I bought back in the 1990’s which I started but quickly realized that it was beyond my skill level. I had already built the Pocher F-40 which made me think that I could build the Mercedes; completely different animal! After I hurt on the job and sort of retired, I found this forum through Roymattblack and met Chas, Codger, when I decided to go back to the Mercedes. I had a lot of time on my hands but not the confidence and skills that I acquired from seeing what these guys were doing. When things really took off was when we became friends and I was persuaded to take some risks with the build. Once I finished my Mercedes I went pretty much all 1/8 Pochers and sadly all my previous acquisitions are now mostly wall art in boxes. I also started looking at other guys like Hendie who, has built some remarkable helicopters and is scratch building a train car. Both are not the normal subject matter that I would normally gravitate to but, his incredible skills are what drew me in. I have learned a lot about scratch building from him. All this is just to illustrate the point that Jan was making, you never know where you will get new information from without opening up your options and look at other types of builds and disciplines. In my own small way I’m just trying to share what I’m doing in the hope that it will inspire, inform and at least be of moderate interest to all who read my thread. It’s a hobby and this forum is meant to share ideas and techniques not, just showcase how good you are and show pictures and nothing else. I know that without all these guys and a couple in particular, I would not be doing this build so, thanks to you all for the confidence to make the attempt!
  11. There seems to be a lot of debate on moving the engine and how much. I’m only going 3mm-5mm which isn’t much. I think going back a minimal amount is best just because of everything else that would need to be addressed. If I remember correctly, you can go back somewhere in that range and still be able to use all the linkage as is. But, I like your solution and it’s good to know that I’m not the only one who didn’t want to have the engine in place when working on the rest of the frame.
  12. Thanks guys! Because these two builds are similar in nature or least they are both Pochers. The Monza is probably one of the easier Pochers and, the addition of MMC parts doesn’t really complicate it much. They just add detail where it’s needed and improve the kit quality. The F-40 is a really simple kit made into something intensely more complex with the addition of the Autograph transkit. Sometimes, I just have to take a step back and think about the next step and am I overlooking anything. Sometimes it might be about having my skills improve enough to move forward. I have been pretty quiet about the Alfa build only because it was easier to just work on it without feeling any pressure to post progress and feel like I have to work on it. Like SB said, it is a hobby and meant to be fun. If I do start a thread for the Alfa it will probably only be to not be adding it to the F-40 thread; I don’t want to mix up the thread with two different cars. My intentions on the F-40 thread is to try and show all the issues, problems and what I did to address them for the very few that will probably ever be able to acquire the transkit and actually attempt the conversion. During all my research of all the other guys that did the build and posted it on the various forums what, I found was a lot of good information but, not a lot about how they worked their way through the lack of good instructions etc. I now know of two of you guys that, actually have the transkit and both of you have new F-40’s to convert. Other than the entertainment value to everyone else, if there really is any entertainment here, this is really aimed at you two guys for future use. I’m not trying to bore everyone else with some of the minutiae, I’m really trying help anyone else build a better conversion than mine. Information is your best friend on this build. Poul, I had somehow acquired a variety of MMC Alfa parts in other kits or the occasional separate purchase and it was on my bench to be built after the Mercedes but, when I got the Autograph transkit I back burnered the Alfa. Every time I got stuck on the F-40 I went back to it because I just couldn’t let all those MMC parts go to waste and not get used. So, the main build became the Ferrari and the Alfa was my secret retreat build. The springs, shocks, brass front axle and various other parts really make a difference on the suspension. I’m hoping to get the frame pretty much assembled these parts will show up. I read up on how David solved body to frame fit by doing some cutting the body in the arch of the frame and I was going to do the same thing. But, the more I sanded and worked on the body after removing the molded rivets and drilled them out and added the metal rivets, the body started to conform and fit better on the frame without cutting it. I guess we’ll see if it turns out in the end. The other thing that I decided to do along with moving the engine back is to lightly trim the edges of the rear engine mount that is a main frame member. I don’t want the completed engine in the frame while trying to do all that fitting and suspension work. I’m making it so that I can slide it into the frame later on. I don’t think that I’ve seen anyone else do that but, I think it’s pretty easy and makes more sense than trying to work around a detailed engine when doing the rest of the assembly. Well, hopefully I will get back the Ferrari some this weekend in between painting the Alfa. Sorry guys I didn’t intend to ramble on, especially without any pictures to break up the monologue 🤖
