Christmas Breakdown

About This Project

Inspired by a vintage photograph of a Renault 4 Fourgonnette carrying a Christmas tree, this project expands the scene into a light-hearted holiday story. Featuring Santa Claus, festive cargo, and a touch of humor, it captures the charm and chaos of Christmas preparations.

Full Story

One random day I stumbled upon an interesting old promotional photo of a Renault 4 Fourgonnette with a pine tree sticking out of its upper rear door. I instantly saved it into my inspiration folder. A year or more later I discovered that Ebbro had released a Fourgonnette version of the car, so I bought it and started the project.

I expanded on the original idea and added a figure of The Fat Man himself, Santa Claus. Instead of the traditional cheerful Christmas depiction, I wanted to present more of a humorous scene. Santa has managed to cut down a tree and squeeze it into the back of the little Renault, but now the car refuses to start somewhere in the middle of a snowy forest road.

The Santa figure was fully modeled in Daz3D, finalized for 3D printing in Cinema4D, and printed on a Solus 3D resin printer. I also printed the axe and the curious bunny rabbit accompanying the scene.

The Renault received several modifications for improved realism. The engine was upgraded with additional wiring, while the seats were heavily reworked with a wire frame structure to better match the appearance of the real car seats. Inside the van I added wooden planks made from balsa wood, along with a couple of small Christmas presents scratchbuilt from styrene. A hand-soldered security mesh made from copper wire was installed between the seats and the cargo area.

The diorama groundwork was created using AK Interactive texture pastes, starting with Mud and later layered with Snow products.

The pine trees were scratchbuilt from pointed wooden sticks used as trunks, with individually drilled holes for branches. For foliage, I used real small fern branches which were cut to size and soaked in glycerine to prevent drying and brittleness. Once prepared, they were painted and sealed with several layers of hairspray before carefully applying microballoons to simulate snow.

Microballoons create a much finer and more realistic snow effect than baking soda and, unlike baking soda, they do not yellow over time. (However, they should be handled carefully as the fine particles are made from glass and can be dangerous if inhaled without proper protection!)

The bunny rabbit was finished with flocking powder, airbrushed for soft tonal variation, and finalized with hand painting.

Model: Renault 4 Fourgonnette (Ebbro 25003)