Hi all,

I have just received the Scammell R100 and SV/2S from Thunder Model. The kits are very nice and will build into a beautiful model out of the box, but as always, theres room for improvement with some cables and additional detailing. Thunder model even gives a guide on where to add cables and lines to the chassis!!

I have decided to start both of these kits together and build them simultaneously. The builds are very similar with some differences in the chassis rails and the obvious differences around the rear end bodywork.

I will also add some notes as I go. I have learned some ways to simplify the build by simply adding parts ahead of the instructions. I am by no means a professional modeller and am not trying to tell anyone how to build a model.. I'm just offering some advice.

So, here goes...

I'll start with some advice..

On sprue A you will find the Winch brake lever. This part isn't used yet but as it has a sink mark on both sides it is worth filling it now so that you dont have to halt your build during cab assembly.



After some Mr Surfacer and a quick sand it looks better...



I would also recommend assembling the radiator filler cap part to the radiator header tank now as there a joint that needs attention. Again, I will use Mr Surfacer once the glue dries.



On with the build....

I will follow the instructions for this thread, which for me is unheard of, but I don't want to confuse everyone with darting forwards and back through the manual.

The engine is covered in five steps, including the assembly and fitting of the radiator to the engine. I haven't fitted the radiator at this point as it will be very easily broken off and alignment will be easier once the chassis is built.





I will recommend some changes here in the sequence of operations..

Add part B20 now, which is the exhaust manifold to downpipe flange. This will allow the manifold to be fully painted now without being destroyed by susequent fitting of the flange.

Add inlet pipework B31 and air filter flange C18 now as well. Ensure you get the orientation of part C18 correct, ie:- The cylindrical air filter fits onto it.This has two benefits.. you can paint the rocker covers without having to glue anything to them and it gives some support for the pipework part D14.

Here are all the parts required for two engines...



Here we can see the cylinder heads assembled and drilled ready for diesel injection pipes. Note I have also opened up the rectangular blocks on top of one of them. These were sheet metal fabrications and will more than likely appear as part of a PE upgrade set one day?
We can also see the radiator header tanks with the gap filled on one of them.



On the subject of radiators, here's a comparison between the old and new radiator grilles. If you don't have the newer 7 bar grille, go to Thunder Models website and read up on how you can obtain one for the princely sum of one Euro!!

The moulding on these parts is exquisite. You'd think they are resin.

Back again...

Thought I'd show the radiator parts and the built units.. so here you are..





As we all know, Thunder Models have made a new radiator for their Scammell kits. There is a little sanding required. I measured mine once they fit, so I thought you might like the dimension here to save you the bother of the trial and error fitting..



After saying I'll stick to the instructions, I went straight out and built the transmission. The main reason for this is that it gives you a "stick" to hold onto whilst adding the ancilliaries to the engine. Here are the instructions for the transmission..



Two build notes here.. The instructions tell you not to glue the output yoke E4 to the tranny to allow alignment with the prop shaft later. I also dont glue part G6 rear mount as it can then be turned to guarantee good alignment within the chassis later.

Parts to make two gearboxes..



Here are the built Trannys with my built and painted third one above..



I have now built the engines and stuck on the gearboxes. As the joint is very weak between the two I drill out the front of the gearbox and the rear of the engine and insert a 1mm brass rod through them. This acts a spine and supports the assembly.





Thats all for now. I may start on the front axles tomorrow, where I'll be making them steerable as I did on my transporter build.

Thanks for looking in..

As promised, here's the start of the front axle build. Im going to show you how I make the wheels steerable AND make the front mudguards turn with the wheels.It's just how "I" do it, and not a tutorial, the right way or indeed the best way... The kit has swivelling hubs out of the box, but no pivotting possibility for the tie rod.

Here are the front axle parts..



There are a few injector pin marks on the insides of the A frame but they clean up easily and cannot really be seen on the finished model, especially if you weather it!!

So, here's how I do the steering....

First of all I glue the axle halves together and leave them 24 hours to cure. i then drill down through the top of the swivel at each end, working up to a 0.85mm drill bit.I make sure the drill stays vertical and true whilst doing this.

Then I drill out the pivots on the hubs and remove the plastic moulded pivot pins. this will allow the hub to slide into the upright at the end of the axle.

Now I drill a 0.5mm hole on each steering arm and at each end of the tie rod. I then bond a 0.5mm brass rod into the holes in the tie rod. These will be trimmed down later. I use 0.8mm brass rod for the main pivots.



