GRS Van Conversion

I have been making some GRS combi kits (A mixture of LGB chopped chassis, LGB wagon bodies and GRS's van body kits). However they are based, I think, on Welsh narrow guage so the van expecially looks very out of place on a French themed layout. As the van sides are made up of layers of plastic card I had a go at changing the pattern of the sides and adding that vital ingrediant, drop vents. I think that the combi kits are now sold out and I changed the sides so much I am thinking of making another from GRS's van end and roof mouldings and the sides from scratch - just need to sort out a chassis.

This is the almost completed model - the vents are not etched brass but look OK from a distance.





It is loosely based on the van in this post card. I tried to replicate the frame pattern including the addition of a horizontal frame element on the ends.




From http://www.rvd.free.fr/lechemindeferdepartementaldeladrome.htm

Hey I think that looks very 'old time' French. Nice job

mikey

I like it. What's the overall length? Great postcard, too. There's a Beaumont about 100 miles east of here, but no Alpes.

The length is 25cm but this was dictated by GRS's method of chopping 2 medium LGB chassis about 1/3 2/3 along and then joining the two long bits and the two short bit to make a long van and a short wagon.

Good to see that you have pretty hills in Texas as well.

A belated welcome and a very nice conversion too.

There are good wagon plans with dimensions and pics in the MTVS reviews.

The K series were the most popular covered types and countless still exist rotting away waiting for a good home....(in Normandy... )

There was also the F type shown below which looks similar to your wagon.

I like the metal framed wagons but they do need and extra degree of detail to stop the plastic profile looking plastic - the dreaded rivet counting. So I have made it a wooden frame van which has the additional benefit of being able to use British outline kit parts which are cheaper than Continental kit parts. And the picture suggests a prototype to justify this!

Peter

Carl Hibbs wrote:

There are good wagon plans with dimensions and pics in the MTVS reviews.

The K series were the most popular covered types and countless still exist rotting away waiting for a good home....(in Normandy... )

There was also the F type shown below which looks similar to your wagon.

Carl- could you post a link, please.

BTW, the Citroen H is perfect for your new estate. If all else fails, you could always convert it into a pizza oven.

That wagon picture was taken off this site.

A fantastic preserved metre gauge railway.

VFV

It was connected to and once part of the great 'Vivarais' network. The VFV is the other side of the valley to the now closed CFV at Lamastre.

Now a Citroen HY would make great 'family' wagon but again good rebuilt ones are a fortune and parts are difficult to get now.
Even 2CVs are fetching silly money here. Everyone's going 'retro'.

Its a shame I didn't know about the VFV when I was making regular trips to Provence. Looks like it is worth a visit. BTW, according the the German Wikipedia, this is the railway that purchased the Spremberger No. 11 (Kleine Dicke) from the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1973. The Wiki further states it is in storage but not accessible to the public. Anybody know about this?

Do you have a link to the wagon plans you referred to?

The wagon plans Bill are available through the MTVS

They published a series of reviews about all manner of secondary line rolling stock.
Get the reviews while you can.

You can also pick up the revues from time to time on French e bay.

Thanks. I guess I misunderstood where this might be available.

If you need some specific wagon plans I'm sure I could copy and send them seeing as many of the reviews are unavailable.

Carl Hibbs wrote:

Even 2CVs are fetching silly money here. Everyone's going 'retro'.

Sorry to go completely off subject
but does that mean that my 1990 2cv with it's 1960 origional ripple bonnet that's stuck in my garage down the road(seriously) is finally worth getting back on the road

Very nice van conversion by the way.

Yes.....seriously, over here anyway the 2CV is getting popular with collectors.

The 2CV van and plastic bodied Mehari jeep are fetching up to 10,000 euros for good restored models.

Even the uglier Dyane is starting to become a collectors car.

Uglier is a very relative and subjective term, although for many years, Citroen did seem to have the ugly market cornered.

The Meharis were terrible, 20 years ago the plastic bodies were falling apart, cannot imagine how they are now. Funny that they were legally sold in the US in the 1960s/70s.

I learned to drive in an Ami 6. Amazingly, it it did not put me off driving....and I actually bought a 1972 GS, which is as rare as hens teeth here in the States.

I liked the GS, loved the Ds I owned, tolerated the CXs that came in the shop. But no Double Chevron interest since 1996....

EDIT: There are a pair of nice H vans for sale up near dad in Ohio, $5k for the pair. That is about as basic as things get!

Pretty much anything from Citroen (or any other French manufacturer) is/was rare in the states. I ran into a guy here in Houston back in the early 80s who had a garage full of Citroens (maybe 20 or so), from 2cv,mehari, DS, GS, CX, even an SM. He did not have an H, but he did have a Renault sedan circa 1914 (Taxis to the Marne!)

Yes, there was a good service guy down in that area years ago. His name I think was Pat. Did Citroens and Peugeots. SM, nearly traded a W123 Merc 300D for a five speed 3.0l one back in 1995 or so.

As I recall, his name was Terry and in addition to rebuilding Citroen hydraulic components, he sold Amsoil (synthetic lubricants). Kind of an odd duck.

I had a Dyane in 1982, I gave £60 for it and used the metal sides from a fridge to repair the rotting floors, hand painted it Red with grey stripes, happy days indeed, sold it 2 years later with a slipping clutch for £100.