Build Guide Pt II: Andy's 35th scale IBG Models Scammell Pioneer SV2S somes together in some style...

The Scammell Pioneer SV2S from IBG Models comes together in construction in part II of Andy's smashing guide that all modellers should have a look at whatever their inclinations. See how the truck all came together with the help of some extra tools and rigging from Kamil's KFS models & AK Interactive shades in his 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 I: IBG's Scammell Pioneer SV2S
Build Guide Pt II: IBG's Scammell Pioneer SV2S
Build Guide Pt III: IBG's Scammell Pioneer SV2S
Last time out we left IBG's new Scammell on its feet, and with the cab temporarily in place. Now in part 2, we'll get the rest of the body and crane built up, ready for painting and weathering. To start with we'll go back a few steps to see how the cab went together.

IBG supply the cab as the front, back and side panels which attach to a floor plate. Much of the internal painting will need to be done before the panels are built up, but first, there were a few extra details I wanted to add. The floor of the cab is made up of wooden planks, and to add some realistic texture to these, I roughened them up with a coarse sanding stick, making sure to keep the texturing in line with the grain of the wood.

The seat cushions all look a little square and neat to be realistic, so these too were textured, grinding the surface down with a round burr in a mini drill, followed by some sanding to round off the corners.

The inner doors had small squares moulded on to represent the door catch, but I sliced these off and replaced them with larger pieces of plastic card. To these, I added the lever using a thin strip of brass taken from the frame of an old PE sheet. The top of the strip was bent around a drill bit to give it the correct curved shape, then the middle of the strip was twisted through 90°, again to match the real thing.

I didn't add any further detailing, as little will be seen, even with the large open side windows. The cab front was attached to the floor plate, but I kept the other sections separate for now. They were then all base coated with Tamiya Khaki, followed by some highlighting with the same colour lightened with a little buff.

The detail painted was done, then the interior was given a pin wash using AK's wash for wood (AK 263). The woodgrain texturing on the cab floor was accentuated with selective applications of AK neutral wash (AK 677). This left a nice worn and weathered look to the wooden planks.

After that, I could start getting the cab sides together. IBG don't supply any decals for the instrument panel, so I just painted the dials black, then used a needle to scratch some basic markings onto the dial faces. A drop of gloss varnish to represent glass finished them off. Typically, once I'd done all this, I noticed that a pre-painted PE instrument panel had been released by Yahu Models, so that might be a worthwhile investment for anyone thinking of building this kit. One last little addition before closing the cab up was to add a map to the map pocket behind the driver's door, which I'd printed from a map found online. One thing to note when putting the cab together is to take great care with the tiny PE windscreen hinges. I managed to knock two off while getting the side panels in place, only one of which was subsequently found.

Having to pre-paint parts before assembly is always a worry in case there are any problems fitting the parts together afterwards. In this case, all the cab panels fitted very well, only needing a little Tamiya extra thin cement running into the joints to hold everything together. The built-up cab does highlight the only major accuracy problem with the kit though, that being the incorrectly angled sides to the windscreen. 

In reality, these should be straight vertically and not angled out as the kit has them. It seems like IBG might have accidentally used a Scammell Explorer as reference, as that later vehicle did have an angled windscreen. Is it a big deal? Well, it's noticeable if you look for it, but doesn't really spoil the final model.

Something that IBG haven't included on the cab exterior are the screens that were used for weather protection over the open side windows. These were usually rolled up when not in use, and secured with two straps under the edge of the roof.

To replicate them, I rolled out some Kneadatite 'Green Stuff' epoxy putty as thinly as possible then, using a card template made by drawing around the opening on the cab side, I cut the putty to shape and carefully rolled it up, leaving a few wrinkles in it to make it looks more natural. Some of the off-cuts of putty were used to make the straps, and they were finished off with some styrene rivet heads to represent the fasteners. I left a small tab on the top of the rolled-up putty so it could be glued to the inside of the roof.

Once in place, they added a nice detail to the cab. I always find that any organic shape like fabric can add an extra element to a finished model, as the irregular texture adds an interesting contrast to the hard lines of the vehicle. To that end, I also used some of the off-cuts of putty to add a folded cloth to the bonnet.

Moving on to the back of the truck, and the bed is built up very quickly on a framework that slotted together perfectly. This will simply sit on top of the chassis, so the whole rear deck can be painted up separately before being installed (same goes for the cab). That makes the painting process a lot easier.

The top of the bed is then covered with tool boxes which form the bulk of the rear body. Similarly to the cab floor, these were given a woodgrain texture, but unlike the cab, I couldn't use a sanding stick due to the rivet and hinge detail that covered most of the panels. Instead, the texture was engraved onto the surface with the tip of a knife blade.

The large toolbox on the left rear of the bed has an incorrect hinge, which extends to the top of the side panel. In reality, it should only extend part way up the side, so the top of the moulded hinge was sliced off, and the two holes for the unrequired grab handle filled and re-textured. The panel line of the wooded planks also had to be scribed where the top of the hinge had been removed.

With the tool boxes built up and added to the bed, the next area to deal with was the fold-down door and ladder used to access the crane. Although IBG has included the door as a separate part, it can only realistically be installed in a closed position from the box, as there's no detail on the inner face of the door, and the boarding ladder isn't included at all.

