Citroen 15-Six "Traction Avant" - 1952 - Heller - 1/8

[ianc911]

Looks great as usual! How is the powder applied to the surface? What makes it stick once applied? I like the patina on the radiator; particularly the close up of the top,

ianc

[DominiqueBeerts]

Thanks, ianc911.

Applying is easy, it comes what a pair of small swabs. Just dip and start rubbing over the part. You don't need to make it stick, it just does. See it like toner powder that gets rubbed over some surface. You will never be able to get wipe it off completely again.

[GvEman]

Very realistic! The weathering looks so realistic!

[Martin S]

Great build ! That engine bay is one of the most realistic I have seen here.

[wypor]

Very nice and realistic built.
Especially consider Heller kits are equal to kit from Hell!

[DominiqueBeerts]

Thanks guys!
I am experimenting with door hinges for the moment. First attempt was no good, second was close, so hopefully I will get the third right. Or the ...

Unfortunately I haven't got plenty of time to be building for the moment. Updates will follow though.

[JeremyJon]

fantastic work, very realistic surface treatments! bravo!

[DominiqueBeerts]

Update as promised:

Like I said, I have been experimenting with the door hinges. The kit parts are obviously made of plastic and they cannot bear the weight of the doors, causing them to hang after a while. Different fora confirm this problem.

So they need to be strengthened. I chose to recreate the hinges in brass. They can be mounted with a fixture through the door pillar and then attached from behind the pillar, preferably with a small plate and a bolt. This way I can prevent the doors from hanging due to loose hinges.

I compared the kit parts with a parts catalog for the real car and they are quite OK in shape, so I just needed to copy their shape in brass.

The first 2 attempts were no good. Either the shape did not satisfy me, either I couldn't get them aligned properly. With this version I am able to make the doors fit well, and align the hinges against the door pillar and against each other vertically.
In the pictures everything is still dryfit, so alignment is nihil, but I can get them algned when attaching and fixing them easily.

This is how the upper hinge looks like, on the left of the car in position for opened doors:


... and closed doors:


The one on the lower left:


And with the doors dryfit into position it looks this way:





Detail of the hinge, as you can see it is a quite simple shape. On the right a complete hinge:




Then the different parts as they are awaiting to be cut to size and soldered together to make the hinges for the right hand side of the car:



Questions and/or remarks? Be my guest.
Enjoy!

[MerlinPro]

Brilliant design and execution. Will you paint them body color?

[DominiqueBeerts]

Yes, they will be body color.
Thanks!

[DominiqueBeerts]

It is high time I give you guys an update, after six months it is the least you could ask for.
The reason why this is taking up so much time is that my hobbyroom is situated literally at the other side of town, on my daughter's attic...
But slow progress is progress just as much, so here we go:

slowly we are reaching the final stages on this model. The doors are in various stages of assembly, all parts sprayed an dready, but they need to be assembled yet. Front and rear bumpers idem dito.
The boot lid on the contrary is ready: sprayed in Tamiya flat black, Dupont automotive clear on top and polished with good old turtle wax. The hinges, plate light and handle have been glued using white glue to avoid reaction from the lacquers.

This is a dryfit:



The front wings of the car have been finished. There was a (small) gap between the wings and the body of the car. This gap has been dealt with and the filler has been painted in "dirty black" (expensive expression for flat black with some grey and brownish tint). The front lights are mounted which I found more difficult than it would seem because of the alignment and the curves of the mounts and wing. But the result is acceptable as it is:








In the engine compartment, one detail was still missing: the oil can. This was a very useful attribute back then. Maybe not really needed when the engines were brand new, but once the had some mileage they tended to consule a few drops of oil. It was handy to have some at hand for refill.
I did not use any decal on my can, so I could keep it "brand neutral", but I wanted it to look stained and aged, so I added some rust and dirt:



And here she sits in her final place in the engine bay:



On eBay Germany I found a nice display case, designed to keep models of the "Pocher size", so this was a perfect match for this Citroën. More to come soon.



Enjoy!

[ianc911]

Looking good as usual Dominique. Thanks for the update!

ianc

[CrateCruncher]

Nice work Dominique. I've really enjoyed this thread. Thanks for keeping it going all this time.

[DominiqueBeerts]

thanks guys!

[Umihito]

Amazing works...!! This car must be a real one. I am always enjoying your posting.