Codger Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 I have a much longer to-do list than you do and if I write it down I'll be MORE depressed. To crown things off, I've been down with fever and flu for 8 days. So haven't touched a thing. But tomorrow, I'm determined to reorganize the mess on the bench, blow the mock-up apart except for the main body, then sort the troublesome hood hinge and finalize (top) hood fit. Fingers crossed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 Sorry to hear you're sick, I hope you're better soon. My list is more of a highlight reel as there is so much left to do and like you I'm reluctant to look at the whole thing. I have about 10 or more handwritten pages to go through. As much as I kind of dread it, it would be smarter to grab all my pages of notes and write one list in an order of assembly to make sure I don't get ahead of myself 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mpfiend Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 More great progress Wayne. The colours look great with the leather and Mother of Pearl. I have been looking at getting sheet of this, on Ebay it only seems to be available from the USA or South Korea. there doesn't seem to be any UK suppliers. I'm looking forward to seeing how your wind shield turned out with the improved photo. I now have some silver solder and will be carrying out this task in the week, then it will be sent back to Marvin for plating. I had to laugh about the list thing, I think my list would be even longer as once I have finished with the body fitting I have to build the whole car.....and paint it.....and make the wheels :-). I'm really enjoying reading about the progress of all of the Pocher and 1/8 builds here on this site. Codger hope you are feeling better soon. Best Regards Keith. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 The funny thing about lists is they never seem to and just about the time you think you're done; there's something else to add. Every time you decide to deviate from the stock build the list grows exponentially. I think back a few pages I mentioned that I got the sheets of the MOP from Etsy and it did come from Korea. Just do a search for mother of pearl sheets; and you want the ones with a backing otherwise they are too brittle to work with. I think a sheet was around $13 plus shipping which is much less expensive than $50 for a cut one from MMC. As much as I like Marvin, this is one thing I can source elsewhere; I think I've added to his retirement fund enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 I decided to make a course correction and change how this car is supposed to look. So, with that in mind, here are a few pictures with things just sitting on the car in what will be its final configuration. I did consolidate my list yesterday and it was really helpful in organizing my thoughts and deciding what to attack next. To tell the truth, I've been waiting on the whitewall tires to arrive so I could make my final decision on the interior and get a look to see if this is how I really wanted to go. Once I got the chrome wires on the tires and set the whole thing up as you see in the pictures, that was it. I now know what the end product will look like and i can work toward that end. I also received the MMC working headlights for the Mercedes; this kit did not come with any working lights so, I'm going to have to wire all that up. I have been looking at the seat area and I have decided that the best location for the AAA battery box will be under the seat. I can attach the box to the floor and run a small junction block under there and possibly mount the switch so it comes through the bottom of the floor and would be a quick flick on or off. For this reason, I am going to cut down the seat a bit to narrow it and make some changes to the pattern by adding a bolster to the top as a bit of a headrest and some pleats to change the flat look of the stock seat. With the bottom of the seat being hollow it allows me the room for the batteries etc. and the seat will be removable to replace batteries; lighting problem solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codger Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Scrumptious. Great feeling when you finalize the components and it's your vision. Cox has been known to mount micro switches at the base of a shifter (under the boot) or part of one of the pedals which can be operated by a pencil push. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 Thanks, I was pretty happy when I set the tires and wheels under the car. I know that you know but, guys these tires are very very nice and super easy to put the wheels on not to mention, a game changer in the looks department. The switch that comes with the kit is just your standard slide switch so, I would imagine if I looked online I could find a smaller micro switch that would work. And, since I haven't attached the Trans it might be a simple thing to open it up and mount a micro switch inside and connect it to the shift lever as the toggle. Note to self add at least three things to the to do list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjfk2002 Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 The white walls look great! The