Heller's 1/8 Citroen Traction Avant

[Guest]

Hi all well the engine is done (well as much as I can do without putting it in the car)


The next bit is the front chassis and suspension (to be honest I keep looking at the instructions and I'm tempted to box it back up and put it away) looks to be way beyond my meagre abilities, I would start somewhere else on the model and come back to this part but that may cause problems later on I've no idea whether I can start the body without causing problems with the chassis, I will see how brave I'm feelling, this may be as far as this kit goes for me, really not feeling confident at all on the next bit


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[Marc Stock]

That is flipping awsome

[Guest]

Thanks mate.

[Dave Jay]

Hi all well the engine is done (well as much as I can do without putting it in the car)
The next bit is the front chassis and suspension (to be honest I keep looking at the instructions and I'm tempted to box it back up and put it away) looks to be way beyond my meagre abilities, I would start somewhere else on the model and come back to this part but that may cause problems later on I've no idea whether I can start the body without causing problems with the chassis, I will see how brave I'm feelling, this may be as far as this kit goes for me, really not feeling confident at all on the next bit


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This so far is simply sublime, the quality and attention to detail is second to none, keep on going mate don't give up, the challenge is there to be beaten, onwards and upwards as they say, we have faith in you.

[Guest]

Hi all gulp well I've started the front cradle.


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[Guest]

This is such a complex kit and the instructions are so pi+- poor even with Roys dvd I've glued 7 bits onto this cradle (when I say seven there are far more than 1100 parts to this kit as I've glued 4 part 248 and two part 251) so if this is the case with the rest of the numbering? I'm still plugging my way through it thou.

[Robert1968]

I don't know about meagre skills Ken ? You sure know how to adapt the look of true metal finish to plastic and the rusting effect is not easy talents that are performed overbite. So I would actually say you are a master with the a/b and painting skills. I will I'm sure agree with everyone here that you have a rare talent which we all look up too.


Awesome work


Robert

[Guest]

awe gosh you're making me blush, I doubt anyone looks up to me.


here is tonights update all seven parts of it.


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[takeslousyphotos]

Great result Ken. The "scabbing" and rust is spot on.

[Marc Stock]

This is awesome. I love the rust effect. Looks very authentic. Sometimes i find the instructions actually make it more confusing. Good work here.

[Guest]

As for the scabbing, I do that (this only works with enamel paints) and I recommend great care DO NOT GET THIS ANYWHERE NEAR BODY WORK PAINT JOBS I get a tiny bit of cellulose thinners on the brush a dab where I want the scabbing, do this very sparingly and build it up gradually allow the paint to set then if you want deeper scabbing go over it again you can do this upto 4 times after which I've found the paint will start showing the plastic colour underneath (THIS METHOD WILL EAT INTO THE PLASTIC) so you have been warned. I use dirty thinners as it gives that staining round the scabbing you see on rusty things, I have in the past (not on this as I don't want it that rusty) put dabs of pva before I paint the item which gives a raised part to begin with and if you want really heavily rusted you can add more dabs of pva over the first one but make sure it's smaller and irregular.

[Marc Stock]

Celulose paint is very agressive on plastic parts i agree. In actual fact when doing the 300sl the paint softened the body enough for the center join from the moulding process to pop away and separate fortunately it was just under the scuttle panel and i was able to repair it with poly rod.

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[Guest]

That's a great repair.

[Marc Stock]

Thanks Ken. Was lucky where the location was. Was going to sand it back refill and paint the area, but realised the grille kind of hid the crack and was better and neater just to bring them back together and fix from underneath. Was also going to fill and make smooth underneath but it's kind of cool to see the repair naked and adds to the story of the model.

[Guest]

Hi all another update, quite pleased I've managed this part (very fiddly though could have done with another set of hands)


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