Kallisti Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 30 years ago, 4 Scorpions, 4 Scimitars and a Samson went to the Falklands from 3 and 4 Troop, 'B' Sqn, The Blues and Royals. They played an important role in the retaking of the islands as they were the only armour that made it to land. My plan is to build one of the Scorpions from 3 Troops, namely 23A. I've spent some time trying to identify which particular vehicles they were, which has not been easy considering the paucity of photos from this time! Thankfully the Osprey Scorpion book by Chris Foss and Simon Dunstan has some cracking nuggets of information and a couple of very useful photos such as this one linked to Google Books. The caption of that photo give the most perfect information, this is Two Three Alpha. here is a larger version of that photo that I found elsewhere In addition I found another photo which also looks like it is 23A: You can see from this photo that the front registration numbers have been painted over and the bridging plate also painted over. Now further along in the Osprey book is a drawing taken from the famous photo of a Scimitar concealed with camo nets and tarp: What is really interesting about the drawling is it identifies the Scimitar as two three charlie and shows that it had the rear registration still visible along with the convoy stripes, plus the 'B' Squadron insignia in red on the turret and the movement information codes CHALK FAW RAW AUP stenciled on the turret. The Blues and Royals regimental insignia has also been painted over. Interestingly I found another photo of 23C: which shows the sort of layout at the rear, which matches what you can see on 23A in the previous picture. So the only piece of information I'm missing is the registration number of the Scorpion 23A! I think I might have to fudge it by covering the rear with lots of dirt I have on order the May 2007 edition of Military Modelcraft International which apparently has a build of 23A. That iss the background and current research (which is still ongoing so if you know anything about this subject I would be really interested to hear from you!), so what about the model? Well, needless to say I'm using the AFV Club kit: and here is the obligatory sprue shot. The flash glare is obscuring the Eduard etch set, so I re-photographed it seperately: There is lots of PE here, I doubt if I'll use all, but some is goign to be very useful. You can also see the Accurate Armour resin tracks, although I doubt if I'll be using all of them - I might just use enough to reduce the tension in the rubber tracks that come with the kit. I've actually got the Fruimodel metal tracks as well but they are reserved for later this year for the up-armoured Scimitar I'm planning For the crew, I've got some AFV crew from Accurate Armour I got the warrior set as they are wearing the old style "bone dome" helmets, plus some heads with berets to replace one of the AA figures. The Kinetic rope will also be included as it seems to be attached to the right side (ether that or its camo netting). For the base I've been able to get hold of a stony steppe grass mat (from here) that looks like a very good representation of the sort of terrain in the Falklands, just a bit more marshy/boggy and with more mud and large rocks. So let us begin... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Modeller Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 You can see from this photo that the front registration numbers have been painted over and the bridging plate also painted over. Now further along in the Osprey book is a drawing taken from the famous photo of a Scimitar concealed with camo nets and tarp: It isn't a tarp, If i remember the correct name it is called "Combat Vehicle Crewman Shelter" although not necisarily in that order..... They were on issue to MBTs and of course would have rapidly spread onto CVR crewmen as well. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 Gotcha, thanks for that bit of information. Now can I pick the brains of any CVR(T) experts out there: do the rubber roadwheels on a Scorp/scimitar get worn like the roadheels do on the Challenger? I'm at the stage of putting those together and wondering if I need to weather/distress them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badger42 Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 The rubber on the roadwheels would be distressed going over the ground in the Falklands, so yes your right to think that. I would think that the mat you have is ideal. Barrie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Shaw Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Due to the fact that they weren`t there very long and they were mostly on wet boggy ground, i would think that damage to the tyre would be minimal. Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 Thanks Barrie and Malcolm, I'll keep any distressing down to a minimal amount - there will be more mud and dirt I think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandrake Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Looking forward to watching this build. You may need to make a few additional modifications however if you are doing a British Army Falklands example as the AFV kit as a few features more in common with an later/export example. Firstly do not use the smoke grenade launcher cluster of four from the kit, instead modify or scratch build the cluster of three setup. Secondly the AFV kit has the front grills raised, this feature is associated with the Diesel engine rather than the original early petrol jaguar engine. Should be a fairly easy to correct especially with the PE grills but if you want Cast Off Models do a replacement upper hull for early scorpion (not sure if and what the other differences are however). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 So now onto the build. If you follow the instructions, you start off with the roadwheels and suspension. Well before that I'm taking a quick diversion... if you take a look at this reference photo: you'll see that the middle front of the "skirt" is much thinner than the rest. This should be where the headlamps would normally be, but they were removed and have left a thin plate, much thinner than the moulded plastic. So to replicate that I've cut out a section of the skirt and replaced it with a wide strip of photoetch border that was hanging about: Then onto the wheels - there are lots of roadwheels, drive wheels and return wheels to assemble and here you see I've already painted them in readines for some weathering later on. Next, on close examination of the top deck, you see the engine vents raised up above the surface: This is for the newer Scimitars and not for the Scorpion, so this needs fixing. First cut out the engine vent then refit it with a suitable plate from thin plastic card: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badger Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Hi, Looking good so far, I've been building the 1/72 Ace kit as a falklands scorpion for several years but the photoetch tracks keep scaring me. I also struggled to find much reference, if you can get hold of military in scale December 1996 it has a build article on the revell kit and gives all the mods you need to make. Alternatively pm me your email and I'll scan it tomorrow for you. Regards Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 Hi Ben I've got the May 2007 edition of Military Modelcraft International on order as that has a build of 23A apparently, but I would love to see the article you talk of - I'll PM you, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badger Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Hi, E-mail sent - hope it helps. Looking forward to your build. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted June 1, 2012 Author Share Posted June 1, 2012 Lots of fiddly little work the last couple of days, adding tiny PE details: The handles and hooks on the rear stowage box have been replaced, as has the fixtures for the shovel. Various other handles, hooks and fittings also attached. I ordered a set of 120mm ammo boxes from Accurate Armour as these are the ones seen down the side in the main reference picture. Also made up a tow rope that will be fixed to the side. The rear idler wheels have had the slot filled so as to represent the earlier wheels which were solid. The wing mirror fittings have been added but the wing mirrors removed. So overall solid albeit slow progress... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Great work up to now. Watching with interest to see the "final" product. I reckon you are right to use replacement tracks,,,,, I built (oob) the Revell incarnation of this kit,,,, loved it, great detail, assembled easily,,,, but my god,,,,, those tracks would test the patience of a thousand saints. Wouldn't glue (even with CA), wouldn't heat weld together,,,,, finished up bodging them with staples. Spoilt the whole thing for me. Anyways,,,,, keep up the fantastic work. Regards Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted June 3, 2012 Author Share Posted June 3, 2012 (edited) Funny you should mention that Pete, went to the Newbury Show yesterday and ended up buying the Fruimodel metal tracks for the early Scorpion and picked up another Scorpion kit for another build later. So last night I sat down in front of the PC and watched 5 episodes of Mad Men while fitting the tracks together! It was not as difficult as I thought - a fine drill to open up the holes, a little bit of filing to get rid of some flash and a little dab of CA glue on the end of each bit of wire that holds the tracks together. In total it took about 5 hours to put two tracks together that are long enough to fit and give a realistic bit of sag. There were quite a few pieces left over as well. Dunno what to do with them as it doesn't seem that Falklands Scorpions carried spare track pieces. So now that is done, this evening I'll revisit the rear stowage box and thread the "rope" through the cover and around the hooks... It was good to see someone else's builds of the Scorpion and Scimitar at the Newbury show as well. It doesn't seem to be a particularly common subject sadly. Newbury show was good for another reason - my Babylon 5 Starfury won Gold in the Sci Fi class in the competition Also met some other Britmodellers face to face, good day all round! Edited June 