Pocher Alfa Romeo Completed! Part 21

Over 2 years in the making, but the Pocher Alfa Romeo (rhymes with torture) project was recently completed.

The kit comes with light bulbs for the headlights, which naturally do not fit by the way. I updated these with LEDs.

The ignition key on the dash operates the lights. A coin battery is staffed in the back where the tool kit normally goes. I don't think I will bother assembling the tools kit.

One of the notoriously incorrect components of this kit is this faring over the spare wheels. It does not come anywhere close to fitting.

I altered it in several ways quite a bit. I am not happy with the result, but I came close.

Polished and waxed, my paint job looks pretty good on the completed model. It's also not 100% what I'd like, but it's OK.

Many parts of this model are rather crude. But the overall effect is good. The Italian glove leather really punches it up.

I've been asked if I would every build another Pocher.

No.

I am however really glad to have found and constructed this model that was somewhat of a myth in my childhood. Here it is... and it looks pretty good.

It is possible using the many high quality aftermarket parts available for classic Pocher kits to create a car that looks extremely realistic. I fact I have seen photos of Pochers that are indistinguishable for real cars, at least in the photos.

My goal though was to do the best I could with the kit as-is, out of the box, as much as possible. This Pocher looks like the kit was intended to look.

I did purchase the LEDs though, and the steel leaf springs. The LEDs are a reasonable and simple improvement. I concluded the steel suspension necessary when I read that the provided plastic parts do not support the weight of the finished car.

There are some flaws. There are a lot of flaws, some of which are mine, and many others are "designed in" to this kit. But I am very happy that I did manage to overcome most of the kit's worst flaws. My hood fits for example, and I did it without moving the engine back.

See the entire album for this project there. Read more about this project here.

Parked in a glass fronted bookcase now... It fits just about perfectly.

The complete album for this project is here. See all my posts on Pocher models here.

For more on scale models, look here.

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Pocher Project Nearing the End, Alfa Part 20

Door latches...

These are a compromise as there is pretty much no way to make them work as the kit stands. The best course would likely be to remake all these metal parts the correct size and shape.

I want to do this kit "as-is" as much as I can. So instead of fabricating anything, I made the handles work, including their spring action, But the doors themselves are just held with friction. There's no actual latch.

I was lucky. The leather that came with my kit was in excellent condition. Of course it doesn't really fit right, but that's just the way it goes.

The body parts are just dry fit on these images. Not too bad...

Grill details... I trid a number of different methods of getting a halfway OK look to the grill. It's easy to see why this might be a good candidate for an after market replacement.

The project paused just before this point waiting for warm weather for painting.

Here the hood is assembled next, with all the hinges working. Let me tell you that was not easy. None of those parts fit together correctly.

Also, the cover over the spare tires is an astoundingly bad part. I placed the piece in a jig for several days with a little heat (very little) and managed to get close to the right bend. Then I did a lot of cutting and shaping.

The fit on these body parts is stunningly bad. It takes a lot of sanding, filing, filling and even heating and bending to get to this point. But if you squint, and don't look close, it almost looks like the hood and doors work together!

The end is in sight!

Next, headlights... I am replacing the kit's bulb (which don't fit anyway) with some warm tone LEDs.

At my first attempt, the lights didn't work. I was afraid I had wired something wrong, which would be a disaster. The wiring is all tucked away.

The problem turned out to be the dashboard switch for the lights. The metal that is used in this kit is of such poor quality that it doesn't conduct well and needs a lot of contact. I got it to work with a little sanding and bending.

I like the resulting light color though.

At this point the main body is bolted down in place. The fenders will be shortly. Then only the front details, and the windshield remain to do.

The complete album for this project is here. See all my posts on Pocher models here.

For more on scale models, look here.

Pocher Progress, Alfa Part 19

While it was winter, the Posher Alfa was sitting fairly idle since the next steps, for the most part, involved body paint and sanding that I wanted to do in warm weather outdoors.

Well over the past couple of weeks I did do a little work.

Here is the radiator and nose, in place! The first body part finished and attached to the chassis... Actually, it still needs some polish, but I plan to do that to everything at once.

The next thing I plan to tackle is the doors and associated interior details.

The model has "working" latches. I place the word "working" in quotes because short of completely re-designing and making all the related parts from scratch, there is no way these latches are going to work.

I guess most models either redo the whole thing, or they skip it and let the doors just stick closed by friction, which they will. I am going to split the difference and make the latches and handles move, but not actually latche.

This photo of the backsides of the door panels shows a typical Pocher problem. The black part will be spring loaded and turn up (to "unlatch") with the door handle. On the right side is the left door. The inside panels are held with screws, and left side is ridiculous. The screw post is literally right over the latch. There is no way the latch can lift up, the screw completely blocks it.

On the other door the situation is better, but the screw still blocks the latch some (why are the doors even different? Some questions are better off left unasked...).

I plan to cut those screw posts off and hold the inside panels on with just two screws and some glue.

Which brings us to the next problem. The screws are much too long and will go right out the outside of the door. They have to be cut significantly shorter.

Also, the big screw heads stick up and will interfere with the leather interior.

I used the lathe to cut four original Pocher screws shorter, and tapper the heads so I can put them down flush.

The screws are so bad that I found them not even consistent in size. I had to use a different size collet for half of them.

Here is the original screw above, and the altered screw...

So, why not just glue the panel on and use no screws? Why not use some completely different screws that are a better size? Good question... It's a philosophical point. I am trying, as much as possible, to "build the kit" on this car. It won't be as perfect a scale model as some Pochers, that do extensive enhancements, turn out to be, sure. But I kind of want this to be a Pocher model "out of the box" as it were, as much as I can.

The complete album for this project is here. See all my posts on Pocher models here.

For more on scale models, look here.

Pocher Update, Alfa Part 18

I will be painting the body parts, but to get them ready requires extensive alterations. Here, for example, is the front end. I have nearly finished shaping, carving, filing and sanding the left side to fit. The right side shows how the fender is, untouched out of the box.

The complete album for this project is here. See all my posts on Pocher models here.

For more on scale models, look here.

Pocher Update, Alfa Part 17

First, here are a couple images of the completed rear end assembly.

 
With the rear end mounted to the frame, it's looking like a car.

As I expected the rear brakes come closer to working. The calipers can be moved via the brake pedal. The front ones move, if you give the linkage a little help. And actually, from what I have read, that's pretty good.

With the addition of the exhaust system, the chassis is complete. The next step is the madness that is the wire wheels. All the spokes on this one are real and individually assembled in three layers. There's two spares so that's six wheels. It may take as long as the rest of the car has so far to get them done.

I should try to take a better picture of the bottom. It's hard to hold it, and the phone, together.

This is the beginning of one layer of spokes.

There it is, countless hours later, one completed wheel.

The complete album for this project is here. See all my posts on Pocher models here.

For more on scale models, look here.

Springs, Pocher Alfa Part 16

I didn't take any photos of the front leaf springs, so here are the rear ones, freshly made today. These are for my 1/8th scale  Pocher   Alfa Romeo  project. All individual steel springs, real nuts and bolts. They will get primed and painted shortly.

More here:
http://jsexton-projects.weebly.com/alfa.html

The complete album for this project is here. See all my posts on Pocher models here.

For more on scale models, look here.