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

[Nissanmotorsport]

I've seen that "thing" last Friday and it is huge.

Great build, Dominique.

[DominiqueBeerts]

I have been looking at some parts that need to be fixed to the firewall, and I found them just ... not good enough. So I made my own coil, a reservoir for the Lockheed braking system and the accelerator lever lever mounting.

No problem for the coil and the oil reservoir (basicaly a small jar with lid), these are easy to make on a lathe. Also their supports which were much too thick, and have been replaced with a small aluminium strip. The bolts and nuts of 1mm were added, so the supports can actually be bolted to the firewall. It adds realism, and at the same time you are able to mount and dismantle as much as you like.






The accelerator lever mounting was a bit more fiddly. Because the shape of the parts is not too difficult, I decided to shape it from copper sheet, instead of etching them. The main part is cut in 0,4mm copper sheet, the smaller one which is to hold the return springs in 0,24mm. Between them I added a small part out of a box with watchmakers leftovers to simulate a hinge.
You then solder everything together, and done!

Again everything is bolted to the firewall, and we're ready to tackle some more parts.







Have fun building.

[DominiqueBeerts]

Another step completed today: the firewall has been completed (except for part number 74 which will need to be redone with PE-connectors).

I must say that the guys at Heller's have a strange kind of humour. I found that it is hard to install the big bent part on to the assembly, because you need to decide whether you want to install first, on spray first.
When you spray the part first, you will need to fill and work on gaps between this part and the vertical sidewalls. Either you install it first and complete the installation before spraying paint all over the assembly again, OR face yourself with an extensive amount of masking in either way you decide to do it.

It could be so simple though: install the bent part on to the vertical sides when these sides are glued to the floor. You then have plenty of room and opportunities to work on the parts, since these are the only ones which are glued to the floor and can be spray-painted in one single go. Don't come tell me you were not warned when doing your own Traction

I did things the first way: I sprayed the part, even detailed and finished all work on it, then glued it to the sidewalls and finished the work on filling gaps. Eveything was carefully sprayed with airbrush, although this is not a simple method to do it.

While working on things I replaced the vertical throttle lever by a self-made one in brass. The method of klicking it on to a rod was not exactly realistic imo, so ...

The original part:


What I did with it:


Once installed it looks like this:


Some more pictures on today's status:

[DominiqueBeerts]

The big parts now need to be attached: sidewalls, trunk lid and roof.
The building plan suggests a sequence like this:
1. glue the sidewalls against the floorpan, and the trunk needs to be attached to the rear of these sidewalls. The 1:1 car has a one-piece sidewall annex trunk plate, but since the versions before 1952 and 1952 and later differ, Heller provides 2 versions of it.
2. complete the sidewalls with inner details and blinkers and so on.
3. Glue the roof to the top of the sidewalls and the rear.

Personally I have some objections, since the sidewalls, roof and trunk need to connect seemlessly like on the 1:1 car. And there are a few little "issues" that will need to be addressed first before all these parts can be sprayed, finished and mounted.

First of all I will have to make sure that the seems which are not supposed to be there will be filled.

Then the non-fitting parts. These need to be filled, but it is not necessary that all come together seemlessly. A small seem is acceptable, because also present on the real car.

Some parts need to connect, but not necessarily with an invisible seem. At the rear wings for example, the seem remains visible through a small line in the platework. At the front, a lot can be camouflaged because at the same spot there needs to be a small waterdam (or what's the word in English?). So I think I will get past the problem that the sidewalls do not follow the curve of the firewall by eliminating this waterdam and make all fit, then just recreate the dam. Keeping in mind that the hood still needs to fit of course.

We'll see how it goes when we go along the process.
Still with me? Or more explanations needed?

[Tompidom]

This still looks like an extreemly complicated build, But thats what makes it interresting to follow, Looking forward on more body work!

[DominiqueBeerts]

Originally Posted by Tompidom

This still looks like an extreemly complicated build, But thats what makes it interresting to follow, Looking forward on more body work!

It's not my easiest one, for sure. But it keeps a man busy, right?
Thanks for following.

