Building the Pocher 1/8 Lotus 72D, Emerson Fittipaldi 1972

[Griph]

1 minute ago, cmatthewbacon said:

Turning the corner into the finishing straight now, I reckon, the checkered flag visible in the distance...

 

 

 

Nose cone completed, and the wheels tried on for size.

 

 

 

 

And it does go on and clip in place, especially if helped along a bit by lifting the front up with a couple of fingers under the extreme nose just to flex it slightly and snug the pins under the silver "fasteners" at the back of the upper nose panel into their sockets.

 

Next the rear wing. I think I've figured out how to do it. Fences and bracing bars mounted to the plastic underside, slide it over the central mounting and flex it down to to slip the central hinge pin in place, fit the metal top surface, adjust the bracing bars to length and screw in place on the tail at their lower ends, and finally add the end plates. We'll see how that works tomorrow...

 

best,

M.

 

 

Hi Matt - yeah I did the same as you regarding the nose cone! All one piece, slide on, lift the front slightly and clip in the two pins!  I removed the internal screw cockers and extinguisher cradle on B2-1 as they made it impossible to fit the nose! 

Regarding the tail, prefit the 2 x DCB-2 to C-5, then fit C-5 and dowel BR-1 to the car.  P-1 and a  fit onto projecting pegs on C-5, if you fit them after DCA-9 it may be difficult to get them in  Don’t prefit C-6 and 7 until after C-5 and pin is in place. These are a close fit to the sides of the rear body and make getting BR-1  in difficult. Once C-5 and dowel are in place, fit C-6 and 7. Also fit the telescopic rods. Lift C-5 so that BR-1 is fully engaged. Finally fit DCA-9 and it’s done! The wing angle is adjustable as BR-2 is a working telescopic unit. 

[cmatthewbacon]

@Griph has it exactly right for the tail. the only additional wrinkle was making sure to pre-tap the two brace mounts under the wing (DCB-2), and ream out the holes in the upper end of the telescopic bars (the thin end) and round the corners of the mount.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a few last details to add, sort out the transparent windscreen section and the last couple of decals...

 

best,

M.

[Griph]

2 minutes ago, cmatthewbacon said:

@Griph has it exactly right for the tail. the only additional wrinkle was making sure to pre-tap the two brace mounts under the wing (DCB-2), and ream out the holes in the upper end of the telescopic bars (the thin end) and round the corners of the mount.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a few last details to add, sort out the transparent windscreen section and the last couple of decals...

 

best,

M.

Thanks Matt. I don’t have taps, think I’d be more of a liability with those. I do use oil and back out the screws partially after every few screw motions. This seems to do a reasonable job for the complete amateur like me. Good call rounding the end of the BR-2’a! 
 

I was impressed how well the metal top wing and plastic under wing parts fitted!

[cmatthewbacon]

I don't have taps either.... I just meant I put the screws through with some silicone grease to ease them and took them out again before I fitted the mounts into the wing -- I was worried that the torque of putting the screws in would twist them out of the wing again...

best,

M.

[Griph]

4 minutes ago, cmatthewbacon said:

I don't have taps either.... I just meant I put the screws through with some silicone grease to ease them and took them out again before I fitted the mounts into the wing -- I was worried that the torque of putting the screws in would twist them out of the wing again...

best,

M.

Ah yes, sorry misunderstood. For the DCB-2’s I definitely precut the thread before assembling the connection.

[mercman]

hi all, just joined and building the lotus, i have the latest instructions, which has got me to the front suspension build. I have a couple of questions for the esteemed builders on the forum, as this is my first pocher build, after building eaglemossand deagostini cars in the past

 

1) does every hole in this kit need to be tapped/ re-tapped?

2) all the screws seem to be mainly 1.5mm but I cant find a 1.5mm tap only 1.4 or 1.6mm any suggestions?

3) Based on above screw H, seems too big to use to join the front lowershock mount, have I been sent the wrong screw, I have used an E to hold the shock for now

[cmatthewbacon]

Hi, @mercman and welcome aboard this slightly choppy ride! I didn't tap any of the holes building mine. What I did do was before joining anything screw all of the fixings into the receiving holes, with a bit of silicon grease to lubricate, 1/2 turn forward then 1/4 turn back if it got tough, to cut their way in. Then remove them all, noting which went in which hole. Finally join the pieces and replace all the screws in their holes to fix. If BOTH pieces being joined have tight fitting screw holes (with many, the screw slides through the hole in one piece and only bites into the second), then I did the above for both holes. If you're a veteran of eaglemoss and deAg builds, I'm assuming you have a rather better screwdriver than the one provided in the kit. I really don't know how anyone would be able to build it with just that...

 

You need the long H screw because it has to go through all three arms of the W of the lower shock mount to fix both the end of the shock and the DC-45 push rod in the next-door slot.

 

 

This is where I pre-screwed it all the way through, and then backed it out again to get the part mounting in their slots.

best,

M.

