Hello Forum,

May I present my newest project, the Accurate Armour Scammell Commander Tank transporter (Kit #K60). I do like large trucks and the Commander is is just huge!

AA's kit I guess would classify as a "curbside" model because the hood is fixed and there is no engine inluded....well kind of. There is a partial engine that is molded to the frame and hood casting. Hopefully the design of the cab should allow one to see the rear engine when all is done and assembled.


Intro by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

Some pics of the truck loosely stacked together.


Rear 34 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr


Front 34 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

Work will commence soon starting with the frame.

Thanks
Ryan

*FRAME CONSTRUCTION*

Enclosed with the kit is a certificate giving a date of production as September 13 1995. For 18 years the kits' contents without question have been subjected to tempature changes that will effect the resin. Just the un-airconditioned plane ride over in 95' probably caused a few twists and warps. I bought the kit second hand and I believe from the intial owner....he had taked great care of the kit!

Our fame did not escape some slight warping. Usually I'd hair dryer the resin into shape but suffered a disaster with another project i'm working on. So this time I'd try hot water to make the frame behave.

My first attempt was simply hot tap water out of the faucet, and while it did soften the resin, it did slowly warp back with in a few minutes. I had to try something hotter. Taking a pan out of the cabinet I set on to boil some water and scald the frame into submission!

As I was filling the pot I'd come up with a better plan...why not microwave a cup of water and dip the frame in one end at a time! This would allow me to hold the frame safely with out scalding myself too. So I microwaved the water at 4:00 minutes and after removing the cup from the MW ovenI inserted the end with the most twist.

With a strong smell of resin was in the air, I had finally used enough heat to get its attention! Happily the twist was removed and then the part was plunged into a glass of ice water to set the new shape...it worked perfectly.

Cup o' frame!


Frame in a cup by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

After the frame twist was resolved it was time to get it cleaned up and prepped for the running gear. The AA casting quality is very good, however there is a step on the upper frame that must be dealt with. It's important to start the build with a straight level frame; any defects will telegraph out onto the finished product. The pic below will illustrate the problem, I have a plan to correct.


Frame Notes II by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

More soon...

Ryan

I'll certainly be watching to see how your build progresses.

I was fortunate that my frame is still straight. I see faint lines where your ridge is. It appears that mine is not nearly as pronounced, so I'll test fit everything on the tractor to make sure it's all level.

The date of manufacture on mine is 24 August 1998, and I've had this kit a very long time. Fortunately I've kept all of my resin in the house, in air conditioning. Still, when I first opened the box those many years ago I began on the trailer first, and it was twisted. I decided to commence building anyway, in hope of correcting the problem after I got the wheels on, to insure everything is level. You can see some of the wheels below. If I can't fix it, I know that Accurate Armour are very good about replacing parts. I've bought many kits from them, yet only needed replacements twice that I can remember, and they did it no questions asked. Still, this is a big piece and I'd like to save them the cost if I can. Have you checked your trailer piece yet?

This is mine:

Hi Ryan,
Good start. I've build one when it came out (many moons ago).
This is a beautyfull kit

Nice build Pascal, I'm thinking of going with a green camouflage scheme with mine, not sure about the load yet.

Robert, The first thing I checked was the trailer when I acquired it.....luckily it was fairly straight. It will need some slight bending to be completely level, it might be out 1/16(+/-).

You might try popping the tires loose and bringing some water to boil and dunking it in a little past the warp. I'd probably remove the pan from heat and let the water cool a little before trying.

Your right about getting spares from AA, never had a problem either!

Ryan

*FRAME CONSTRUCTION*

My plan is to fix the ragged, stepped edges of the frame with styrene strip. In some areas the strip was over sized so I could knock it down and level out the top and sides of the frame. Look at the straight white styrene compared to the ragged appearence of the orignal part. I used superglue to fill in the largest trenches and I'll finish of with some putty to blend and level things out.


Filled Ridge 1 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr


Filled Ridge 2 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

Once I finish up the putty work, I'll post some more shots.

