MOC: model team Citroën DS

[Ralph_S]

In the last few days I've seen several MOCs being posted from this month's build challenge on LUGNuts, the flickr group for LEGO car enthusiasts. I haven't had much time to build anything in the last six weeks or so, but as one of the admins of the group I felt I had to build something.

The challenge was to build a car that was assigned to you, rather than something of your own choosing. The car assigned to me was a classic French Citroën DS -a rather tricky bit of automotive history.

Citroën DS (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

The DS had almost completely enclosed rear wheels. On my model the thickness of the rear panel unfortunately means that the track width at the rear is rather narrow. I could have made the panels thinner if I wouldn't have chosen a version with a chrome strip running down the side. Oh well... You can't have everything.

Citroën DS (4) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

Building the shape of the car was tricky enough, but I also wanted opening features, as on most of my cars. The hood (bonnet) is the party piece. On the real car it basically wraps around the windscreen. I couldn't quite manage that on this scale, so instead the aft part of the hood slides underneath the windscreen on my model. When opening the hood, I need to first pull it forward and then I can hinge it up.

Citroën DS (7) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

Of course, the doors and the trunk (boot) can also be opened. The car has a reasonably detailed interior, which is almost invisible, unfortunately.

Citroën DS (8) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

On the one hand I felt lucky with this assignment, because it is a beautiful car that doesn't look out of place in my collection. On the other hand it was a complete and utter bastard to build. Anyway, I am glad with how it turned out and hope you guys (and galls) like it too.

Almost entirely but not quite by coincidence this is my 1000th post on EB. I'm not a particularly prolific poster -having joined more than five years ago- but let's just say I prefer quality over quantity.

Cheers,

Ralph

[dolittle]

It actually shows you as a guy that posted 999 :)

But congratulations in any case.

And nicely done.

[Ralph_S]

It actually shows you as a guy that posted 999 :)

But congratulations in any case.

And nicely done.

How odd. It said 999 this morning. Well, in that case this is my 1000th post

Cheers,

Ralph

[bord4kop]

How odd. It said 999 this morning. Well, in that case this is my 1000th post

Cheers,

Ralph

And it is

The car succeeded very well!

Not really technic tho but looks really nice, I like the colors, espcialy the brown interior (and front hood which shows spare tire) same as it 's original!

[Ralph_S]

The car succeeded very well!

Not really technic tho but looks really nice, I like the colors, espcialy the brown interior (and front hood which shows spare tire) same as it 's original!

Thank you. I didn't want to settle for building just the shape of the car. I felt it had to have working features and I spent quite a bit of time on getting the details, such as the spare tyre, right. It is a smaller diameter than the wheels on the car, unfortunately, but I didn't have room for anything bigger. This is definitely not a Technic model, but this is the Technic, Mindstorms and Model Team forum and I think it fits the latter category better than anything else on EB. Before anybody asks, it does have a steering mechanism, albeit not connected to the steering wheel. It's not town either, if you ask me, because it isn't remotely minifig scale.

Cheers,

Ralph

[DLuders]

@ Ralph_S: Le Citroen est bon! I remember seeing lots of these in Paris in 1986 when I spent the weekend there. The hydropneumatic suspension allowed the car to "kneel down" when parked -- the original "low rider"! These French cars were quite advanced for their time, and your Lego model captures the curves well:

[Alasdair Ryan]

nice car moc your 1001 post

[buddy]

Brilliant MOC, Ralph_S! It looks exactly like the real thing, the shape of your model is perfect. The functionality of your model is great, especially the opening bonnet.

Extremely well done.

~buddy~

[Ralph_S]

@ Ralph_S: Le Citroen est bon! I remember seeing lots of these in Paris in 1986 when I spent the weekend there. The hydropneumatic suspension allowed the car to "kneel down" when parked -- the original "low rider"! These French cars were quite advanced for their time, and your Lego model captures the curves well:

Thank you. Indeed, if you consider that this car entered production in 1955 it's pretty amazing. An aunt of mine used to have one for a few years and the ride felt like a magic carpet.

nice car moc your 1001 post

Thanks. It was a difficult build and I wouldn't have chosen to build a DS myself, but I am very happy with the result.

Brilliant MOC, Ralph_S! It looks exactly like the real thing, the shape of your model is perfect. The functionality of your model is great, especially the opening bonnet.

Extremely well done.

~buddy~

Thank you. The shape was a challenge, obviously, but I really like to have opening features as well. Almost all of my cars on this scale have them and I didn't want this one to be an exception. It did make the build considerably more complicated, of course, but worth while in the end.

Thanks for your comments.

Cheers,

Ralph