Cicekabbas-01

The model of the Ford Transit public transport minibus that appeared in the Turkish film "Çiçek Abbas" (1982).
The kit I used is the facelift of Transit Mk.2; moreover, it is a van and not a minibus, so a great deal of modifications will have to be made.
The kit is a reissue of the old ESCI kit, and I had to wait till it was available.

22 October 2016:
While waiting for the kit, I began exercising with the manufacturing of various accessories that will consume time in the future. I made a balloon from wood and took mold of silicone.

I cast parts from various materials like hot melt glue, EZ-water, 100 layers varnish. The best outcome was from hot melt glue. I dipped the balloon in clear glass paint and after drying, I drew stripes and covered the whole with stretched parafilm.

23 October 2016:
Exercise for the flowers around the roof luggage carrier. I drilled a cavity within a silicone piece, naturally an irregular one depending on the tearing of the silicone. Then I injected hot melt glue in the cavity and before cooling, I pressed a piece of thread to fix the flower on.

I tried with string and wire, and painted to see better what it is like. It looks like flowers I think...

29 October 2016:
For the pompom lining inside the windshield, I found something like this. I took off the horizontal fibres, then cut off one at each second vertical to reduce the fibre numbers.

30 October 2016:

I used a piece of masking tape as a spacer and inserted the fibres through beads, fixed them with CA glue and trimmed the excess fibres. Then I applied pink flocking all over and got the pompom line.

14 November 2016:
At last the model arrived. To convert the van to a minibus, first I marked the windows and cut them open. I shaved the left rear door handle.

The back door would be 2-piece, so I shaved off the hinges and the bottom side lock.

16 November 2016:
I glued the central uprights and scribed a parting line on the back door. I cut off the right rear door.

17 November 2016:
I drilled the door handle and later sanded the grabbing void on the handle.

19 November 2016:
I prepared the internal frames to hold the glass parts. I rounded the edges with a radiused blade I shaped for the purpose.

I made radiused parts for the back door central uprights.

20 November 2016:
I shaved off a layer to house the inserted acetate sheet as the glass.

Manufacturing of the hinging for the rear door.
I made a cut in the hinge bodies on the door. I prepared the hinge ends from brass sheet, bent and inserted in the cuts then fixed with epoxy glue. To maintain concentricity, I used a headed pin as the axis.

I prepared the mating parts of the hinge on the B-post from styrene and glued them on the B-post while holding the door in place.

I applied pressure on the hinges while curing.

Checking the operation of the door.

21 November 2016:
There was a gap over the back doors. To cover it, I glued a piece of styrene strip.

22 November 2016:
Then I applied polyester putty and sanded.

23 November 2016:
I glued the inner window panels. The acetate sheet is inserted from the bottom side and pushed upwards. By this method, no residues of glass cement will be visible.

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