vandellyn

It would be very nice to see a photo with the bonnet in place, even if it doesn't fit well. And something beside the car to give a sense of size. Altogether a master work! bp

I feel your pain. I got the screws in by doing this: 1. Tapped the wing mounts and tested the threads with the actual screws. 2. Wrapped string around the handle of the miniature screwdriver that comes with the kit to increase its girth and make it more grippable. Superglued in place. 3. Glued the screws to the screwdriver with superglue - yes really. Stops them falling off. 4. Swore and cursed for 15 minutes while getting the screw in and rotated. 5. Cracked off the glue by jerking the screwdriver. 6. Retired for the night with copious brandies.

Very nice work, and beautiful photography. I've built the Blue Aventador, and they are strikingly similar in construction, both as a model and as an automobile, but the Huracan seems to be more detailed - gas tank hoses, suspension, radiator hoses, wrinkle finish valve covers, etc. Are they in the kit, or did you add them? Either way, well done. bp

So I finished building my blue Aventador, and it is very impressive. I've been waiting a few weeks before polishing it just to make sure nothing popped loose, or warped. Sure enough the double sided tape used to hold the windscreen down has given way, and the windscreen is poking up at a small angle from the frame. So I would like to glue it down this time, but which glue should I use? The windscreen looks like lexan, not clear polystyrene (although I'm not really sure - it is flexible), and the frame is a mix of poly and cast metal. I don't want to use any superglue derivative in case it leaves a white blemish, Any suggestions?

As someone who has built the Ducati pretty much to stock, and shows it with pride in its case, I am in awe of the quality of your skills. It makes mine look like a Dinky! Bravo!

I worked for DTM in Austin in the early 90s when we were developing the SLS process (selective laser sintering) as a competitor to SLA, the original 3D printing process from 3D Systems. They eventually bought DTM. Stratasys was developing FDM, the hot glue gun process as we called it. The hype back then was extraordinary, and I am still seeing it in copious amounts today. At work now I use an Objet 30 Pro quite frequently, which is now a Stratasys product. This uses UV light to cure a photopolymer. Then there are metal printers which are stellar, and hobby printers ( mostly hot glue gun) that are less than stellar. Then there are service bureaus, which vary in quality and response. None of these processes are perfect for modeling, but can be made to work well enough. The process 1. 3D design. I have used Solidworks since 2001, and am pretty adept at it, so that's what I use. Cost is around $4k, and annual support is about $1500 which you need for upgrades. So, expensive. Alternatively, web based CAD is coming on strong, particularly Onshape, which was started by ex Solidworks management who saw the future. They charge by the month around $100, but have a free service too. If you know Solidworks you can use Onshape. 2. File formats Nearly all printers use the .STL format, and saving models in this format will work with all service bureaus too. It triangulates the surfaces and the polygons can be seen in the final surface finish, but since you will be sanding them down, they go away. I have not used other formats. 4. Fabrication Form, fit and function are still the governing parameters, to which I add finish. Each process has plusses and minuses, so here they are: SLA - good form and fit, low function, reasonable surface finish. Early material were brittle, but new ones are much stronger. SLS - good form and fit, good function, lousy surface finish. Good material selection. I was once tasked at DTM to improve surface finish, which looks like orange peel, and failed miserably, because the process is inherently lumpy due to the powder grain size. The plus side is that the powder also provides support, so no support structures are needed. Photopolymer - very good form and fit, good surface finish, but lousy function. Very good for detail. The material is capable of very thin wall - .02" - but it will sag under its own weight, and is very brittle. After a few months a part can look like one of Dali's sagging watches. Thickening the walls reduces that. Cleaning the part can be a pain. It uses a wax like support structure that has to be removed with a water jet, an extra cost. Materials are expensive too. FDM - reasonable form and fit, not good detail or surface finish, good function. Resolution is limited by the glue gun orifice. Relatively cheap materials. Hobby versions are a pain to work with - even Stratasys admits the Makerbots are amateurish, and they bought them. 5. Finishing Sanding sanding sanding, and more sanding. Then more sanding. But you can get great results. Persevere. 6. Service bureaus. We use Stratasys in Austin who can provide 24 hour turnaround. They will work on one piece or many, and have all the different processes available, even metal. Metal by the way is expensive, but can create parts that cannot be molded or machined. If you wanted to get your feet wet, a bureau is the way to begin. They have the resources and expertise, and it is not as costly as you might think these days due to strong competition keeping prices down. I'll be happy to answer any further questions, but only the bureaus can give you costs. bp

I'm pleased to say that I received my replacement housing yesterday and it is in decent form. The shipping packaging was somewhat lacking, so the black shiny paint on the window frame suffered some abrasion, but nothing that a good polish will not eliminate. At least there are no warps. So March 23rd to April 12 is uh, 3 weeks? Not too bad considering it was sent from the UK by rowing boat. I have the engine and front suspension built, so I should see some real progress this weekend.

I emailed Pocher at customercare@hornby.com about my warped housing, and received a very nice reply within a day from them asking for pictures and proof of purchase, which I sent. They have now requested the part for me, and they will inform me of its dispatch. So, while the change of ownership proceeds, Hornby is still providing support. I could not ask for better service.