spokes and rims have a very nice finish too. Are those the out of the box Pocher wire wheels or did you paint/polish them first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 Actually, those rims are off of a K93 Black Cabriolet with the plastic chrome wire wheels. I just swapped out the wheels between the kits for now. I thought about changing the wheels to the real wire wheels a while back but that would have meant taking from one kit and devaluing it to enhance this kit. It isn't just about taking the wheels, you also have to change the hubs and I think the brake drums too. Besides, at the time, I had no idea I was going to pop $140 for whitewall tires either. Right now, I figure I have a little over $1000 in aftermarket parts on this thing in addition to the cost of the kit. I know, at this point, you really don't see all these parts but when it gets its final assembly they will become apparent since most of them are interior and trim pieces. I think that I've reached my saturation point on this car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjfk2002 Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Wow I didn't know the chromed plastic wheels looked that nice. If I ever built the Mercedes I won't let the plastic wheels scare me off from one of the later issue kits. The white leather interior will be great looking (presuming that's your final choice). The aftermarket parts are spectacular. I have a few of the MMC parts for the Bugatti and its hard not to want to replace everything I can. The Rolls and Alfa kits in particular seem like you could easily spend multiples of the kit cost on all the upgraded parts... Great job so far. This has been an entertaining build thread to follow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 (edited) Well, I tried to fix the thin spots in the paint along the belt line. After all the color sanding on the body I had a few minor spots where the paint went thin back to the color of the molded plastic. I debated what I should do to fix the problem and I really didn't want to repaint the entire body again so I decided to mask off the thin spots and paint them only. When I sanded down the touched up areas it went right back down so, I gave up on that idea as I'm on a time line here with cold and wet weather mostly in the future. Friday was a nice warm day so, I just painted the whole body again. I already know that I can sand it down and get the finish I want I just have to be more careful next time when I sand it. The first two pictures show just how small of an area I had to fix but, if I didn't it would have really shown up. After I painted the body I have to let it set up now for a few days and it was time to attack the new list and start taking care of of few items that were already started. First up was the seat which I' ve been staring at for weeks. Out came the saw and I made the first cut which is to narrow the seat to give me room on either side for the leather and other stuff on the doors. I also made a cut on the armrest because I'm going to eliminate it and extend the middle of each side and just have a break in the middle. So, the cut is made and now I'm checking the total width. This measurement is to possibly thin down the bottom and back cushions of the seat. Looking at it now I think the bottom doesn't need that much cut off. I plan on cutting the seat back off the bottom but before I do it I need to make a mock up and test it to make sure it will sit correctly inside the car. Here I'm measuring for the eventual the cut I will make if it has the correct seat height when done. What is probably going to happen is I'm going to have to just build a whole new seat. Looking at the side I realized that the back and bottom cushion will need a curve like a real seat if it were to be an operable seat. Mine won't be operable but they need to look the part. Looking at the curves drawn on the seat side it is apparent that i order to get it right it going to have to be fabricated. Once again I'm at a standstill on the seat because I really need the body on the frame and the doors on the body in order to get exact measurements for the seat width etc. On to the next little bit, I decided to finally drill the holes in the fenders to mount the MMC marker lights. Not a big job but needed to be done so it covered the two holes where the plastic markers attached. These things were super slippery to hold onto so I put some tape on the top to grab a hold of. One other note here, these markers are about 2/3 the size of the kit markers which I found odd. Now I need to find some clear plastic that I can shape to make the lenses. Another little project I started was, drilling out the plastic tail light mounting brackets from each end in order to run the bulb wiring through. I almost made it but it's a little hard when you're drilling a #71 drill bit from either end and trying to meet up, not happening. Plan B, I really didn't like the mold line seam along the top and bottom of the bracket anyway so, into the cup of bleach with them to remove the chrome. I had a couple spots where the drill poked through the side of the bracket which are going to need to be repaired and I still need to get the path drilled out. With the chrome off and the plastic being