Citroen 2CV by Landlubber Mike - FINISHED - Airfix and Tamiya - 1/24

[mtaylor]

1 hour ago, popeye the sailor said:

.......imagine throwing a small block in there  

And the first time you revved up the engine and dumped the clutch.. the body would quickly look like a corkscrew.   I learned that hard when I was putting small block motors in a Chevy Vega.   Need to stiffen the frames up. 

[popeye the sailor]

there were a couple cars put out at that time that really didn't have a solid frame........they had more in the way of a uni-body frame.  I recall a day when I was at the garage,  that a young woman had bought a vega and brought it to us to inspect.  it was sad for us to tell her that she bought a junker........the uni-frame was rotted severely.

 

unrelated.........my brother in law owned a Mazda B2000 pick up  { this was back in the 80's}.   he drove it out of state every week to go to work.   he brought it to us one Saturday for inspection.......it was my weekend off.   my brother called me.........he had bad news about my brother in law's truck.  I went to the garage........they had the truck up on the lift..........the body was up in the air,  and the bed was on a diagonal slant to the floor.  the frame had snapped in half!  it's like I told my brother in law......it's a good thing it didn't happen while he was driving it  

[wefalck]

Modern cars don't seem to have 'frames' anymore. I believe the VW beetle (and the VW Kübelwagen = Jeep) was one of the first to have been built with a 'self-suspending' body, where chassis and body are integral parts. The 2CV wasn't quite like this, but had an underbody made from pressed steel panels. There were some stiffening 'stringers' as well. Mine suffered from rust at some stage and the road safety inspector poked a hole through it with his screwdriver. They cut out the rusty bit and welded-in some sheet metal, as the structural parts were not affected.

[popeye the sailor]

yep.....same here.......the early K bodies paved the way for unibody construction.   we nicknamed them 50K cars...........drive 'em and toss 'em     some of the car models sold in the US weren't really worth the effort to keep 'em on the road.  those that were could be repaired,  but it was an expensive process.

[Landlubber Mike]

Decided to dust this one off and finish it.  The Tamiya kit is a lot nicer of a kit than the Airfix kit, that's for sure - fit, parts, options, etc.  I have to say, I have the utmost respect for people that do model cars.  The kits may be a lot simpler in terms of parts, etc. that things like planes and ships, but if you want a flawless paint job and that showroom new finish, it's not easy.  I think it's actually harder than with planes and ships where you can get away with weathering and other techniques because the paint job isn't critical.

 

Fun little build, and I learned a lot.  At least this time unlike with the Airfix kit, I managed to build it with all four wheels touching the ground.  I'm slowly getting better  

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Landlubber Mike

[yvesvidal]

Superb model. So realistic.... It takes me back to my childhood....

 

Yves

[wefalck]

Ah those bygone days in the late 1970s/early 1980s cruising open top around southern France ...

At some stage I had to replace the front wings with a good pair from the breakers, but had to match the colour - was able to do quite a decent paint job with a mohair brush ... yes, car model builders spend quite a bit of effort on their paint jobs.

[Landlubber Mike]

I forgot to show what's under the hood.  I didn't completely deck it out as one of my daughters wanted it.  My guess is that it will come back in pieces by  the end of the week. 🤨  

 

I think I would have a lot easier of a time building a beat up, worn car.  I haven't quite figured out the level of shading and highlighting, etc. that is appropriate.  On the body, I used a tiny bit of grey to accent some of the panels (the door jams I used black as that's how the car looks in the various pictures I found).  The engine though doesn't quite have the look I want to get to.  Maybe next time I'll go lighter on the shading for the engine parts. 

 

 

[yvesvidal]

Beautiful work on the engine bay. I would have added a couple of wires to the battery and a little bit of dust spraying around the engine, but since it is going to end up in pieces, no need to do anything.

 

Yves

[Landlubber Mike]

I thought about the battery wires.  As much as I love cars, I know nothing about the interior parts and I hate the thought of adding extra detail and getting it all wrong.  Personally, I would just display my cars as curbside anyway given that the interior parts on these older cars aren't particularly crisp and don't look very realistic.  I've seen some guys replace a lot of that stuff with resin and other aftermarket, but for me, I like to focus on the body styles.  Plus, adding all that aftermarket to deck out the engine bay can get expensive quickly.

 

I do have a few Pocher and Revival kits in the stash, so for them, I'll think about displaying things open.  There at least I have good parts, good diagrams and instructions, etc.

[wefalck]

The battery was sitting on a small shelf or bracket and retained by a couple of threaded rods. I remember this well, because one day I got it back from service and while I was checking the oil (it happened that they forgot to put oil back ...) I noticed that the rods were not fixed - a sharp braking and the battery would have slipped onto the drive-shafts and into the steering, which could have spellt disaster ...

[Landlubber Mike]

The kit had an indentation in the firewall as a type of partial shelf for the battery.  My immediate thought was that there must have been more to keep things in place!

[amateur]

Looks very much like the real thing!

In my memory the wheelbolts were never painted, but perhaps, that is faulty memory.

 

Jan

[Old Collingwood]

8 hours ago, wefalck said:

Ah those bygone days in the late 1970s/early 1980s cruising open top around southern France ...

At some stage I had to replace the front wings with a good pair from the breakers, but had to match the colour - was able to do quite a decent paint job with a mohair brush ... yes, car model builders spend quite a bit of effort on their paint jobs.