Once the hubs are fitted to the axle the 0.8mm rods can be pushed in through the hubs. The 0.75mm hole in the hub grips the brass rod tightly, causing the rod to turn with the hub. Later I will glue the front mudguards and steering arm to the brass rods so they turn with the wheels.

Slip the tie rod between the A frame and then fit the axle assembly to the A frame, the tie rod to the hubs and then cap off with some small discs of card and a drop of ca. Once dry all can be trimmed and cleaned up.

Here is a shot of one completed unit. The brass rod will be trimmed when it comes time to fit the mudguards.



Once the axle is fitted to the chassis the pitman arm etc will also move with the steered wheels.

Looking good. Will be taking notes since I have the Sv/2S.

Thanks Nikos. These really are great kits that appear to be very accurate at first look.

They have distracted me away from my Tiran 4 which is not a good thing, but then these three scammells I have on the go probably have less parts than that Tiran eh??

And so we move on to the chassis construction. Heres where we start to see a difference between the two kits. the recovery Tractor has the ballast brackets up front and is shorter overall than the R100 chassis.

Here are the parts that make up the front of the chassis.



Thunder models suggests fitting these PE parts as an option. They then suggest fitting a PE X brace to these later in the instructions? I'm not sure why it's an option.. is it a choice the modeller might make just to leave them out or did some of the trucks not have them fitted? I'll dig a little deeper and find out.



Here comes another builders tip.. this one is a biggy.. get this bit wrong and you'll regret it..dont ask me how I know..

Don't follow the instructions here, just fit the front X member to the side rails. Measure back from the front of each rail to ensure the X member is square. location slots are provided but they have a little play front to back. The rails now need to be left to dry to avoid moving the front x member. I use my trusty metal blocks to keep them flat.



Once set, they look like this..



As you can see here, the instructions would have you fit the second X member at the same time as the front, BUT doing this will not guarantee the front A frame axle assembly will fit.



So, once the front X member has set you can add the second X member but with the A frame in place to ensure correct fitment. I clamp everything up and let it go off. I also leave off part D22 at this stage as the axle can then be unclipped and left off till later. It gets in the way swinging about whilst you finish the chassis off



Next we will move on to the front of the chassis and the fairlead construction. You'll see the detail in these areas is simply stunning!!

I hope you're all enjoying these builds? loads of views but only one comment ?



Now we will begin the front chassis completion.. the instructions..



The parts...



And the assembly fitted..



It's worth noting here that those round lumps on the ends of the leaf springs are not ejection tabs...

The fairlead assembly also forms the rear most X member of the chassis. Assembly is slightly different between the two kits as the rear of the chassis is shorter on the recovery truck.

Instructions...



Parts...



And finally assembled units...



Here is the difference between the two assemblies. This just goes to show the level of detail thunder models have gone to on these kits. these brackets sit inside the chassis rails at the rear end and are hardly visible, but even so, Thunder models still went to the trouble of making the different parts..



The next step is to fit the engine. I won't do this now as I have found a way of getting it in after all the chassis, winch, rear suspension and everything are assembled and painted. More on that later..



I will however fit the fairleads and finish the chassis off, see you when that's all done..

I am enjoying the build. I am primarily a WWII German armor modeler. I can't really add much to the conversation. Nice build.

Binge building trucks!
I'm enjoying your build.
Dan

Nige, I am following both your Scammel build threads with great interest, but the more I look at them the more disappointed I get with the IBG version I am building. I guess some of that is my own doing due to the extra detailing I decided you put in rather than just building OOB, but I just couldn't bring myself to build it as-is. Does make it tough to get the Mojo going for mine....

Hey Colin..

When I first bought the IBG kit I thought wow!! Great kit!! Then I got the Thunder Models Transporter and noticed a lot of differences and, well, just a little more finesse. When i bought the Capricorn Scammell book I realised how out the IBG kit was.. i mean the bulkhead and winscreen frame are nothing short of hideous!! So.. I sold my IBG on Ebay as soon as I saw these two were coming.

I would guess the IBG kit is a lot easier to build, but it just aint right!!

If you look up Dutch Modeller on You Tube you'll see his comparison of the two R100 kits, hes about to do the Recovery tractor too.

Here we go guys.. chassis all done and dusted.



Time to work on the rear suspension and winch assembly now.

Hi Nigel,

I am following your build, having both the Thunder Model transporter and recovery versions of this vehicle. Your work is already helping inform my future builds. Please keep it up!


