Renault 4 Fourgonnette

[Bengalensis]

There is no starter motor present for some reason. It's quite visible so I cut that section from Heller's 4CV engine and modified it to fit reasonably.

A new more detailed steering rack was built based on Tamiya's Alpine A110 part. The outer ends are quite thick but aren't really visible.

Here the filler on the firewall is finished. The valve cover also got a new oil cap, taken from the Tamiya A110.

The engine block and cylinder head leaves something to be desired if one is a little picky. There are six recesses for the sparkplugs, one of which is used to fit the distributor that then ends up beside its drive shaft location, which isn't centred as it should be anyway. Actually Heller's 4CV (it is basically the same engine) is better in these respects even if it's simple.

I ground the head to make one long ditch and then glued three blocks in. The proportions of the engine also look off, with the top of the head looking too low, so I added 1 mm of sheet styrene.

When that was cut and sanded to shape I made a new location for the distributor. The distributor itself, coil and fuel pump all comes from Heller's 4CV. The parts are basic and a just a little bit small, but they will be OK here.

With the new height of the engine it also looks better when installed.

Next I need to do something to the exhaust and intake manifold. Or make the battery shelf. Neither looked too inspiring at the moment so I turned my attention to the bonnet. It needs to be cut up behind the grille.

This was quickly done. The chrome isn't bad at all, if anything its too shiny, and the grille needs a little bit of cleaning up. I did that and will use Alclad instead.

[Hamden]

More good work going on here.

Roger

[Bengalensis]

Thanks. This evening I started to work on the battery shelf. I first cut out the location in the firewall.

Then I built the base for the shelf and its sides from 0,25 mm sheet styrene.

After some small adjustments the whole thing was glued in place.

Here is the result with the battery and engine in place.

I had forgotten about the breather pipe on the valve cover, but now it's there.

The radiator hoses in the kit will no longer fit, and they weren't very good anyway, so I made new from 1,2 mm solder wire. The radiator supports where made from scrap photo etched trees. Never throw away anything... I also had to fill another hole in the firewall.

And then I filled yet another hole that was very over sized for the new heater hoses I made. We'll see how well all this will fit in the end, but it shouldn't require too much adjustments. I hope...

[The Sheene Machine]

Fantastic work Jorgen, and an interestng subject.

[heloman1]

Nice work Jorgen. Incidently I was sent a set of pics form a guy inthe Far East who built this kit. Says he's some genius by the guy who sent me the pics. He didn't even pull the gape in the front wings together or rub the mould line off the read bumper bar... I sent the pics back and told my friend to come and look at your build.

I'm liking your work a lot.

Colin

[Bengalensis]

Thanks guys. Well, one doesn't have to make everything I do here to build a good R4 from this kit, especially not if building the latest model possible. I would still like to remove the mould lines though. But as long as the builder is happy.

The inside of the bonnet is a bit of compromise, but I will leave it as it is. But I decided that I wanted to add the reinforcing struts, mainly as they will be seen through the grille. I cut and glued the lower centre mount and selected two Evergreen strips that would make up the struts profile.

Here they are installed, carefully checked so they don't interfere with anything when closed.

And here seen from the front. The bumper had the hole for the starting handle cut as well. And no, the gaps will not stay like this when the body is glued to the chassis, just correctly large.

The fuel cap is supposed to be mounted perpendicular to the side like this according to the instructions. That's not quite how it should look.

I drilled and filed out the location in the body and added the angled filler pipe. I have left the raised ring around it as it will make the rubber boot edge when painted.

I also wasn't perfectly happy with the mirror in the kit for my version, although the round one supplied is correct for many older versions. I made a new using the mirror itself from Heller's Citroen 2CV and the strut from the kit mirror. Alclad will be my rescue when painting. The locating holes in the doors where filled with Evergreen rod.

Something has to be made to those seats. I will make new ones based on those from Heller's 4CV according to my original idea. I cut off the rails from the kit seats and will attach them to the new seats when they are done.

Then I cut down the height of the new seats to match the kit parts in height and seat cushion angle. I also scribed the stitching.

I had to re-angle the backs as they ended up far too upright, and then they were rounded off and sanded down to a much flatter shape.

I now have to decide if I should go through the trouble to thin the backs and add the tube frame on the rear, which will perhaps hardly be seen. Unless it's white colour makes it stand out enough against the black seat? I will dwell on that over a glass of red or two soon.

[Hamden]

You know you won't be happy if you don't add the seat frames! They will probably be visible through the rear door window anyway.

Roger

[bentwaters81tfw]

You have to add the seat frames, they were the only things that held the vehicle square, or didn't bend when you touched them!

Just noticed the Estafette as well. They had 2 of them, A normal one and a high roof in natural brownish fibreglass.

I used to work Saturday mornings for them, and travelled about in all the vans.

