The Scammell Pioneer SV2S from IBG Models was right up Andy's street, so when the chance to model one appeared he jumped into it. Pausing only to give us an "In-Boxed" article, Andy now gets building the kit in a smashing guide that all modellers should have a look at whatever their inclinations. See how he does it in today's build article...
Scammell Pioneer SV2S
Manufacturer – IBG Models
Kit Number - 35029
Scale - 1/35th
Product Link on the IBG Website
Price - ¥6,160 • $56.50 • £44.50 • €50.50 from Hobbylink Japan
In-Boxed: IBG's Scammell Pioneer SV2S
Build Guide Pt II: IBG's Scammell Pioneer SV2S
Build Guide Pt III: IBG's Scammell Pioneer SV2S
Build Guide Pt.I
Time to get started on the Scammell build, and we kick things off with step 1 which covers the construction of the wheels. In common with many of their other kits, IBG has supplied the wheel/tyre parts entirely in styrene, with the one-piece sidewall and rim clipping into an outer tread section. It's an approach I really like, as it means maximum detail can be maintained on all the parts, and the finished assembly is much easier to paint and weather compared to a rubber alternative. For this build, the only thing I needed to remember was the tread direction, and to make sure I didn't get any wrong, I marked the outside edge of each tread section with an arrow.
Build Guide Pt II: IBG's Scammell Pioneer SV2S
Build Guide Pt III: IBG's Scammell Pioneer SV2S
Build Guide Pt.I
Time to get started on the Scammell build, and we kick things off with step 1 which covers the construction of the wheels. In common with many of their other kits, IBG has supplied the wheel/tyre parts entirely in styrene, with the one-piece sidewall and rim clipping into an outer tread section. It's an approach I really like, as it means maximum detail can be maintained on all the parts, and the finished assembly is much easier to paint and weather compared to a rubber alternative. For this build, the only thing I needed to remember was the tread direction, and to make sure I didn't get any wrong, I marked the outside edge of each tread section with an arrow.
The sidewalls could then be slid into place, and the fit here was perfect, with no filler required. The detailing on the wheels is very good, but there is one small discrepancy as the Pioneer wheels should have four extra holes spaced between the mounting bolts. Adding these to the original mould would probably have required more complex tooling so it's understandable that IBG left them off. They're very simple to add in any case, using a 0.7mm drill bit, and while I was at it I also drilled a hole on the edge of the rim for the air valve. I'll add the valve itself later in the build.
The first few steps of the build are taken up with building sub-assemblies, which are then brought together later on. The fuel tank is the next one to be built, and here again, the basic assembly is very good, but can be enhanced a little more with a bit of detailing. The tank itself is built up from the front and back halves onto which the mounting brackets and filler cap are added. All the details are present and correct, but the two boarding steps are a little thick compared to the real ones.
To give that area a little more refinement, I cut off the moulded steps and replaced them with new ones made from 0.25mm plastic card. Two triangular pieces and a rectangle formed the lower step, with two more rectangles for the upper one. Short lengths of stretched sprue were added around the edges of the steps to form weld beads. I also added a small domed rivet and a length of fine photo etched chain to the filler cap. IBG don't supply a decal for the fuel gauge on the side of the tank, but I found a suitable dial on a spare decal sheet to use later in the build.
On the opposite side of the cab to the fuel tank, there's an open stowage basket. IBG have provided this in photo etch form, with the end panels added from styrene parts. Like the fuel tank, this is very accurate for the most part, although in reality, the bars on the front should overlap, rather than being completely flat like the PE part. I did momentarily consider making a new grill part from styrene strip, but in the end decided that the kit part was fine.
Later in the build though, I had second thoughts and decided that, although I'd keep the kit part, I did want to cut the ends off the two lower horizontal bars to better match the real thing. I can see why IBG did extend those bars, as three contact points on each end gives a far stronger join than just one. It does look better with the bars shortened though, so I snipped the tips off with a pair of pointed scissors, then filed down any remaining tabs.
The engine's up next, and IBG has done a really nice job here. The detailing matches very well to the real thing, although you could still add a few leads and linkages if you want to go down the super detailing route. The side panels can be left off the finished build, so you'll be able to show off your work on the engine. For my build, I'll just be leaving the right-hand cover off, and that side of the engine is pretty much complete as it is, without the need to add any further detail.
Most photos show the engine block in a pale blue-grey, so I mixed up a similar colour from Tamiya acrylics, and used this to base coat the whole engine.
After that it all got some heavy grungy weathering, using various enamel and oil washes. The exhaust manifold wash brush painted with a dark brown acrylic mixed with a dark rust coloured pigment. As the paint dried, the pigment left a nice rusty texture to the pipes. The little placard was taken from an old decal sheet to add a bit of visual interest to the engine.
With the first set of sub-assemblies together, work switches to the chassis. This is made up of two full-length rails which are connected by several cross members. Getting all these lined up and seated correctly can be a bit fiddly, but the parts fit well as long as you take your time to align them.
The main frame for the front suspension comes in two halves, and before you glue them together, you'll need to thread the steering tie rod through the frame ends from the inside, as you wont be able to do after the frame is joined.
Once it's built up, it's a nice solid construction. If you want to pose the front wheels turned, you'll need to remove and rebuilt the hubs, and it would have been nice to see IBG supply these as separate parts to begin with.
