Alfa Romeo Spider Gran Touring by gjdale - FINISHED - Pocher - Scale 1:8

[BobG]

WOW!! Like everyone else is saying, Grant: this is an astonishing beautiful build! 

 

Now you've made me think that I have to build at least one of these Pocher cars someday soon...the cost be damned! I think it would be worth it...

[Landlubber Mike]

13 minutes ago, BobG said:

WOW!! Like everyone else is saying, Grant: this is an astonishing beautiful build! 

 

Now you've made me think that I have to build at least one of these Pocher cars someday soon...the cost be damned! I think it would be worth it...

Bob, keep an eye on eBay.  Prices right now are pretty outrageous for these kits.  Only a few months ago, however, there were tons popping up for auction that went for about a third of some of the prices you are seeing now.  On the lower end, I've seen prices for the Fiat around $300, Alfa Romeos (except for the rare ones like the Coupe Elegant and Muletto which go closer to $1,000) go in the high $300s to mid $400s depending on kit, and the Mercedes a little more than the Alfas.  You're looking at low $500s for the Rolls Sedanca, a few hundred more for the Torpedo Cabriolet, and the Ambassador seems to run closer to $1,000.  I haven't been as interested in the Bugatti so haven't been following them closely, but they are up there in the Rolls category in terms of pricing.

 

The Paul Koos DVDs are well worth the cost, whatever kit you get.  Very well done with hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures, along with build tips, options for improvements, etc.

[BobG]

2 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Bob, keep an eye on eBay.  Prices right now are pretty outrageous for these kits.  Only a few months ago, however, there were tons popping up for auction that went for about a third of some of the prices you are seeing now.

Thanks Mike.

 

I've browsed eBay a few times and couldn't believe how high the prices are for Pocher kits. So many people have been at home due to the pandemic and they finally have much more time to pursue hobbies which may be driving up the prices. Prices for things like jigsaw puzzles, exercise equipment and even flour and yeast, since it was rarely available at the grocery, went through the roof! I have time to keep looking though since I need to cut my teeth on some much less expensive models before I plunk down a big chunk of cash for a Pocher kit.

 

 

[mtaylor]

Beautiful  work, Grant.  I think "colorful language" is a required skill set for model building.

[gjdale]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments and likes.

 

Yves - not sure about the original wire colouring. I copied this from another model but there is likely some “artistic licence” as the colours need to be done in pairs due to the way they are fixed to the model. The Pocher kit has them all the same colour. I just wanted to use some different colours to add interest.

 

Also, I forgot to mention that the headlights on this model will be working. There is some preliminary wiring for this soldered to the back of the dashboard. The “switch” to turn them on will be the insertion of a key in the centre dash dial. In the photos you may be able to see some of the wiring (red and yellow) making its way from the dash down to each side of the firewall. One each of these pairs will go the right and left headlights, while a third set will lead to the battery box (which will be hidden but accessible).

 

BobG - yes, these kits are expensive and you need to be careful when buying. I strongly recommend contacting Paul Koo directly if you are seriously interested. Despite the wildly varying prices on eBay, Paul will charge you a “fair” price for whichever kit (and they do vary depending on the kit) and he will do a complete inventory for you if the kit is already opened (he does get some “factory sealed” kits occasionally - I’ve just bought a factory sealed Mercedes kit from him). He will also be able to provide you any missing parts - even factory sealed kits are known to have parts missing. He also provided me with the replacement cam covers for this Alfa model after I stuffed up the originals. In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with Paul - he is extremely knowledgeable, very helpful, prompt in his responses to queries, fair, and above all - HONEST. (Usual disclaimer - no affiliation, just a very satisfied customer).

[Landlubber Mike]

Agree about Paul - he helped me replace some cracked items on a couple of Pocher kits I own, and charged me very fair prices.  His DVDs also have a kit inventory section that clearly show in pictures what a complete kit should contain.  Helps a lot when looking at items up for auction.

[BobG]

Does Paul Koos have a website?

[gjdale]

He has an ebay store:

 

https://www.ebay.com/str/pocherphilesforum

 

But if you are after a kit, you’re probably better off contacting him direct via email as he doesn’t necessarily put these up on the web. He can usually source particular kits for you as well. If you’re interested I can PM you his email address.

[Keith Black]

There's currently a Alfa Spider kit on Facebook Marketplace for $380.00 which is a good price compared to eBay which is crazy stupid. 

[yvesvidal]

1 hour ago, Keith Black said:

There's currently a Alfa Spider kit on Facebook Marketplace for $380.00 which is a good price compared to eBay which is crazy stupid. 

Especially when you add Sales Tax on "used" items and the shipping which is traditionally plain ridiculous. E-Bay is a lost cause, even though I loved it and it has served me so many times.

 

Yves

[rshousha]

If you have any questions about these kits, I can also help you out. I've bought and sold many hundreds of Pocher kits over the years, thousands if I include engine kits. As the prices are slowly going down on these kits, I do not carry inventory but I can certainly have a look at a deal you might be seeing and let you know if it's worth the money. 