Yep used to do that job with my dad  - Twice we hand painted a car  using tekaloid paints  and big brushes  out doors in the sun.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

Nicely done Mike.

 

OC.

[amateur]

9 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Yep used to do that job with my dad  - Twice we hand painted a car  using tekaloid paints  and big brushes  out doors in the sun.

 

OC.

I guess that was pretty common: quite a number of those where the paint on the doors, the body and the wings did only closely match: faded wings, bright red hood (or the otherway round). Today the ones remaining are painted better than when they left factory  (btw quite a lot of those 2cv's (better known as 'lelijke eend' (ugly duck) around here, as somefirms rent them out for a day out (like they do with Trabants, VW Beetles, and some other old fashioned modes of transport).

 

Jan

[Baker]

Nice work. 

[Landlubber Mike]

20 hours ago, amateur said:

Looks very much like the real thing!

In my memory the wheelbolts were never painted, but perhaps, that is faulty memory.

 

Jan

 

The one tricky thing with this build was that these cars have been around relatively unchanged for decades.  When I pulled up pictures online, the colors of various parts were all over the place, as I'm sure owners replaced parts, customized parts, etc.  For example, the surrounds on the small orange lights.  In many cases they were black, but occasionally I came across them in silver.  So, I just went with silver as more of a brighter contrast against the blue body.  

 

In any event, this was a fun little build.  I kinda like building the more quirky subjects, and this is certainly one.  They may not be as impressive as a McLaren, but I would offer that they are equally a big part of automotive history due to a design that has largely remained unchanged for decades, its customer fan base, etc.

[wefalck]

In fact, various details changed, for instance in later models (or only vor the 2CV6, i.e. the one with the bigger engine) the headlights became square. Also the metal radiator grille, which was chromed, was changed into light-grey plastic. I vaguely remember that other parts that were chromed were changed into plastic.

 

There were also different colours of the roof. Mine was originally the colour of the car, but the replacement I got after it had been vandalised (someone thought it funny to cut it open ...) was grey.

 

In addition, over the years they produced various 'special editions', e.g. the one with a two-colour paintwork in bordeaux/black was called 'Charleston'. These also had chromed wheel-cups on two-cloured rims.

 

I don't remember the colour of the wheel-nuts (the paint seemed to wear off), but the the special washers were light grey as the wheels usually were.

 

 

[Egilman]

Your skills are growing brother.... 

 

Very impressive on a subject not so often highlighted..... One of the good things about Heller & Tamiya, they did cover many off the wall subjects you won't find anywhere else.....

 

Well done...

[Landlubber Mike]

Sorry, I didn't mean that nothing changed.  I just meant that the car remained relatively unchanged in design.  Take a look at Fords, Chevy's, etc. during the same time period and there are obviously significantly more changes in body style, technology, etc.

[Landlubber Mike]

5 minutes ago, Egilman said:

Your skills are growing brother.... 

 

Very impressive on a subject not so often highlighted..... One of the good things about Heller & Tamiya, they did cover many off the wall subjects you won't find anywhere else.....

 

Well done...

 

Thanks man, really appreciate the kind words.  I still have a ways to go, as I seem to make stupid mistakes.  Example #1 - I sprayed Mr. Hobby gloss clear from the rattle can on the hood, and ruined the paint job.  Stupid me, I didn't shake the can long enough, and I think it being a brand new can, I was spraying mostly the thinner in the can.  Example #2 - I had already added the license plate decal to the hood, so when I went to repaint the hood, I taped over the decal.  Somehow paint got under the tape and ruined the decal (stupid me, I probably didn't burnish the tape enough), so no license plate on the hood.  

 

When I look at work from folks like @CDW, I have a real appreciation for how tricky it can be to get a picture perfect finish like he does.  Can't hide the flaws like you can with planes and ships!  Good news is that I have a pretty decent stash of car kits so I have more opportunities to practice.

 

 

[Kevin]

that has turned out very nice indeed

[shipman]

Enjoyed the contrast between the two kits. Let's face it, they were generations apart.

You did a fine job on both.

[mtaylor]

Looks good, Mike.   Just a question... what's that large chrome handle on the driver's side for?  

[Landlubber Mike]

28 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Looks good, Mike.   Just a question... what's that large chrome handle on the driver's side for?  

 

I think that's just the rear wheel well and shine coming off the finish from my lighting.  Sorry, looks odd doesn't it?  My lighting set up isn't the greatest and I'm taking photos with my iPhone.

[mtaylor]

I have an arrow pointed to it.   I don't think it's a reflection.   

[Landlubber Mike]

Oh sorry Mark, I thought you meant the picture with the engine compartment open.  That's the window if you can believe it.  The lower half would flip up that way.  I thought it was a neat feature of this kit that they split the driver's side window so you could show this feature.

 

[Old Collingwood]

7 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

I have an arrow pointed to it.   I don't think it's a reflection.   

I think thats the window Mark,   didn't they used to have a half way hinged window  in those?

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

1 minute ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Oh sorry Mark, I thought you meant the picture with the engine compartment open.  That's the window if you can believe it.  The lower half would flip up that way.  I thought it was a neat feature of this kit that they split the driver's side window so you could show this feature.

 

Sorry Mike  - we crossed  - didn't see you answer to Mark.

 

OC.