Citroen H van: door hinges

While looking for ways to avoid tackling the stack of resin again, I poked around the stash and came across the Citroen H van, a post-war commercial delivery vehicle based on the Citroen 11. Ugly as can be in its crude, corrugated sheet metal livery made largely of flat pieces, it is technologically very advanced with FWD and a rear twist beam axle that allows a very low, wide load floor. Spare tire and gas tank cleverly fit ahead of the rear wheels against the inner wall (gas on the right, spare on the left), contributing to the massive amount of useful space for the size. Issigonis may, rightly, have bragged about the volume to footprint ratio of the Mini in 1959, but the French had been playing the same game for some time already. Of course the Mini was fun to drive.

The kit, from Ebbro, is a curbside which means it can be built pretty quick. I decided to hinge the suicide doors, which, as delivered, can be posed open or shut but not operated. This involved brass rod of 0.5 mm diameter sleeved inside brass tube of 1.0 mm OD and just under 0.25 mm wall thickness -- the rod is a nice snug fit inside the tube. It also involved a little too much crazy glue, but that can be fixed.

This approach to door hinges will come in handy on Profil 24's 1926 Renault NM record car, where I previously tried the Scale Auto Magazine trick of short bits of brass rod wrapped in thin brass sheet, with little success. At this point I have made the mistakes on the H van where they can be fixed, and hopefully it will all work better on the Renault.

Next will be getting the sliding side door to slide, and hinging the three-piece rear doors (upper hinged tailgate, and two small doors hinged left and right). Paint will probably be grey primer with a clear coat, or at most with a pale grey semi-gloss top coat -- you could have these in any colour as long as it was pale grey.

The van is short but quite a bit wider than I would have imagined for something meant to navigate narrow Paris streets. It's on a par with my AMT Ford Skyliner, which admittedly is a bit smaller at 1:25. Of course everything is big next to the Mini...

Freightliner complete

The Freightliner is now complete with the boom from Italeri mounted behind the cab.

The Italeri kit includes a great set of add-ons for any serious modeler of Class 8 trucks. Apart from the boom, there are deck plates, exhaust systems and step plates galore. The boom is the only component requiring assembly, and it goes together well, with one caveat: each component sockets into the next, so the order of assembly is critical and is not reflected in the sheet, which is simply an exploded drawing. Start with the hook at the end of the boom and work your way back to the mounting structure and hydraulic tank, and there should be no problem. Pay particular attention to the lovely 4-bar mechanism before gluing any bits together here.

The photo below shows the Freightliner and the Unimog, both with Italeri booms; this is where the difference between 1/24 and 1/25 becomes obvious as the Freightliner (in 1/25) seems small next to the Unimog (in 1/24). In both cases the boom is quite large compared to the cab, and I have a feeling the true 1:1 unit is a better fit between the mirrors.

So this finishes off a series of relatively quick builds required to complete stuff I had started over the last couple of years prior to retirement.

One of my better builds, you ask? Not really, as I was in a hurry to clear some of the opened boxes, and the arrival of the SD chassis, with its short day cab, allowed me to build the utility vehicle you see here. So close examination will reveal some sloppy paint and glue lines. Also the Tamiya yellow is pretty pale next to the bright yellow of the Italeri components.

What's next, you ask? A difficult decision. The list of started but incomplete stuff includes mainstream styrene racers (Tamiya 956, Revell BRE 240Z), custom builds requiring further planning (Freightliner Allison hot rod, 956 pickup truck), and resin (MFH 908/03, and DBR1, Renault NM Record and Audi S1 from Profil 24). There are also a number of items that are stalled, and probably for good reason. Certainly the 956 and 240Z should be relatively quick, but quite frankly I have been avoiding the resin and perhaps I need to get back to this before clearing kits becomes a chore. With one complete resin/multimedia kit under my belt (the Abarth), I can see that they are not impossible, just different; a different mindset is needed.

Meanwhile I need to rearrange the display cabinet, as the Freightliner and Mog are taking up an entire shelf all by themselves. This is called playing with my toys ...

Freightliner update

The Freightliner is essentially complete, except for gas tanks and battery boxes that need to be installed after the Italeri boom goes in -- the stabilising legs for the boom will interfere with the standard gas tank locations.

This is an amalgam of the two recently re-released AMT kits: the dual-drive tractor with the sleeper cab, and the single-drive tractor with the day cab. I've put the day cab on the long, dual-drive chassis so as to make room for the boom immediately behind the cab.

The kit is disappointing for an AMT kit. It's all pretty sloppy: there are no part numbers on the sprues, and the sprue is typically very thick where it meets the part. This is a particularly big problem on chrome parts where simply removing the part from the sprue leaves a big white scar, frequently in a visible spot. As well, a lot of parts are not doweled and it is easy to assemble things in the wrong location. Finally the tilt cab hangs up on the gearshift lever, which stays with the chassis; this is not major but you do need to be careful to line it all up properly. Altogether this is not a problem for an experienced builder (I built this one as a kid in the late 1960's), but it is clearly not beginner material.



As the boom controls are on the left side of the truck, I've left off the left-side exhaust. I also shortened the exhaust pipe, adding a bend from the Italeri kit, because I figure no one wants to tangle the boom up in an excessively long pipe. (European trucks all have exhausts at curb level, under the chassis). I'll post again once the boom is complete and tanks have been installed.



