Itala Peking-Paris 1907 1/8

I have been inactive for more than a year now but the "virus" hit me again :smile: and I decided to leave my unfinished Ferrari 126C2 on the shelve and start a new one.

It will be a replica of the last Pocher ever (not true after the latest Pocher release but what ever...). Here you can read a short story on the model (Thanks to Giovanni Ingrao)

In 1972 after selling the Pocher brand to Rivarossi, Arnaldo Pocher founded the Ar-Po brand (ARnaldo POcher) and he remained in full activity until his death by a tragic accident in 1989. The company produced accessories for trains in pewter fusion. Among the several important collaborations were those with Metropolitan and MCA of Lugano from 1975 to 1989. Next to the numerous realizations of trains, the company returned to an old love: cars in scale 1/8. Introducing in May 1981 the famous Itala Grand Prix of the Raid Peking-Paris of 1907, realized with the aid of son-in-law Adelmo Canali, famousTurinese modeller. It entered production in 1983, as an assembly kit under the brandname Metrop-ArPo (Metropolitan - Arnaldo Pocher). This spectacular model measured 57 centimetres and consists of approximately 600 parts, in pewter, brass, copper, high resistance plastic, aluminium and leather. The production was limited to a numbered series of 350 in all. Unfortunately this model, in the light of the yearsgone by, has a very serious and irresolvable problem: all the parts in pewter, (spars of thechassis, front axle, motor base, differential, great part of the levers, tank, brakes, headlights,radiator and parts of the body), are often irremediably damaged by aging and they crumble under their own weight or as you handle them.This particularity leads the model to “self-destruct”.

This a copy of the original brochure of the original numbered series kit (350 pcs).

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/Brochure.jpg

These are pictures of a model that did a great job self-destructing

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/ItalaCrash11a.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/ItalaCrash07a.jpg

I kept in the last 3 years my eye on Ebay to see if one came available ...damaged or not but without success. About 18 month ago I stumbled onto an italian modeler who made a replica of the Pocher model in photo-etch, resin and white metal. This time it is another limited series of 10 so I can call myself the owner of a rather unique model.

Here are some pictures of the replica model

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/IMG_4541a.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/IMG_4503a.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/IMG_4494a.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/MotoreItala1a.jpg

and some pictures of the kit

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/Italachassis1a.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/IMG_4857a.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/Itala02a.jpg

I am going to build the restored version which drove the 2007 centennial peking Paris raid

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/1.jpg

I will start with building the radiator

Time for the first step of the build: the radiator of the car

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0835-1.jpg

As you can see the radiator is 100% resin and it should become brass. Another questionable thing is the lettering on the front. I also decided to replace the molded mesh by photo etch mesh because the mold is to coarse

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0840-1.jpg

I glued a small plastic U profile on the resin as a kind of retainer for the mesh and I made a template to cut the mesh

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0841-1.jpg

The maker of the kit also included templates for the lettering and I was wondering if it would work on mesh

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0843-1.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0844-1.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0845-1.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0846-1.jpg

Obvious that it did not work. The mesh ws not solid enough so I had to solve this issue :twisted:
After some thinking this was the solution:

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0848-1.jpg

I sketched the logo on a piece of plastic sheet and cut out the logo

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0849-1.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0850-1.jpg

I painted the lettering black and glued it to the back of the mesh

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0852-1.jpg

After that I painted the front by hand following the logo on the back of the mesh and after that the lettering was solid.

For the back of the radiator I used the template and mess-up mesh

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0853-1.jpg

After some trying I managed to give the bronze paint a weathered copper outlook en I replaced the resin joints and piping with brass ones

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0854-1.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0855-1.jpg

The brass is liquid brass paint and brass wax bought at a gilding web shop.

Next step is the engine

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0833-1.jpg

and between building I am reading this book

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0837-1.jpg

When I make an engine I always start with an engine stand. The engine is partly white metal and partly resin. I start with the engine block and the cylinder heads

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0838-1.jpg?t=1365455092

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0856.jpg

I removed the molded bolds and replaced them by "real ones", weathered the engine for the first time. On this picture of the real engine I discovered 2 copper ducts which I added to the engine

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/121-2108_IMG.jpg?t=1365497408

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0857.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g378/peperbus1/Itala/DSC_0858.jpg

Next step is the top section of the engine where a parts need to be upgraded or replaced.

Hi Ton! I just popped my head in to see if anything interesting was happening on AF and WOW, this is quite the rare bird. Nice progress.

interesting car, nicely detailed model! bravo!

Thanks jeremyjon! Mike, rare original, even more rarer replica :-) how is your 126c2 going?