clear I can now see where I need to make the pathway even if I have to cut open the side and patch it up. Just another thing that wasn't originally intended to work on the kit. The last small piece of business is to finish up the headlight mounting bar. I have it filled in pretty nicely and tomorrow i'm going to prime it to make sure there are no pits or bad spots. I know it looks a mess but, the shape is there even though it looks like a spotted dog at the moment. It's a combination of brass rod, solder, putty and liquid metal but, it works and it will be interesting to see it primered. So, all in all it's about knocking small things off the list so they're ready to go when needed. I almost forgot, I found some lenses that fit perfectly in the spotlights. About time something went easy without a hitch and they look great. Edited October 25, 2015 by larchiefeng Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mpfiend Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Very nice progress Wayne. I really like the mock up shots with the chrome and white walls, these are also on my shopping list. The little "finishing off" jobs do mount up don't they and the list seems to grow exponentially as the project progress'. Best Regards Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roymattblack Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Really fastidious work here. This beastie is going to look fantastic when its done. Roy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 Thanks guys, it's all these little jobs that you put aside when concentrating on the bigger things that tend to pile up, then you realize that there is still a lot of work to do. Most of the stuff on my list are these kind of things that I've been putting off and because I didn't have one master list to refer to I didn't realize just how much stuff I needed to finish. I usually would just write notes for things that needed to be done and invariably each note would have something that didn't get done so, I gathered up all my unfinished lists and made one list separated by categories. For instance, I have an engine, chassis, body, interior etc. and now since I printed the list I've had to add to it as I cross things off; I think the list got longer instead of shorter but, at least it's all in one place. Today, I need to keep going. I reached out to David Cox yesterday through his website about micro switches for my lights that, I want to mount inside my transmission. I was surprised to find an answer this morning from him so, I have to do some searching to do, as he gave me a couple of new ideas on the switches I can use. David was very helpful and is another great resource for Pocher builders. As those of you who are following Codger's Rolls build know David is the guy who made his running board strips and is a master builder. More later. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 Quick update. I think I've probably lost my mind but, I'm making another change to this build. I've been talking with David Cox and Codger the last couple of days and I received some good reference photos from David as well. The question I've been asking for some time is whether or not this kit is based on an actual car. There seems to be some reference that David came up with that suggests it did exist but, not as Pocher produced it. With that in mind and with Codger building his Rolls as an eccentric old money patron in need of custom coach building, I've decided that my roadster could do with a modification as well. David has been kind enough to donate a switch to control the lights that will fit inside the transmission and be controlled by the shift lever and I'm converting the tail lights to fiber optic filament if I can get a sufficient light source to illuminate them. I am waiting on both items to arrive before I proceed with those projects and I do have a plan B for the lights should the filament not work but, I think it will. I mean after all the lights are pretty small. In the mean time I have sanded down the last round of paint on the body and it is pretty much done on that part however, I do have a new project on the body I'm working on that will require more painting. That, I'm not going to share just yet as I wan to finish some fabrication and I need more supplies before I can finish that piece so, as soon as I get what need I will take some pictures. But, it goes back along the lines of the custom coach work and mimics some of the later model Mercedes roadsters I've seen. Stay tuned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 Today I had to go down off the mountain and pick up some supplies for the body mod but, I did receive the fiber optic filament today. Here you can see I've completely removed all the chrome from the tail light stalks and housings. When I drilled out the the hole from each end they didn't exactly meet on the curve so it was necessary to carve a small channel to connect each end. This is what prompted the fiber optic filament in the first place. It became apparent that if I kept drilling from both ends in order to get a hole big enough to run two wires through I was going to have a complete mess on my hands. So, having about a 1mm diameter hole drilled I ordered some .75mm filament in red