Heller | Citroën Méhari Beach Rod

Citroën Méhari Beach Rod

1:24 Scale Model | Heller | Built by Sebastian Motsch

Spending all my childhood summer holidays at the Atlantic coast in southern France, the Citroën Méhari is a car I loved ever since. I was really happy when Heller announced the 1:24 scale kit and ordered it when it was released. It arrived and despite all its shortcomings, it is a nice kit. Once again, they cut cost in questionable places. Example: there are no clear parts for the headlights in the kit. That’s strange, because there are other clear parts included (taillights, windows and tarp roof). I found two headlight lenses in my spare parts box and used them. The part below the front bumper is terribly wrong, so I cut it off, shortened it and glued it behind the bumper. Looks much more convincing now. I specifically built this vehicle in the Beach Rod style, to accompany the Citroën HY. In order to get the ride height I was aiming for, the rear wheel arch was dremeled out and a thin strip of Evergreen was used for the leading edge. The wheels are from a Tamiya Alfa Romeo Sprint GTA, shod with Hasegawa tires. The rollbar was made from Evergreen styrene rod and nicely fills the void where the spare wheel would go normally. I added an extra kink in the lower bar to match the quirkyness of the Méhari. The seats are classic Singer-style items from ScaleProduction, minus the headrests. They are removable from the sratchbuilt rails and can be used to sit at the beach comfortably. A resin backpack from the parts box and a surfboard add to the Beach Rod style. The scratchbuilt exhaust pipes are painted with a Molotow Liquid Chrome pen.