[deedlit]

Damn, that's the worst body fitting i've ever seen, good luck on correcting and making all the elements to adjust but I'm sure you'll do it

[DominiqueBeerts]

High time for an update on the Citroen. A part of the body shell has been glued together, and everything went surprisingly well. One body part keeps the other in shape, so you only need to "insist" a little bit to keep everything in place until the glue has dried. So now both the sidepanels, roof and trunk are glued together. The trunk for the 1952 version has a specific shape, so you need to keep to the instructions carefully to build this version, but if you do things are quite easy to follow.

The fabric for the interior will be done with Tenco Scale Weave. This is very fine woven tissue, which makes it perfect to use in this scale. It will be applied using thinned glue, then sprayed in the correct colour. Due to the size of the model I have ordered 2 pieces of 90x90 cm of this tissue, I hope it will be enough ...

Colour of the interior will be grey, while the outside is the obvious black. This outside base colour will be done using regular spray cans, but the lacquer will be automotive 2-component lacquer, probably DuPont if I can get to it.

In the pics you will also see the rear suspension which has been started and the frames of the front seats.

To be continued !!

[escalajet]

Muy bueno.

[stevetriumph]

Really enjoying seeing this build come together. Many people cosider this kit to be un-buildable, nice to see you proving them wrong.
Regards, Steve.

[DominiqueBeerts]

The kit is buildable alright, it just needs some persuason, let's say

The cushions of the first (front) seat are now covered with Tenco Scale Weave, and I must say I am very happy with the result.
As a first colour test I sprayed the fabric with a light coat of ordinary Tamiya grey primer. But this was too bright to my liking. So I added a mist coat of Tamiya German Grey straight from the spray can. This was then toned down again with another mist coat of grey primer. The result is so satisfying that I will be using it as the base colour for the entire interior fabric. it needs a little of hightighting and shading to be perfect, but I am close to the desired definitive colour.

Updates to follow soon!

[DominiqueBeerts]

Update (and about high time it is )

The floormat has been glued to the floorplate and it was sprayed in the same grey colour as the front seats. So these seats could be put into their supports and attached to the floor. The seats are still able to move front and backwards, by the way. Also I made new back-pockets for them.

Next job: spray and lacquer the body. But that's for next week. First I have a weekend in Southern England to do. I will be visiting the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (see www.LBVCR.com).
You'll be posted when works continue.

Keep on building.

[corvettekid_7684]

Wow...that is one huge kit!! And I thought my 1/12 Countach had a lot of parts!! This will be an interesting thread for sure

[ianc911]

Subscribing. Brilliant workmanship and painting. Utterly convincing. Thanks for posting,

ianc

[DominiqueBeerts]

First of all, I wish everybody here a healthy, enjoyable and trouble free 2012, to you and your family.

I was a bit surprised myself when I saw that it was already that long ago when this thread was last updated. I have been busy with a few smaller projects in between, so it is high time that this one got picked up again.

However, it has not been abandoned completely. The front seats received seams, made of solder of 0,4mm thick. The back seats have been covered with fabric, and just need the seams to be applied. Pictures follow when this is done.

The body has been sprayed, finally... I sprayed with ordinary Tamiya grey primer. This primer coat was done a little bit thicker than usualy because I wanted to be 100% certain that all plastic is covered so the later varnish would not be able to react with the plastic. Then a layer of Tamiya matt black went on, straight from the spray can. This coat was smoothened with 2000 grit, and a second coat went on, again straight from the Tamiya spray can.

I then sprayed a layer of DuPont automotive clear varnish. It was left to dry for 24 hours and I polished it with 2000 grit, followed by the complete assortiment of Micro Mesh pads (grits 3600 until 12000). I was not satisfied with the general result (still some light trace of orange peal in some areas) and therefore I polished with car polish.

It is not 100% perfect, but for a first try of the automotive product more than satisfying. I am not going to polish any further on the body because I fear that I will go through the varnish at some point. A second coat of varnish would become too thick in my opinion.

Next step: finishing the back seat seams, and applying the roof and door jamb internal fabric.