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

[BobG]

1 hour ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Thanks!  The non-drinkable kind

Oh geez, I actually thought it was the India Pale Ale beer! That's why I thought there must be a funny story about how Egilman spilled his beer on his model. 🤣 My favorite beer by the way!!🍺

[Landlubber Mike]

31 minutes ago, BobG said:

I think the way things went for me with the Micro Mesh Polishing Pads was more about the way I used them than anything else. I've watched a couple of youtube videos and they seem to work very well. I think I started off too aggressively even though I was trying to be very careful. I started wet sanding with the 1500 pad and, even though I was using it gently, a few small white spots showed up on the black paint where I apparently sanded through or lifted a tiny rough spot. At that point I just decided to redo the hull.

 

Micro Mesh says that you can get a satin sheen when using up to the 6000 pad and the grits above that will give you an increasingly more glossy finish. So, in hindsight, I think I should have be more careful and started wet sanding with the 6000 pad and see how that looked and then, if necessary, I could work my way toward each more coarse grit as needed. That may have done the job nicely.

 

I also bought some Tamiya Polishing Polishing Compounds and their polishing cloths after seeing them in use on youtube. I think they may be useful in polishing out any small imperfections in the final clear coat.

 

 

Bob, I use micro mesh pads when turning pens.  After applying a CA finish, I'll wet send with the micro mesh pads starting at the first pad and going to the last pad.  Now, I'm usually using the pads while turning on a lathe, but I would note that (1) I don't press very hard, but let the pad do the work, and (2) the grit levels on the pads is not comparable to sandpaper grits.  So, for example, 1500 micro mesh is actually a lot coarser than 1500 sandpaper.  On pens I can start with 1500 because the CA is a lot harder than paint.  If I was going to use them on a paint or thin finish, I'd probably look to start at a higher pad.

[BobG]

Thanks, Mike. It's live and learn for me! 😳

[Egilman]

3 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

If I was going to use them on a paint or thin finish, I'd probably look to start at a higher pad.

Good advice mike, I second the notion....

 

Me, I'm going to start out at 6k when I restart the zipper... the gloss black finish is kinda rough right now and I'll have to completely correct that before I start waxing it out...

 

This has turned into one heck of a project....

[BobG]

3 hours ago, Egilman said:

efore I start waxing it out

I'm not familiar with waxing. Why and how do you do that? 

[Egilman]

14 minutes ago, BobG said:

I'm not familiar with waxing. Why and how do you do that? 

Actually, I don't want to go further into de-railing Grant's wonderful build thread.....

 

I have discussed it in my Blue Jay Four thread and what it is and the reason why... it's a carnuba wax applied just like on a car... and I'll leave it at that my friend... will pick it up in the other thread if you need more explanation...

[popeye the sailor]

such a superb model Grant..........if I could afford one of these cars!   looks absolutely gorgeous!

[gjdale]

Thanks again for all the nice comments and the likes, and thanks Egilman for bringing the thread back on track after some interesting side discussion. On with the show!

 

The Wire Wheels

 

The wire wheels are an interesting challenge in themselves! The wheel hubs are made up of 4 metal and two plastic parts as shown in the photo below. The two plastic parts have notches cut into them to accept the spokes, and these need to be checked to ensure they are not blocked by flash. The outer rim of the plastic parts also needs to be painted chrome to match the metal parts.

 

 

Once assembled they look like this:

 

 

The wheel rims are comprised of three plastic and four metal rings. The plastic rings accept the spokes and the spoke hubs. Again, the plastic parts need careful checking for flash and the inner rim surfaces painted chrome:

 

 

The kit provides an assembly jig for the wheels. In fact, it provides six of these, however few of them are particularly true. Paul Koo’s advice is to find the one that is closest to true and use it for building all six wheels. So that is what I did.

 

 

Assembly commences by attaching one of the two outer metal rings to the inside of the inner plastic ring. Although it is held in place with three screws, Paul advises that these will later interfere with the fit of the tyre, so his advice is to use glue as well as the screws, and then to remove the screws once the wheel is fully built. So that’s what I did.

 

 

The rim is then inverted, placed in the jig and held in place with a few pieces of masking tape. The wheel hub is also inserted onto the jig at this point.