and clear. In the pictures I have the red running inside the stalks and with just the overhead light transferring through the filament it does light up albeit a bit of a pin point. I think if I shoot the inside as well as the outside with the Alclad chrome or airframe aluminum it will give it some reflective quality. In the other picture you can see the end point clear bundle is pretty bright but, that's 12 strands of .75mm filament in the bundle. When I was comparing the clear with the red I wasn't getting as much light with the clear as with the red. Anyway, something to play with but, I'm going with the fiber optic mainly due to the ability to fit it in the drilled hole. Plus I'm going to use some clear red on the lens as well. I finally got around to shooting the headlight bar with some primer and there are a few pits and high spots to sand and fill but, hey that's what primer is for. But, I'm really happy with the shape which is now more solid looking rather than the stamped steel with the open back look. Small stuuf but still, it's progress and it's checking things off the list. Original front view Top view kind of shows the whole front and back profile, kinda blurry, sorry but it shows the profile Marginally better shot Once I get it sanded and smoothed out with some paint on it, it will look better and in the end it accomplishes what I was going for which is more of a solid bar look. Tomorrow I should be able to get more done 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted October 30, 2015 Author Share Posted October 30, 2015 After I posted this and looked the filament I got the idea to drill a hole into the tail light lens from the inside and push the filament as far as I could inside the clear lens to see if I got better light, and I did. The other thing about this car is only one of three lenses is red so, this works out as an alternative for running lights in smaller spaces than even sub miniature bulbs won't go. I didn't know exactly what diameter I could get away with on this so, I ordered 3 sizes. I got .25mm, .5mm and .75mm. I almost lost the .25mm in the carpet it's about the size of hair but it lights up. I have no idea what I'd ever use it for, maybe something in 1/144 scale or smaller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted November 3, 2015 Author Share Posted November 3, 2015 (edited) After deciding to put some power to the micro mini red tail light bulbs and seeing the difference between the fiber optic filament and the bulb's light, I knew I had to abandon the fiber optic and try and make the bulb wiring fit inside the tail light stalks. So, today I slowly drilled out each hole from each end by increasing the hole diameter by 0.10mm each time starting at 1mm thru each bit to 1.6mm when I was able, I snaked the wire through from one end to the other. I had a blow out on each stalk due to the curve which, I expected so, I filled the gap with putty and will sand it down in the morning and paint everything with Alclad chrome. I also received the micro toggle switch from David Cox today and removed and disassembled the transmission. I will begin the fitting process tomorrow as well. And, since the headlight bar is also finished I will get it painted along with the tail lights. I plan to assemble the headlights and solder the wiring to them and mount to the bar when dry. As long as the body is being worked on for some additional piece fittings, I think I'm going to assemble the fenders and mount the headlights and tail lights so I can figure out the wiring routes and lengths needed for when the time comes to permanently mount everything it will be already mapped out. Pictures tomorrow along with more progress. Tomorrow is the first snow day so, good day to hunker down at the workbench. Edited November 3, 2015 by larchiefeng Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mpfiend Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Sounds like you have been busy Wayne, I'm looking forward to seeing the progress photos. Best Regards Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codger Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 After deciding to put some power to the micro mini red tail light bulbs and seeing the difference between the fiber optic filament and the bulb's light, I knew I had to abandon the fiber optic and try and make the bulb wiring fit inside the tail light stalks. So, today I slowly drilled out each hole from each end by increasing the hole diameter by 0.10mm each time starting at 1mm thru each bit to 1.6mm when I was able, I snaked the wire through from one end to the other. I had a blow out on each stalk due to the curve which, I expected so, I filled the gap with putty and will sand it down in the morning and paint everything with Alclad chrome. I also received the micro toggle switch from David Cox today and removed and disassembled the transmission. I will begin the fitting process tomorrow as well. And, since the headlight bar is also finished I will get it painted along with the tail lights. I plan to assemble the headlights and solder the wiring to them and mount to the bar when dry. As long as the body is being worked on for some additional piece fittings, I think I'm going to assemble the fenders and mount the headlights and tail lights so I can figure out the wiring routes and lengths needed for when the time comes to permanently mount everything it will be already mapped out. Pictures tomorrow along with more progress. Tomorrow is the first snow day so, good day to hunker down at the workbench. I'm smiling sadly because like me, you've committed to advanced features which have added countless steps and hours to building 'a nice Pocher'. I applaud your dedication as much as I almost rue my own. I wonder though Wayne, why did you not source the chrome metal Bug lights that I did which are already through-drilled? Plus they'd be chrome, not paint..