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Scratching my SHADO This was part of a Sci-fi themed group-build on another site. For various reasons, I had only six weeks rather than the full three months…... I managed it in five weeks. I've always loved Sci-fi books, but not really been a fan of Sci-fi films or telly progs. Having said that, loving Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, JOE 90 etc. in the 1970's was as compulsory for boys as wearing flares. It was the remarkable vehicles that caught my attention (hardly going to be the Oscar winning performances is it). When we were kids, we all knew the type. The kid who's parents bought them all the coolest of the cool toys. Fortunately I was bestist mates with this one (still am), so I could play with his toys almost as much as my own toys. I've been mates with Andy B for as long as I can remember. Admittedly I'm not likely to win any gold medals for my feats of memory, but I have photographic proof that we've been mates since year dot (or possibly earlier). Andy B (I also have a mate called Andy C, but I can assure you I'm not collection alphabetically organised Andy's. not consciously anyway) is a life long Gerry Anderson fan, he had loads of these type of toys (and probably still has) one of which was the Dinky SHADO 2 (from 'UFO') the one with the rocket launcher on the top. I remember hours of fun trying to put someone’s eye out with that. It turns out that the Dinky representation is a TRAVESTY! The telly one didn't have the eye-putter-outer on the top. It left me with a dilemma, do I model the real fake one or the very tempting fake fake one. After intensive thinking and a bit of a lie down, I decided to go for the real fake – and this is it: As usual I'll be doing this in 1/48th. The Tracks First thing to tackle is the dreaded tracks (why do I do this to myself?). The major portion of the tracks on my A7V tank were hidden, but the SHADO tracks are very, very visible, I foresee a number of scratch-built tanks in my future, so this should be filed under 'good experience'. Whichever way I make them, this is going to be a very very repetitive bit. Even if I could get after-market tracks the correct size, it wouldn't work. The SHADO tracks are very distinctive, quite unlike normal tank tracks. I'll show you a photo: This is from a 3D model I found online which should be very useful in this build. After doing the thinking thing, this how I dragged it into being. Forget the plastic, first I'll build a jig (don't forget – the black splodges is just dust inside my camera lens): The base is cardboard and the strips are a good quality (for strength) paper, held on with double sided tape. Originally I was going to cut the plastic strips for the tracks, from the 0.25mm card I already have, but it kept curling, and I was also having problems cutting to a consistent width, so I bought some 2mm x 0.25mm strips. These sit just proud of the surface of the paper jig and yes, there is a reason the plastic strips are staggered – to spread the join over more than just one tread. The first tread base goes on – the start of a very long process: (It didn't take that long to be honest, I'm just trying try add some drama. Pathetic isn't it?). I just space them by eye and checked they were square every now and then. The treads are cut from from 0.5mm sheet into 4mm widths: Bit of a warning if you have a go at this in the future, the track stuck to the paper part of the jig. Which was odd because the test piece I did previously didn't. I decide that it was because I'd left the brass weights, which I used to hold the newly glued tracks down, on too long. To reduce the possibility of the track sticking, only leave the weight on for a couple of minutes, and every five minutes or so, pull the part of the track you've just glued, out of the jig. I was left with paper stuck between the four main strips down the whole length of the stupid thing. Fortunately, brain wasn't busy thinking about chocolate or beer and the track got a bath in water until it was easy to scrape off. This is the end of the first stage, as you can see, it's very flexible: The tread pattern is very distinctive, but fortunately very easy to reproduce, again from 0.5mm x 4mm plastic – just four cuts. But first it was time to do a little jig: I haven't the time or the patience to make all the cuts perfect, hopefully it won't be noticeable at the end. Bottoms, bottoms, bottoms. I'm usually a big fan of bottoms (not any mind you, so kindly put yours away) but my A7V tanky thing, didn't have a beautiful bottom. This time I decided that I wasn't going to cut corners, and detail the tracks all the way around and although it may not be a prize winning bottom, at least it would be able to show it's face (?) in public. Each track has 58 treads, which means that both tracks combined have 472 individual parts and each track is nearly 1 foot (30cm) long. I've only made one track so far, I'll do the other when I know this one fits. Yes it was boring, but it was also quite a meditative, Zen like calming experience. So obviously I fell asleep. I think this process would work quite well for more traditional type tracks. God I waffle don't I? Next up, the wheels.