gjdale

Thanks for that Bob - seems I’m not the only one then! You may have just saved me a few $$$ in paint trials! 😊

Looking good Bob. Which particular Vallejo Model Air Red colour is it that you are using? (I mean what is the number designation of that particular shade?) I find it very difficult to tell from their colour charts how a particular colour is going to come out and end up buying several to test before settling on one. I like your shade, so might save myself some testing!

The only tools you really need are saw of suitable size, a square, a knife and a shooting board (which you can also make). Use the knife and square to mark your cut line on all four sides. Then saw just on the waste side of your cut line. Use a shooting board to clean up back to your knife line. You can use either a plane (best) or a sanding block on your shooting board to trim back to the knife line. You could also make your own mitre box by simply making an accurate cut with your saw part way through one piece of wood and then gluing/taping/screwing a second piece of wood to this as the platform/bed. Hold this in your vice and you have a mitre box with no play. There are a number of videos on YouTube about these ideas. My favourites are those by Paul Sellers. Matt Estlea is also very good. Paul Sellers demonstrates making both a mitre box and a shooting board, as well as using and cutting to a knife line.

Beautiful work Ben, as always.

Engine Block Assembly Assembly begins by attaching the external components to each side of the engine block. Here is the right side, showing the carburettor, supercharger, water pump and water pipes. The trickiest part of this assembly was the water pipes. There are two horizontal “arms”, and a vertical “Y-piece” connected to each other with short lengths of rubber hose. The lengths of the solid components had to be adjusted as they were all too long to fit together in the space. The kit-provided rubber hose was so old that it had turned solid and brittle, so this was replaced by some aftermarket plastic tubing from Model Motorcars. The hose clamps were simulated by small strips of aluminium tape. Here is the left side showing the generator, side cover, horn and starter motor, along with two oil filler caps. The horn is made up of three components – two brass pieces joined by a plastic “elbow”. For consistency, I painted all three parts the same colour (Vallego Metal Colour Gold). The generator was one of those parts where the fit was so bad that the mounting holes on the engine block had to moved during the pre-fitting. The oil filler caps also required their repository openings significantly adjusting. Once the main external components were fitted, the crankshaft could be made up. The individual parts were designed to snap/press fit together, although they needed a fair bit of adjustment to get them to fit. The main linkages were glued once joined linkages, being careful not to interfere with the movement of the connecting rods. The piston heads are simply set in place with an internal pin that goes through a hole in the con rod. The whole assembly could then be placed carefully in the left half of the engine block. The individual metal cylinders were then carefully set in place. It’s important to get these the right way up so that they sit properly in place and allow the engine block to seat securely around them. The right hand side of the engine block was then carefully placed on top, and the four retaining screws put in place, while standing on my head, rubbing my tummy and holding my tongue at just the right angle!!! I found that even with the screws nipped up securely, there was still a tendency for the top of the engine block to pull away each side at one end, so I provided some extra assistance in the form of a small amount of CA glue at that spot and clamped it gently overnight. Here are a few pictures of the engine block as one unit. In the second picture you can see the tops of some of the pistons within their cylinders. The front end piece was also added at this stage. And if you turn the crankshaft, you can watch the pistons moving up and down within the cylinders. Cool…… The inlet manifold could now be fitted. It had to wait until the two engine halves were together so that the centre retaining screw wasn’t obstructed. Of course, if you were just following the kit diagrams, you wouldn’t work this out until it was too late. Thankfully, Paul Koo’s instructions not only alert you to this, but also advise on a modification to how the inlet manifold joins the top of the supercharger to make it possible to fit at this stage. So here it is in place. The exhaust manifolds were temporarily fitted for the photo shoot, but won’t get permanently fitted until much later, when the rest of the exhaust system is installed. Finally, the bottom water pipe was fitted. This was a bit tricky as the pipe needed to be bent to shape in order to fit properly without interfering with other components at a later stage. A sticker was also attached at this point. It’s one of those extra touches that add that little bit of extra realism. I just have the engine bottom pan to install now before commencing work on the Engine Head.

Thanks OC and Ryland - welcome aboard. Ryalnd, you should definitely dig your Monza kit out again. Again, if you get hold of one of Paul Koo’s DVDs, you will find it a lot easier to finish your model. Seems there are quite a few Pocher kits lurking in people’s cupboards here on MSW - lets see if we can get some resurrected.

Thanks Ken - welcome aboard.

Hi Egilman, Welcome aboard. You should definitely have a go with your Fiat. If you get hold of one of Paul Koo’s DVDs, you will find that even the most intimidating aspect can be overcome with a little guidance.

Hi Yves and welcome to the build. I hope this will rekindle your desire to build your own kit. Thanks for the tip on Model Motorcars, though I had already found them back when I was researching. I may have already purchased or two items from them.......😎😎😎 And don’t worry, I won’t be rushing this one. Heck, it took me more than three years just to open the box! 😉 Seriously though, the posts above represent about six weeks work on and off.

Hi Jim, Yes I do indeed recall our conversations of a few years back. Nice to hear from you and welcome along for the ride. Interesting that you have the MB 540K Roadster kit. I was considering that one but opted instead for the “Rumble Seat” version, which I am acquiring through Paul Koo.

The main engine block in the street variant of this car was aluminium with a cast iron cylinder head. I sprayed the majority of the engine components with Vallejo Dull Aluminium and then went back and hand painted the simulated bolt heads with Vallejo Gun Metal. The main block was sprayed with a two-tone effect using Dull Aluminium and Black for the cylinder head. Everything was then given a coat of Metal Varnish to finish. Here are a few photos to show the overall painting, along with some close ups of the various components. These components are now ready for assembly.

