Ive been a fan of Scammells since I was a kid, there was a recovery business on the way
to my infants school, bright yellow with a strangely prehistoric look, loved em ever since.
When I heard that Thunder models were planning to release a version of their models in 1/72 scale
a plan formed in my mind based on this period picture.
Then of course the IBG kits arrived on the scene, my enthusiasm was tempered
somewhat by the reviews but thought I’d give it a go.
Anyway more of the details later here are the pics.
The base.
Pretty much usual stuff, river is done with Liquatex gloss gel. I did try various ‘new’
products which really didn’t work as advertised so had to redo the river with the old reliable Liquatex.
The water in the Carrier compartment was another headache. Tried the Deluxe materials still water and the
standing water and the AK Still water and neither of them worked properly.
The problems with that meant I had to make another Carrier. What worked in the end was the
Green Stuff World UV curing resin, worked a treat.
Water spilling effect done with a mix of the Green Stuff and silicone transparent bathroom
sealant and some transparent stretched sprue.
Other than that the normal static grass, Sea Foam trees and bushes.
The Weeping Willow was a bit of a mission.
The bridge is from WILLS SCENIC range.
Road surface is a foam material that I picked up somewhere.
The figures are all scratch built or from the Adler figure range.
Various bits and bobs for the ‘campsite’ scratch built 3D printed etc.
The children scratch built.
Anyone who spots the two Sand Martins wins a prize lol
The vehicles.
The Carrier. As I wanted to have this with one side of the running gear damaged
I thought the IBG kit would be the best choice with its separate tracks.
In the box it looks a handsome kit. The reality is a bit disappointing. its all a bit clunky
and the tracks are a nightmare. On reflection I used parts of the IBG kit married to a PSC
Carrier hull which to my eyes is better proportioned.
I decided to short cut the tracks by buying the Syndicate Carrier tracks which are
terrific using one of these on the right hand side and then using the IBG parts and tracks for
the damaged side. Unfortunately the tread on the two sets of tracks are different
so I had to canablise the track from the Syndicate model.
A mess up with the water fill meant had to do all this twice.
The White Scout Car.
This is the AGB kit and very nice it is to.
The Scammell
Oh dear, dear oh dear. If the inaccurate were not bad enough the engineering
is a complete mess. I’m used to using the word ‘dog’ to describe a poor kit, which
is odd as I like Dogs and as a rule dogs are very good at being whet they are
supposed to be. So I’ve decided to use a different way describe a poor kit
from now on I’m going to use the phrase a complete Boris’.
Boy is this Scammel one of those. Its a typical reduced 1/35 the scale downsized
kit with no thought given to the problems this will cause.
Gives me no pleasure to say it but its sloppy lazy thinking.
Added finely twisted wire hawsers as the supplied’ string’ just doesn’t look right.
The Triumph motorcycle.
This is the FC Model Trends model.
Beautiful design work ruined again by a re scaling with no thought or care
for the problems caused. Only managed to rescue it in the end by designing
and printing a new set of handle bars, which are twice the diameter and thus
much more robust and to my eyes much better proportioned.
The Jeep
Its the Airfix one and a wonderful thing it is to. Must have made at least ten of these
now and each time it makes me smile.
All in all been a bit of a nightmare, trying new materials and techniques alongside some very difficult kits.
As for the title, it comes from an English phrase ‘swanning about’ meaning sort of wandering around in a casual
manner and was the term used to describe the Allied break out after the Normandy battles.
