The floor and the shelf that goes underneath the dashboard and rear parcel shelf was airbrushed in the same shade used for the side panels. The moulded in rubber mats can then be brush-painted in matt black to replicate the rubber that the real Trabant would have had.
Once dry, the rest of the floor, rear parcel shelf, under dash shelf and part # D75, which is the interior for the boot, were covered in honey coloured flocking. For anyone that hasn’t tried working with flocking, it is well worth the time and effort that it takes. There are plenty of tutorials to be found on the internet, but the basic process is to first paint whatever you’re going to flock with the closest colour you can, and then once the paint has dried brush on some slightly thinned PVA wood glue. Then, using a fine strainer, place the flocking into the strainer and then sprinkle the flocking on the part you want covered. I always place a sheet of A4 paper underneath so you can reuse the excess.
Using your index finger, press the flocking down, not too hard, but just enough to get it to stick into place, and then leave it to dry overnight. It’s best to do small areas at a time, and then you may well have to go over it again, by using some slightly thinned PVA glue. Once dry you can tap out the excess and with a little bit of practise you’ll soon get the hang of it and have realistic looking carpets in your models.
Once all the flocking had dried
The interior could now be built up. The handbrake, seat belt buckles and pedals were airbrushed in satin black then the pedal rubbers were hand painted in matt black being fixed into place with a few drops of superglue.
All the interior parts – seats and dashboard shelf have locating tabs that fit very well. The seats were fitted into place and then a few drops of superglue were added from the bottom of the floor using capillary action to glue the seats to the floor. A few drops of superglue were added to the shelf and that was fixed into place.
The side panels were fitted at this stage. There are tabs at the front and rear – it pretty much goes together like a jigsaw. 5-minute epoxy was used for these and held into place with strips of masking tape while the glue set up.
The dashboard was airbrushed in satin black. Switches were brush-painted in their required colours and then finished off with the decal for the speedometer and put aside for later, as it doesn’t fix on to the interior tub, but fixes instead to the inside of the body shell.