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Pocher Mercedes 540K True Roadster Build


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Hi Wayne,

Nice progress, I am keen to see your revised lighting accessories.

When you fitted your PE radiator grille, did you also use the pocher front radiator part or was this left out?

Regards

Keith.

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Thanks guys, I'm still working on which LED for for which light. On the PE grille, it sits in front of the plastic radiator so, it's in addition to. It is slightly snug but, not really a problem. Here are a few pictures of the new SMD LED's on the breadboard with and without power. Top right is the chip size, bottom middle is the nano size and the left is the pico size.

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The chip size is good for headlights and the nano for smaller turn signals and the pico which is about 1mm wide with wires is for small indicator lights or switches.

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Here is the chip size next to a regular LED

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The nano

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The pico which, as you can see is about 1mm

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To give you an idea of just how small the pico is, I can fit the LED inside this hole for the front fender marker light on the Mercedes. I actually put it up behind one of the dash indicator lights and it is the same size as the peg that fits through the dash

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Tomorrow, I'll be playing with the Testarossa to see just how many LED's and what sizes I need for that project. I only ordered one of each size in two different voltages in order to test it all and see how many of each I'm going to order.

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I had to do some cutting on the inside of the chrome housing in order to get the clear lens to fit and there are some kind of extra tabs on the bottom of it. I think that I'm just going to strip the chrome off of it and spray it in Alclad to match the tail lights housings. Originally, I wasn't going to even use these but, as I said before the MMC markers look too small and don't mount very well. In addition to that, the MMC parts don't come with any clear lenses so, you have to make your own. All in all too much hassle for not enough return; besides with these, I can light them up. OK, here we go, I got the nano size bulb mounted inside the marker with the lens fitting properly and lit up. This is the cool white LED and when I order all the SMD LED's that I counted up today, I'm going to order all the Mercedes lights in warm white to match the color rendition of the regular bulbs already in the headlights and tail lights. For the Testarossa's, they'll be in cool white.

As you can see with the cool white in the Mercedes marker it's just too modern looking and needs the softer warm white

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I think while I'm at it I might just get a set of warm white chip SMD LED's for the headlights and see how they look in place of the standard bulbs; they will certainly last longer. So, now that the lighting is sorted out I can go back to other things while I wait for the new order to arrive. And, in the ever evolving thought process of this lighting build this will be the third iteration of the power distribution center. The first picture is the last one.

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This is the current working model which is much more compact than the bulky terminal block. I'm currently using a 12V power supply and the two outputs that plug into the board can reduce the voltage to either 3V or 5.5V depending on where the switch is thrown. I can still use batteries if I want and I might possibly replace the breadboard with a PCB and solder all the connections in. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. More later.

IMG_4520_zpsqhwftpfh.jpg

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Wayne, great stuff. the breadboard is cool too. Why not pick up a smaller version that doesn't need all that space?

Much easier to work with.

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Lighting alone is a huge build all by itself. And you're doing it with 3 different models. I'm struggling with one rickey old Pocher and you're juggling a circus act here.

I am NOT worthy.... :worthy:

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It is actually really kind of fun and I'm still finding new ways to make it all work, as evidenced by the number of changes so far. As I search for the smaller LED's, it leads me to other things. For example, I now don't really need the on/off toggle switch inside the transmission because I can control the whole Mercedes wirelessly with a remote. Knowing what I know now, I would have used all SMD LED's instead of the regular bulbs. I must correct you though, at the moment there's only two currently under way with lighting not three. The Mercedes lighting is quite simple by comparison to the TR, with all the lights just going on and off. This, is a 1930's automobile after all, and didn't have anything special like the later model Ferarri. So, starting out fairly simple here with this car kit that didn't come with any OOB lights as this is one of the last Pocher kits and the lighting was eliminated. So, I have to add it all back and more. The Testarossa is a whole nother story, being diecast. I do still have the Lamborghini to paint and I might decide to go ahead and build it but I have two other builds I'm considering as well. I suppose it will be whatever strikes me at the time I'm ready but, I still have a good way to go here yet.

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I get a headache looking at al that spaghetti and alphabet soup. Remember - I was an art student, not an engineer. That also means I'm bad at counting. But I was kinda thinking an F-40 with the lights of Broadway in it. :mental:

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Well, you're right about the F40 except, I'm not going to do anything with it until or unless I get the transkit for it. Besides, like I mentioned before, I have a few other possible projects waiting after this one is done. I have the Bugatti engine to rebuild at the same time I finish the TR engine and I still have the Pocher Alfa, Lamborghini, Bugatti itself or one of the MFH 1/12 kits and way in the back there's the Pocher Mercedes Special Roadster conversion. Out of all those, the most likely candidate for lights is the Lamborghini. Any of the Pochers can be easily lit simply because it's easy to hide the components in a 1/8 scale car.

