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Renault 4 Fourgonnette


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It's progressing a little slowly, mainly as I want to paint everything together with the Estafette and its bodywork is in need of more attention before painting.

I haven't completely decided the colour scheme. My first plan was to paint it "Renault Service" white/orange just like the Estafette, then I leaned towards a plain white with some Garage scripts and Renault logo on the side panels. It will be one of those.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Over the last few days I have painted a lot of the small parts. I'm doing the Estafette at the same time so there are a lot of parts in this picture. Still a lot more paint work to do, but it's getting closer.

The body and the related parts have also been painted white. I have now made the decision that this one will be just this basic white colour with some sign writing on the sides.

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Most parts have now got the basic painting done. The seats and door interiors are still to be finished. The tyres Ebbro supplies are a bit plain on the side wall; hopefully it will look a little better when matted down a bit.

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I printed some black writing and license plates today. The logos are from the scrap box.

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It's getting closer. Yesterday I finished the last painting work before decaling and assembly can start. Here are the seats. Quite different from what came in the box.

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When I printed my decals I included some artwork for typical Renault mud flaps for these years, as I need them for other projects coming as well. So the parts for both this and the Estafette got a gloss coat, decals, flat coat and at last some yellow-brownish weathering powder to tie them together and tone down the white. They are slightly more yellowish than the photo shows.

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The body also received what little detail painting there is to be done.

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I use Bare Metal chrome foil behind the rear lights whenever possible.

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Thanks a lot. The seats are painted with Humbrol, first sprayed 85 satin black, then dry brushed with a grey using a short rounded make up brush and very little paint but more work. It would be a similar approach as using oils.

I have applied some decals tonight, and some black washing in selected lines.

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Thanks a lot guys. It's getting close now; I've made some progress during the last days.

I cut the license plates from 0,25 mm plasticard and rounded the corners.

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Then they were sprayed gloss white.

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After decals and semi-gloss clear I had these. One set is for the Estafette.

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And at last I have started some major assembling. The engine got some basic wiring and plumbing and was installed in the chassis.

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And here is the underside with the rear suspension and exhaust in place. It will get some dusting with Tamiya weathering powder when the body is on.

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The seats and floor glued in place.

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When the windscreen is installed the mounting points in the roof has to be ground back to make the sun visors fit properly.

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I think Ebbro did a great job with the grille and lights.

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I scratch built new terminals for the battery in the typical red and green type used by Renault.

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All the glass has also been installed. The way Ebbro have included the glass in the door interiors works well.

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Thanks a lot for your kind words. The oldest jack is indeed an interesting experience. I never even dared try the one in the -63 R4 Super I restored in the mid -90's... The first scissor type came together with the new grille and four speed gearbox in -68.

Next I fitted the rear lights and license plate.

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Then the dash board with its associated parts went in.

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Then it was time to mate the body and chassis. As I have fitted all doors the gear lever now also needs to be slid loosely in place and secured with a piece of tape to prevent it from sliding back in. I'm leaving the front mounting points loose for now. That allows the front wings to move a little so I can adjust them to the bonnet later.

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With the radiator fitted the gear lever can also be glued in place.

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With a little bit of work everything else in the engine room was fitted. One could add a lot more, but this was enough. I didn't actually mean to bother with the engine details at all when I started...

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If you do like I did, which for once is also what the instructions say, and try to fit the rear bumper after the chassis and body is joined it won't work.

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The solution is simple enough; cut off the tabs and it will slide nicely in place.

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Like so.

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After some trimming of the hinges and gluing the front wings aligned with the bonnet the fit is very much OK, that means like it is on the real cars. However, the operation of the hinged bonnet is not terribly precise, which is to be expected I guess. I never like openable or detachable body panels, and this is no exception. The R4's I'm planning will have the bonnet fixed. But I think Ebbro have captured the R4 look very well.

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Fitting the wheels was no problem and they aligned very well without any tweaking. I have ground some flats to give the car a little weight. I have now run out of parts to fit so it's almost done. There are some thin black washes I need to do, and I will also do a little bit of light weathering. But first I will bring the Estafette to the same state so I can work on both together again.

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That is a simply beautiful model Jörgen - pictured in a natural setting I have no doubt it would pass for the real thing, as it just looks so right!

I meant to ask before but forgot, how did you do the fluid in the washer & coolant bottles - is it just paint on the outside? It looks very effective....

Keith

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That looks spot on to me, The only thing missing is the oil leaks that I seem to remember staining the engine bay and under floor areas

An absolutely stunning model

Roger

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This is lovely, only just found the thread and greatly enjoyed following your build. Excellent work! Inspiring too: must finish my Tamiya VW Beetle 1966... I hadn't heard of Ebbro: I wonder if they have any similar vintage types coming out? I've sometimes been tempted by the Tamiya or Heller 2CV, but I never owned one of those. However, I did have two Citroen Dyane 6s, one after the other, great car I think about far more fondly than any other previous car I had. I cannot find even a metal 1/24 kit, let alone a plastic construction kit: on the shelf above me there's a Corgi Dyane in a smaller scale, grossly over-scale tyres that I must change some day! But I'd really like a plastic kit in 1/24 of a Dyane 6, so I can reproduce one of the two I had - maybe the first, that I drove twice to Portugal, happy days...

rgds Tony

Edited by corporate
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Tony, they do a cracking 2CV Fourgonette as well. It's produced in collaboration with Tamiya, using some their's (Tamiya's) 2CV sprues.

BillyD

Really? That's nice Billy, thanks. I know where there's a 2CV Fourgonette in ex-French Post Office yellow sitting disused in a barn in Lot et Garonne, lovely condition just waiting to be restored. Alternatively this Ebbro one might do me for now...

rgds Tony

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