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Modeller Build Logs
Scammell Pioneer R100 |
| By Alex Hill | | Started: | Sep 18, 2004 | | Updated: | Jan 31, 2005 |
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The Scammell Pioneer must surely rank as one of the most charismatic military vehicles. Having been around in various guises since 1927, many Pioneers are still earning a living as show-mans wagons and recovery trucks, so the design can probably lay claim to the title of longest serving vehicle as well.
This kind of longevity only comes from good solid engineering and strokes of genius from the designers at Scammells’ Watford plant and Gardners’ Manchester engine factory. In many ways it was the fitting of the Gardner 6LW power unit to the Pioneer that made the vehicles reputation for soldier proof reliability. The engine featured advanced (at the time) lubrication and injection systems. Combined with Scammells’ transmission and static, non-pressurised, cooling system (hence the ‘coffee pot’ radiator), Pioneers could be expected to give a hundred thousand miles of trouble free running. Most of Gardners’ competitors were struggling to produce an engine that would pass one third of that mileage without at least needing the main bearings replaced. The attention to longevity didn’t stop there. The winch mechanism is something close to a work of art. At a time when a winch was basically an overgrown cotton reel hitched to the vehicles’ p.t.o, the Scammell employed every trick in the book (to be covered in more detail in later chapters) to ensure the winch rope was never kinked or over stressed.
Truly a magnificent machine with a capacity to invoke a sentimental fondness that means there will probably still be a handful of Pioneers earning their living on (or off!) the road in fifty years time when most of the current crop of M.V’s are relegated to gathering dust in museums.
Which brings me to my (hopefully never-ending) quest to build the perfect 1/35 Pioneer. The kit is of course the excellent Accurate Armour rendition of the R100 artillery tractor. In my BLOG I’ll be adding as much detail to the base model as I can, improving those parts which can be improved upon and making one or two changes just to illustrate the differences which were built in during the Pioneers’ production run. Of course an artillery tractor needs something to hang of the rear hitch, so I’ll be adding Accurate Armours’ 7.2’’ Howitzer.
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| Chapter 13 - Crew and Base | Jan 31, 2005 |
A gun needs a gun crew, partly to give an impression of scale and partly to add a bit of life to the scene. As usual, I’ve used my favourite combination of Ultracast bodies with Hornet heads. This might seem an expensive choice, but I’m no great figure modeller or painter, and using these top quality parts certainly flatters my limited abilities! Every time a get a new set of Hornet heads I’m staggered by the quality of the sculpting. Full size and cast in bronze they would be better than half the stuff you see in art galleries, in 1/35 they are little short of genius.
I’ve used three figures here, to represent a Gunner, Corporal driver and a Warrant Officer 2nd class. For a full explanation of each I’ve numbered the photo’s below- so, beginning with figure 1, the Gunner. The Hornet head used here is from the ‘smoking heads’ set. There is a small hole between the chap’s lips, presumably for adding a cigarette, but to me, his expression says ‘man wistfully blowing a smoke ring’. To get the pose it was simply a case of angling the head back a little, lifting the arm and placing a cigarette between the fingers of the left hand. This left a little Milliput work to be done in the arm pit area and a non-issue grey woolly jumper collar was added to fill out the round the neck. Last touches of note are the segs and hobnails on the sole of the left boot, a packet of Dioart Camels (pity they don’t do Players or Woodbines) in the up turned Ultracast MkII helmet and of course some hair.
The second, driver, figure represented a bit more of a challenge. It started out as the Ultracast ‘tanker with jerry can’, but I needed a third figure in a recumbent pose, so a bit of modification was required. As I previously stated, figure modelling is not my forte and the finished result seen here went through an awful lot of surgery with the razor saw to end up in that position. Suffice to say, that right leg is at least a mark 5. His cigarette is held in a cupped left hand. Apart from Archer stripes the rest of the insignia are hand painted (including a Milliput Royal Artillery ‘flaming grenade’ cap badge).
The remaining W.O figure (thanks go to Ross Hillman of T.L for supplying this one) is a straightforward head swap, as with the other two, the marks of rank come Archer and the rest is hand painted.
A few last words on the base- I’ve deliberately kept things pretty simple to avoid drawing attention from the Scammell. The rough ground was built up with plaster of paris and the heath like grass , moss and heather was added with scenic scatter material , dried moss, static grass and Guagemaster long grass (as the name suggests, it’s a product intended for railway modellers). To give the impression that the going under foot is a little heavy (to justify the overall tracks) I’ve run a little dark water paint into the areas where the turf has been lifted along the wheelings.
That’s it! A fairly epic and thoroughly enjoyable project completed. I’m sure that in the course of the BLOG there are loads of points I’ve missed, so if anybody has been left scratching their heads at various points, feel free to contact me through the forums and I’ll do my best to fill in any blanks. Pictures of the finished article will (hopefully) be appearing in the gallery soon.
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