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1/8 Citroen Traction Avant - revisited


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This one next...

I'm still slogging away on the Big D Type Jaguar windscreen to finish that one off, and awaiting paint to harden sufficiently on the last parts of the Pocher Fiat 'resurrection', so I can't get on with that either at present.

What to do?

I was pretty set on starting my scratch-build 1/8 Aston Martin DBR1 but tbh, I just fancy gluing a good old plastic kit together for a change instead of making bits, casting parts etc etc...

I'll add some extra detail to this one as I go along and might build it as the open fabric roof version which will involve some chopping about of the bodywork later on. We'll see.

One thing I've decided on though, it WON'T be black!

The pics at present are just to show how HUGE the box is.

Even the instruction book is almost A3 in size.

Roy.

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Edited by roymattblack
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I'm looking forward to this one, Roy! I remember years ago seeing a lovely cream/fawn and chocolate brown one parked outside the Citroen 15 specialist garage in the arches under Waterloo East station -- I wonder if either of them re still going?

bestest,

M.

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Very nice, used to see one buzzing round here everyday, the guy used to use it as a daily driver, he was retired but shows that they are a usable classic, great looking car, good luck with your build Roy.

All the best
Chris

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Here we go...

First – Heller Really should be applauded for attempting to get on the Pocher bandwagon with this enormous kit. It really is a shame nobody else has done something similar.

In many ways, this kit is far more detailed than any Pocher kit has ever been.
Yes, the classic Pocher models have ‘working’ brakes etc, but the level of actual detail in the Citroen kit compared to any of the Pocher cars is far and away beyond belief.
Even the universal joint ‘spiders’ slide in and out on splined shafts when the suspension moves.

The biggest difference though which takes Pocher into the lead is that this kit is all plastic and goes together with glue. Pochers are primarily nuts and screws assembly.

This kit also has a ‘real’ parts count which exceeds any Pocher.
The big Pocher Rolls Royce’s quote over 3000 parts.
However, that includes umpteen wheel spokes, hundreds of nuts, screws, bolts, washers etc…
The ACTUAL number of model parts is around 800-1000.
The Heller kit has almost 1100.

To begin – The Engine.

Of the three very first parts I cut from the sprue, one needed adjusting and one was broken.
Good start.
After a bit of trimming and repair work, the engine block was put together and then glued to the sump. A bit of credit to Heller - minimal cleaning up needed.
Mind you, fitting the two block halves together proved to be quite difficult as there are no locating pins or holes meaning accurate lining up of the parts was a headache because the two pieces move about on the small fixing areas. It was eventually sorted by taping the parts together first, and then running the glue along the inside edges.
Will this prove to be the norm? We shall see.

Next – the cylinder head halves aren’t the same length… One half is about 1mm longer than the other. Not much, but as the plastic is only about 1mm thick, it means the parts don’t line up and one end overlaps the other. Also, both halves were warped.
After some clamping, interior bracing and gluing, the warp was sorted, but the cylinder head bows in at the centre meaning a plasticard block had to be added inside to get a nice straight component.
Sounding more like a Pocher kit every minute.

The engine block end pieces – no locating pins or points. Fitting the various parts together is almost trial and error as there is absolutely NO reference, or way of knowing if the part is in the correct place until other parts are fitted later on. This could mean potential disassembly later if anything is adrift.
DEFINITELY in Pocher territory here!
Gearbox parts, read as above. One thing is for sure and that is that I’m going to need an awful lot of masking tape and clamps at this rate.

Roy.

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Edited by roymattblack
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A bit more done...

Other components were added in a fairly straightforward way, but only after double and triple checking that the position of each part was correct.
There are a lot of different shaped panels and plates that fix to various parts of the engine, and not much in the way of proper guidance as to where they go. You really need to look at any bolts or fixings, and find matching places on the main engine where the bolts line up. Having said that, I’m already really enjoying this kit.

The rocker lid was added easily, as were an assortment of pipes, small plugs and taps, and the starter motor. This kit really does have a plethora of miniscule parts to add. Some pieces are only a millimetre or so in size a realistically need never have been made as separate pieces but no doubt this was done to increase the parts count and to step up the complexity. There are even whole rows of the tiniest hex nuts and bolts imaginable to be glued in place and I could fully understand any builder of this kit who just leaves them out as once added, they hardly notice anyway.
However – being a nit-picker, and knowing it would irritate the life out of me if I omitted a single one of them, they are all being added.
Numerous unnecessary parts did I say?
Fine by me!

Everything on the main engine was painted a dull matt/satin green and a misting of Tamiya smoke. Later on it will get a further weathering and oil staining.

Roy.

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Beautiful Mr R. Love that ring gear.

This is the level of details a Pocher kit should have instead of molded blobs and missing linkages.

Bring on the stains and weathering! But I know you'll use a gentler hand than I did... :wicked:

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Many kind comments...

The first thing I did to make the engine look a bit ‘used’ was give the whole thing a coat of ‘Klear’.
This was to give everything a faint sheen as the matt green just looked too matt.
The Klear was applied very roughly with a stiff brush so that it dries with a more mottled finish.
I don’t want it too smooth.

