Pocher Porsche 917K 1/8 HK118

[The Creative Explorer]

I was in the middle of my 3rd Pocher project within a year (very, very unusual for me) and there it was, the brand new Pocher Porsche 917K.
A modelkit that announced not all that long ago. Usually, when Pocher releases a new model, it takes 1-2-3 years before it gets into the stores. But no, basically 6 months later here it is.
And Pocher has been so kind to send over a kit for review and sharing the build over the net.

Just like the Aventador and the Lotus 72D, I will build this box-stock 'plus'. That means I will build this without extensive modifying or detailling the kit. I will be true to the intended kit and only limit myself to (re-)paint parts, fill sinkmarks, sand mold-lines and do detailling with basic-parts.
This way, I hope it will be a inspirational build for everybody who will build the Porsche, but are not experienced modellers and make just a bit extra out of the model.

Let's start with the box, like always; it is big, black and looking pretty good!

This is somewhat weird and have yet to decidede what I think of it, yes, it will be easier to have the latest manual, but a manual should not have to change after release anyway. And I feel that a manual should come with the kit, no matter what.

Everything is packed very nicely, but in this day and age, I feel that the amount of plastics is a bit much and can be reduced by combining sprues.

Parts for the framework look very nice and intricate

 

And there it is, the body of this monster.

 

Putting it together quickly reveals a pretty good paint job and very nice fitting panels. I am very happy with the small panelgaps.

Because there are many sprues, I like to label my bags, this way it helps me find the right sprue/bag quicker.

And the first parts, the paint on the metal parts is a bit thick, but just enough ok to make it work. It shouldn't be any thicker. The color on the ducts is weird, I need to dig deeper, but I believe they should be a translucent dirty yellow-ish white.

A good practice for the screw-holes is to re-thread them. It makes assembling a whole lot easier. A must for working with Pochers.

I noticed the first issue, on the right side of the gearbox, the driveshaft-shaft reaches the inner part and sits flush, which is good.

But on the left side, the shaft (DCB8A) is too short and makes it not possible to get a good connection with the screw. I replaced the screw from a earlier Pocher kit. I used a M2x4, but better is M2x5 or 6.

Also, in the manual DCB8 & DCB8a are switched, be aware.

I am test fitting the parts and also try a alternative way to assemble, in order for a better paintjob.

 

 

This is the reason I am looking to do it differently; the parting lines are visible and I want to get rid of them.

And part of injection-moulding, there are sinkmarks and moldlines. in order to make it less 'toy-like', they have to be removed.

I glued the ducts together and let it dry overnight before sanding.

If you are not assembling directly, it is good practice to make a picture of the parts if they look a lot like each-other. it is easier to pick the right parts when assembling later on.

The exhaust manifold consists of 4 parts, one big and 3 smaller ones. When assembles, the gap is pretty obvious, so I assembled the exhaust together, superglued the parts together, disassembled the exhaust and filled the gaps with filler.

Some more filler was used on the ducts.

Because of the thickness of the paint, I removed the paint where the metal parts join together. This will result in a tighter finish.

I did not care for the molded in generator and other part (which I still have figure out what it is 🙂 ).
So I carefully cut it out and sand the parts. This will make a better paintresult possible.

Filling all the ejector-pin marks.

I thought of assembling the frame quickly together, at first glance they looked very good. But upon closer inspection, the ejector-pin marks were visible and we can't have that!

 

Edited October 6 by RDS
Correction of typo

[RB51]

Great post. Very clear what results you were after. R-

[96RAF]

Great build. Well worth sticking in the Gallery area as a permanent record to inspire others and ensure the details in this post don't get lost in the passing of time.

[The Creative Explorer]

Time for a weekly update! It has been a week where some progress was being made. A lot of sanding was done and I finally could start painting.
What I do, is put a piece of painterstape on a sheet of paper and stick the parts to it. I can paint them from one side, let it dry, turn them over and paint the other side.
This way I don't have paintstubs.
One thing that is difficult, and I didn't nail it, was the color of the translucent airducts. I got closer, but not there yet.

And the first parts are finally being put together, the start has commensed! 😉 The airducts were glued together and the gap was filled, it does look a lot better this way.

The exhausts were painted with AMMO AK Stainless steel, it has a very nice shine to it. It does not appear in the pictures, but has a very natural look to it.

Pocher wants you to have parts DCB1&2 glued to DCA16&17, which is fine for itself, but makes it hard to DCA-9&10 to DCA16&17. You can't get the locator pins in the holes. Best is to assemble DCA16&17 to the enginehousing with DCB1&2 in place, but not glued. Glue them when DCA9&10 will be assembled. This will make it a lot easier.

I had to grind of the locatorpins in order to fit them, as I had DCB1&2 already glued down.

Hard to see in this picture, but I would advise to cut tubing TU-4 a little longer, 3-4mm. This will make it look more naturally and fit better, 28mm is a bit on the short side.

And the cage can come together, but be aware, this is not the correct procedure. This way will give difficulty later.

What I think would work better:
-Assemble DC-1 to DC-5
-Put the engine on top of DC-5, but do not assemble yet
-Add part DC-18
-Add parts DC12&13 from the side
-Start assembling the parts, first the frame, then the engine
-As last add DC-3, should not be difficult.

Starting the wiring on the engine. ( I do miss wires for the alternator)

[The Creative Explorer]

I can't say I am very happy with the right side with the wires, the wires towards the back are a bit too long and the ones towards the front are too short.

 

 It makes more sense on the left side, both sides uses the same length, but on the left side is the fuelpump they have to go around.

 

The spring is a very nice touch!

 

So are the exhausts

This is where I found out that the intened mounting instructions from Pocher are not the best. It resulted in broken of parts and paint damages.

The coils were sanded and painted, to recreate a aluminium bracket, I use Bare metal foil.

 

Parts DC-18 was a pain in the butt to get it in, best is to use my alternative methode as described before.

 

Hard to see, but N-5 goes to the distributor, but the hole in N5 is tiny, it will glue difficult to the distributor cap. I decided to drill a 0,5mm hole, add a little metal-wire and glue the N-5 on this.

Upcoming are the parts and reference pfoto's for the following steps 4(p12) to 14

[The Creative Explorer]

The 917 is now finished up to step 4. and I must say that it does look very good.

When preparing up to step 14, I noticed the hole in the underbody which I can't place nor can find any reason why it should be there.
I added a few parts to see how noticable it would be, and it will be visible. so some filler work has to be done there