With the chassis together you can begin to add some of the detail parts to it, and one of the main ones is the large cable drum for the winch. The kit includes a small moulded cable reel that fits inside the drum, but it's a bit on the small side and the cable texture is completely smooth. I decided to make a new reel from a larger circle of plastic card with a thin strip glued around the edge. The new drum reel was glued to the bottom of the drum frame, having made sure the height of the new reel was the same as the original kit part, so it wouldn't interfere with the assembly of the rest of the drum.
The insides of the drum were given a quick coat of black primer, as it would be hard to access these areas once everything was built up, then a length of braided copper wire was wound around the new drum, with the end secured into a hole in the top. The wire was left long enough to poke out from the back of the chassis, and I'll add a towing eye to it later in the build.
To complete the cable drum there are three guide rollers added to the back. These just attach straight to the back of the drum, but after checking some references, they should actually be attached to a plate which slightly overhangs the edge of the drum housing. This is quite an easy modification to make; just cut the new plate from styrene sheet, glue it to the back of the drum housing, then attach the rollers to it. A couple of bolt heads were also added to the plate to add further detail.
On the opposite side of the chassis, there are also some small details that can be added, as the winch has some link rods that aren't included in the kit. These are pretty much buried away under the rear body, so it's in no way vital to add them, but I did so here to add some extra detail to the area. Again styrene sheet and rod were used for the brackets and linkages, with thin fuse wire wrapped around the rods to represent the springs.
Before adding the cable drum to the chassis, I needed to pre-paint some of the areas that would be hard to access later, and that meant choosing a colour. I'm going to be doing the Russian lend lease vehicle for this build, and IBG shows the body colour as 'Russian Green' which can be translated as 4BO green. That probably seems like a reasonable choice for a Russian truck, but in truth, most of the lend-lease vehicles retained the colour they were originally supplied in. For a truck of British origin, that would have been SCC 2, which was a khaki brown colour. For this, I used Tamiya Khaki with a little Flat Earth added. It does look a little green in the photos, but in person, it's more of a brown shade.
Once the parts were painted, I attached the winch to the chassis, then added the remaining linkages. All these additions do make the chassis a bit fragile, so you need to be careful when handling it to avoid knocking parts off.
The instructions recommend adding the engine next, but I wanted to leave this off for now, so I'd be able to base coat the rest of the chassis. Instead, I jumped ahead in the assembly sequence and added the front mounted frame that holds the counterweight bars. Getting all the photo etched panels aligned is a little tricky, but if you take your time it's not too hard and the resulting assembly does look great. I also added the mounting rail for the engine cover from plastic strip, as that wasn't included in the kit.
Before I'd painted the engine and transfer box, I'd done a quick test fit on the chassis. Now, I'm not a mechanical expert, but I'm fairly sure that the prop shaft should actually attach to the engine. As far as I could tell, all the parts were correctly positioned, so it seems like the shaft part has been made a little short.
It's not a big issue to fix though. A short length of plastic rod was glued to the end of the shaft to extend it by a few mm's, and the hole to accept it on the engine was drilled out a little deeper.
I finished off painting the remainder of the chassis and suspension parts before the engine was installed. I kept the front and rear axles separate for now, as I wanted to fit the wheels to them before they were attached to the chassis. That way I could adjust their position to ensure all the wheels sat in contact with the ground.
Speaking of the wheels, they were painted first in the body colour, then the inner rim of the tyre was brush painted in a rubber colour. After that, the hubs were covered without having to be too precise about the edge of the masking, and the rest of the tyre's tread painted by airbrush. You can probably see in the photo that I sanded a flat spot on the bottom of each tyre to give them a 'weighted' look.
The treads were then sprayed with a light dusty mud colour, after which the raised tread blocks were re-painted in the original rubber shade.
To finish the wheels off, a light earth pigment was mixed with water to a wash consistency, and painted between he tread blocks.
With the engine now in place on the chassis, I got to work with some basic weathering. This was mainly done with thinned acrylics painted around details to leave a grimy, oily look. Some selective chipping was also added with the same paints applied with a sponge.
The various rollers for the winch cable were given a polished metallic look by rubbing over them with a graphite stick.
With the basic weathering done (I may add more later), the wheels were added to their axles which in turn were attached to the chassis. I was able to make any small adjustments to their positions before the glue dried so that everything sat squarely on the ground. When you add the wheels make sure to remember to get all the treads running in the correct direction. I managed to get two of them on the wrong sides, but fortunately spotted it before the glue had dried, and was able to correct them.
The last bits to add to the chassis where the front mudguards and the fuel tank. The mudguards are quite wobbly until the glue has dried, so I packed some folded paper between the mudguard and tyre to ensure they remained in the correct position until they were set.
Before attaching the fuel tank, I'd added some chipping on the steps using the same graphite stick I'd used on the rollers. As mentioned earlier, I found a suitable dial decal to add to the fuel gauge.
Once fitted, I added splashes of spilt fuel to the tank, together with some general dirt and staining to match it with the rest of the chassis. The mudguards had a pigment wash splatted over the lower edges, although the shade's a bit bright compared to the dust on the wheels, so I'll probably tone this down later in the build.
And that's where we're going to leave the big Scammell for today. The cab's already built up and detailed, and that, along with the main crane, and the final painting and weathering will be coming up in part two.
For now, I'll leave you with some shots of the finished chassis with the cab and rear deck in place. Stay tuned for part two coming soon.
Andy Moore
This kit is available from IBG's Distributors Worldwide - thanks to them for sending it to Andy to review and later to build.
