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

[DominiqueBeerts]

Hello all,
after lurking around for over 2 years I have decided to start my first WIP and share this with you guys.
The subject is the famous Citroën 15-Six (better known as "Traction Avant").



Heller seems to have a reputation when it comes to quality of their kits, and sadly it is not a good one.

This car was a leader in it's era, not just by the looks of it (don't forget that the first version was introduced in 1934 - the version "7", "11" and "22", and it's appearance hardly changed throughout it's lifetime), but also by the used techniques. The front wheel drive even gave the car it's immortal nick-name...
Sadly enough the "22" was never taken in production because the project was a little over-ambitious: a 3,8L V8 having 100 bhp...

The top version became the 15 "Six": propelled by a 2,8L six-in-line negine producing 77bhp at 3800 rpm. It was a nice and smooth engine, which was also capable of unleashing it's brute power when necessary. The top model even made it as presidential ride ...
The performance which the car was capable of also inspired a different -somewhat less hounest- clientele, so the car has up till today a second reputation of ganster car. Not quite appropriate, since a lot of later fast cars (think 205GTI, Golf GTI, Impreza WRX, and others of the kind) were also used in this context, but noone mentions them as getaway cars by definition.
Production of the "15" was stopped in 1955.

As for the kit: one speaks in superlatives. It has 1054 parts (some are supplied multiple times as it is possible to build more than one version, but still), divided over 38 sprues and 2 sheets of polistyrene. The instruction book has 28 pages and it looks more like a Citroen parts catalogue than a kit instruction guide.
I have the impression that everyone knows the kit, but almost noone has ever dared to build it. The usefull progress reports on the internet are quite rare, and they all seem to mention the same kind of problems:
1. The hinges for the hood and the doors are too weak and need to be reinforced, yet better replaced by stronger ones,
2. The suspension needs strong springs to hold the kit. Even Heller mentions that the kit will need to be set on blocks to protect it against "time". The kit seems just too heavy.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes.
I decided to just follow the sequence as proposed by the assembly instructions. Due to the level of detail of the kit, I don't think it will be necessary to add lots of extra's to the model.
However, I will try to remove all bolts and buts in plastic, and replace them with barss ones, just to upgrade the level of detail. I bought some hex rods in brass, and I use a mini lathe to turn these bolts and nut heads.



Soon I found out that the typical Heller fitting problems are also present in this kit. It seems that the plastic is too soft, allowing the parts to bend easily, wausing terrible fit issues. Heller seems to have succeeded in building a great and very detailed kit of this iconic French car, but in all it's effort they have forgotten that a kit of this kind and size needs to engineered accordingly and the materials must be chosen likewise. On the last page of the assembly manual, they mention that supports need to fabricated and placed under the car to "protect the model against time". Meaning it is just too heavy for the used materials...

In the picture you see that the engine block halves do not exactly fit. I decided to correct this from the bottom up, providing support tubes in brass in the carter pan. These will force the upper parts into their place through brass tubes of a slighter smaller diameter glued on the inside of the upper parts.






Same thing for the upper parts, which are forced straight with some hardfoam.


The oil filler cap was upgraded with an small axle, allowing it to be opened and closed.


But also this part will need some attention ...


I have some parts aligned to show them before assembly of the engine block. Main thing to mention here are the replaced bolts, and some fittin issues, but nothing dramatic like above.





Finally, I sprayed the engine block flat green, and things now look like this.



Page one of the assembly manual is done.
The block will receive some shading and attention with oil paints later on.

Anyway, be prepared for a loooooooong thread
Thanks for reading.

[endac]

Off to a nice start, the detail in the kit looks good

[deedlit]

Love those big scales models but, 1/8 that's going to be huge.

[stevetriumph]

I love this kit and have had a look at the parts in the box many times but never had enough spare cash at the right time to buy one.
The WIP looks great so far, glad to hear you are going to add some shading and highlighting to the engine.
Will be watching this for sure, you certainly look like you know what you are doing!
Regards and best of luck with the Citroen,
Steve.