 

Paul is doing a great job and continuing to stay with the brand while I have moved to other endeavours. The only Pochers I sell regularly are the new ones that the company is producing. 

 

You might also check with Peter Doney, in the UK, at pocherparts.com . He also has fair prices and has a few kits available. 

 

 

 

 

[gjdale]

Some progress was made last weekend, but I didn't get to update the log until now...

 

The Front Axle

 

The approach to the front axle is the same as for previous sections –  ie test fit and adjust where necessary the plastic parts, then disassemble, paint and re-assemble. This is a quite complex assembly. The Pocher instructions are nothing more than an exploded parts view – with no information about the order of assembly. 

 

 

A second page deals with the leaf springs, both front and rear, but these need to be addressed in conjunction with the front and rear axles respectively.

 

 

In contrast, Paul’s photo essay on the front axle is 96 pages long, with detailed explanations for both parts fit and sequence of assembly, as well as offering alternative methods for some parts to make the fit better and/or easier.

 

Assembly commences with the front dampers. Here are the initial components (there are two lots of these of course):

 

 

And assembled:

 

 

 They then need to be affixed to the front axle:

 

 

 

 

The front leaf springs are next. Part of the leaf spring shackles were fitted to the main frame in the previous step. Here are the components for one of the rear shackles:

 

 

And the front leaf springs attached to the front axle:

 

 

Continued next post...

[gjdale]

Next up are the front wheel plates. These get fitted with the rotating axle hubs and a strange looking metal piece that I have no idea of the name. I forgot to take a pre-assembly picture, but here is what these look like assembled together:

 

 

The front brake cams then need to be fitted to the wheel plates. Here are the components and pre and post assembly:

 

 

 

On the other side of the wheel plates, the front brakes themselves are fitted:

 

 

If you look closely you will see the spring joining the two brake shoes running over the top of the brake cam. The brakes are supposed to be fully functioning, but the springs are a little too strong and the cam a little too weak. It is supposedly possible to fix this issue, but it is not easy and I’m not going there!

 

The wheel plates are then fitted to the front axle:

 

And here is what the front axle looks like so far:

 

 

The tie rods, brake linkages and front axle braces are fitted next, with some judicial additional bending of the front axle braces and some extra threading added to them as well:

 

 

The front axle brake linkages are then added back to the transmission brake levers:

 

 

And finally, the steering control rod is added back to the control arm on the steering gear box. Again, this needed to have some judicial bending imparted and in this case was inserted from the opposite direction at both ends to that shown in the Pocher manual in order to provide a better fit:

 

 

The rear axle assembly is next...

[Egilman]

Those wierd shaped pieces attached to the spindle on the opposite side of the brake backing plate are called steering knuckles.....

[yvesvidal]

12 hours ago, gjdale said:

 

 

As you probably know, Model Motorcars just came up with a set of real steel leaf springs for the Alfa Romeo kit. They are superb but their price is a strong repellent to say the least...

 

Yves

[BobG]

Just out of curiosity, what is a fair price range for complete kit of this Pocher Alfa Romeo Spider kit? The price range is all over the place on eBay.

[yvesvidal]

21 minutes ago, BobG said:

Just out of curiosity, what is a fair price range for complete kit of this Pocher Alfa Romeo Spider kit? The price range is all over the place on eBay.

Bob, this has been discussed further up, in this thread. E-Bay is an option (expensive) but there are other more affordable ways to get them.

 

Yves

[BobG]

Thanks Yves. I didn’t know that eBay would be more expensive. I just thought the previous recommendations were a safer option for getting a kit that was 100% complete.

[Keith Black]

Bob, the Alfa kit for $380.00 is still on Facebook Marketplace.

[BobG]

Thanks Keith. I'm not familiar with Facebook Marketplace. I'll check it out. 

[gjdale]

Bob,

 

I’ve sent you a PM with Paul Koo’s direct email address. I suggest contacting him if you want to know a fair price for any of these Pocher kits.

[popeye the sailor]

amazing progress    1:1 detail!

[gjdale]

The Rear Axle

 

Once again, some test fitting, modification, disassembly and re-assembly are required. Another 88-page photo essay from Paul supplements the one-page Pocher diagram.

 

Assembly commences with the drive shaft. It comprises two main components, two rear spacers, and an internal part that receives a screw for attaching the rear axle to the drive shaft. As the internal part did not require painting, it was set aside while other parts were painted. Of course, when I went to commence assembly, it was nowhere to be found! Fortunately, it is not a complicated part and I was able to manufacture a scratch-built replacement from a couple of pieces of 2mm styrene sheet. The photo below shows the new part glued in place in one half of the drive shaft.

 

 

The other half of the drive shaft was then put in place (held in place by two screws) and the first half of the rear axle housing was screwed in place using the new part to receive the screw.

 

 

The actual rear axle is then put in place with its two wheel hubs.

 

 

The front half of the axle housing was then attached and the rear dampers assembled and added in much the same way as for the front axle. The rear brake linkages were also added at this stage.

