Pocher Mercedes Benz 540K Cabriolet on it's way !

[Andy J]

What have I done ! Oh well to late now managed to find a factory sealed kit and after a lot of deliberation have parted with a small fortune god I hope it's worth it !

[Codger]

43 minutes ago, Andy J said:

What have I done ! Oh well to late now managed to find a factory sealed kit and after a lot of deliberation have parted with a small fortune god I hope it's worth it !

It surely is and you can do it justice.

Here's a little incentive by David Cox:

[Andy J]

5 minutes ago, Codger said:

It surely is and you can do it justice.

Here's a little incentive by David Cox:

Thanks for the vote of confidence my only concern is that this kit may be above my skill level I suppose time will tell. That is superb work truly magnificent !

[keefr22]

That'll keep you quiet for a while Andy!! I'm with Codger and am sure you'll do a fine job on it!

 

When I read your PM I thought you'd won the Euromillions and had actually ordered a Kermit green McLaren....!!!

 

That Merc is an impressive looking beast and will make a fantastic display piece - are you going to do a w.i.p. thread?

 

Good luck!

 

Keith

 

 

[Andy J]

55 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

That'll keep you quiet for a while Andy!! I'm with Codger and am sure you'll do a fine job on it!

 

When I read your PM I thought you'd won the Euromillions and had actually ordered a Kermit green McLaren....!!!

 

That Merc is an impressive looking beast and will make a fantastic display piece - are you going to do a w.i.p. thread?

 

Good luck!

 

Keith

 

 

I think a w.i.p. thread would be a good idea Keith I have a feeling I'll need some help along the way and hopefully people with knowledge of these kits will jump on board. The McLaren comment you made above was priceless mate 😂 Time for me to make some preparations and do some research though I don't plan on starting this project till the new year got a few 1/24 kits to build first.

[Jo NZ]

4 hours ago, Andy J said:

Thanks for the vote of confidence my only concern is that this kit may be above my skill level I suppose time will tell. That is superb work truly magnificent !

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...

[Codger]

What Jo recommends is golden.  He has lots of experience with Pochers and scratchbuilding - and the need for scratchbuilding on Pochers !

In addition I'd add the following from my experience.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Make plenty of working and painting space before starting.

Organize parts so they are not jumbled together in bags or boxes.

Triple the amount and type of tools you think you'll need.

FORGET the urge to open the box and paint and glue things together. This is not Monogram.

Very carefully compare left/right parts (hoods, doors, fenders and even body symmetry) before doing anything. Example; each of my 4 Rolls fenders had different contours. Warping on  a 4 decade old kit is common as is brittle plastic.

Allow adequate gaps when in mock-up stage for opening panels for paint build. At least .005 is adequate. Keep testing.

Upholstery will add dimensional thickness so allow for that.

Decide early if aftermarket parts will be used because some areas will need to be modified to accept them.

If unable to make or obtain a tap, the technique of 'heat sinking' screws (as described by Koo) into plastic works well when you master it.

The preferred body fillers are Bondo or Milliput - you will need them for paint perfection.

Use 00-90 and 00-80 bolts, studs and nuts in place of screws as often as possible.

 

Start a thread and ask questions here. There are expert builders of these always willing to help.

 

 

 

[Andy J]

Thanks to Jo and Mr C for taking the time to pass on all that vital information my head is spinning already but you know what " Bring it on " one way or another I'm building this sucker ! Ever since I paid for this kit I've been fretting over whether or not I have the necessary skills to see it through well I'll use the skills I have and learn the skills I don't ! Thanks again for your support much appreciated 

             Regards Andy

[JeroenS]

That's the spirit! 

[Andy J]

7 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

That's the spirit! 

Absolutely right at least that's what I keep telling myself 😃

[Codger]

A bit more incentive:

Same model by David Cox. I forgot to mention that nearly all the chrome trim here is scratchbuilt by Cox and is brass with real chrome plating. So don't expect the molded in plastic to look quite this 'real'. If you are unable to duplicate it but must have it, you can contact David who can fabricate it for you. He is very helpful to Pocher builders. For that matter, I'm sure Jo could too.

David scratchbuilt my running board strips and landau irons seen here:

[Andy J]

46 minutes ago, Codger said:

A bit more incentive:

Same model by David Cox. I forgot to mention that nearly all the chrome trim here is scratchbuilt by Cox and is brass with real chrome plating. So don't expect the molded in plastic to look quite this 'real'. If you are unable to duplicate it but must have it, you can contact David who can fabricate it for you. He is very helpful to Pocher builders. For that matter, I'm sure Jo could too.

David scratchbuilt my running board strips and landau irons seen here:

At this point in time I have no idea how far I will take this kit. However it's good to know that the experts are out there I'm sure there knowledge and experience will prove invaluable, yourself included of course and that's based on your superb work shown above

[larchiefeng]

You only need a 2mm tap and you can get one from Model Motorcars for $9. Did you get the black cabriolet or the white cabriolet special? The main body is different but everything else is pretty much the same. I built the Mercedes true roadster a couple years ago which is also different main body but, again everything else is the same. I would post a link to my build but, I don’t have it handy at the moment. I’ll look it up later if you’re interested. 

[Andy J]

11 hours ago, larchiefeng said:

You only need a 2mm tap and you can get one from Model Motorcars for $9. Did you get the black cabriolet or the white cabriolet special? The main body is different but everything else is pretty much the same. I built the Mercedes true roadster a couple years ago which is also different main body but, again everything else is the same. I would post a link to my build but, I don’t have it handy at the moment. I’ll look it up later if you’re interested. 