  13. Thanks guys! I have also been a little absent as well over the last couple of months. Believe it or not, we are just now starting to see some sustained sunshine the last week or so. It's been rain and snow for about three months solid up here in the mountains of Southern California. The awful weather coupled with being sick off and on hasn't been conducive to doing much modeling. I haven't been totally idle but, not really doing enough to post and also not working on the F-40 too much. I took a little break from it and got back to my Alfa Monza build. I do not have a thread started on it anywhere and I'm not sure if I will but, I have been taking a lot of pictures and notes so, that, if I do, I will have all the documentation of the build to post. The main thing that, I have been doing on the Ferrari is going through all the white metal parts and cleaning them up and experimenting with two different types of metal and etching primers to see which I like and what works the best. I sprayed all of the metal parts on the Alfa suspension with the Zero Paint two part etching primer and in this first picture, I decided to use the Tamiya metal primer on the F-40 metal parts. What really brought this whole project on was, I was getting to the point on the engine that, I was starting to use a lot of the white metal parts. Having used the two part Zero primer, I knew that I didn't want to stop and mix up that paint every time I need to paint a metal part. So, I decided to just clean it all up and prime everything now and when I got to another part it would already be primed and ready for color. It was about this time I remembered the Tamiya metal primer. The Zero Paint etching primer is gray and the Tamiya is clear and is a lot quicker and easier to use but, I'm not sure that it's as chip resistant on the metal, hence the experiment. So, here's a picture of some of the Ferrari parts with the Tamiya primer followed by what has been keeping busy when not working on the Ferrari. Some and by no means all of the Monza pictures. I have probably a couple hundred pictures of this build. I had pretty much finished the engine until I got the bright idea of opening up the rear engine cross member mount that linkage actually passes through on the real car. I had a lot of the MMC parts for this car and I thought that if I'm going to add all the expensive after market parts, I should try and do a better job. Opening up the tunnels on the mount. Miscellaneous progress pictures from the last few months. I feel like I've been cheating on girlfriend, the Ferrari, with the Alfa, the other woman!! So, that's what I've been doing when I'm not working on the F-40. Sometimes you need to take a break and do something else. This is by no means on the level of what David is doing with his Alfa Spyder but, it's just a fun no pressure build. When Poul posted on my thread here and reminded us of his Alfa Coupe it prompted me to share a little bit of my Alfa here on the Ferrari thread. Nothing like taking a break from a Pocher build with a transkit with another Pocher and a lot of MMC parts. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment! Lol I hope you will forgive me for this little detour 😜
  14. Search for the 1/8 Citroen traction avant- build by Roymattblack here on britmodeller. He pretty much wrote the book on building this kit. Actually, as a matter of fact he did do a complete dvd on the build of this kit. I bought one a few years ago just to have, I know that I will never build it but, it’s such an interesting build I just wanted it. I hope that helps.
  15. I hope that you can come up with a reasonable price and solution; I really miss this build.
  16. I know that you occasionally commented on my F-40 build so, you have some idea of what gets cut out and what will remain. Most of big modifications take place on the front and rear frame and suspension parts. The engine gets a lot of upgrades but not much cutting. The body is kind of up to you and how far you want to go I.e. opening up the louvres or not. That was one of the harder things to do in order to get them all the same. If you do decide to cut them open, you will probably have to deal with the possibility of damaging the paint on body around them. Also, be aware that the metal on the body is very thick and it’s going to take a lot of work to open each one up. I had to use carbide discs on my Dremel and this where you run the risk of damaging the paint if, it gets away from you. Because you have the more rare yellow body F-40, you run the risk of not being able to match the paint. Also, the paint is an automotive type finish that is kind of baked on and is pretty thick. I completely stripped all the red paint off to do a color change repaint on mine. In retrospect, I now think that, I should have not stripped it and just used what was on there and sanded it down and used it as a base coat for the new color. I also learned that regular model paint was not a good idea to use on the body; I should have used standard automotive paint for the metal body. Anyway, these are just a few small things that I learned during the conversion process.
  17. I guess that you have a choice to make; sell the F-40 and buy the MFH kit or something like it or try and get an Autograph transkit to super detail the F-40. Have you given it any thought?
  18. It just occurred to me that, we sort of high jacked your thread TGA, sorry. Have you decided what you want to do yet?
  19. Sounds good, I'll be looking forward to your new thread. Since I don't look at the forum every day and lately, much less than that, when you do start it please post a link to it here so I can follow it. Thanks
  20. No problem, I’m always available to help with anything you need. You can always PM me too. I assume that you will be starting a thread for this build too? I will answer you either through your thread or via a PM, just let me know. Good luck with your big deal! Kinda sounds like you got a hold of Uli or someone with a transkit to sell.