[CrateCruncher]

What a wonderful thread! I can't wait to see this one come together. And, from what you've shown already I can see you are just the kind of modeler that will succeed with it. It is a huge kit that needs a part re-engineered here and there. Despite it's minor faults the model is an excellent value IMO. It even has scale wiring harnesses! Amazing.

I don't mean to encourage scope creep on something this big, but there were some coach built cabriolets....

[Hartford]

Good luck with the build. I look forward to watchin progress. I have never seen this car in 1/8th scale before.

Regards

Hartford

[mrawl]

Yowser, this looks interesting. Can you show us a pic of the box contents, it sounds off the hook.

[DominiqueBeerts]

Thank you all for the nice welcome and encouragements on the start of this huge model. I am a kind of a "slower" builder, I take my time to think things through before doing them.
As we go I will try to add some things to the kit, maybe improve a few items as well. It is known that the suspension parts of this kit are not quite up to the weight of the model, so these will have to be reworked.
Oh well, we'll see how it comes together.

Originally Posted by mrawl

... Can you show us a pic of the box contents, it sounds off the hook.

Sure, have a look at these:















That should give you an idea of what is inside the box.
The manual looks more like a parts catalogue than an assembly guide like we are used to when building our models:

[AmazonSprite]

Originally Posted by CrateCruncher

What a wonderful thread! I can't wait to see this one come together. And, from what you've shown already I can see you are just the kind of modeler that will succeed with it. It is a huge kit that needs a part re-engineered here and there. Despite it's minor faults the model is an excellent value IMO. It even has scale wiring harnesses! Amazing.

Indeed - the detail is unbelievable. I can only assume that they were trying to match Pocher, but using only styrene. From prior research, the front torsion bars and the steering column are the main weak points. Inserting small springs inside the telescopic dampers may solve the former (iirc, the kit includes inserts for the dampers to set the ride height if required, which then lock the suspension), but iirc the column ideally needs to be remade in a stronger material to stop it shearing when the steering wheel is turned.

Originally Posted by CrateCruncher

I don't mean to encourage scope creep on something this big, but there were some coach built cabriolets....

I've been having similar thoughts about the one that I have!


Btw, somewhere I have a two part article / review from a modelling magazine, which covers the building of this kit from when it was launched - PM me if this is of interest, and I can email scans to you

[AmazonSprite]

Some useful reference pics here:

http://www.hymanltd.com/search/details.asp?stockno=4224

[DominiqueBeerts]

Isn't she a beauty?
These pictures will proove very handy, as the article you supplied. For the moment I am also working on another small project, in which some collegues will help me get familiar with extended weathering techniques, but updates will certainly follow soon enough.

Thank you all for the encouragements and interest in the subject!

[Khier]

We need separate forums for such projects.... I wonder how fast will it take to build this monster...

[quadzero]

What an amazing project. You were right about the fit problems but I see you are right on top of things correcting them. Great workmanship, especially the movable oil cap and the bolt heads. Looking forward to more of this.

[DominiqueBeerts]

Hi all,
I have a (small) update for you. An axle on the gearbox cover prooved so weak, that I decided to remove it and attach a replacement in brass. This way I can be certain that it does not break off when connecting the levers afterwards.



Also the cover of the fuel pump has been discarded and replaced by a turned one. The clear part was so hideous in my opinion that it left no other choice. The Citroën's have been supplied with a few models of fuel pumps, so that the outcome will not necessarily be incorrect. It will just not have the original pump with the clear cover anymore.



Then the fuel pump, ignition distributor and some levers have been attached, as the gearbox cover, radiator fan and it's drive belt.

Next thing up: I'll try to add some self-produced PE parts to have some smaller thingies a bit to correct size. You'll be updated.

Please note that all drybrushing has been done using acrylics, and shading with oil paints.
Enjoy!

[ridefast]

Amazing build. This kit really is quite a challenge. Best of luck