I got last year in a trade this large tin toy truck citroen T23 or T45 made in France by JRD in 1935, sadly the toy was in bad shape with a lot of parts added non conform to the way it came from the factory



I bought some missing part and ready for the restoration

everything is taking apart just like a restoration of real car

the front grill was painted in blue, so sanding and polishing to found back the original



the wheels were in bad shape and got a new coat of fresh paint



and the wheels after, far better, right ?



the front bumper was broken, I used some filler to weld it back

after the taking apart, every piece are sanded to remove the rest of glue and deffect, then it's time for primer

I wet sand between each layer of primer





the truck will be bicolor, the frame and fender will be black and the cabin and bed will be red

the frame is painted and really shiny





first layer of red for the side of the bed



the front seat of the cabin is painted glossy black



and finally I choose another wood floor for the bed, the original was painted in blue which was not intended to be, those were meaned to be natural wood


and here is a first assembly after cutting the new wood to see if it's fit good, I'll have to riveting the wood after ( if anybody can explain, I never used rivets before )

there are split rivets that would have the same look can get those at Ace Hardware.. I will ask a friend who does a lot of restoration on candy machines he has a site he goes to for rivets that again look like the old rivets.
Looking good

thanks, some updates, I bought a riveting tool and it's not as hard as I had thought, the result of the 2 first rivets are quite good





here is the tool I bought



yesterday I painted in primer some parts



and first coat of red on the cabin

That is amazing!! Just like the real thing without taking up a ton of space

yes thanks, "les jouets citroen" the citroen toys were manufactured by CIJ in France from 1928 to 1935 then JRD continue it and manufactured other model of Citroen

what is great about those toys is there were made exactly like the real model in scale, 1:10 or 1:15 and those are big, this one is 19 inches lenght, Andre Citroen worked with CIJ and gave them blueprint of the actual vehicules to produce in 1930's exact reprodutions of the cars, those have open doors, seats, working steering wheels, lightup front lights with batteries and clockwork mechanism





I have 4 other models of Citroen in original unrestored condition scale 1:10 ans hope for more

the B14 coupe in 2 colors





The B14 truck



and the HY pannel truck

very Cool Thanks for sharing.

sides nearly finished



first coat on the base of the bed



and cabin finished and attached to the frame, radiator grill in place, seats and steering wheel in place too

restoration going well, bed is finished and attached to the frame, rear wheels take back their original place

it's time to complete the restoration, I recived the lightbulbs, right front light and citroen decals,

I placed the front lights and lightbulbs







and after swearing a lot while placing the decals ( it's an horror to place )

here is the toy complete, it was worth it as it was already repainted by the previous owner and I wanted to find back the toy as he left the factory in 1935


the toy before



and right after complete restoration

and next to the other Citroen toys scale 1:10







and for scale reference here is the truck next to an american quart can