On the Bench: Citroen 2CV Part 2

The Citroen 2CV begins to take shape as its sub-assemblies are built and painted.

Last time, I had more or less finished painting the 2CV’s body and all the other kit parts. That meant it was time to begin assembly, and the first jobs were the chassis and interior. The kit instructions, as with many car models, begin with building the engine but I have decided not to bother building the engine on this model. Instead, I will simply glue the bonnet closed and make it a ‘kerbside’ or ‘curbside’ as the Americans call it – that is, a car model with no engine detail. I’ve chosen to do this because despite having spent many hours building model car engines in the past, when the models are displayed I like to have the bonnets closed, meaning all that effort is only seen if I go and open the bonnet to have a look – and I hardly ever do!

The almost-finished chassis, painted, with the interior floor which has been painted and dry-brushed.

 



So, it was straight on with the chassis and interior. I must say that the quality of this Revell kit immediately became obvious, as the fit of the parts is very good indeed. Not only that, but the part sprues/frames have been moulded intelligently: the ‘gates’ which attach the parts to the spures/frames are small and are located in places where the cut marks from cutting them free will be invisible on the finished model, avoiding the need to go round the model touching in loads of small imperfections where the parts were cut loose. Also, the one-piece chassis and floor pan includes a wealth of moulded-in detail including the legendary 2CV interlinked suspension units. The chassis was 80% completed by simply attaching the front and rear axles with their swing arms, plus the one-piece exhaust system. All that remains to be added is the steering rack and kingpins, which are pivoted to allow the front wheels to be posed in a ‘steered’ position.

The chassis and wheels having received some weathering with Humbrol washes.

I recently purchased some weathering washes and powder from the Humbrol range, just to see how they worked, and thought this model would make a nice test bed for them. I have not used these pre-prepared washes before, so I wasn’t too sure how to get the best from them or what sort of result to expect, but I must say the results are quite pleasing for a first attempt. All I did was give the chassis a quick wash over with Humbrol ‘Rust’ wash, focusing on the edges of the floor pan and other areas I thought might be extra rusty like the exhaust, and let it dry. I then brushed a little ‘Sand’ weathering powder over it here and there to add some tonal variety, and that was it. If you haven’t tried using pre-prepared commercial weathering washes before, I recommend you give them a go. I also gave the car's wheels a couple of heavy washes with Humbrol dark grey weathering wash to suggest general filth and brake dust.

 

Seats installed on the interior floor, with some light dry-brushing and powdering to suggest wear.

 

The interior goes together quite easily, again with plenty of detail which unfortunately won’t really be visible when the model is finished. For example, the seats are supported by thin frames as on the real car, but these will be hidden after final assembly. Again, all the ‘gate’ marks are hidden during assembly thanks to Revell’s clever moulding.