Heller 1:8 Citroen Traction Avant 15/6

[AmazonSprite]

Hi everyone,

I bought this kit a while ago, but have only just had the chance to have a proper look at it. The detail is unbelievable - fuel & brake lines, full wiring loom, vacuum formed headlining, working suspension & steering (including the ujs on the front driveshafts & the front ball joints), working (& latching) door, bonnet (hood) & boot (trunk) handles, opening glovebox....! There are over a 1000 parts, and the instruction book looks more like a Citroen factory parts book for the full size car than the instructions to a model kit!

Has anyone on here ever built one? All I can find in a search is a thread about 'pimping' one, but that didn't seem to get any further than taking a few bits off the sprutes...

Any advice, especially relating to any potential pitfalls etc would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Paul

[AmazonSprite]

Just found this on Google:

http://www.korkutvarol.com/citroen_v.htm

Some very useful info there, but I'm a bit concerned by the suspension problems that he mentions. Looks like I'll definately need those tiny coil springs for inside the dampers!! However, the main issue is where can I get that sort of thing, as it would be such a waste to build it with the suspension locked up....

[AmazonSprite]

Anyone, anyone, Beuller??

[mikemechanic]

Hey Paul, I do not have the kit but have looked into buying it in the past. I did not know it was that detailed. Depending on how big the shocks are you could either make your own springs or maybe what you get inside a ballpoint pen would work, it will have to be strong enough to hold up the weight of the car though. I guess if it was me I would glue it all into position anyway to keep the stance the same all the time, besides I dont play with them after anyways.

[AmazonSprite]

I had no idea it was that detailed either - except for being all plastic (rather than multi media), it seems to be up to Pocher standard . Good idea about the ball point springs - thanks! Based on the info in the link above, the plastic torsion bars aren't up to supporting the weight on their own, so the sprung dampers might give enough extra support.... However, I think the dampers can be 'locked' with parts included in the kit, which would probably be the best way to guarantee the correct ride height. It will be a display model, but working features are kind of cool....

[RallyFanatic]

I can also remember the hood and door hinges were too weak and would collapse. Use metal rod for these hinges. Overall the model has a lot of issues with weight and bending/flexing parts. Basically it's too heavy for itself.

[AmazonSprite]

Thanks! I've been thinking about redoing the bonnet / hood hinges anyway, as the hinging system provided is rather odd anyway , but that confirms it! The door hinges looked ok & the doors themselves are quite light, so I'm surprised to hear of problems there, but I will investigate closer to the time. Also, the bootlid looks like it will need a steady strap (I will be building the earlier type, with the sparewheel in the lid & the hinges at the bottom, as I think the later type is very ugly) to support it's weight.

The suspension & steering are definately weak points as well due to the loadings , but if the suspension is built with locked-up (or possibly sprung?) dampers, I think it will be ok. As for the steering, we'll see - as long as it's not turned with the front wheels on the ground, I hope it will also be ok!

So far, I've done a dry assembly of the body, and aside from one bonnet half being slightly warped & some damage to the edge of a door skin (not quite fully moulded), all is ok, and fits quite well.

[Walter E. Assmann]

Hi,

I have als bought my TA 15 CV by Heller.

Thanks for warning me about problems but I have known Heller for years and know it is common to have weakness prblems in details. The hood solution hinge is very poor so I concluded that Heller waste a lot of time in many details but forgot some very important.

Tell me something if you noted: it is possible with Heller kit to assembly a 1952 version with theround truunk lid an spare tire inside the hood but I believe this is not compatible with windshield wipers on top of windscreen. Have you investigated about? Unfortunately, few of 15 CV were exported to Brazil, most part of TA's here are 11CV.

Appreciate yo help.

Walter

[Khier]

This is a milestone in plastic kit history. I have two of it and did not dare to do anything byound looking inside the boxes. There is no way to find out if the kit is complete due to the number of parts and the premitive instructions, which is the only negative point. One minor negative point also is the packing. It is very hard to keep the roof lining undamaged in the box.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Fwiw, my impression of the suspension is that there's nothing a few small springs slid inside the shocks couldn't handle (the kit actually comes with stops to put in them if you want to freeze the stance). The kit's problem is that it relies on the springing force of the plastic torsion bars, and of course, the finished model is way too massive for that, as has been adroitly pointed out a few times here already. I'd also second the notion that using some metal rod stock to replace the plastic pins in various hinges will be quite helpful.

I was rather distressed about the warpage in my tires too, but it seems that Trumpeter might have developed a concept to address that - simply trim some foam rings to fit inside as a kind of inner tube.

[CrateCruncher]

While I think the front drive engine and all it's micro-detail is a tour de force that body is just not my cup of tea. When I bought mine several years ago I did a search and discovered some of the cars were rebodied as beautiful convertibles in interesting colors. It's a lot of work converting a car to a convertible but in this scale it might not be too bad.

[portalus]

Here is some WIP but nonenglish language version:
http://modelwork.pl/viewtopic.php?t=639&start=0

[AmazonSprite]

Wow - this thread sure is a blast from the past!

Many thanks for that link - very useful, especially as I haven't seen a build up thread of this kit that actually resulted in a completed model before. Haven't done anything further on mine - still honing my modelling skills on other kits first, so that I can make sure that I do this kit the justice that it deserves, but that thread is truly inspirational & is making me want to start it once my workdesk is clear of my current projects