[mercman]

thanks @cmatthewbacon, I have been doing that for most of the screws, just not using the silicon grease, will give this ago

Edited April 14, 2023 by mercman

[Griph]

33 minutes ago, mercman said:

thanks @cmatthewbacon, I have been doing that for most of the screws, just not using the silicon grease, will give this ago

Hi Mercman! 
 

As always @cmatthewbacon‘s advice is spot on, he has helped many of us with this build. Glad you have the high res PDF’s because without them the build was a pain!
 

However, I found 3 in 1 oil simpler for cutting the threads as used by World of Wayne, I find the silicon grease too .. err well greasy, and having the screw on the end of the screwdriver resulted in the screw being stuck in the grease and no longer on the screwdriver. Just dipping the thread in a shallow dish of 3in1 was simpler for me. I agree pre-threading the holes helped enormously! As Matt says in and out to clear the thread as it cuts.

 

When you get to them. The screw fixing the wishbones to the frame were in my opinion too short, and in some cases, I had to rob my Porsche 917 screw spares for a better fit!

 

Finally I’d recommend that you have a good read through all the comments in this forum, as there is so much useful information that will save you from nightmares!

 

Happy building!  

[cmatthewbacon]

Another useful thing to know is that there are more screws of most types than you need… I should take a picture of my remaining sorting box, I guess. Unlike the otherwise brilliant Meng 1/9 motorbikes, which have exactly what you need and no more. So you don’t need to panic if you think you need a different one, or mess up the Philips head…

best,

M.

[Griph]

3 minutes ago, cmatthewbacon said:

Another useful thing to know is that there are more screws of most types than you need… I should take a picture of my remaining sorting box, I guess. Unlike the otherwise brilliant Meng 1/9 motorbikes, which have exactly what you need and no more. So you don’t need to panic if you think you need a different one, or mess up the Philips head…

best,

M.

The other thing - tongue in cheek, is be careful there are extremely small parts on the sprues and the springs to be the pedals are made from human hair IMHO, if these ping off, you’ll be hard pressed to find them again! I ended up gluing the pedals, but they will never be moved anyway! No electrics! 

[mercman]

21 minutes ago, cmatthewbacon said:

Another useful thing to know is that there are more screws of most types than you need… I should take a picture of my remaining sorting box, I guess. Unlike the otherwise brilliant Meng 1/9 motorbikes, which have exactly what you need and no more. So you don’t need to panic if you think you need a different one, or mess up the Philips head…

best,

M.

Thanks, I had hoped so, especially the A and E ones

[mercman]

15 minutes ago, Griph said:

The other thing - tongue in cheek, is be careful there are extremely small parts on the sprues and the springs to be the pedals are made from human hair IMHO, if these ping off, you’ll be hard pressed to find them again! I ended up gluing the pedals, but they will never be moved anyway! No electrics! 

Thanks I have the engine and gear box already done, that was hard enough, But so much detail. I have also been following the videos on YouTube by splash Baker modelling.

[Griph]

19 minutes ago, mercman said:

Thanks I have the engine and gear box already done, that was hard enough, But so much detail. I have also been following the videos on YouTube by splash Baker modelling.

Yes been following her videos too, she has had a few issues that needed to be corrected. She hasn’t corrected the fuel injection leads yet, as she has routed these over the top of the trumpet support bases DC-4 and 38, when they should have passed under DC-2 and 2 and risen between these and DC-34 and 35 and then connected to NI-9 and 10. These were woefully excluded from the instructions and only shown in place on Part 2 page 16 bottom image - if you zoom in! Feel sorry for anyone attempting to build this from the paper instructions! 😡

[mercman]

11 minutes ago, Griph said:

Yes been following her videos too, she has had a few issues that needed to be corrected. She hasn’t corrected the fuel injection leads yet, as she has routed these over the top of the trumpet support bases DC-4 and 38, when they should have passed under DC-2 and 2 and risen between these and DC-34 and 35 and then connected to NI-9 and 10. These were woefully excluded from the instructions and only shown in place on Part 2 page 16 bottom image - if you zoom in! Feel sorry for anyone attempting to build this from the paper instructions! 😡

Yep  caught that, I'm still not sure when and how the gear change gets fitted either, seen that it comes when the body and engine are merged together, but very unclear in the Pocher instructions. Th3 build videos feom eaglemoss and now Fanhome, have been a great help foe builds like these I have done

[cmatthewbacon]

4 hours ago, mercman said:

Yep  caught that, I'm still not sure when and how the gear change gets fitted either, seen that it comes when the body and engine are merged together

I put in a bunch of pictures up thread that show how the end of the shifter rod coming back from the lever through the back of the tub meets up with the socket floating under the right cylinder head that terminates the long universal jointed rod running alongside the block and back to the gearbox.

 

These are probably the clearest:

 

 

 

best,

M.

[cmatthewbacon]

As promised, this is what I have left:

 

 

A decent length of both tubes, A's and B's a-plenty, not much in the G and H department, but a good few of the washered ones. The big "L's" are for bolting it down in the cabinet...

 

(Not pictured, lots of ribbon. Really a LOT of ribbon, because I bought some. Anyone needs any, just ask....)

best,

M.