Hi I haven't received the kit yet it's on its way but I can confirm it's the white cabriolet special is that a good choice ? I would be very interested in viewing your build the more reference pic's I have the better. I build model kits I'm not an engineer so the more sources of help I can find the better for me.

              Regards Andy

[larchiefeng]

Andy,

I’m not really an engineer in the sense that you think of one. I was a chief engineer for a resort hotel and the two villages on either side of it on the lake. Now I work at and on the lake in kind of the same capacity. 
I think that the white 540K cabriolet is my favorite of all of them. I have one in my collection that I have always wanted to do the Special Roadster conversion on. I don’t know if I will ever get to it but that is the plan for it.

My Mercedes build is of K91 True Roadster and was a body style that I really wasn’t fond of so, part way through it, I decided to modify the body to look a little more like the 540K roadster. I wanted the long tail end so, I did a lot of work from the seats back to get the look. 
I had a lot of help from a lot of Pocher guys Including Codger, Paul Koo, Dave Cox, Roymattblack, just to name a few. There were many more people than and, I apologize to any that I forgot here but,

 I’m just going from memory on my phone.

 I’m going to post on my F40 build this morning and I will find and post the link to my Mercedes when I get on the computer.

I know that Codger is looking forward to seeing another Pocher build on the forum, I hope that he can wait until next year! 🤔

[st george]

I built one of these in 1983. great model and well worth the time to build. I was lucky enough to have the model shop buy it back from me once completed for a tidy profit too.

[larchiefeng]

Here is the link to my Mercedes build thread

[Andy J]

Great thanks for posting this I will follow this as a reference guide once I get started

           Regards Andy

[larchiefeng]

Andy,

I hope that you find it useful. On the thread I actually built two engines and frames. One of them is for the K91 which is the kit I was building. The K91 has plastic wire wheels and the other one was the K74 cabriolet which has the metal wire wheels. I actually built the wire wheels which is what your kit has. So, that might be helpful for you. 
Another thing that you really “need” to do is get the Paul Koo dvd for building the Mercedes. Paul and I met during my build and I took the car to his house at some point in the build for his advice/help. 
The last thing goes to what Codger mentioned earlier about planning the build. If you want to upgrade any of the parts to the Model Motorcar parts be sure to plan ahead for them. They are, in some cases, a significant upgrade but, don’t always just go right on. Most of the parts require some finagling to get to fit and some require modifications to work on the car. I probably added every MMC upgrade but, I didn’t plan ahead for them and it cost me a lot of time. I think that I probably covered most of these things as I went along but, could be important enough to be said up front depending on what you plan on doing with the build. Enjoy your Mercedes and I will be looking forward to seeing you start your build.

 

[Andy J]

42 minutes ago, larchiefeng said:

Andy,

I hope that you find it useful. On the thread I actually built two engines and frames. One of them is for the K91 which is the kit I was building. The K91 has plastic wire wheels and the other one was the K74 cabriolet which has the metal wire wheels. I actually built the wire wheels which is what your kit has. So, that might be helpful for you. 
Another thing that you really “need” to do is get the Paul Koo dvd for building the Mercedes. Paul and I met during my build and I took the car to his house at some point in the build for his advice/help. 
The last thing goes to what Codger mentioned earlier about planning the build. If you want to upgrade any of the parts to the Model Motorcar parts be sure to plan ahead for them. They are, in some cases, a significant upgrade but, don’t always just go right on. Most of the parts require some finagling to get to fit and some require modifications to work on the car. I probably added every MMC upgrade but, I didn’t plan ahead for them and it cost me a lot of time. I think that I probably covered most of these things as I went along but, could be important enough to be said up front depending on what you plan on doing with the build. Enjoy your Mercedes and I will be looking forward to seeing you start your build.

 

I don't think at this moment I will be adding any extra detail however who knows what the future holds.lm not trying to create the best pocher build of all time just a finished kit that I can be proud of I know my limitations. With the help of yourself and others on the forum I have a big advantage going forward and one I plan to use as much as possible. Once again thank you for your interest

              Regards Andy

[Codger]

You have a sensible outlook. The same one I started out with.

 

Then look what happened...

[Andy J]

12 minutes ago, Codger said:

You have a sensible outlook. The same one I started out with.

 

Then look what happened...

Ha ha absolutely maybe just a little extra detail then 🤔

[Codger]

Wayne went down this path with his build as you will learn from his thread. I suspect most first-time Pocher guys do as well. Happy to just finish an out-of-box build but at some point you find some things that let your work down, causing disappointment. This is 'The Pocher Poison'.

A case in point is the cockpit in the Benz - a focal point of the whole car. What Pocher gives you for upholstery and carpet is fine for shoe-making. Soon you become an expert on kid leather, wood veneer and mother-of-pearl. And you can go deeper down the well from there.

Don't be discouraged - half the battle is knowing the dangers we point out. If you see things you want to try, it's a perfect chance to expand your skill set into advanced building.

However a perfectly nice model can be built without advanced stuff if you're very neat and use solid construction techniques. Those wire wheels are beautiful and give a huge shot of confidence. Just making sure that everything is square and plumb is a victory and a good path to a nice looking build.

Edited November 10, 2019 by Codger

[larchiefeng]

Pocher interior “leather” is 💩! You definitely don’t want to use that. I wound up with a whole box full of a lot of different color leather. You just need to make sure that you have enough leather to finish the interior. I had to two tone my door panels because I ran out of the cream color leather and I couldn’t find a match. It has to be from the same dye lot.

 

[keefr22]

On 08/11/2019 at 18:41, Codger said:

That is quite simply magnificent Mr C. ! The old cliché of 'it looks real' is most certainly appropriate in this instance - an astonishing model beautifully photographed - fantastic!

 

Keith