Dave

Nigel, fantastic work so far! Very meticulous and clean build. I'm just jumping into this thread and catching up. Can't wait to see what you do next. Nice job
Terry

Thanks guys.. it's great to hear you all like it.. or should I say.. them?

So, now we move on to the Winch assembly which is made up of no less than 26 parts once fitted. The detail is fine and accurate, if perhaps the gear teeth are a little fine? Not to worry though because none of it will be seen from above anyway!!

Here are the instructions for building the main three sections of the winch..



And here are the parts.. note I have added an additional part here, B40 top right which will be fitted now instead of later... Also of note is the little tab on the bottom left of part D3 is not a sprue nib, its actually a location peg.



I like to assemble the three parts of the winch assembly now rather than have the separate assemblies lying around, this is why I have shown B40 in the parts image.

I jumped ahae two steps and assembled them now..



And here we are, all built and looking great!! the detail on this assembly is awesome in my opinion..



Next up is the rear suspension and frame rail completion. Thanks for looking in..

And so we move on to the rear end of th frame and the air tanks etc.

As we can see here the two trucks vary in the layout of the tanks..

The R100



The SV/2S



Here are the parts..



And now we come to my first F&%K UP!! As the brass brackets had a radius in them I thought I'd anneal them before bending.. well, either the brass is really sensitive to heat or my lighter was super hot last night?? As soon as the brass saw the flame it basically melted. I know that Thunder Model would send replacements, but they are not that visible so should be OK as is?



I'll get on witrh the springs and rear suspension now.. I promise not to break anything else..

Hi all, back again with another little update..

As promised, I have managed to get through the next stage of the build without breaking anything..



As you can see the detail on the leaf springs is awesome.. note the individual u bolts and spring plates.

Next we move on to the rear Differential and hubs units. Scammell designed the rear end to swivel around the mid point of the rear wheels to give the truck outstanding traction off road. the central single differential drives eac wheel through two half shafts and then through gears to each wheel bearing.

Here we can see the assembly of the diff and gear housing/hub mounts.



And the parts to make one pair of housings and one diff.



The parts build into some lovely looking units which go together very well and appear to be very "in-scale".



The three chassis are now pretty much up to the same stage.. don't they look lovely!!





I would like to praise Thunder Model here for going the extra mile and giving us extreme accuracy at great cost both in investment and time.. just look at the R100 rear end compared to the TRMU30 rear end..

The differences are slight all over and Thunder Model went to the trouble to get it right. I know many manufacturers would just give us a generic "One size fits all" solution to this.





Note the differences in the construction of the framework around the diff, the pivoting arm differences and the wheelbase differences. The TRMU is slightly longer to allow for the taller tyres and is slightly higher than the others to give flat attitude to the road with the taller tyres. Note also the differences in the spring u bolt plates and brake linkages. All simply stunning in my opinion.

Sorry guys.. life, work, family, birthdays and sunshine got in the way.. I have also been playing with my Meng Smerch.. I am a Meng fanboy!!

Now that the chassis are complete it's time to move on to the cabs. There are some differences between the two kits. Here are the R100 instructions..



Note my comments on the Bulkhead/engine clearance, not a problem on this one but is very close on my Tank transporter. No doubt I've done something wrong. Part called up A26 is actually part A16. A 26 is actually an engine mount.

And the SV/2S instructions..



Now we can see the parts.. note the differences..

R100..



SV/2S..



Note the seat frames.. probably the most flimsy parts ever, but to scale.. just compare these to the IBG ones.. One area that could be improved is the mounts for the seat backs. They are very thick and over scale. I have carved away the plastic on my transporter but these would be better in PE. IBG do these in PE in their kit.

There are a couple of EJPM's on the underside of the floor and also no planking. I will add the wood grain and planking bceause I'm sad like that!!

Thanks for looking in..

Hello again.. hope you're all enjoying this??

Today we start with an error in the SV/2S kit, a tiny one, but one that needs a little surgery. The floor supports are glued to the floor and rear bulkhead. On the transporter and R100 there are cut outs for the location pegs, however on the SV/2S there are no cut outs.



So, we simply need to remove the pegs and fit the parts. Nothing major eh!!

Here we can see my floors all wod grained and added to their rear bulkheads..

R100 left, SV/2S on the right



In my last post I mentioned the seat back supports were a little over thick, so I thought I'd show you all a pic of what I do to correct this. Notice the thinner section of the steel plate on the front three.



