Ace 1/72 Traction Avant 11CV Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

The Citroën Traction was family of automobiles produced by French auto manufacturer Citroën between 1934 and 1957. The model 11CV was a four-door sedan that was powered by a four-cylinder 1911cc engine that could drive the car above 60 mph. The car also had advanced suspension for its day with each of the front wheels were individually sprung (versus the earlier leaf spring designs).

When Germany overran France, the German military pressed anything useful into service which included the confiscation of private vehicles that could be used for staff or liaison duties. The elegant gloss black finish of these cars was replaced with camouflage German gray or other adaptations to meet the environment. You didn't want your nice 'captured' car to stand out and get strafed by an unwelcome allied fighter.

Here is an interesting kit from Ace. This is a 1/72 scale production of the Citroën Traction Avant 11CV. The kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on two parts trees. Windows will need to be fabricated from clear acetate using the templates provided in the instructions.

Assembly is quick and straightforward with the chassis, interior, and body all relatively simple to pull together. You'll spend more time painting than assembling this one.

The instructions depict four different examples for this kit:

• Traction Avant 11CV, French civilian car, 1940
• Traction Avant 11CV, Engineering Company, 112 Infantry Division, Wehrmacht, Eastern Front, 1941
• Traction Avant 11CV, French Army, 1940
• Traction Avant 11CV, 8th Air Corps, Luftwaffe Eastern Front, 1941

This looks like a nice little kit and this release provides 1/72 modelers with an equivalent staff car to place on their Luftwaffe vignette in the same way that Tamiya did with their own 1/48 scale Traction Avant 11CV.

My sincere thanks to HobbyTerra for this review sample!