I've always liked the look of these big cab-over trucks, especially with the visor pulled down low -- they almost look chopped, and flat black or a dark grey would look neat. I chose some less menacing colours here. The remaining bits from the second kit will serve for the Allison-powered rat rod, where the flat grey paint will come in handy. Stay tuned.

And now for someting completely different: 1949 Chris Craft 19' Racer

This one turned up from Micro-Mark today. I ordered it for a couple of reasons: it looks cool, it's the right scale (1/24), and I have never worked with wood before. I presume it should be easy to open up the deck and shoehorn a flathead in there -- I've got one with Ardun OHV heads that's just looking for the right spot, although this one has some sort of flat-head 6 in it. We'll see how it goes ...





The manufacturer's website, www.dumasproducts.com, lists three other Chris Craft kits in 1/24 scale, all added to the catalog in 2006. I am not sure how many they might still have in stock, although the bits are pretty simple -- three thin laser cut sheets, a bunch of thin planking, and a small handful of urethane resin deck fittings -- no complex and expensive tooling for injection molding in styrene. I can't imagine it would be too difficult to make more. Most of the website is devoted to boats and planes, in 1/8 as well as a range of oddball scales, all suitable for RC projects.

Skylines: Three down, one to go

The Prince Skyline 2000 GT (model S54B, for the pedants) is complete. The kit involved some chrome bits which attach to the tree through a visible part of the bit -- not a major issue except the chrome is over black plastic, so the little scar where you cut it off is quite visible and requires fixing, either with silver paint or bare metal foil. Apart from that it all went together well, and the lack of an engine is the only major disappointment.

KPGC10 and (incomplete) S54B.

S54B and KPGC110.

Clockwise from left: KPGC10, S54B, KPGC110, R32.

The missing one is the third in the series, model KPGC110. This is a full kit of the ugliest one of the lot, looking like a Datsun 610 steroids (which is what it probably was, to be honest). The second one (KPGC10) and the most recent one (R32 through R34) are quite attractive. Keep an eye out and you will see right-hand drive R32-R34s on the streets in Canada; I have never seen a KPGC10 which was apparently built in small numbers and which therefore fetches a bundle today.

Freightliners: planning stage

It's amazing how many stalled kits I can get completed now that I am retired! So after the 300 SL, on to something bigger. I have two Freightliner kits: a single-drive (SD) chassis with a short cab, and a dual drive (DD) with a sleeper cab.



The SD chassis has been modified to take an Allison V12 aero engine, but the whole thing sits way too high to be a proper rat rod. More cutting is on the horizon. Also the body ought to be something more or less aero, for instance the general shape of a Spitfire, not the barn door shape of a Freightliner ... so this will require some planning.



Meanwhile the long-wheelbase DD chassis is essentially complete and with the arrival of the SD, I now have the choice of cabs. I am going to put the short cab on the long wheelbase, and maybe I will build some form of platform instead of the fifth wheel. This could also involve lengthening the chassis.



In particular I have another copy of Italeri's truck accessory kit, the one with the boom that I already mounted on the Unimog, so whatever develops is likely to have a boom on it. Stay tuned ... I have an entire shelf set aside for trucks, and there is really only the Mog in there now. Other unopened boxes include Krupp and Büssing models from Revell Germany, a Bedford from Emhar, Italeri's well-regarded Volvo F12, Ford C600 stake truck and LN8000 race car carrier, and the Dodge A600 with the Little Red Wagon on a trailer.  There is even a Jimmy Flintstone White COE cab that needs a chassis. Lots to keep me busy. So enough blogging and back to the bench.

MB 300 SL completed!

I resisted the temptation to build a 300 SL Tourer, as illustrated here, because the fabrication would be complex. Not only does the existing roofline slope steeply towards the deck, but it also curves inward over the trunk lid immediately to the rear of the doors. An entire new kit would probably be needed to provide a donor roof to the Tourer. I did some fooling around with digital photography to see what it might look like, and decided it is a neat idea but for another day.





So after much dithering, I went for the silver paint (Tamiya Gloss Aluminum). Black would have been pretty mean-looking but non-standard; as it is I am leaving off the bumpers and have put on black Rudge knock-offs from Historic Racing Miniatures.



The metal transfers went on well, as did the decals, and I decided to paint the black door and hood surrounds rather than struggle with Bare Metal Foil. Some days the BMF goes on nice and easy, other times it turns into a series of little wadded up balls of frustration. This time getting the right amount of paint on the tip of a small brush and flowing it into the groove worked really well.



The rest of the window surrounds are meant to be chrome silver, but with a Gloss Aluminum paint, I decided not to bother. The only exception was the quarter windows where the silver window surround needs to be put on the glass. Tamiya helpfully provides a mask, which is a relatively poor fit, but given the portion needing paint is raised, I held my breath and free-handed it. The trick as always is getting the right amount of paint on the brush, and letting it find its own way due to the conflict between viscosity and surface tension. I use Testor's bottles and I have gotten used to the way different colours work in this respect.



Speaking of Testor's paint, a major panic was averted when my thumb full of Testor's paint got on the driver's door ... the solvent for Testor's is paint thinner while the silver paint is Tamiya, for which the solvent is alcohol. So crisis averted. However, I do need to stop putting my thumb full of paint on recently completed bodies.





All in all a very enjoyable kit that will reward a talented builder without frustrating a beginner.