Next, some gloss black was thinned down considerably and was washed in around the various joins, nooks, crannies, nuts and bolts. I didn’t go too heavy with this as I want the engine to look as if it’s in a decent car and gets the occasional service. I Googled lots of pictures of older car engines for reference and was quite surprised to see that in almost all cases, the engines have a greyish-brown hue caused more by dust and dirt than oil.

The next layer of gunge was applied using a watered down mix of brown and tan. The colours were mixed ‘in situ’ to give an uneven look to the dirt, dust and rust.
Again, I didn’t go too heavy with this layer as the engine isn’t meant to be a wreck.

Finally, I added some highlights of light grey, rust brown and black, to accentuate water dribbles, chips in the green paint and heavier oil marks. I also used pencil, suitably smudged, to give some highlights but they don’t show in the pictures.
Hopefully I haven’t over done it…

I am going to remove some of the grey on the rocker cover though as I'm not too happy with that.

Roy.

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Edited by roymattblack
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Man after my own heart! That's an excellent, subtle start.

I too found grime and dust along with heat-caused surface rust to be the most common elements.

You're on the right path with brown / gray / tan washes. My most effective were khaki / expresso / gray slushes in corners and around fittings which look like heat-dried stains. I simulated oil drips and mists using brown / nato black mixes of various thicknesses.

In this purposely over-exposed photo, it's easier to see the dust and grime (khaki and grays) around the crankcase lower bolts and bellhousing casting and the heated and mildly rusted areas (expresso / khaki / nato) on the water jacket plates. Occasional touches of Rub n' Buff in silver, gold or brass make highlights and chips. In natural light, it's more subtle and real and less 'theatrical':

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Many thanks for that info, and the pic.

I'll be using it as very useful reference.

I too have seen that the pics of my engine look 'heavy-handed' and 'theatrical' as you put it whereas in reality, it's all quite subtle and each tone blends in.

I'm still going to add the hightlights in silver/steel etc, but there are MANY more engine parts still to fit.

The engine as it stands, is the basic 'lump' which needed weathering before the other bits are added.

Roy.

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The local model shop here in Lyon has one of those boxes in the window, I've often wondered what it would look like built up and now I won't have to wonder anymore! :popcorn:

Trouble is, now I'm going to look at it in a different light with my credit card in hand....

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The local model shop here in Lyon has one of those boxes in the window, I've often wondered what it would look like built up and now I won't have to wonder anymore! :popcorn:

Trouble is, now I'm going to look at it in a different light with my credit card in hand....

Buy it and post here; can never have too many 1/8's!

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Roy, this is a French kit of a French voiture, You don't really expect anything to fit properly or go to plan, do you?

Assembly will be in a reverse sequence to the instructions, and you will need metric glue and paints. :banghead::popcorn:

I looked at one of these in Hannants the other day, then walked away. :frantic:

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Damn.......you have beaten me to it!! But, I will be watching this with much interest, and if it turns out to be like a Pocher there will be one of these for sale not too far from where I am sitting!!

Larry.

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Sorry Larry.... but please, start yours so that we can swap notes.
Yes, it is like another Pocher in size, amount of bits and detail, (in fact WAY more detail) but being all plastic it's actually quite straightforward even though Heller have clearly never heard of locating pins or holes...

I’m now on to adding the umpteen other parts to the engine – and there are a LOT.

As I’ve mentioned previously, this is an incredibly detailed model and the number of parts to make up the whole engine just beggars belief. Just looking at the instructions makes me think
‘Pocher would have left that bit off… Pocher would have left that bit out…’
Don’t get me wrong though. I’m an ardent Pocher fan as many of you might have previously guessed but there’s no denying they frequently left out quite a few fairly large parts in the old kits – and still have done so with the new Aventador.
Mind you, I’ve still to come across ANY parts that actually have locating pins, holes, points etc…
Still – it keeps it interesting.

The ancillary parts were assembled with no real trouble. I must say that for such an old kit, the tooling and quality is really top notch. Virtually no flash, pin marks or problems. Also, whatever plastic Heller use, other companies would do well to follow. It glues together easily and the joins seem to set far more quickly than other kits such as those from Revell or Airfix.

It’s a bit of a shame that almost every part of the engine is green as there’s so much detail it seems almost criminal not to highlight it with different colours.
However, the real thing was all green, so green it is.

Frustratingly, the weathering on the engine looks heavy-handed and ‘ott’ in the pictures but in reality, it’s all quite muted.

I have added one picture of the engine outdoors to show a bit better how it really looks.

I also added extra ‘dust’ to the faces of the fan blades as in reality, this is one area that gets very dirty.
Fitting the first drive belt behind the fan was a feat of dexterity – a case of three sets of hands needed.

Onward and upwards.

Roy.

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Edited by roymattblack
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I remember this being built over a couple of issues of "Scale Models" about 30 years ago.

From my vague memory, the issues they had were the gear on the end of the steering column, droopy door handles and fitting the roof lining. They also had trouble with the vinyl parts, but glue and pain has progressed in 30 years.

Brilliant work.

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Love the work so far. Having completed (to a distinctly mediocre standard) the 1/24 scale one in December I'm looking forward to seeing the results obtained by a skilled modeller with a kit three times the size with six times the number of parts.

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