Traction Avant finished

The Traction Avant I aquired in May is now ready to roll on the roads near Nystrup. With most of the engine painting and weathering of the car's underside done, I turned my attention to the interior. First I fabricated floor mats from thin plasticcard painted black. With the mats glued in place, I gave the floor a thin wash of black oil paint. When dry, I airbrushed a very thin mist of earth colour to represent the dirt dragged in by driver and passengers. I also added a light dusting with pastel chalks on the floor. The seats were treated with a dark wash with oil paints and worn areas accentuated with light grey with airbrush.

My finished Citroen Traction Avant for the 1/19 scale Nystrup Gravel-layout.

On the cast metal upper body I primarily focused my work om the underside of the opening bonnet parts and the undersides of the mudguards. Both needed an extra layer of black before I could add road dirt and dust with the airbrush. A few details on the outside of the body such as the rear light were treated with chrome paint, while a few scratches were carefully covered with gloss black. Direction marker lights were painted with Vallejo 'Chrome' and a dark orange topped up with a covering of gloss varnish. This work somehow got me considering a new pair of spectacles...

In-progress shot of the interior weathering process. The final wash with oil paint and some pastel chalk is still missing.

The car's upper body and chassis/interior before reassembly.

Once the minor painting jobs on the dashboard were finished, the two part dashboard was screwed back in place. The steering wheel that I detached was glued back on, but without fitting the connection to the wheels.  Before that I had separated windscreen frame and windscreen to enable me to clean and polish the clear part and paint the wipers attached to the frame part. Both were reassembled and reattached to the upper body with Micro Kristal Klear.

Once that was done, chassis and body was reunited. The license plates were fitted with decals from my usual supplier Skilteskoven (the rear license plate was fabricated from plasticcard) and finished with a layer of gloss varnish. I then prepared a thin mix of dust and earth colours and airbrused a very thin layer over the chassis underside, wheels and lower body to illustrate road dust. The car's license plates indicate the Traction Avant was registred in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, so it's probably on a visit to the Nystrup region. Perhaps a couple of industrial railway enthusiasts?   

Traction Avant from Copenhagen visiting Nystrup. Parked in the roadside unattended? Fortunately it is a quiet rural area inhabited by honest people.

A few details added and some painting is all that's done to the Miasto model. A very modest investment in making a unique car model for my layout.

A local mechanic has been called in to fix the malfunctioning Traction Avant. The driver and passenger is probably out sightseeing or enjoying themselves at the local pub.

Surely the owner of the Traction Avant with the registration number  A 9720 is a much more relaxed and peaceful human being than some of the characters also fond of the TA. The Traction Avant was a car that handled well and in several films it is used as a get away-car by criminals. In France it was the selected car of a hideous gang of criminals, so much in fact, that the gang was known as the 'Le gang des Traction Avant'. They were not the types one would like to meet on a dark road in the woods around Nystrup. Fortunately 'Le gang des Traction Avant' stayed (and died) in France.

'Le gang des Traction Avant' even made it to a board game in the style of Monopoly. In the background another iconic Citroen product - the H-van. The one-piece windshield and blue light probably isn't quite consistent with the gang's operation period, though.