 

 

At this point the rear leaf springs are required. All of the leaf springs are made of a soft rubber compound rather than hard plastic. Paul notes that while these are okay for the front axle, they are too soft for the longer rear leaf springs and suggests modifying them. Although Model Motorcars does offer some very nice after-market photo-etch leaf spring assemblies, at USD $130 per set plus the exorbitant postage rates from US to Australia, plus the eight week plus current postal delay, this was not really an option. Paul’s second option is to modify the rear leaf springs by cutting them in half length-wise and inserting a piece of 1/32” x 1/4” brass strip to act as a stiffener. I chose to go with this option. The hardest part was cutting the original leaf springs in half. I did this using by Byrnes table saw and very dodgy holding jig.

 

Here is the leaf spring cut in half and the pre-bent brass inserted.

 

 

Matching notches were cut in the brass using a cut-off wheel in my Dremel-type tool.

 

 

Then the top half was reattached and the entire assembly re-painted.

 

 

The completed leaf spring was then attached to the rear axle. The wheel plates had the brake cams installed and these two were then attached to the rear axle.

 

 

Brake shoes and springs were then inserted as per the front wheels.

 

 

The entire assembly was then test fitted with only one of the two rear spacers fitted. The gap between this and the transmission was then measured and the second spacer sanded down to this thickness prior to final fitting.

 

 

The brake linkages were then fitted between the brake connecting rods and the transmission levers.

 

 

Another view.

 

 

Final attachment of the rear axle requires the dampers to be attached to the chassis. However, a couple of extra parts need to be in place prior this. These parts are now in the paint shop and will be fitted during the next phase of construction.

 

[BobG]

Just beautiful, Grant!

 

4 hours ago, gjdale said:

As the internal part did not require painting, it was set aside while other parts were painted.

The metal paint looks fantastic. What paint are you using to get this realistic looking metal?

 

4 hours ago, gjdale said:

The completed leaf spring was then attached to the rear axle.

What kind of glue did you use for attaching the brass stiffeners to the soft rubber leaf springs? 

 

[gjdale]

Thanks for all the likes folks.

 

Bob, to answer your questions:

 

6 hours ago, BobG said:

What paint are you using to get this realistic looking metal?

 

I’m using Vallejo Metal Colour paints, sprayed with my airbrush (Harder and Steenbeck Infinity with 0.4mm needle). I used Dull Aluminium for most of the engine and associated parts. I used Steel for the radiator and for the drive shaft and rear axle. And I use Gun Metal for hand painting the highlighted bolts where appropriate.

 

6 hours ago, BobG said:

What kind of glue did you use for attaching the brass stiffeners to the soft rubber leaf springs? 

 

I used thin CA for this. It forms a pretty much instant bond between brass and the rubber, so it needs to be done carefully. I applied a small amount in the mid section, then worked outwards a little at a time. 

 

[BobG]

4 minutes ago, gjdale said:

I’m using Vallejo Metal Colour paints

Are you also using the Vallejo Gloss Black Primer under the metal paints? I was watching a video on youtube made by Vallejo and the guy was using that primer under all of the metal colors. 

[gjdale]

Yes I am Bob. Vallejo recommend using the gloss black primer for the Metal Colour range. I’ve had a few issues with the Vallejo primers generally in terms of finding the right “recipe” with thinner and/or flow improver, as well as air pressure to prevent the airbrush clogging. Reading on the internet, it seems I’m not the only one. A few people say they have no problems shooting it straight from the bottle, many more say they just can’t get it to spray properly at all. The gloss black primer seems to be more temperamental than the grey (which is my otherwise ‘go-to’ primer). I’m still experimenting....and have stripped and re-started on more than one occasion - including last night when I stripped the fuel tank back and started over. 

[BobG]

I haven't used the Gloss Primer yet only the standard Gray Primer but I will need to use it when I spray some of the Vallejo Metal Paints.

 

 I haven't had any problems with clogging yet with the Gray Primer. I added 1 drop of Flow Improver per 10 drops of primer and shot it using a Grex .5 mm fan nozzle. I wanted a wider spray pattern for the hull of the Pen Duick. It still took me a lot of passes to get a nice, even coat on it though.

 

I finding out that there's a bit of a learning curve using an airbrush and I'm smack dab in the middle of it. 

[gjdale]

If you haven't found them already Bob, there are some great little tutorials on airbrushing and airbrush equipment by Paul Budzik, who is also a member here at MSW. Occasionally he posts a link to one of his videos here, but they are easily found on YouTube. He covers a lot more modelling techniques than just Airbrushing, and his tutorials are really well done - his explanations are easy to follow and he knows what he is talking about (more than can be said for a lot of YouTube content out there!!!). Worth a look if you really want to understand airbrushing. I think he would probably say that for a hull the size of your Pen Duick, you really should be using a small spray gun, rather than an airbrush. Again, his videos do a great job of explaining why.

 

[BobG]

59 minutes ago, gjdale said:

I think he would probably say that for a hull the size of your Pen Duick, you really should be using a small spray gun, rather than an airbrush.

Thanks, Grant. I didn't even know anything like that existed. I'll definitely check out those videos.

 

I just looked at Paul Budzik's website and it's great. His Tools and Techniques page has links to his videos. 

 

https://paulbudzik.com/index.html