  21. The Autograph transkit that I got was part of a special re-release of about 20 that Uli decided to put together with all the spare parts that he had left over from the approximately 200 of the original release of F-40 transkits. I think that once those were sold that was it. I’m pretty sure that the only way to get one now is from someone who has one. I do know where a new one of the re-release kits is but, I think that he’s saving for a future build. As far as Tomas Iulie is concerned, he’s been pretty talking about making a F-40 transkit for 3-4 years and still nothing. I doubt that we’ll see one any time soon from him. I was also looking for the LM transkit for the F-40 and only one has come up in the last three years on eBay and it went for about $2,000.00 and it’s mainly just some resin parts with 3-4 PE frets. The Autograph transkit was around $1,600.00 and has around 10 PE frets and a whole lot of other parts. I also have another transkit for the interior that is for an LM version interior. Before everything got messed up at Thunder Valley F1, I managed to get some parts from him but, it took a few months of pushing and sending emails to get the order that I had paid for. However, when I did get my order he made up for it by giving me extra parts. He has good stuff but, don’t count on getting anything quickly. I haven’t talked to him in over a year so, I don’t know what he is doing now. If you have read my thread on the F-40 then you know all the challenges that I’ve had with the transkit instructions or lack thereof. Bottom line, it’s building into everything that you would want a detailed Pocher F-40 to be, albeit being a very challenging build! There’s a few smaller transkits out there and some engine upgrade kits and in the absence of the big Autograph transkit, those along with what Pascal has been doing, you should be able to do a good job of detailing up the F-40. I’m sure that both of us can be of help to you as you move forward. I hope that helps.
  22. By way of emphasizing Pascal's point regarding the Pocher Testarossa, here is the build thread that, I started on my Testarossa upgrade build. It illustrates some of the challenges of buying a used car and trying to upgrade it. I haven't totally abandoned it but, it's on a very back burner at the moment. Here's the link to the thread if you are interested.
  23. Thanks for the mention Codger. It probably should be mentioned that the transkit that’s being used to upgrade the F-40 was 2-3 times the cost of the kit on eBay and it has over 2000+ pieces. I’m even using extra hardware not in the transkit. When I do finally finish it, I’m hoping that it will be a good representation of the type of F-40 I’m going for. I’m also building or, put on hold a TR that got started prior to the F-40. I used a transkit on it for the engine and it looks great but after doing all the modifications to the F-40 frame and suspension I can see that the TR is going to need similar work to justify the engine. Fortunately, Pascal has done a lot of the same type of upgrade on some F-40’s by scratch building the parts that, I used PE for and, has shown that it’s possible to get as good as or better results from scratch building as using the transkit. My eventual plan for the TR is to follow his lead on how to fabricate the parts but, do so on the TR in order to get rid of the big toy like look. I’m also working on the Alfa Monza off and on but, I haven’t started a thread on it. My first Pocher was the K91 Mercedes true roadster. Which is about 35-40 pages long somewhere here in the WIP section and is actually finished. My best and only advice is if you choose one of the classics you must get the Paul Koo dvd for that model. Whether you choose to build it out of the box or make changes that dvd will be invaluable. Good luck with your choice. W
  24. Hey guys, just a quick update here. I got pretty sick back in January and it just lingered for a few weeks and really put me off doing anything. Once I got better, we started getting snow storms one right after the other and we really got snowed in for days, 15 to be exact. Then we got 8 1/2” of rain in 48 hours. After we got sort of dug out we got two more snow storms. The last one ended Sunday into Monday. Now we’re expecting another storm this afternoon going through Thursday night that, is supposed to drop another 13”-24” of snow on top of what’s already out there. This is kind of a long way around to say, pretty much any and all of my “free time” has taken up either sick or outside in the rain and snow. I’m so over winter right about now!! This is usually the time of year when you can stay inside and work on models but, this year has been different. I’m hoping to get back on the bench soon so, hang in there it’s just a matter of time. Thanks guys!
  25. So, I've been working on each of the small pieces getting them ready for installation onto the engine. Painting and adding washes to the alternator and A?C compressor as well as brass bolts to the A/C clutch and all the pulleys and adjusting brackets etc. When I flipped the engine over, I realized that, I had not put the oil pan bolts in so, I had to add those. You'll see some rough spots on the front cover and alternator bracket etc. and I wish that I had taken more time trying to clean the glue off of them before painting. All of the excess and bad spots are where the engine was disassembled before rebuilding it. I think that most of these bad spots will be hidden behind the cam covers and or in the way the engine is finally mounted inside the car. This whole front section of the engine is virtually invisible when in the frame and the body is in place.
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