They also had a Morris 1000 van and a Ford Thames 15 (400E)

[Bengalensis]

Well, it had to be done, didn't it? This morning I started to cut off material from the backrests.

Slowly taking shape.

This is quite close I think.

Sanded smooth and I can think of doing the frames.

I choose 1,2 mm soldering wire as it would be easy to bend without any tension. It was thinned down at least 1/3 through in what will be the top, which is also where I started to glue it before bending.

Both frames done.

Good wine in bottles is important to consume, not least as it provides nice foil to work with.

I cut strips in the desired width and glued against the seat edges and frames.

Then it was carefully bent around the frames, cut and glued.

Lastly the seats were glued to the rails with the floor as guide. I'm quite happy with how the seats came out.

They are actually more visible than I expected, so this time the work was actually a good investment.

With this done I can probably not avoid to make a good correction to the exhaust/intake manifold...

The Estafette is now going to get work done again BTW, hoping to finish it together with this one. I have a new edition of my high roof from the 3D-printer coming, I hope it will be better than the first I received a two(?) years ago.

[bentwaters81tfw]

That looks better. Grey Fourgonettes, blue Estafettes, the only thing thing missing is the lovely girl from 47 years ago.

[Bengalensis]

Will she do?

[bentwaters81tfw]

Hair is a bit long, and boobs a bit too big. Dress is far too long. Hemlines in the '60's tended to stop just short of the knicker elastic.

[Hamden]

Knew you wouldn't be happy with those seats!

Looks so much better now

Roger

[heloman1]

Nice work on the seats Jorgen.

Colin

[Bengalensis]

Thanks, the work on the seats was well invested time indeed.

Here are the kits exhaust- and intake manifolds. Again they are for the more recent models, not late 60's.

This is the correct part, it's a one piece cast iron part of a pretty tight design.

I started with a piece of Evergreen 1,6 mm rod bent to a slight bow and glued it on top of the kit part. I also cut down the intake section slightly.

After some cutting, filling, sanding and gluing the two parts together I had the correct manifold pretty much OK.

I had to drill the hole for the exhaust pipe in the inner wing as the kit part just ends up against it. Then I built the pipe with joints to fit, checking against the radiator and bonnet struts. In theory so far this will all fit in the end. I hope. The carburettor is again from Heller's 4CV.

And here with the air cleaner in place. This was modified to allow the carburettor in between.

[sean]

Wonderful, the finish on the seats were well the effort , as was the work on the engine.

It does strike me that you will have a 4CV shell and no components for it.... or will this be

a Renault hotrod in the pipeline?

Sean

Edited September 13, 2014 by sean

[Bengalensis]

Thanks Sean,

Haha, I have actually thought about the fact that I have so many 4CV parts available. The reason is that I have built several Heller Renault 4CV's in different versions, either as "curbside" models (no engines and such details) or with different parts. I was thinking I should post them in my thread of older car models. Maybe I should go take some photos...

[sean]

Yes photos would be nice, although if you take out all your spares as well you could end up

building something else!(Like a hotrod.....go on you want to)

Sean

[Natter]

Still watching, and still amazed at your attention to detail; though I don't know why, all your builds are excellently done.

[keefr22]

Really enjoying this build Jörgen, it's great to see so much excellent scratchbuilding being applied to such a 'humble' vehicle, rather than the usual supercars....!!!

Keith

[mbdesignart]

Still mesmerised by this build. C'est magnifique, as they say in Yorkshire!

[Bengalensis]

Thanks a lot guys, glad you like the build.

Really enjoying this build Jörgen, it's great to see so much excellent scratchbuilding being applied to such a 'humble' vehicle, rather than the usual supercars....!!!

I often tend to think that simple cars like this deserves some good attention. That is also one of the reasons why it will not be finished as a worn out rust bucket, but rather as a quite well kept car that the business driving it won't be too embarrassed driving in public. Another reason for that is probably that I have spent so much time in my life restoring numerous neglected cars back to former glory that I just tend see a lot of hard work waiting otherwise...

The wipers is another detail that is for later models only, the blades are of too modern style for this one.

I cut off the arms to be used and made a profile for the blades from Evergreen strips.

With the windscreen well protected I could place the blades in their resting position and glue the arms to them.

Here they are ready for some Alclad chrome.

I think I have now got everything ready for some paint. I would like to get the Estafette to same state before I get into to that though, so I can do all spraying for both of them together.

[Bengalensis]

I got the primer sprayed on the necessary parts this morning. All looks fine, even the seats, and this should just need a light sanding before paint.

[heloman1]

Looking good Jorgen.

Colin

[Hamden]

Looking good in primer, what colour scheme are you planning for this?

How about doing this and the Estafette in Renault Service colours of orange and white that would make a stunning pair IMHO

Roger