4,5 ton 1939 Citroën type 45

October 22 2022

Finaly, a base coat in grey. A little pre-shading and the underside a greyish green (as it was produced before the war for the French army) Now I finnaly can chech if all details are good enough.

September 19 2022

On June 26 it was on one table with it's contestants for the Forum Online Challlenge of the Twenot. They wanted to see it without paint. And they told me: put it in the "Naked kit" category of KMK's contest! And it got a medal.... To my surprise.

June 20 2022

The cargobay starts with the vacu formed parts, but the tarp fall flat on the bed, and that doesn't look like much. The tarp has been extended with .1 mm sheet in strips and the edges have been primed and sanded again. Most of these tarpaulins are in multiple pieces and are put together and stretched with straps and eyes. So I dropped the front and back over the top, again with a strip of .1 mm. The straps are again more of the same. An extra groove has been placed on the box. That seems to be the most common on this truck. Apparently the straps of the hood are attached to it. The ironwork is simple. They are bolts, where the vacu kit had dents. The back has 3 heavy hinges, with which you can also see at the back that it is a military version.

The hood and the fittings of the cargobay are a sum of a lot of photos and especially the back is difficult. Not much concrete to be found. There have been many versions of the cargo bay, and what there are period photos is almost all from the front.

The chassis has been given a lot of details. Drivetrain, exhaust, spare wheel frame, and, rivets on all.

June 19 2022

And the cabin has handles, hinges, direction indicators, the start for the windshield wipers, a mirror, a radiator cap, and the hooks with which you secure the engine cover. The goo on the windows is preparation for spraying.

June 18 2022

All kinds of fittings on the cab and the start of the detailss on the cargo box. The bumper of the military versions is not in front but above the chassis beams. The first attempt of 0.5 mm plastic plate warped completely, so it is now made of aluminum tin.

June 12 2022

26-6 is fast approaching, so it's getting thight. Just got hold of nylon wrapping for the next round. Maybe it will be possible to keep the wires under tension, but not so tight that it bends its frame. A copper frame was under my hands today, but that is difficult to glue onto the wires without a gap. It's a fun puzzle!

June 7 2022

And than my wife hands me the technical Lego and super strong fishing line. In fact, she just copied my copper wires in 20 minutes. Really straight. The frame is the 3d print I've been useing several times. Every time after gluing, the wires are checked one by one whether they are really attached. If one is not attached, I can never can get it back in place. When I was sure that everything is tight and secure, the big moment came. Clip with a sharp pair of scissors..... And guess what? The nylon threads are so tight that they deform the frame..... And on to the next solution, with a stronger copper frame, and the holder for the manual starter cranck in the radiator cowl.

June 5 2022

So, with the front end of the chassis beams replaced with something that resembles the protruding beams on the original, the susspention can be completed. It's a rolling chassis, finnaly! And it's starting to look like a truck..

May 26 2022

Basecoat of greenish gray and reddish brown to check everthing is free of holes. Details added and again painted, and than a simple wash and highlichts. Now the cab can be fitted on the chassis.

May 8 2022

Next station is the cabin inside. When it's closed I can compare where exactly the fenders fit. The cabin lacks quite a few details, so the inside of the doors is roughly done. And the back wall is made to fit. The windows are in, and then these are the control photos to see if everything closes, else said: What can I get away with on the inside. There some slats and edges that need to be added.

May 7 2022

The grille is becoming the absolute piece de resistance. The radiator wreath is free, and I have a frame where the bars can go. That is a copper wire. The wire is wound around a pair of braiding pliers. Glued on one side with superglue and tightened on the right side by forcing the wire with tweezers. The plan is to solder the edge to it.

Soldering is not going to work. The wire comes from an old high voltage coil. Apparently the insulation is too strong. Now superglue comes in many types, so this strange stuff from ak, with rubber addition, has done things for me before.

And unfortunately the first attempt failed, there are a few pieces of the file attached to it. So the green (printed) one is the next attempt.

May 1 2022

How did those spring packages actually come about? 7 strips of 3 mm wide, the first is 1 mm, which is bent, then 6 plates of 0.3. Cutted out exactly and after it dries, smooth it out with a file. I made the rear axle and suspention in one go, because there is no room for the wheels. It just doesn't fit. My resin wheels have a slightly deeper rim, and that eats up the width of space I have. Between the 2 tires of the double air, in the rear, is only 1 mm in the drawing, the very thin fragile rims stick out further. Total about 2.5 mm. If I want to be ready before the end of the challenge, I can't also start cutting my rims. Unfortunately, that's the way it has to be. This is something that will have happened in real life. You just have to use the tyres you can get your hands on, with such an extensive fleet.....

The front suspension is next. The vacu parts are not exactly what they should be. The location of the suspension points does not match the drawing.

March 7 2022

The bonnet detail is nice, so the radiator is the next thing. This kit should actually come with a super nice PE set. But unfortunately there isn't one. And it has to be flat, so then remove the bumps and scratch the details back in. (as in picture 1) The Citroën's chevrons are on the inside, so to make it look like anything you have to be able to see through the grill, the frame is 3d printed. Now a steady hand to evenly distribute my bars. A comb is useless, the wires are 0.25 mm. Printing it on a filement printer is not possible. I messed around with lose rods in between, but that was disappointing. They got glued together by the capilar forces.

March 5 2022

The longitudinal beams were almost clean, the boxes were already finished, the rear axle and front axle are assembled for the first lap. A longitudinal reinforcement and the cross connections are sawn out. We're off.

The cabin has a firewall and a bottom. Those creases in the hood need to open. So put in the micro grinding wheel. Then just sand and pick at the edges.

February 2022

What was the problem that I put this monster back in a box 30 years ago? What not! There was no information, and I was just fiddling with just over "right out of the box" building. The absolute turn-off were the wheels! And what happens after a number of photos, books and my huge collection of wheels? I have super nice tires and a lot of info and details.