Joerg Pottoff, USA

Alfa Romeo Spider Touring Grand Sport

We at Model Motorcars see a large number of Pocher projects, and we enjoy seeing how many of our components we can identify on any one model. While it is true that the more components we see the better we like it, it is also true that we delight in seeing the variety of different approaches used by Pocher builders. Pocher builders are a resourceful and inventive crowd, and what they do with Pocher kits is a constant source of amusement and wonder for us here at MMLtd. When photographs of Joerg Pottoff's Alfa arrived on our desk, we immediately noticed that Pottoff seemed to take as much pleasure in using our components as we do, and yet there was something else about his model that that tickled our fancy. As we slowly worked out what it was that had us smiling, it dawned on us that our little family of Pocher enthusiasts has a wider range of interests than we might have expected. Our tent, it seems, covers more acreage than we had thought.
A conventional way of thinking about Pocher builders is that we range from those who build box-stock models to those of us who think of a Pocher kit as a good jumping-off point on our journey to creating a model car. All of which is true, but the alternatives along that spectrum are many and varied, and at either end of the spectrum are some wonderfully unexpected examples of model building.
One of the oldest segments of our hobby includes those folk whose principle goal is to build the neatest, most fastidiously assembled Pocher the world has ever seen. These folk are the 'box-stockers' who often impose on themselves the determination to use only the components within the box the kit came in. For some, this even precludes paint. The exercise can be made more demanding by trying to duplicate the model shown on the box top. At the other end of our spectrum are those of us who seem determined to leave behind any semblance of what the manufacturer had in mind and build something which totally hides its origins. In general terms, the former are building models and the latter are building replicas; the former are focused on techniques (how) and the latter are focused on prototype details (what).
So there we were, smug in our neat categories and our insightful conclusions-enjoying a steaming latte-- when Joerg Pottoff's photos arrived, a wake-up call to those of us hanging out in the Assumption Hotel.
The tip-off that Joerg Pottoff refuses to be bullied by the assumptions of others is that he has painstakingly painted his model the exact color of the plastic-twice. He explains that in the midst of finishing the last coat of paint, the model fell on the floor (here, most of us can insert our own heart-breaking/hilarious anecdotes of similar catastrophes) so that he had to use thinner to remove the paint and start over. If this were the only time we had encountered a model painted in the color of the plastic components, we might have missed the significance. It surely is not the first time we have read about models with fresh paint meeting their Arma- geddon. Currently this writer is restoring a model that has been so meticulously painted in the colors of the plastic that the fact it was painted at all was only recently discovered. This is not a new phenomenon. But whether it is months spent researching the exact shade of a prototype color, or weeks spent meticulously refinishing a model in the color of the plastic components, it is clear that Pocher folk are a wonderfully determined and patient lot.
We have lots in common.
Our motivations are completely different.
Our models tell our stories.
Thank you, one and all, for so enriching our lives!