Poul, as for the size of the breadboard; that's not an issue because there's plenty of room. What concerns me more is the wires coming loose since they just push in. The more likely scenario is a printed circuit board that I can solder. Anyway, I still have other things that need attention in the meantime. Tomorrow is the last of my appointments for a while so, starting Tuesday I can get back in the groove without outside distractions for the next month or so.

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As I mentioned in the Testarossa thread I received the SMD LED's today so, I'll also be coming back to this build on the lighting. I will be changing out the headlights to the SMD LED's in warm white. They should be brighter and last longer than a standard bulb. I now have what I need to finish the dash and do lights, in there much more compactly than, I would have had to do with the other bulbs. I have repainted the hood extension piece that fits right under the flex pipes and gets glued to the right fender. With the paint dried and sufficiently set up now, I can finish the exhaust off the engine and work towards finishing this build. Because, I'm so close to being done with this build I'm also working on starting two other builds beside this one and the TR. I'm painting and doing a complete color change on the Aventador and doing a rebuild of a Bugatti engine. I won't be starting any more threads on either of those two because, at the moment they are sort of hit and miss and are being worked on in between waiting on parts and painting on this and the other build. More later.

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Well, be sure I be following your new builds too.

I now have a Bugatti engine kit and a Bugatti so I'm interested to see what you will be doing with the engine.

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Well, if I ever decide to post them, we'll see. The main reason I don't want to post them is because I don't want to disappoint anyone who becomes interested and I go way too long in between posts. I sort of did that with the little 250 Ferrari build and I don't want to do that again. It's okay for me to work on 4-5 builds at a time but, it's not really fair to the readers for me to keep juggling that many builds and not really showing much progress or going weeks between posts. So, for now I may just mention something now and then, I will take pictures as I go so if and when I turn it into a thread all the build progress will be there.

I want to see you start your Bugatti or engine. If the Bugatti engine I'm working on starts making some progress I will start a thread on it by itself much like, Little Andi did.

Wayne

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OK, I made some progress today on the pipes. First thing was to get the hood extension piece attached to the right fender. This piece is what the flexible exhaust pipes snake through and act as a lower support for the pipes.

The first picture is the piece and fender.

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A few views of it attached to the fender.

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Here is a shot of the connection points on the manifold and on the head pipe down in the fender.

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I'm using the kit supplied flexible pieces first so, I can get the lengths and bends worked out and see if I can then match them with the MMC aftermarket pipes.

Front pipe in place.

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Front and rear pipes in place. If I have to end up using these I'll need to break out the chrome polish and shine them up first.

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A longer shot with the kit pipes in place.

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With the full hood sitting on there; you can really see how dull the rear pipe is.

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Once I get this part finalized, I'll be moving back into the interior and dash. I'm going to make another mother of pearl insert and try and get the two indicator lights on the dash centered and build a housing for the back of the gauge cluster to hold the SMD LED's for the gauges. When that is done then, it will be time to run all the wiring and start some final assembly.

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Thanks Keith, it's coming along and seems to be getting closer to completion. I keep looking around for things that I might have missed but, for the most part I haven't. I'm glad I kept making notes throughout the build and made revisions as I went on. Although, it seems at times, I was adding more things than were coming off the list.

Speaking of progress, how is your Mercedes coming along; we haven't seen any updates in a while? I know that you must have done a few things by now.

I have a full slate of things to do today and one isn't about the car but the jig I made. I was dreaming about the car and realized that at some point in the near future I'm going to need to permanently attach the fenders and turn it upside down to finish the wiring runs. So, I came up with a simple way to be able to do that with the car in the jig and still be supported while also protecting the paint. So that's the first thing I'm going to do today. If it works as well as my dream, I'll share it with you all. This has been one of the things that I have been concerned about as I get closer to the end so, we'll see.

Before I get going here, I just want to say thank you to Sam, Sharknose, for the kind words in your post in 806 Gangshow thread. I'm not sure that I deserve them but, I appreciate being included in the list of tremendously talented builders here on this forum. I agree with Andi that the ability to be able to communicate with other builders all over the world is exciting and stimulating. This sharing of the hobby and ideas makes the process more fun and if I get stumped on something, there's always help and guys to bounce ideas off of. When I tell my wife that I was talking to a friend in New York, the UK, Switzerland, South Africa, Australia or a number of other countries she looks at me like I'm crazy. I agree with Andi that after a few posts between the guys on the forum you forget the distance and the fact we are thousands of miles apart and somehow are now friends. It's not always about the models anymore it's as much about connecting and friendships these days. With that said, I encourage some of you out there that are reading and hopefully enjoying watching what we're doing here but, haven't posted before to start posting and make some new friends. When you get involved, your modeling skills will improve; mine did and I'm still learning new things.

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Ian,

I fully understand that you are holding back on posting the other builds. This is also why I am not posting (yet).