I have a quandary to deal with. The main casting, for the accommodation module, is warped. Part no KR001=01. I took it out of the polystyrene packaging to start assembling the interior, put it down on a table and noticed that it wobbled. A closer look shows that both the cross beams for supporting the windscreen are askew, and the upper one has an irregular wave to it. Essentially the left side front is about 1/16" to 1//8" higher than the right, resulting in the warp of the cross beams. I've tried brute force to no avail - it is a very stiff structure -so either I get Pocher to replace it, or live with the imperfection and know for evermore that my model is warped. I'll start with Pocher and see what happens.

Nice work, Adam. I'm way behind you. I've built the engine, with some of Koo's mods, but all the spaghetti tubing left me cold since it would not be visible. I know most of the fun is in the building, not the viewing, but life is full of other things too. The plan of making 3D printed parts fell apart as well when the printer started leaking and has still not been fixed due to budgetary constraints. Or maybe my boss just wanted me to stop playing with it so much. The latter, I think. Now I'm building the interior, and basically following your lead with matt black painting. It does need some nifty masking of the existing tan sections, and I just realized I need to do it on the doors as well. However, how did you achieve the silky satin aluminum finish on the steering wheel and door handles that match the center console? Did you use a rattle can of some mystery paint, or did you just brush it on? Is there a suitable silky satin aluminum available? Sorry, I mean aluminium. Been here too long.

I've been reviewing Koo's DVD in some detail, and there are a lot of parts missing in the kit, like starter motor, oil cooler, etc etc. I have access at work to a high resolution 3D printer (Stratasys Objet30 Pro) which needs test parts printed once a week, so I thought I'd model the parts in Solidworks and print them as the test samples. I'm a design engineer by profession, so I'm very familiar with 3D printing. However, the Lambo parts manual only shows the parts in isometric view, so taking dimensions will be a guess at best. Apart from climbing over a real Lambo, which I doubt the local Lambo dealer will let me do, does anyone know where I could find more detailed drawings? Hmm, they're only a few miles from where I work, might visit them at lunchtime with my trusty ruler and calipers and see what happens. (Apologies to Adam - I don't mean to hijack your thread, although I like the idea of a shared build adventure)

Thanks for the welcome, kind of a loner Scot in Texas, so having a group of modelers at hand for advice is very reassuring. The decal set appears to be worthwhile. I built the Ducati earlier this year, and had issues with manipulating the tiny decals, so I like the Koo set because he provides extra decals if you screw up. The detailing is better too, and the colors are richer. I did consider getting the big transkit, but it costs more than what I paid for the kit, and that money stuff got in the way...

I just got my blue Aventador last night, along with Koo's DVD and decals, so I will be following this build with great interest. I found the kit on eBay for $300 less than the asking price, so I made the plunge. The blue metallic finish is excellent! I plan to take my time and add much of the detailing shown in the DVD, and modify the rear end as Roy shows to make it removable. I was planning to get the precut carpet from Mr. Koo as well, but the comments above have given me pause. He does show how to cut out the forms on the DVD.

I too have recently completed my Ducati, and wanted to add a few notes to David's excellent posts. I'm also new to the list, so Hi from a Scot in Texas these past thirty mumble years. I loved building this kit, my first since a Pocher Mercedes in 78 or so, so it's been a while since I glued and screwed. Not only did the Ducati designers and engineers produce a masterpiece on two wheels, but the Pocher engineers matched their skills to bring it to 1/4 scale. The quality of the castings, the fit tolerances between metal and plastic, the finish of the painted parts, even the packaging, are of a very high order. There are some killer stack up tolerances that they had to meet for it all to fit together and for the most part, they did. In terms of detail, it could of course been much finer, as our remarkable colleague in Germany has shown, but it was just right for me. It just looks wonderful. So, notes: 1. I took the advice of tapping all the 2 and 2.3 mm threads. This resulted in few screws needing to be shortened and I did not break a single one. I should have threaded the 1.7mm ones too, but did not have the tap. 2. I used the pdf of the instructions on a touch screen laptop, which enabled me to zoom in on the images when I got stuck trying to figure out what went where. Even so I got just as confused about the tubes as anyone else, and sometimes it was just a guessing game. 3. I sprayed all the silver parts while still on their sprues. It really does make a difference to the finished model. I didn't paint the black parts which I regret, but many of the full size parts that are visible are plastic too, so not so bad. 4. I sanded the tires with 200 grit paper to get a rough matt finish. I started with 2000 grit, but realised sandpaper that fine is to smooth a surface, not roughen it, so switched to the hard stuff. It took about an hour per wheel, but the finish is well worth it. 5. A few times I cut a tube too short, but it turned out the larger tube makes a fine splice cover over the smaller one, and no-one can tell, I tell ya, 6. I didn't have the fit problems with the side covers, but I did trim the flash off the edges and fitted the front fairing very carefully. I got round the mirror mounting problem by supergluing the fairing to the mirror mounts first, then using the mini screwdriver with string glued round the shaft to give a better finger grip. It was still a pain in the aspidistra to mount the mirrors though. 7. I'm still left with 3 small parts that I have no idea where they go. I studied the instructions at maximum zoom but could not see them anywhere. Much like when I repair my car. I took about 100 pictures of the build, but many of them just duplicate those here, So if anyone cares to see them I can put them online, but I'll need some advice on how to do that. Hopefully the Mercedes 300SL will be released in my lifetime and I will build that one next. Pocher lives. See ya bp