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted November 3, 2015 Author Share Posted November 3, 2015 Thanks guys. I decided at the last minute to try and drill out the stalks going easy and increasing the size of drill bit 0.10mm at a time I figured I could get it. So, being a spur of the moment thing and the cost of the Bug stalks kind of drove this decision; aslo, I knew I had a plan B if this didn't work. Here are a couple of pictures; the first showing the bulb, out of focus, and the wires out the other end. The next shows just how bright the bulb is without any chrome on the part. The last shot is the transmission apart with the toggle switch that I'm using for the light control on/off. Transmission and switch In for paint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) I might as well start where I left off with the headlight bar and tail lights. Here they are now painted Alclad chrome Worked on fitting the toggle switch by cutting off long screw attachment of the top loader on the transmission and drilling out the hole in the top for the switch to fit through. Before I glued the switch in I filed down the the toggle end and drilled two 1mm holes in the toggle. I flattened out the end of the shift lever and drilled two corresponding holes in the end of it so, I could put two 1mm bolts and nuts on in addition to gluing the lever to the toggle. I figured I was going to need some extra strength to keep the lever from breaking off the toggle end. Now the switch is glued in place Your basic 1mm nut Plenty of room inside for when I'm ready to run the wiring I'm using long bolts because they're easier to work with and when I finish this up I'll just cut off the extra. I've also decided that the wires can come out of the trans anywhere up into the floor and its an easy run from there to the battery and the wires won't be seen by coming from that direction. Once the bolts are cut this piece will go back over the top with a slot cut in it for the lever to only as far as it needs to turn the lights on/off. Tomorrow, I'm going to assemble the headlights and if the headlight bar is set up enough I'll mount them to the bar. The same with the tail lights and rear fenders, then I can mount the fenders to the body and figure out the wiring runs for all the lights to the battery box. Once everything is laid out I can do some preliminary wiring and build the seat around the battery box. Then I can finally start doing some interior work. One side note here: this goes back to the whole 540K designation of this car on the engine. It appears that this body was only a 540K engine in 1937 & 1938 not 1936 which this car is supposed to be. So, with this in mind, I'm currently of the opinion that the engine can stay as is because it is a correct 1936 engine. It would certainly get this project to the end quicker if I leave it as is and build the 540K engine for another Mercedes build I have planned. I already know Codger's opinion about ending this build as misery loves company but, I do have other Pochers I plan to build. I think a nice change of pace Alfa Monza might be in order. Edited November 5, 2015 by larchiefeng Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mpfiend Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 More nice progress Wayne, The switch in the gearbox looks very slick. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larchiefeng Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 Thanks Keith. I didn't get much done today as life got in the way but, here's a couple of pictures of the completed tail light assemblies. Mounted on the fender lit up. Here is the completed headlight bar with the filled in back section to eliminate the stamped metal look and painted in Alclad chrome like the tail lights. This is the back side of the headlight bar that is filled in along with one of the tail lights. After looking at the mess that was the headlight bar for weeks, I'm pretty pleased with the shape and how it came out. Now that I see the tail light lenses close up, I think I need to do a little more work on the clear lens edges. I was going to paint each lens but, on the box of the mythical 540K roadster they are clear with color behind them. And since I got the housings painted and the single red bulb drilled into the red lens it doesn't like up the whole thing like before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codger Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 An exciting mock-up to see them in action. Great work. Now get a better camera so we can enjoy them better!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now