 

 

This is where life starts to get interesting. There are three layers of spokes to make up each wheel. Each of the three layers uses spokes of a different size and shape, so it’s important not to mix these up. Now, if you were to follow the Pocher instructions, they would have you build the wheels with an asymmetrical spoke pattern. This is problematic in that for this to work, within each layer of spokes you would really need two different sizes of spoke – one for clockwise pointing spokes and one for counter-clockwise pointing spokes. As Pocher only provides one size of spoke for each layer, this would mean trimming and adjusting half of all the spokes. Paul provides a much simpler solution that produces a symmetrical spoke pattern and therefore only needs one type of spoke for each layer. Not only does the symmetrical pattern look better (in my view), it is also stronger and more stable.

 

Each spoke is inserted into the wheel hub and then has a spoke hub slipped over the outer end. The spoke hub has a small flange on it and this is pressed into the outer plastic ring in the appropriate place. The flanges are meant to press-fit into place, using a small screwdriver to push them in. Good luck with that! Paul advises using the “melting method” if the flanges are difficult to push into place. This is about the time I blessed Paul (again) for advising on the melting method earlier in the build, so I’d had some practice with it before attempting this task. Essentially, the spoke hubs were pressed partially into place and then they were touched with a hot soldering iron tip until they melted their way into the plastic. It sounds like a brutal way to do this, but is remarkably finessed. Once you’ve done a few, you get a real feel for it and the whole process goes quite quickly. Here is the completed first layer of spokes:

 

 

The first of two inner metal rings is then inserted, followed by the middle plastic ring. There are three locating lugs to position the middle plastic ring before it is screwed in place. However, because we are departing from the Pocher build method, this ring needs to be rotated 120 degrees (ie one locating lug) clockwise.

 

Insertion of the spokes continues in a similar manner to the first layer, with the inner ends being inserted into the remaining spaces on the inner hub ring. Here is the completed second layer.

 

 

The second inner metal ring, which includes the tyre valve, is now inserted followed by the third and final plastic ring. With this layer, the spokes are inserted into the outer/upper hub ring.

 

 

Finally, the outer metal ring is attached, again using glue as well as the screws.

 

 

Continued next post...

 

[gjdale]

The Wire Wheels - continued

 

Once the glue had cured, the screws from both outer metal rings were removed and the tyres installed. Getting the tyres on was quite a challenge, involving considerable force, the use of a large flat bladed screwdriver, and some very colourful language! Eventually we got there.

 

 

The brake drums were then attached to the inside of the four main wheels, with the two spare wheels being left “clean”. The brake drums were painted a deep blue, which will match the body fender colour later.

 

 

Here is the complete set of six wheels – about a week’s work to complete!

 

 

And here are a couple of shots of the wheels temporarily in situ:

 

 

 

 

I also took delivery this week of a replacement steering wheel. This is an aftermarket component from Model Motorcars – quite expensive but I think makes a huge difference and complements my walnut dashboard nicely. Here it is just temporarily in place for now:

 

 

That completes this phase of assembly. Next up is the body work….

 

[BobG]

Fantastic job on the wheels, Grant! You're moving right along with this build. I've read that they can be a nightmare to assemble, so much so, that Model Motorcars has developed complete replacements for them that are supposed to be much easier to assemble. They are very expensive though.

 

The steering wheel is beautiful. What kind of wood is that?

 

The model that I purchased on eBay arrived today and I was surprised at how big box and everything is. I'm not sure when I'll get started on but I'm excited from just looking at it! 

 

Your build log is the best Pocher build log I've seen. This will be the definitive build log for anyone building this model and I'll be using it as a guide along with Paul Koo's CD. 

[gjdale]

Thanks Bob,

 

Yes, I’ve heard nightmare stories about the wheels being the make or break point for some builders. To be honest, without Paul Koo’s guidance on the “easy” way to build them, I’d be lost.

 

The steering wheel is walnut - they offer several different choices of wood but I liked this one to go with my walnut dash. All of Model Motorcars aftermarket parts are first class - well designed, well made - and very expensive!!! And I have to pay exorbitant shipping rates on top of that, not to mention the unfavourable exchange rate at the moment. I’ve been very selective about what I’ve bought for this model. Who knows, I may end up buying more for the next one - it’s kind of addictive!

 

Make sure you do a thorough inventory of your kit box too Bob, and use Paul’s DVD to help you identify parts. If you are missing anything, chances are that Paul will be able to offer a replacement at very reasonable prices. He also includes a series of photographs on his DVD to show you how to pack the parts back into the box afterwards - trust me, you will need that!