Also not I haven't thinned the flat parts sitting on the bench as they cleverly recess into the bulkhead to give the impression of the correct sheet metal thickness...

Like this...



It's a small mod that, in my opinion finishes the cab off beautifully. When painted it looks so "right" and in scale.I've just noticed I've missed out the box between the driver and passenger seats on my Transporter.Doh!! Oh, and i know the wooden floor would have been painted, but I have decided mine will have its woodgrain exposed, two reasons, because it looks great and because I can..

Moving on...

I thought I'd share this here, in case you remove the parts from the sprues and get confused..I did.

The parts A22 and A23 are shown as having diagonal hold down locations when in fact they are not diagonal at all, but straight across the middle of the box as shown in the plastic parts..



I must also question the location of this box as depicted in the instructions. Both the Transporter truck and the R100 have the same rear bulkhead on the cab, which gives access to the rear seating without going outside. On the transporter this box is located under the drivers set to keep the access way clear, so I ask myself, "Why would the R100 be any different"??

See the location of the box on my Transporter cab..



And also the cad model in the brilliant Capricorn publications book that goes with these kits.. picture shared for reference only.



I would think the box location is correct for the SV/2S as depicted in the instructions but am struggling to find the proof. I believe these boxes carry the batteries?

Anyway, I'm still loving these kits and they are a pleasure to build. When you consider the accuracy of these kits, the tiny errors made compared to some major players, (Dragon), for the asking price, they have got to be up there with the best releases this year??

Thanks for looking

Sorry guys, I've been away from these kits for a while now due to commitments and the stifling weather we've been experiencing here in the UK.

I have given the floors of the cabs on the R100 and the SV a coat of wooden finish so it's on with the varnish and hairspray now before a coat of AK real color SCC15 goes on.

So, the weather has deteriorated in the UK so I've had a day at the bench on these beauties..

As I have nearly reached the point where I got to on the transporter tractor, I've decided to bring it in, so this is now a treble build!!



As you can see, I've been busy. It took a while to find a mix for the SCC2 colour, but finally found a reliable thread that stated the mix.. Thanks Mike https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/missinglynx/tamiya-mix-scc-no-2-brown-t91154.html#p986114



I'll try and get these further along this week? Oh.. and if you're wondering about the wood.. I'm still not decided on whether I should leave it as is, or hairspray and paint/chip it.

Nige, such commitment building three at once. The wood looks beautiful as it is on all three, I wouldn't mind some flooring like that. As you have three, I guess you can do it different on each one? I guess also think about how the exterior is to be finished before deciding on the level of interior wear.

Was quite enjoying the really hot weather for modelling, allows the door to be wide open next to my chair taking all the cement fumes away.

So the build is great, but what I like most is your metal blocks.

Exactly, the hot weather was taking the fumes away, but did you notice half the pot of TET disappeared in less than an hour.

Those blocks were being thrown away when we closed the bristol site at Rolls Royce many years ago.. I saw em.. I thought, "mmmmm" mine now!!

Moving along.. we now have to work on the rear ends of the SV/2S and the R100. Here the kits get really different..at last.

The winch and beam on the R100 is very well detailed and only needs a chain for the block and tackle to be added. There is a representation of cable in the kit.



Here we can see that we have the option of having the beam inside or outside the truck body.I am currently looking for pics of the beam hanging out with the canvas over it, in the pics i see the beam is "under" the canvas rather than poking "through" it?



The parts that make up the R100 rear body are shown here..



The woodgrain texture is exquisite and is on both sides. These parts are beautifully moulded and crying out for some woodgrain paintwork.



I stupidly went on and built the rear ends of both kits, woodgrained them and then realised I hadnt pictured any of it.. sorry. Here we can see the rear ends built and painted, the R100 has been masked to paint the SCC2 on the metal parts and retain the wood grain on the wood. The cahssis have also been painted, SCC2 for the R100 and SCC15 for the SV/2S.

I have been led to believe the 7.2 inch howitzer was only used in the early war so I have gone for the SCC2/SCC1A on the Artillary Tractor.



That woodgrain looks great againts the olive drab.



I've just found out I have the Howitzer and Indian motorbikes on their way.. thank you Thunder Models. The Howitzer is going to look great on the back of the R100.

Thanks for looking, please feel free to comment, criticise or compliment what I'm doing, but remember, the wood being exposed is artistic licence, or we can imagine there was a terrible run of wood worm in Europe and all the wood had to be replaced and wasnt painted?