Matchbox 1/32 Citroen 11 Legere "Coupe" *FINISHED*

[IvanV22]

This is looking great, you are doing a great job.
just love these old cars.

[LifetimeModeler]

A beautiful car and impressive scratching to make it right!

[JamesPerrin]

Thanks all.

I was hoping for a one, maybe two coat finished with Hu Gloss Black as I felt this would give the most period feel - no deep lacquer clear coat on this. Unfortunately, I managed to thin the first coat with cellulose thinners, though it sort of works it's too hot to let the enamel do it's thing, and though glossy the surface was also gritty and had a slight orange peel, so sanded it all over with 4000grit and reapplied the enamel with Humbrols own thinners. This fixed most of the issues but a polish with 8000grit and a final spray of heavily thinned paint worked a treat.

The windscreen was still a friction fit and I closed the remaining sliver of a gap but gently squeezing the sill and using dab of CA. The other windows were tacked in place with tiny amounts of CA so I could then run thinned PVA around without them falling out and getting gluey.



The parcel shelf and dash could then be installed. The dash has a peg on the back that I presume is meant to space it from the firewall, but actually just catches on the lip of the firewall unless you're careful how you fit the body over the interior.



The wheels pop on over the ball-ended axel stubs, but this leaves the wheels rather wobbly. I hot-rivetted the ball ends using a small hex key and this tightened things up.

[PaulBradley]

Nice work, James.

[Andy Dighton]

That looks really nice James.

[JamesPerrin]

The final assembly was in order of robustness with the door handles being added last. I used BareMetalFoil for the door trim and bonnet handles as these will get handled most and the Ammo (nee-alclad) Chrome would rub off. Not sure if stock car had chrome trim on the wheel cover but I thought it would look good anyway.

I really liked this kit once I got into it. I'm not sure why initially I was unsure if the body could be built and fitted as one piece - it can and it does. As with all these Matchbox cars the detail is superb and stands up well today. The short windscreen unfortunately is a significant issue but hopefully, I've shown it can be overcome with a little planning. Extending it improves the look as well as the accuracy, though you could go the other way and do a chopped roof hotrod. In fact, people did hotrod this car and the coupe could be described as a Gaellic '36 Ford. I believe this is also the only Matchbox car with alternate parts for those who can't, erm, face the windscreen the Cabriolet version can be done.

Lots of photos as I believe you should photo cars at "eye" level as well as from above. Bonnet fade for MattBacon

[JohnRatzenberger]

Super work and very instructive !!

It wasn't until the last picture that the shape of the bumpers registered so I went back to relook the previous images.

[AndrewR]

That's a really nice bit of modelling James.

[iggie]

Marvellous work, a really great looking build

[PaulBradley]

Splendid stuff, James! Very smart.

[Bissyboat]

Looks very smart James.

[Andy Dighton]

Very, very nice.

[mattbacon]

Really lovely, James, and a genuinely different take on the iconic Traction Avant. I wonder why they close this unusual one? There’s never been a classic “ Maigret” TA in 1/32, AFAIK, even from Heller. There’s something really very Tintin about this one, though, especially that first profile picture…
Best,
M.

[DavidWomby]

A thing of beauty, James.

David

[general rocket]

Beautiful model of a beautiful car.