[Canute]

Gorgeous job on the wire wheels, Grant. Nicely done.

[yvesvidal]

Grant,

 

excellent description on the wheels assembly. Thank you for summarizing and extracting the quintessential wisdom of Paul's guide.

It is indeed a strong departure from the Pocher instructions, and I can still feel the pain of assembling one wheel (I stopped after that). I will definitely use your technique (and Paul's guide) when I return to this kit.

 

Your model looks stupendous. You can be proud of you, and this steering wheel is only asking to be handled.

 

Yves

[Landlubber Mike]

Grant, really nice job on the wheels!  To me, the wire wheels is what really sets these (and other models where the builder scratches them to replace overscale plastic rims) apart.  Excellent!

 

The steering wheel is fantastic.  I've seen the Model Motorcars upgrades and while expensive, they do look amazing.  With the incredible job you're doing on this model, In the end, you'll be glad you bought the upgrade   I've thought about whether I could scratch build the wheel, but I am not confident I can pull it off.  With all the alcohol and swear jar deposits, my guess is I'll just be better off buying the upgraded part.  

 

Speaking of expensive, they offer wooden rims for the Pocher FIAT.  They look amazing but not cheap!  The end cost is close to what I paid for the kit  

[popeye the sailor]

the instructions to assemble the rims must be top notch!  they look awesome!  your progress in the chassis is outstanding  

[BobG]

4 hours ago, gjdale said:

Make sure you do a thorough inventory of your kit box too Bob, and use Paul’s DVD to help you identify parts. If you are missing anything, chances are that Paul will be able to offer a replacement at very reasonable prices. He also includes a series of photographs on his DVD to show you how to pack the parts back into the box afterwards - trust me, you will need that!

I plan to do just that, Grant. It's fun to identify all the different parts...kind of feels like I'm starting to build a real car!

 

Are you able to scroll through the photos on the DVD? When I open a folder on the DVD,  I get lots individual photos that I have to click on to open separately. Have you found a way to be able to scroll from one photo to the next without opening each one individually? 

[BobG]

4 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

I will definitely use your technique (and Paul's guide) when I return to this kit.

Do you have this same Pocher model, Yves? I'd love to see more build logs of the Pocher kits. 

[yvesvidal]

13 minutes ago, BobG said:

Do you have this same Pocher model, Yves? I'd love to see more build logs of the Pocher kits. 

I do. However, I have too many things going on right now, to dedicate any time to this kit. I have to finish my submarine first....

 

Yves

[BobG]

2 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

The end cost is close to what I paid for the kit

The Model Motorcars upgrades are extremely expensive for sure but some of them are very tempting since they can add additional details to the kit. For example, I think those knock-off hubs and steering wheels among other items are very cool...$$$...

[BobG]

10 minutes ago, yvesvidal said:

I do. However, I have too many things going on right now, to dedicate any time to this kit. I have to finish my submarine first....

 

Yves

Grant has 3 more Pochers. I can't wait to watch him build them! However, if I keep following him make these beautiful models, I could go broke!

[Landlubber Mike]

1 hour ago, BobG said:

I plan to do just that, Grant. It's fun to identify all the different parts...kind of feels like I'm starting to build a real car!

 

Are you able to scroll through the photos on the DVD? When I open a folder on the DVD,  I get lots individual photos that I have to click on to open separately. Have you found a way to be able to scroll from one photo to the next without opening each one individually? 

I'm on a Mac, but Apple has a number of different preview options that enable you to scroll through a folder (thumbnail views, etc.) without having to individually open each file.  Not sure if Windows has comparable functions.

6 hours ago, gjdale said:

Make sure you do a thorough inventory of your kit box too Bob, and use Paul’s DVD to help you identify parts. If you are missing anything, chances are that Paul will be able to offer a replacement at very reasonable prices. He also includes a series of photographs on his DVD to show you how to pack the parts back into the box afterwards - trust me, you will need that!

I agree with this 100%!  Not only to be able to get everything back in the box, but this is especially important for some kits like the Rolls Royce Phantom kit where the body shell needs to be supported (many times the body is either warped or broken in my case).  Paul sold me a replacement for a very reasonable price.  

[rshousha]

Nice work on the wheels. If I may just add something to ease the assembly for the next one (because, once you've built one Pocher, you will build many more).  I have built well over a hundred of these wheels so I have a bit of experience. 