The Engine Block For this entire build, the basic sequence is to test fit the parts for each build step, adjust the fit, then disassemble, paint and re-assemble. However, before I could even start on the test fitting, I found that I had to address some significant defects in the main engine block. Whether caused by mishandling at some stage, or just through age and the plastic becoming brittle, I found a large chunk taken out from one end of one half of the engine block. There was also a significant amount of clean-up required. I was able to repair this using some Milliput epoxy putty. I also used some Tamiya white putty to fill some of the mold marks. There is very little glue used in the construction of these models. A lot of the parts are screwed together using some very small screws. However, the holes in the plastic are invariably too small and are prone to cracking if forced. On the engine block and the component parts all of the screw holes were first drilled out using a 1.2mm drill and then tapped by screwing in the screw by itself first. This puts a thread into the plastic and makes it significantly easier to assemble. Additionally, a lot of screw holes are misaligned and needed to be moved or otherwise modified. Thank goodness for Paul’s instructions here – he identifies every single one of these misalignments and shows photographs of how to adjust the fit. Once this had been done, all of the component parts could then be disassembled in preparation for painting. There were a few components that made up into sub-assemblies that were able to be glued together prior to painting, however most were stripped back down to individual parts. Here are the parts ready for painting. I’ll be breaking out the airbrush for this project, so I decided to take a diversion and build a collapsible spray booth so that I could spray inside. As I’m using Vallejo acrylic paints, I don’t need to worry about ventilation, so the booth is just to protect from overspray. It is built of poster board and “hinged” with a tape similar to duct tape, so that the whole thing will fold flat for storage is as light as a feather. In use, it fits on a small portable table that sits at 90-degrees to my main workspace, so it is quite convenient. The top of the spray booth can also be folded back to allow more light on the work surface. I’m using Vallejo Metal Colour for painting these parts and Vallejo specifies a gloss black primer coat for these. So here are the parts with a coat of primer. The stand is something I picked up from Hobby Zone. It is actually a box construction. The top with the holes comes off and then the “arms” (10 of them supplied) are all stored within the box when not in use. The arms are a stiff but flexible plastic with an alligator clip at the end. It’s quite a neat little set up. Continued in the next post....

I had never heard of the Pocher range of model car kits until a fellow modeller on MSW (Moonbug) took a diversion from building ships to building one of these (actually a Rolls Royce). After following his build, I knew I had to have one of these kits. After much searching online, I came across someone in Sydney selling the Pocher Alfa. The price seemed quite fair but he advertised “pick up only” – these kits are in large, quite heavy boxes so clearly he did not want to deal with packing and posting. As it happened, I was due to be travelling to Sydney the next weekend and would be quite close to his proximity. I told him I would definitely like to buy subject to physical inspection. That weekend, my wife and I drove to Sydney and I visited the seller. He turned out to be a very nice old chap who had not one, but several of these kits to sell. He had bought four of them when his four boys were very young, with the intention of presenting them a finished model on each of their 21st birthdays. The youngest son was now 48 and three of the models had not even been started, including this one. Everything was still in the original sealed bags inside the box, so that was good enough for me. As I was leaving, he asked if I’d be interested in his Rolls Royce Sedanca Coupe as well. I politely declined, fearing what the Admiral might say. Anyway, as we were driving away, I cautiously mentioned to my wife the latter part of the conversation and to my great surprise, she asked if I’d like the second kit as a Christmas present. Needless to say, we turned around and bought the second kit as well. That was in October 2016. I finally got around to making a start on this model in late February 2020. Anyone who is familiar with these Pocher kits will know that they are famous for two things: the amazing level of detail they provide, and the equally amazing poor quality control and parts fit. Furthermore, the instruction manuals are little more than a series of exploded parts views. Having done a lot of research I came across a guy in the US by the name of Paul Koo, who has made a series of detailed instruction manuals for all of the Pocher classic car range. His DVD contains very thorough step-by-step instructions that forewarn you of all of the “problems” with each kit, and how to remedy these, BEFORE you find out the hard way. The DVDs also contain hundreds of photos showing everything from parts identification, to assembly sequences, and even how to pack the parts back into the box. There are also many reference photos from actual cars still in existence. On top of that, he carries an extensive range of spare parts that he has collected from partial models over the years. If you’re missing a part, chances are Paul can provide it. He is also an extremely nice and helpful fellow with whom it is a pleasure to do business. So much so, that I have subsequently added another two kits to my stash……. What’s in the box? A lot! There is so much packed into this kit, that Paul’s DVD contains 68 photos to help identify the various bags of metal parts and all of the plastic sprues. Here are a few photos from the DVD to show the contents by “layer” within the very large box. These are essential if you are to have any hope of getting everything back in the box again! Not showing above are the two wing panels that are hidden under the final piece of cardboard at the front of the box in the last picture above. Continued in the next post...

Progress looks good Chris. 👍

Looking fabulous Bob. The “refreshment” is well deserved!

Nice to see you back Hamilton. I look forward to updates in due course - no rush.

Your secret is safe with me Mark - well, with me and the other 130 people following your log...........😉

She’s looking stunning David. Great work!

This looks like a fun build - I’m in!

Congratulations on another truly fine model B.E. It is always a pleasure following your builds.

Lovely work Bob. Well done!

Repair job looks good Chris. 👍

Nice to see you back again Chris.

Hi Doug and welcome to MSW. There are quite a number of us Aussies here. I can’t answer your question directly, but another Aussie here is a real whiz on the plastic side of things. Here’s a link to one of his many builds. I’m sure if you post your question directly in one of his logs, or even send him a PM, you’ll get your answer.

Another masterpiece for your final model Danny. Please also see my comments on your other post.