Pocher 1/8 Pagani Utopia kit building tips
- General Tips:
- note the screw sizes (diameter in millimeters x length in mm) listed on page 5 of the assembly manual, especially screws E and F; there are times when instructions call for the shorter F screw when the longer E screw is needed, and vice versa
- a metric micro tap set (Amazon has inexpensive 10 piece sets) can be very helpful to pre-thread some holes in metal parts, especially suspension parts; if you don't have the exact size required to match the screw diameter (see page 5) use the next smaller size tap; the M2.3mm tap needed for the larger E and F screws is hard to find, but we will be stocking some soon
- the waterslide decals need only a few seconds immersion in water and then 10-20 seconds after that to release from their paper backing, and the same for the metallic decals
- if a part number seems wrong in the instructions, it may be, as there are a few mistakes (sorry, don't remember where exactly); trust your eyes and the illustration of the part
- arrows in the instructions noting where or how a part is attached are often vague; investigate further and dry fit the part to see what makes sense before applying glue
- the instructions call for a lot of glue (we use a gel CA "superglue" by Loctite with a very small tip, see photo below), but plastic parts almost never need to be glued if you carefully and gradually use small pliers to squeeze the locating pins on one part to a more oval shape, then test until it snaps into the receiving part; this also works with many metal parts; some metal parts that require glue (mostly the engine) have some movement in their interlocking surfaces; dry fit these parts to be sure of their exact proper location before gluing
- do not use CA glue on or near clear parts; we recommend Micro-Liquitape as pictured below for smaller parts, or double-sided tape cut into strips for parts like windshields or windows (if you've built any of the Pocher Lamborghini kits you should have leftover pieces, always save the leftovers!)
- Page-Specific Tips (we will try to add these tips directly to the PDF instructions when we are finished building):
- page 7: use E screws in place of C screws
- page 8: all holes for A screws in parts DC-B3-1 & DC-B3-2 should be tapped or slightly enlarged with a drill
- page 9: we had to enlarge the holes in the sway bar end link parts DC-21 to fit onto the sway bar ends
- page 15: we found it near impossible to attach "hoses" Y-4 and Y-5 because of inadequate locating holes, so we cut our own hoses from tubing left over from other kits
- page 23/24: the floor mats in our kit (parts X1-1, X1-2) were bowed - we used contact cement on both surfaces to get them to sit flat
- page 63: glue as few parts of the exhaust as possible, as it is a complex assembly that must eventually align perfectly with the four exhaust tips at the rear of the car; we glued S-2 and S-7 to parts N-1/N-4 and N-2/N-3 and left the rest as a press-fit assembly that can be moved into perfect alignment when needed. We glued parts N-5,6,8,9 and two parts DC-C26 carefully into a symmetrical sub-assembly with four exhaust tips EX-1 and DC-C8 (from page 64), to be attached later.
- page 69: the side mirrors and mounts are very fragile, leave them until the very end of assembly to avoid accidental breakage
- page 74: use two E screws in the centerline holes instead of F screws
- page 79: after fitting sub-assembly #23 to the car, notice there are tabs under the exhaust assemblies that will fit into rectangular bosses in part DC-17
- page 83: be sure to locate the ends of parts DC-C29 and DC-C30 inside the slots that accept their ends before attaching with screws; parts DC-C20 (from page 41) may be rotated slightly to help attach these parts in the proper alignment.
- page 84: our rear hatch/clamshell hinges HG-3 & HG-4 were very tight and required a few drops of oil to let them move (slight binding is OK)
- page 85: part DCB-11 is keyed on one end to fit the recess on part DC-29; you may have to hold this part with pliers to tighten the screw
- page 88 part 1: install parts J-23 and J-24 before you mount the rear clamshell.
- page 88 part 2: if you carefully bend back the hinge tabs that function as movement limiters it will make it much easier to open the hatch wider and access screws E to attach the rear frame
- page 88 part 3: as a last step firmly press down on the top of part DC-29 until it snaps into the recess of part DC-6 (from page 57)
- page 92: part numbers for Q1-3 and Q1-4 are reversed in the diagram
- some builders have reported difficulties with the fit of the doors and front "clamshell" body; we have dry fit the front bodywork without the hinge and found it lines up well with the cowl and front fenders, so if we have problems after it is properly mounted we will come up with a workaround and share it with you; the doors will be more difficult to fix if there are problems but there is always a way, so stay tuned as we should be finishing our build in the next few days
- we will add more tips and hopefully annotate the PDF instructions after we finish our model; feel free to send us additional tips that helped you
- Pocher has made at least a few corrections to their online PDF instructions, so be sure to download the latest version before building your kit, and we will update the instructions hosted on our site when we have a chance
use for general gluing
use for clear parts