 

The best solution for installing the tyres is to put a hair-dryer in a vice at the edge of your table and work in the heated blast, at maximum heat. Leave a pile of tyres outside the flow so you can feel how the one in the flow is softening up in comparison. Hold it as near the heat as possible. When you feel your hands are getting too hot, just move away a little. Keep in the flow the whole time. Once the tyre starts to soften (about three or four minutes) you can start to fit it over the wheel. As you work the tyre will get softer and it will go on very nicely. There is no need for sharp things, which can damage the rubber, and very little need for swearing. By the time you are at the fifth or sixth wheel, you will have the hang of it. 

 

Actually, there is one more thing.  Most of the cars of this era had painted wheels. It is quite rare to see cars with chrome spokes. I've built a simple jig for the wheels and it's a snap to paint them. I have six rods sticking out of a base. I put the wheels on the rods and then just whip them around as I paint. Of course, you need to use a good etching primer before your colour coat but it works very well. 

 

I've attached a picture of one of my Alfas, in front of my garage, with painted wheels. 

 

 

[BobG]

1 hour ago, rshousha said:

I've attached a picture of one of my Alfas, in front of my garage, with painted wheels. 

That's a beautiful model, Rick, and thanks for the tip about heating up the tires!

 

Would you happen to have a photo of the wheel jig you made for painting the wheels that you could post? A picture is worth a thousand words for me. Thanks!

[gjdale]

Wow, thanks for all the nice comments folks! And thanks Ric for the advice on fitting tyres - I’ll remember that for the next one - or three! As for painting the wheels, I know you are right but I just prefer the look of the chrome.

 

5 hours ago, BobG said:

Are you able to scroll through the photos on the DVD? When I open a folder on the DVD,  I get lots individual photos that I have to click on to open separately. Have you found a way to be able to scroll from one photo to the next without opening each one individually? 

 

Bob, the short answer is yes. What I did was within each folder, I selected all the individual files, right clicked and selected “create PDF”. I’m on a Mac, so not sure if this is the same procedure for Windows, but there should be a similar function. This creates a single PDF file within each folder with all of the photos for that folder within it. You can scroll through each page within that file. The original files remain as they were, so you’re not changing them - just adding a new file that is easier to work with. I have also printed each PDF file as I have gone, and then wire bound each of these into a booklet (I have a wire binding machine for my business stuff). It’s an expensive option in terms of printer ink, paper and binding supplies, but I prefer working with a hard copy on the workbench - I just find it easier to flick back and forth when I need to - and I need to a lot!!! It also means I can sit and study each section away from the computer.

[BobG]

Thanks, Grant, I'm an Apple devotee and I'm on a Mac also so I give your solution a go.

 

I started to print the individual photos of the contents of each bag but it was going to be a long process and it was going to use a ton of ink. I'm like you though, I prefer to work from printed materials. I can't even get myself to read on a Kindle like so many do. I prefer holding an actual book to read. I like to think that I'm pretty progressive but I'm still old school on some things...

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, gjdale said:

I’m on a Mac, so not sure if this is the same procedure for Windows, but there should be a similar function.

You can do this on windows, but windows has a function built in for scrolling thru pic files in a directory called file viewer... It's been there since Windows 7....... just double click on the file opens the viewer

[rhephner]

This is a fascinating build. I’m not much of a car guy, but the attention to detail on these kits make them look like a ton of fun to build. From reading up on them, I was under the impression that they were mostly metal and rubber fastened together with miniature bolts, hence the high price. But I see a lot of plastic parts and CA glue in the build log. Are they really mostly metal?

[gjdale]

There is quite a mix of metal and plastic, but very little glue is used. Most fastening is done with bolts/screws. The challenge is getting things to align properly, ‘cause they rarely do straight up. Also, pre-drilled holes are invariably too small and need to be opened up to avoid cracking plastic parts. Then there is the inevitable modification  required to make things actually fit - eg melting bolt heads down into the plastic frame so that they don’t interfere with subsequent fitting.

 

Hope to have an update to the build this weekend - have been experimenting with paint of late.

[rshousha]

Lucky you are in Australia if you want to paint at this time of year. When I was building these models (and I still have about ten in my "personal stash"), I never painted between May 15th and October 1st. Just for kicks, it was about eighty-five degrees here yesterday with 95% humidity. Nothing dries. In fact, things get wetter as the day progresses!

