Ford Model-T (Tintin in the Congo)

Tintin in the Congo (French: Tintin au Congo) is the second volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle for its children’s supplement Le Petit Vingtième, it was serialised weekly from May 1930 to June 1931 before being published in a collected volume by Éditions de Petit Vingtième in 1931. The story tells of young Belgian reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy, who are sent to the Belgian Congo to report on events in the country. Amid various encounters with the native Congolese people and wild animals, Tintin unearths a criminal diamond smuggling operation run by the American gangster Al Capone.

 

– courtesy of Wikipedia

The finished model:

The story:

As I’ve said before, Tintin in the Congo is one of my favourite Tintin albums. Yes it’s linear, has no real plot, and is rife with racist caricatures… but it’s still awesome.

The strange thing is I don’t really know why I like it so much. Maybe it’s because, being a pre-internet kid from Canada, I didn’t really have that much exposure to the wider world. I grew up in family of blended Polish/Latvia descent, with vaguely Eastern European sensibilities. As such, Tintin European adventures, such as King Ottokar’s Sceptre, seemed almost mundane. But deepest, darkest, Africa, or the mysterious orient? Sign. Me. Up.

So, even though The Blue Lotus remains my singularly favourite Tintin Album, Tintin in the Congo is always right up there as well.

Upon some reflection though, I think one of the things that drew me to this album in the first place is the slightly wobbly Ford Model-T on the cover. Imagine the venerable Model-T as an off-road vehicle! It’s got everything you’d need for an adventure in Africa lashed in the boxes on the running boards or in the (actual) trunk at the back.

One thing that I have wondered about (but probably never enough to actually research) is why the black Model-T on the cover is sporting a different colour scheme than the yellow one in the panels. The black one is quite striking, and probably stands out better against the Blue/Green background of the “African savannah”, but for my money, the little yellow car is the better looking of the two.

So, when it came time to add a subject from Tintin in the Congo to my Tintin project, it should come as no surprise that I chose… the Model T Ford… but started work on the Udet U12 Flamingo first. After all, I wanted this one to be a gem among my many Tintin projects, and in the end I’m glad I waited.

The build:

But, I almost didn’t wait long enough.

As I said, I really wanted this one to turn out great. So, even though I was able to get my hands on a 1/72 scale Model-T kit, the Samochod zwiadowczy Ford T M.M.G.S. from RPM, it obviously wasn’t really the same KIND of Model-T, so some assembly was going to be required.

While I did fiddle around with it, but given that I didn’t really know what to do with the chassis of the Model-T, I started focusing on the “add-on” little train. However, in the end I wasn’t really satisfied with where the project was going, so I relegated it to the shelf of doom for what turned out to be several years. But when I got my hands on my new Elegoo Mars 3 Pro 3D resin printer… I knew victory was at hand!

It still wasn’t easy. Tintin’s Model-T doesn’t really look like any actual real life model. Oh sure, the general profile is there and unmistakable, but once you start drilling into the details, you start noticing the discrepancies. So, even though I started off with some real life reference photos and plans, I quickly had to start just eyeballing it to see if it “looked right.”

Like anything else, learning to do digital 3D modelling takes practice – in almost the same way you get it at the physical work bench. There’s a lot of trial and error in not only getting the model accurate… but developing one that will survive the printing process. Making sure that the walls (thought to scale) will actually support their own weight, hiding supports that provide overall structural support without LOOKING like that’s what they’re doing – it all takes practice. My first 3D printed model, the Runabout Boat from The Crab with the Golden Claws, was done by just deleting the parts I didn’t need off someone else’s model. And the next two, the Armoured Car from The Blue Lotus, and the Udet U12 Flamingo, also from Tintin in the Congo, were relatively box-shaped and thus easier to design from scratch. This one seemed to be the next step in the progression. The Model-T is quite box-shaped at it’s core, but it’s starting to show off the curves.

Once I managed to get the Model-T (and all its various cargo) printed, the assembly and painting was relatively straightforward. With my own-designed models, the challenge comes on the front end, so I don’t feel like its cheating on the backend to not really have a ton of complicated parts to glue together.

All things considered though, I’m quite pleased with the result. Well, feel free to tell me what you think.

If you’d like to try your hand at printing this project too, you can download my files here. Use the coupon code STROBEZ to get 50% off!