B4en's Bodgery

[Stuart]

Didn't Douglas Adams come up with the idea of a pocket dimension filled with odd socks and missing biros? Or was that Alan Moore? I think we can add kit parts to the list of occupants.

That sounds like something Douglas Adams would have come up with, it's up there with his planet inhabited by sentient mattresses.

Despite it's best efforts to the contrary, this is looking good!

It was indeed Douglas Adams; Veet Voojagig is a philosopher who meets Zaphod Beeblebrox in a bar. After this fateful meeting he begins an investigation on where all the missing biros, an English term for ball point pens, have gone to. He publishes a paper claiming they all disappear to a planet with the ideal biro lifestyle. He then claimed to Jane found the planet and indeed, he worked there as a chauffer to a family of cheap green biros...

Lol! Yep, that's it! It's been years since I read the Hitchhikers guide, I might have to dig it out again. RIP DA - sad loss.

[Migrant]

I've looked at that ACE Citroen kit myself, but I've been fooled before by their pretty box art. Is it as bad as you feared so far? It's a great subject.

[B4en]

It was indeed Douglas Adams; Veet Voojagig is a philosopher who meets Zaphod Beeblebrox in a bar. After this fateful meeting he begins an investigation on where all the missing biros, an English term for ball point pens, have gone to. He publishes a paper claiming they all disappear to a planet with the ideal biro lifestyle. He then claimed to Jane found the planet and indeed, he worked there as a chauffer to a family of cheap green biros...

LOL I should have guessed someone here would know chapter and verse! Well done Iggie. You win either a bowl of petunias or a surprised whale - I'm uncertain which...

I've looked at that ACE Citroen kit myself, but I've been fooled before by their pretty box art. Is it as bad as you feared so far? It's a great subject.

It's a very basic kit Mike, but despite the early mishaps so far it's actually gone together pretty well. Everything needs some cleanup before test fitting, but it's a much more pleasant build than their Laffly gun tractor or Smith gun which were both too complex for the casting quality. The bumpers look fragile but once glued together they are surprisingly tough. The wheels do look too small to me so I'll make them a bit bigger with some plastic strip.


As ridiculous side project I found an old wooden cotton reel and put together the ingredients for a cotton reel tank! Does anyone remember them? Hours of fun for kids of all ages! Hmm, I was going to use a plastic lid on one end but I've just remembered where I have some candles. A slice of candle would be more traditional...

[iggie]

My uncle used to introduce an element of drama into the cotton reel tanks he made by lighting the match
If it burnt well, it would then spin madly once it no longer touched the ground, sometimes reaching the elastic band, which of course would snap, flinging a hot match end quite a distance Don't try this at home kids!

[Stuart]

That's taking shape!

A cotton reel tank?

[PGAS]

Great work on the Bearcat! Very cool seeing the progress. I was also going back a bit in your thread. Really enjoying your biplane builds. A really liked the fabric rib effect. Going to have to give it a try. Not meaning to bring back anything painful but a shame about the Scout. I do hope you can bring that one back. It was looking great.

Just wondering, what is Windolene? Is it the same as Windex here in North America? An ammonia based window cleaner?

[B4en]

Great work on the Bearcat! Very cool seeing the progress. I was also going back a bit in your thread. Really enjoying your biplane builds. A really liked the fabric rib effect. Going to have to give it a try. Not meaning to bring back anything painful but a shame about the Scout. I do hope you can bring that one back. It was looking great.

Just wondering, what is Windolene? Is it the same as Windex here in North America? An ammonia based window cleaner?

Thanks Paul! Don't worry, the Scout will be back. I just needed to do something else for a while. Amazingly the undercarriage remains intact despite the strut damage. I can't see anything about ammonia on the Windolene bottle - mine just says added vinegar. Maybe vinegar is good for decal softening?

A cotton reel tank?

TWO cotton reel tanks! On the left a modern one with the plastic lid, on the right the traditional carved candle stub. These are the safe versions, unlike the ones produced by Iggie's very entertaining uncle! You can see how they are made Stuart - just wind up the rubber band, set them down and watch them go... races, battles, obstacle courses. They can do it all. (Actually these rubber bands are a bit weedy - I'll have to find some beefier ones.)


Meanwhile back at the Citroen... I think the larger wheels look much more in proportion.

[Stuart]

Ah coo! - I remember those now! Great fun!

[KellerModeller]

Great improvement on the wheels!

[Softscience]

Vinegar is indeed good for decal softening. It is why Micro Set smells like vinegar. Because it is (plus other stuff).

How long before some skinflint Modeler sees this and decides to leave rotten apple cores on his models for a few nights?

[B4en]

Ah coo! - I remember those now! Great fun!

Welcome to Nostalgia Street Stuart!

Great improvement on the wheels!

Thanks KM - it seems such a small change but really makes a difference. I toyed with the idea of doing a tread pattern but decided against it as it would be barely visible under those sweeping stylish mudguards. Lazy of me really.

Vinegar is indeed good for decal softening. It is why Micro Set smells like vinegar. Because it is (plus other stuff).

Well that's good to know, as I've never got hold of any Micro Set. I might start putting a dash of vinegar on my decals to ease them down into panel lines and such. I bet Roden decals will prove resistant somehow...

[B4en]

It turns out there is a lot of cleanup, dryfitting, and general reshaping required for the body of the Citroen. An untamed part is to the left for your viewing pleasure... I had to rescribe the door and panel details on the cleaned up half. The bonnet top suffers from significant texture, which needed scraping and sanding down. I'll add back in the removed details later - the kit details weren't worth saving there.

As you can see it will not be an easy assembly - some odd kit design choices there. Rather than try to ram it all together at once I'll try getting the front end together first, then I can fiddle about with fine tuning the fit at the rear. Before that some glazing - there is a template for cutting acetate in the instructions, though no acetate is provided. Also have to paint the interior and possibly add some contents. It's turning into a longer build than I intended, and I haven't even started a base for it yet.


Nice of Ace to provide a little logo plaque... Of course it'll need some cleanup.

[iggie]

That does look a bit of an odd parts breakdown for the body shell! Nonetheless, you look to be taming it well, and the enlarged wheels are excellent

[B4en]

Thanks Iggie! The kit mostly fits together quite well but only after a lot of cleanup, bending and test fitting. Initially the body halves would only fit at one end or the other and it looked as though significant filler would be needed - then I realised the body floor was bent. Some bending later and the fit was fine - very good in fact! (The body halves also needed some bending in the middle to fit correctly.) The join on the bonnet was very poor - perhaps due to excessive cleanup, so needed a strip of plastic inserting in the middle before a bit of scribing and the addition of a stretched sprue hinge which covered the repair. That fix also lined up the upper parts of the sides with the roof front much better.

The templates in the instructions were fine for cutting the window parts from clear plastic, so they are all done except for the windscreen which will get sorted once the roof is attached.

Painted up the inside. There seems to have been a lot of variation in colours used on the real thing and I liked the cream interior with wood trim look. No extra detailing done there as the inside won't be very visible and there will be passengers etc. to fill it out anyway. Have also got some figures on the go for the interior and the final vignette.



The roof fit isn't perfect but it should go on fine once the figures are inside. Then I want to put a roof rack on...

[Softscience]

Wowowowowow! The interior of that little car looks just fantastic!