I decided it was worth modifying the kit part, and adding the boarding ladder, as having it open does give a lot more interest to the model. Even if you choose to have the door closed, there are a couple of improvements that can be made, as IBG have moulded the two tabs, which keeps the door closed via retaining pins, a little too high. They should be at the bottom edge of the second plank down, whereas IBG has placed them further up. Having said that, IBG has also moulded the cut-out in the door too high, so in some ways, it would be better to make a new door entirely.

I settled for keeping the existing door, but added the missing details. The original tabs were removed, and new ones added from styrene strip, and the rear side of the door had the missing plank detail scribed on. More styrene strip was used to make the angle brackets running down the door, which were then detailed with some bolt heads. The ladder on the real door is made from steel tube on which the ends have been crimped to allow them to sit between the hinge plates. I made my ladder in exactly the same way, using styrene rod that had the ends flattened with a pair of pliers. In fact, although I didn't do it here, you could drill the flattened ends of the ladder, and insert a pin through them into the brackets, and make the ladder workable.

On the tool boxes either side of the door, the square holes, where the original door tabs connected, were filled with small squares of styrene and re-textured to blend in with the planks. New retaining pins were added from copper wire. New brackets and bolt heads were also added on the inner sides of the tool boxes to match reference pictures, and also on to the grab handles.

The finished door and ladder do add a little more individuality to the build and don't require much modelling skill to make, so it's well worth taking the time to do it.

While I was at it, I added some more bolts and brackets on the inside corners of the rear tool boxes. These are barely visible on the finished build, but I'd got a work bench covered in bits of styrene strip that needed using up, so why not!

The last area to work on was the crane itself, the heart of which is a very nicely detailed winch. This is built up from various gears and rollers, and getting them all lined up while attaching the end plates can be a little fiddly, but if you take your time it all goes together very well. Like the chassis mounted winch, this one comes with a cable drum with a rudimentary cable texture moulded onto it. IBG only supply a length of thin thread to represent the cable that will run from the drum and up the cranes arm, and this is much too thin to look realistic. I replaced this with a length of copper cable from Eureka XXL, with the end secured in a hole drilled in the drum, then wound around it a few times. The cable I used is the thinnest in Eureka's range, LH-00 which is 0.4mm thick. In hindsight, I think I'd have better with the next size up, which is 0.6mm. This one looks a little too thin on the final model, but either way, it's better than using the supplied thread.

The crane arm is a fairly simple construction, but still, benefits from a few extra details. The very end of the arm has a roller for the cable, which is moulded with a flat edge. It should really have a concave edge for the cable to sit in, but moulding it that way would have been very difficult. It's not that hard to add the concave profile though, using a thin pointed riffler file to create a groove around the edge. The hardest part is holding the tiny roller while doing the work.

When the roller's in place at the end of the arm, not that much of the work you've done will be seen, especially once the cable is in place. At the very least though, the groove does help to keep the cable in position as it runs over the roller. I had to replace the little guide bracket behind the roller as I managed to accidentally snap off the original one.

Further down the arm is the ratchet for extending the centre jib. IBG haven't included the cable guide that sits on top of the ratchet, and the parts for the ratchet itself looked a little under-scale to me. I rebuilt it using the PE mounting plate and handle from the kit, and scratch building a new casing from plastic card. The cable guide was made from lengths of scrap PE fret, bent and twisted to shape. The end result was a bit delicate, but better matched the real thing.

The ratchet uses a chain to winch the jib in and out, but IBG would have you use the same thin thread for this that they supply for the main cable. I used the finest chain I'd got for this (1.5mm links), but something even finer would probably have looked more in scale. I had to scratch build the retaining bracket, using a length of very thin wire passed through two styrene plates to trap the last chain link in place. Once in place (not an easy job, believe me), the wire was cut flush with the styrene, and finished with two bolt heads.

At the other end of the arm, I extended the hight of the two mounting brackets for the winch assembly as, looking at reference pictures, it seemed that otherwise, the winch would sit a little too low.

Passing the chain through the ratchet assembly was a little tricky, as the clearance wasn't quite enough. I had to ream out the opening with a drill, which was a rather delicate operation considering how fragile the ratchet assembly was. The crane arm looked great once in place, and is ready for the winch to be added and the cable rigged up. Although it's not mentioned in the instructions, you can choose how far the centre jib is extended by lining up the holes down the length of the arm and using the retaining pins to lock the jib in position.

And that's where we'll wrap up part 2 of the build, with the cab and crane ready for paint and weathering. In the final part we'll cover all that and, in addition, we're going to be using a great new detail set from KFS Miniatures which provides a set of recovery tools perfectly suited to the Scammell, including various pulleys and towing gear, together with more generic tools and a couple of jerry cans.

In the meantime, we'll leave you with a sneak preview of what you'll be seeing in part 3 of the Scammell build, coming very soon here on TMN.

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.

You can get the KFS Recovery tools from this link at Kamil's shop

Many thanks to AK Interactive also for sending the paints and weathering tools for Andy to use on this build...