I have started my Alfa Coupe but it is slow progress and will most probably take a very long time to complete.

I also tend to forget taking pictures but am saving a number.

Will post them one day when a logical sequence can be shown.

The Bugatti car and engine will have to wait a bit.

This weekend I purchased a glue bomb Alfa spider. It was already taken apart for the most.

Cleaned the body this weekend, Next I have to take apart the chassis and engine.

I think this one will be turned into a running chassis, very detailed. Before I can do that I need t hone my skills somewhat more.

Back to your build. It is becoming a fantastic model. Taking many ideas and techniques with me.

Edited by Pouln
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Thanks Roy, I'm just plugging along here. Poul, I have one of those Alfa basket cases too. Except mine is a Monza and I have almost all the MMC upgrade parts for it. Here's a couple shots of it, waiting for me.

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And like I said I've been working on the Lambo basket case I bought where I had to change the color because of the damage done. So, I figured I would do Giallo Fly Yellow but, this is just too much area for a small airbrush to do correctly, at least for me. So, I went with this instead.

IMG_4565_zpsilp7slep.jpg

OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming now, the Mercedes

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I've just caught up on this after many months on the "dark side" of WWI aircraft..my usual habitation. It's looking very nice indeed.....although that green in your last post nearly made me fall off my barstool! (Yes, my modelling time for today us done and it's time for a beer...)

I really do need to get the Bentley back on the bench...so many projects, so little time.....

Ian

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Apparently, there is a problem with Photobucket tonight so, I can't post any pictures. I did manage to get some things done today that move me closer to finishing up. They were a lot of little things that I had been putting off until I could no longer put them off. I stripped out the screw hole in the frame that holds the head pipe to the frame so, I went with the 2mm threaded rod as a stud again. I drilled out the hole and tapped it with my 2mm tap and cut a small piece of rod and threaded it into the frame and hung the newly painted pipe on the stud and mounted the shiny chrome flex pipes from the engine to the head pipe. Of course they will have to come undone once more when I install the fenders but, it is cut and ready to go. I finally installed the horn and oil dipstick, I don't know why this wasn't done but, it's done now and that completes the engine compartment and all of the running gear. I pulled the body off the frame and puled the dash out and made a new mother of pearl insert and drilled new holes in the cluster to center the indicator lights. That's all done and all that's left is to put the rings around the dash gauges and install the wiper motors on the dash. The last thing to do on the dash is the lights and then I believe I can start final assembly and finish the lighting on the outside of the car. It's getting close to the end now and it's all little detail pieces left to install. I'll post pictures when I can but, it's not really exciting just small finish stuff.

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Here are the pictures that I couldn't post on Monday night.

The hole in the frame that was stripped out and where I had to drill out to insert the threaded rod.

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With the rod in the frame and the pipe attached.

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With the nut attached and in place permanently

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Old mother of pearl insert and new insert. The gauges are just not going to work with what I'm trying to do here. These are the MMC gauges and are printed on photo paper which would be OK if they weren't going to be lit up but in this case photo paper isn't going to work.

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Here's a better look at the change which was to get the two indicator lights more centered. Unfortunately, I had to move them closer together because of the drilled holes in the metal piece so a light will illuminate them from behind. You can see that the gauges on the photo paper just aren't going to do it. I'm hoping to get decals for the gauges and then I'll put them on clear acetate sandwiched between the MOP and the backing piece and then the trim rings to finish it off and back lit. I need to go pick up a few supplies tomorrow and I'll get back on it. We've had snow two of the last four days so, things are moving a little slow at the moment.

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The idea is for the gauges to light up individually as well as the red and orange indicator lights. I'm going to have do some more work on the back of the MOP to get each gauge decal to light up. But, first I need the decals in place of the photo paper pictures.

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I've been battling this gauge thing for about a week and I still cannot get a copy of the scan to print a regular paper copy in the correct colors let alone a decal. I've gone ahead now and had to make a number of alterations to the MMC dash insert to not only correct the indicator light placement but, now to drill holes big enough to allow enough light behind the gauges. If I have to try and light them up through the photo paper I'll have to put an LED behind each one. So, here is a before and after picture of the insert with the second picture showing the inner part of the backing to keep the insert from going crooked and giving it a stop point. It will also serve as the bottom of the light holder that I will build around on the back of the dash. It's not a lot of progress but, I've had think about plan A, plan B and plan C. I think part of the issue with the printing has been the ink so, I ordered all new ink cartridges for my printer and depending on how things work out after that will determine how I proceed. But, as you can see I've allowed enough of an opening for light to pass through behind the gauge faces.

Before:

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After:

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Unfortunately, this has been slow going and very frustrating but, once this issue is resolved I can finish the lighting under the dash and lay in some wire runs to the front lights and start assembling the body.

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Hope you get the printing issue resolved. Will be a wonderful setup when finished, I trust.

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