M.

[Griph]

10 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

As promised, this is what I have left:

 

 

A decent length of both tubes, A's and B's a-plenty, not much in the G and H department, but a good few of the washered ones. The big "L's" are for bolting it down in the cabinet...

 

(Not pictured, lots of ribbon. Really a LOT of ribbon, because I bought some. Anyone needs any, just ask....)

best,

M.

I did the same with the screws. IXO collections provided a box as part of the Porsche 917KH subscription, that was very compact. I purchased a multi-compartment box for the 72 and wrote the screw numbers on the lid for each compartment.

 

I also put stickers on both sides of the bags containing the sprues with large bold letters, in order to keep track of what sprue was what! 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Griph

[cmatthewbacon]

I'm officially calling this build complete. Thanks for all the support and suggestions along the way, folks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and the studio shots are on the way...

 

 

best,

M.

[mercman]

On 14/04/2023 at 15:18, cmatthewbacon said:

Hi, @mercman and welcome aboard this slightly choppy ride! I didn't tap any of the holes building mine. What I did do was before joining anything screw all of the fixings into the receiving holes, with a bit of silicon grease to lubricate, 1/2 turn forward then 1/4 turn back if it got tough, to cut their way in. Then remove them all, noting which went in which hole. Finally join the pieces and replace all the screws in their holes to fix. If BOTH pieces being joined have tight fitting screw holes (with many, the screw slides through the hole in one piece and only bites into the second), then I did the above for both holes. If you're a veteran of eaglemoss and deAg builds, I'm assuming you have a rather better screwdriver than the one provided in the kit. I really don't know how anyone would be able to build it with just that...

 

You need the long H screw because it has to go through all three arms of the W of the lower shock mount to fix both the end of the shock and the DC-45 push rod in the next-door slot.

 

 

This is where I pre-screwed it all the way through, and then backed it out again to get the part mounting in their slots.

best,

M.

I used some 3 in 1oil today, so much easier, also found one of the H screws seem bigger than the other 2 supplied

[Griph]

14 minutes ago, cmatthewbacon said:

I'm officially calling this build complete. Thanks for all the support and suggestions along the way, folks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and the studio shots are on the way...

 

 

best,

M.

Great job Matt! Looks fantastic! What is your opinion of the steering and rear drive shafts? When I roll the car forward, I lose the steering when the pinion on the outer end of the shaft is no longer vertical.  I have to rotate the wheels so the shaft is vertical to enable steering. Basically, you can have rotating wheels, or working steering - not both!  For the rear wheels, I have some wobble relative to the shafts. It’s not a problem with the car basically being a static display! Buy the wheel assemblies are poorly engineered. 

[Griph]

9 minutes ago, mercman said:

I used some 3 in 1oil today, so much easier, also found one of the H screws seem bigger than the other 2 supplied

Yeah 3 in 1 is definitely the way to go! Learnt that from World of Wayne. The first time you sheer a screw or strip out the hole is a lesson learnt! 

[Schummie]

Some pictures of my progress and mods.

 

All the hose clamps are replaced with FE ones.

 

 

The triangular parts connected to the tube is wrong. The are not connected on the real car. So I removed them.

After this picture it was sprayed again.

 

 

 

I took some time to modify the dash with wires. I took this picture as reference, because I see a "golden" steering wheel centre as in our kit. Also the instrument housing is black here.

 

 

Some detailed masking to spray the switches in silver.

 

 

 

After spraying and removing the masking tape. Also sanded the tampo print, to be replaced with the decal and to install metal rivets.

 

 

 

A missing switch in the left upper side installed. Took a after market MFH white metal one.

 

 

 

Decal and rivets in place.

 

 

 

 

To the back, the parts as to be used from the kit.

 

 

After sanding off the moulded parts and drilling the holes.

 

 

 

Brass tube, bend aluminium tube, aluminium strip, rivets and dummy bolts installed. Still a bit glossy here.

 

 

 

 

Connectors painted silver and drilled to connect the wires.

 

 

 

Instrument housing installed and the first wires.

 

 

 

The end result of the back. A totalof 14 wires and tubes installed. The wires come from an old printer cable, metal fishing line and tunbes from the kit.

 

 

 

 

And the front of the dashboard including the instruments.

 

 

All inspired by modellers in this topic.  Thanks.  My pictures are a bit off this time. It's due to the black surfaces and the flash. I'm not much of a fotographer.

In real light, not on macro pictures, I find the results pretty good.

Untill next udate, if its still alowed.

I noticed that this topic is labeled ready now.

 

[AlxBNE]

4 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

I'm officially calling this build complete.

...and the studio shots are on the way...

 

 

best,

M.

What an excellent result after an interesting build to follow along with.

There is a lot of great detail in a 1/8 kit and it looks like you had to work hard at some points to get this fabulous model to look as good as it does in the studio shoot.

[cmatthewbacon]

Great work @Schummie. I hadn’t though of that, so I’ve changed the thread title to something more generic. That way people can keep adding, and it’ll become the reference thread for any builder…

best,

M.