Paris Accordeon, a street scene

I've been spending so much time building everything I need for my dioramas, from the ground and landscape itself through to the water and the trees and the rocks ... I had forgotten how simple some dioramas can be.

All you need to do is buy a ready-made diorama background (I found this one on eBay just by typing in "Paris Accordeon", and it was so cheap) then put your car in front, take a photo and ... well, there's hardly any satisfaction at all from doing this.

So I decided the least I could do was make up some decals for my car and personalise the whole thing so it's mine, and only mine.

There really is a shop called Paris Accordeon, and it really is
at 36 Rue de la Lune (Google it) and so I decided to make up
some decals with the name and address on it. I have a supply
of decal paper, a colour laserjet printer, Photoshop, and from
that point onwards it's very simple to make your own decals.

Then I saw the little clown with his accordion on the shop
door, so I scanned the clown, deep-etched him in Photoshop
and turned him into a decal as well.

As for the car choice, economy was mostly my reason. I did not have the obvious choice, a 2CV Citroen van, just lying around without livery on it, waiting for Mr Decal to come along and turn it into diorama art. But I did have two Citroen Amis, both plain as can be, so I took my lighter coloured one and added decals to it.

Besides, I've always loved the shape of the Citroen Ami. It's like the French had seen the fad for reverse-angled rear windows so popular in cars such as the Ford Anglia, and they decided to add extra quirky, curvy Frenchness to the idea.

They turned those straight lines into superb curves, making the whole car itself look like it was withstanding a 1000km/h headwind and not giving in to the force of the breeze. 

I love the Citroen Ami, and I am very happy the Accordeon Shop owner decided it was going to be his official shop car.