Tintin 1/24 Model Car 29913 – La Camionnette Sanzot – L’Affaire Tournesol

Author: Hergé & Editions Moulinsart
Manufacturer: Editions Moulinsart / Tintinimaginatio
Format: 1/24 scale model vehicle on display plinth with illustrated diorama and clear acetate case
Condition: Fine. Ex-display model in fine condition. Complete with original grey and white outer box and explanatory booklet. Very minor wear to outer box

Description:

From the official Les Voitures de Tintin collection, this substantial 1/24 scale model of La Camionnette Sanzot, reference 29913, recreates the distinctive red and cream delivery van belonging to Sanzot, the butcher whose name becomes one of the running jokes in Hergé’s L’Affaire Tournesol (The Calculus Affair).

The model shows the familiar two-tone van with the stylised pig’s-head emblem prominently displayed on its side. It is presented on its original display plinth beneath a clear acetate case, against a monochrome illustrated background derived from Hergé’s artwork. The vehicle contains both Sanzot and Professor Calculus, making this one of the more characterful models in the 1/24 series.

Produced by Editions Moulinsart as number 13 in the collection, reference 29913, the model represents a Volkswagen Type 2 Transporter, the celebrated VW van whose unmistakable profile became one of the defining commercial vehicle designs of the post-war period. Specialist descriptions of the model note that Hergé based Sanzot’s van upon the early Volkswagen Transporter seen on the streets of Brussels during the 1950s.

The model was issued in 2020 and was produced in resin and plastic. It was supplied with a substantial explanatory booklet in French and English, together with its decorated clear display case and grey and white cardboard outer box. The manufacturer’s product information records the box dimensions as approximately 26 x 12 x 12 cm and gives EAN 2991300000006.

This example has previously been displayed but remains fine condition. It retains its original grey and white outer box and explanatory booklet. Very minor wear to the outer packaging.

Reference: 29913
Scale: 1/24
Date: 2020
Model: La Camionnette Sanzot
Album: L’Affaire Tournesol
Vehicle: Volkswagen Type 2 Transporter
Colour: Red and cream
Material: Resin and plastic
Presentation: Display plinth with illustrated diorama and clear acetate case
Packaging: Original grey and white outer box
Documentation: Original explanatory booklet in French and English
Condition: Fine: ex-display, with very minor wear to the outer packaging
EAN: 2991300000006

La Camionnette Sanzot: A Brief Account

Sanzot the butcher is one of Hergé’s most memorable minor characters, despite the fact that he appears only intermittently in the Tintin adventures.

His importance lies largely in one of the series’ most enduring running jokes. The telephone number of Sanzot’s butcher’s shop is repeatedly confused with that of Marlinspike Hall, resulting in Captain Haddock receiving a succession of unwanted calls from customers attempting to order meat. The joke reappears throughout several albums and becomes increasingly funny precisely because Haddock knows what is about to happen.

In L’Affaire Tournesol, however, Sanzot and his van become part of the action rather than merely a telephone gag. Professor Calculus is associated with the vehicle during the increasingly confused events surrounding his disappearance, allowing Hergé to weave one of his familiar domestic characters into the much larger espionage narrative.

The Moulinsart model captures this connection particularly effectively by including both Sanzot and Professor Calculus inside the van. The result is not simply a model of a commercial vehicle but a miniature recreation of an identifiable moment in the story.

The Volkswagen Transporter

The vehicle represented is based upon the early Volkswagen Type 2 Transporter, more commonly known as the VW Transporter, Kombi or Microbus depending upon body configuration and market.

Introduced in 1950, the Type 2 became one of Volkswagen’s most important post-war vehicles. Its simple rear-engined construction, generous load space and distinctive forward-control body made it exceptionally versatile, and innumerable panel vans were adapted for tradesmen, delivery businesses and commercial fleets.

The specialist description of the 1/24 Sanzot model notes that Hergé was inspired by a Volkswagen Transporter he had seen in Brussels. He transformed the real commercial vehicle into Sanzot’s delivery van by giving it its characteristic red and cream livery and the humorous pig’s-head emblem which immediately identifies the butcher’s business.

This is typical of Hergé’s mature approach to vehicles. Real machines were carefully observed and incorporated into the fictional world, but they were also adapted to suit the personality and visual requirements of the story.

L’Affaire Tournesol: A Brief Account

First published in album form in 1956, L’Affaire Tournesol is one of the most accomplished works of Hergé’s mature period.

The story begins deceptively quietly at Marlinspike Hall, where a series of unexplained incidents causes glass objects to shatter. The mystery is eventually connected with Professor Calculus and his experiments involving ultrasonic sound.

When foreign intelligence services discover the potential military applications of Calculus’s work, the story develops rapidly into a Cold War espionage thriller. Calculus is kidnapped, Tintin and Captain Haddock pursue him across Europe, and the action ultimately moves into the fictional authoritarian state of Borduria.

The album is notable for the precision of its plotting, its use of genuine European locations and its increasingly adult themes. Hergé combines scientific anxiety, political rivalry and questions concerning the militarisation of technology with the familiar humour of Haddock, Calculus and the supporting cast.

Sanzot’s appearance is particularly effective within that framework. The butcher and his van belong to the ordinary domestic world surrounding Marlinspike Hall. Their presence provides a comic and familiar counterpoint to the international intrigue that eventually dominates the story.

Sanzot and Hergé’s Humour

Sanzot represents one of the great strengths of Hergé’s storytelling: his ability to create memorable supporting characters from very little material.

The butcher is an entirely ordinary tradesman, yet his recurring association with the Marlinspike telephone number turns him into a familiar presence across the series. Captain Haddock’s increasingly explosive reaction to wrong-number calls becomes a joke based upon anticipation rather than surprise.

The name itself is also a characteristic Hergé pun. In French, Sanzot sounds like sans os — “without bones” — an especially appropriate joke for a butcher.

That combination of verbal humour, repetition and visual characterisation is typical of the Tintin albums. Even characters with limited narrative importance become memorable through carefully constructed recurring details.

Hergé and the Motor Car

Vehicles occupy an important position throughout The Adventures of Tintin. Hergé frequently worked from real contemporary cars, vans, lorries, aircraft and ships, giving his fictional world a striking degree of visual credibility.

By the period of L’Affaire Tournesol, his handling of mechanical subjects had become extremely assured. Vehicles were recognisable yet remained perfectly integrated within the clean outlines and controlled compositions of the ligne claire style.

The Sanzot van is particularly successful because it combines an unmistakable real-world vehicle with fictional commercial branding. The Volkswagen body gives the object authenticity, while the red-and-cream paint scheme and pig emblem immediately place it within Hergé’s world.

At 1/24 scale, the Moulinsart model reproduces these details with much greater visual presence than the smaller vehicle series. The large slab-sided body of the Transporter is especially well suited to the format, while the inclusion of the two figures gives the model clear narrative interest.

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Cataloguer: Daniel Hornsey

Daniel Hornsey has specialised in fine and rare books, maps, ephemera, artworks and collectors’ items for over thirty years. Hornseys was established in 1976 and, in its fiftieth year, continues to research and catalogue every item individually from its gallery and bookshop in Ripon, North Yorkshire.