Ryan

Somewhere... I have some photos of a real trailer that got twisted. The tractor unit got burnt out and the main spars on the trailer were deformed by heat after the rig got a bit too close and personal with a fuel bowser - we're talking back in early '91 during ODS

This link goes to the Leicester Modellers club page and a series of images taken by Alan Brown. We visited Fallingbostel in Sept '91 so some of the trucks were back in green and some of the others were still awaiting refurb.

http://leicestermodellers.weebly.com/scammell-commander.html

You can see a couple of very second-hand tractors in the background of the couple of the images.

Regards,
John

That's a very nice truck.
I hope to see it in plastic.
Hobby Boss or Trumpeter could do that.

yery nice build so far,cant wait to see it finished.

I just built one that was cast and immediately sent out from AA and it had zero warping and parts fit was perfect



Compared to the other 2 I have built that were bought off e-bay and sent to me by customers, it was a breeze - on one of them, the kit was over 10 years old, and as well as the chassis, the cab hood casting had warped - not fun! And it was only apparent after the kit had been built and I realised I had a banana shaped Commander so it had to be completely stripped down and re-built.

So good luck - looks like you have things in hand, but good luck anyway

I built this model over 15 years ago (I think) and the problem I had was a large bulge in the footwell of the cab where the mold had obviously burst and a poorly molded set of rear ramps.

AA as usual quickly mailed out replacement parts. A great kit to build.

I will post a few pictures later.

Keith ..

@ Keith, How are you doing, thanks for checkng in, I would love to see your model. If your going to AMPS International please drop by and say hello at the Legend Productions table.

@ Micheal, So true about buying second hand resin.... If the prior owner was careless and did not store the kits properly you could end up with a real basket case.....no matter how good the price is! Just ask my used AA Chieftain Bridgelayer. What I thought was a good deal ended up a long list of spare parts requests from AA. I even bought it at a show...so I knew better, but the allure of a Chieftain Bridgelayer got the best of me! Nice model, and in the scheme I'm thinking of.

@Roy, Thanks it will be a fun journey!

@Samuel, Yes it may someday be seen in plastic, thanks for checking in.

@John, Thanks for the link, I had not seen that before. I have the Tankograd book on Transporters, but was hoping to see a more "walkaround" style set on the net somewhere. Not much out there.

@Marcel, Yes I have seen your sales list before and been temped! Thnaks for following the build. Some builders may think the AA kits are expensive, but they are a excellent value for what you get in the box and the hours of enjoyment spent building them!

More pics soon.

Ryan

Ryan, looking forward to following your build. Not only is this a huge model, but it's resin as well with all it's quirks and idiosyncrasies. Seeing as I've always admired those who show no fear in dealing with resin (I've yet to try anything out of resin), I'm more then confident I'll learn a few things along the way.
Joel

I recall building the cab was a pain. Trying to fit the windows in the frame was a terrible task. I ended up cutting out the frames and replacing them with evergreen I only wish AA that added some instructions for all the brake lines etc on the tractor.

Ryan, sorry mate but I am not attending the show, other duties call.

Keep in touch please.

Here is my transporter >


And Bridgelayer >


And YES I do know it would actually load in reverse...

Keith.

That's a lot of resin Keith, thanks for posting! Sorry you will miss the AMPS show.


*FRAME CONSTRUCTION*

I was dreading tonights operation all day.

The real Commander has open boxed frames visible at the rear of the truck. The casting had a little junk in the original opens for the boxed frames and I wanted a nice crisp opening. So out came the razor saw and with extreme violence to the rear end I set out to correct it.

After the haggered ends were cut off I contructed new ones from plastic strip. You'll notice I've removed bolt heads and aother detail from this area too. I took care to photograph and measure where these structures are located to rebuild them later.


Boxed Frame 1 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr


Boxed Frame II by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

Thanks
Ryan

Ryan;
Been months how are things progressing?

Thanks for asking Damon, still working on the frame...

Other projects have delayed me getting back to this one.

I'll get back on it soon!

Thanks,
Ryan

Post pics when u can as I have one of these and need someone to trail blaze for me