Jo NZ

A major milestone. It's red at last! This is using Tamiya lacquer (LP-7, pure red) and at 50/50 with thinners you need to get it on really wet or it dries rough. Very quick drying, and I have some (!) rough areas I'm going to need to sand out. Otherwise it's far too shiny for a 1932 hand painted racer, and I'm going to try semi-gloss varnish to get a better finish...

You'll find it helpful to get the build CD by Paul Koo - it leads you through some of the more headscratching moments. Then try assembling something (e.g the rear axle) without too much prep. Take a good look at it, undo the screws and improve it! That's all there is to it really. After building five pochers I'm a lot more gung ho about say, block sanding the bodywork, or making new parts. I'd suggest that you make (or acquire) a tap for the small screws - they are 1/16"th Whitworth (good luck with finding the tap!). A tap is necessary if you don't want to break screws off in the plastic. They are chrome plated brass, and the plating embrittles them so they shear fairly easily. I made my own tap with one of the longer screws. I cut off the head and soft soldered the thread into a piece of brass tube (actually hex, because I had some) then I used a needle file to file 3 tapering grooves from the tip of the screw. It works fine in plastic. And - don't assume that because you have a sealed kit that all the parts will be there. Pocher were notorious for being blase about correct numbers of parts. Thankfully it's easier to get spares now than it was when they were current. Lots of suppliers on fleabay. Have a great time. When I used to sell these I got asked what tools were needed - the answer was a screwdriver, a few files - and a good psychiatrist...

Perhaps as it's a French car it should be le capot

Island Bay really is the other side of town - about 30 km the other side from me! More progress - I think I'm nearing the end of the beginning, or something.... These are all the bits that I've procrastinated over as I couldn't work out how to do them. The connections for the rear dampers - easy really, I don't have details for it, but who wouldn't just extend the mounting on the spring? Next, the wind deflector next to the flyscreen. It's curved, so why not cut it from tube and then bend it to the body profile? And the various cover panels and reinforcing for the fuel and oil fillers

They are very good. I can sympathize with the amount of scrap - at least the raw material isn’t expensive. How did you make the different lengths? And how did you keep them straight And evenly pitched? In retrospect your scrap pile is impressively small, considering all the problems to overcome... Jo

Auckland has MOTAT, Christchurch has the Air Force Museum. Also in the Sth Island is Peter Jacksons museum at Omaka near Blenheim (If you really want to see 6 flying DR1s )

You’ll need a carpet of some sort for the carpet monster to live in.

Don't forget the operating loading doors. That really would be cool in a start up sequence.... A little servo or two, perhaps?

How did you attach the blisters? I’m intrigued to see how you press the louvres, I did mine before bending the panels. I hope you have a better way.

Unfortunately they are on a self improvement cycle. As soon as you define one, a better one comes along. I say this with the hindsight of years developing military equipment. If you dare to make something idiot proof, they will always find a better idiot... (finally confirmed after spending years making stuff single function, single button operation. They still managed to break it).

It will have a beak - see https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/discover-collections/read-watch-play/science/anatomy-colossal-squid/beak-colossal-squid

This was in the UK, Steve, haven't tried it in Godzone yet....

I’ve been down so many single track roads (with a right turn back onto the main road, usually) and rat runs with speed bumps using a Tom Tom that I gave up (actually threw it into the back of the car, when it said “in 500 yards...) and used google maps. Same problem with the stupid shortcuts, but it did use some different ones. Talking to friends, they suggested Waze (smartphone app). So far, I haven’t argued with it or screamed in disbelief . It works, tells you about jams ( and how long you’ll be in them), and doesn’t seem to be intent on showing you parts of the country tha you never ever thought you’d see. Worth a try. Oh and it’s free...

In terms of age - the smoke pots were deleted around May 43, and zimmerit was introduced soon after that. Also by that date the bolted front armour was welded on so it’s a bit earlier. Unfortunately my reference material is 12000 miles away, otherwise I could be a little more accurate