 

Avoid painting in humid weather. By the time you figure out what goes wrong, the season changes and then you go, "What the hell was that all about?" 

[gjdale]

Body Work

It's been over a month since my last update, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been working on this model. On the contrary, there is a lot of preparatory work required before installing the body works. This begins with the Hood panels. There are small hinges that attach the side and top Hood panels. The kit parts have locating lugs to position the hinges. A great idea, once again poorly executed. The problem is that these are in the wrong place. The photo below shows a hinge in place on a side panel and illustrates well the problem – the hinge pin is way too low and needs to be moved up.

 

 

In the next photo you can see where I have removed the small locator pins and then filed a notch into the main locator to allow the hinge to be moved up.

 

 

The result is shown in the next photo – a properly located hinge.

 

 

The hinge is then fixed in place by first melting the locator pin and then applying glue around the hinge. The masking tape is simply to contain the glue.

 

 

And the final result:

 

 

This process was then repeated with the remaining panel hinges (four in total). Once attached to the side panels, the locating pins on the top panels had to be similarly adjusted both for hinge height and also for fore and aft alignment to ensure the top and side panels were perfectly aligned. A photo of the completed hood is further down in this update.

 

The next job was to make up the four Hood latches. Here are the components for one of these:

 

 

And the completed Hood latches:

 

 

Next up was painting the main body parts. This stage seemed to take forever as I experimented with a number of finishes and made a few mistakes along the way. First up, because of the overall size of this model, I took the advice of Paul Budzik (who is a member here and has posted many useful and informative videos on YouTube). That advice was that a regular airbrush was not a good idea for this size of model. I won’t go into the reasons why – you can watch Paul’s videos for that. Instead I had previously purchased a mini HVLP spray gun, again based on Paul’s advice. The spray gun I used is the Iwata LPH-80 with a 0.8mm needle. While at first glance, this spray gun looks to be more complex than an airbrush, it is actually quite easy to set up and use. The catch is that it needs an air volume that is beyond what pretty much all airbrush compressors are capable of, so I had to hook it up to my large (and very noisy) compressor in the garage. The beauty of this gun is that it needs a constant air pressure at the gun (you need a gun gauge for this) of 13psi. Once you have that set, it just a case of adjusting the material (ie paint) flow until you get what you want, and then adjusting the fan pattern similarly. Of course, a change in one means you need to tweak the air pressure to maintain that 13psi, but that is actually really easy to do.

 

My next lesson was about filtering the paint. I had assumed that using a quality primer and paint such as Vallejo would mean that I could just go ahead and spray, with perhaps some thinning, depending on the actual paint. I found that despite good stirring/mixing and thinning, I was still getting clogs and spitting, even with this larger needle. That’s when I had my major light bulb moment (or as I like to say, my Homer Simpson moment – oh, Duh!!!) and decided to filter the paint first. I bought some paint filters from an automotive shop and stripped the actual filter material from them. I then placed this over the mouth of the paint bottle, trapping it in place with the dispenser cap. And just like magic, all my painting problems disappeared……well, almost.

 

Having at last achieved a nice primer coat and colour coat, I had to decide on clear coats. I wanted to stay away from some of the nastier types, so tried several acrylics – none of them particularly satisfactory. I had read online and seen YouTube videos of plastic modellers espousing the virtues of Pledge/Future floor finish as a great clear coat. I was sceptical at first but eventually decided to give this a go. Of course, this product cannot be bought in Australia, so back to online shopping and managed to track some down via eBay. A couple of weeks later that arrived, and I did some trials, finding that the more coats of this that were applied, the shinier the surface became. I found that four coats of this gave quite a nice finish. It sprays beautifully and self levels very well too.

 

My next lesson was that acrylic paints are impossible to polish as one might with enamel paints. The slightest abrasive surface, even with micromesh polishing pads, will quickly strip the clear coat and the colour coats. The best I could manage was to use Novus polishing liquids with a soft cloth. Even then, I could only use the No.2 Fine scratch remover and the No.1 Finishing polish – even the No.3 Coarse scratch remover removed all the paint.

 

So after several weeks of trial and error, and re-dos, and more errors, and more re-dos, I finally had the body parts to a useable state. Here they are, ready to go.

 

 

Continued next post.....