3, 2012 by Kallisti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 Todays update: bit of work done over the last few days in lots of different areas, starting off with the the big stowage box that attaches to the rear hull: PE cleats and handles were a bit fiddly to fit, but on this build I was detaermined to try to use as much of the PE as I could even though it meant using the stronger magnifying lenses in my visor You can also see there the primed exhaust pipe and the PE grill to go over it, plus the PE phone cable spool. Next: in the various sources I've found for building a Falklands Scorpion there has been some discussion about the stowage boxes, particularly on the left side of the hull.. in the build in Military Modelcraft May 2007, he uses the normal long box directly under the turret plus an additional stowage box sourced from "Plus Models" but this is the wrong era one. However, the build in Military in Scale from December 1996 scratch builds a large stowage box that looks very much like a more recent Scimitar box. This too, I believe is wrong. Take a look at this photo: What I think you are seeing is the normal long stowage box attached to the hull directly under the turret plus the stowage box that is normally attached to the right side of the hull instead stuck on the left backing onto the original box. Here is a detail from the photo of 23A shown above: I've drawn the outline of the profile of the stowage boxes. I am pretty certain this is what you are seeing and so I give you... which I believe is a good match for what we saw in the real thing. As you can see the hull has been primed with Halfords primer. The driver is just placed there temporarily, he needs painting up properly still. Another thing to note in the photos shown above is that the upper indicator lamp (which I believe is the gear indicator?) has been removed, so I've done the same... You can also see the "bolts" I've added to the engine vent plate. These are just blobs of Mr Dissolved Putty. Next comes the turret: First thing is the smoke projectors. Scorpions have 3 barrel smoke projectors while Scimitars have 4. The Eduard PE set contains the parts needed to fit 3 barrels. I've also added the cabling that connects the smoke projectors to the inside. Various holes for fittings have been filled in and the cylindrical container seen in the photos above has been scratch built and fitted using some left over PE. Several details such as antennae and other bits have been left off to be attached after the main painting. This includes the commander's hatch which is having some work done in its interior. There are a few other boxes and containers that are being kept separate for now - here is an overview... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 Here is the base I completed this evening... The paint was still wet on the rocks which explains why they looks so shiny. This pic gives you a better idea of the lumpiness of the terrain This was created using a base of air dough which if kept damp remains sticky and is a perfect base for the grass mat that has been spread over it and squeezed down into all the corners, nooks and crannies. The rocks are plaster casts from rubber moulds - the ones you can get in Modelzone. There is some added grass clumbs and small stones, but most of it is the grass mat which I think is superb - its the stony steppe grass mat from here. Now back to the Scorpion build itself... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luis pacheco Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Look at 16m20s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 Bloody hell good find! There is 23A herself at 16:45!!! Obrigado Luis! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 (edited) After Luis pointed me in the direction of YouTube I did some further checking and found a few other snippets, including some very rare footage of the single Samson in action, transported wounded to the medics. Here are a few links: Samson 23A in all its glory!Today has been something of a marathon! Started the day with the airbrush and ended the day, well looking like this... All I can say is thank god for Accurate Armour! There is so many of their accessories on this now... Bergan, bedrools and helmets, AFV Hanging kit, PE camo netting, carbon fibre aerials, 120mm ammo boxes, 30mm Rarden ammo boxes... (yes I know this is a Scorpion not a Scimitar, but it looks like they salvaged boxes from wherever they could!) Lots of mud and sadly the green/black camo has been lost under a layer of black wash I applied that went a bit funny, but never mind its a dirty machine and thats what I was aiming for. However I'm not sure that I haven't overdone the mud on the roadwheels... Fitting the tracks was entertaining! After getting all the wheels on I fitted the first track only to discover that it came up a bit tight. Bugger I thought, I'll have to add another link, so I did and then the track sagged so much the upper track sagged down onto the top of the roadwheels!! Well thats not right, so I had to take the link out again. Now that the tracks have been on for a while, the links have stretched a tiny bit so there is a small amount of sag that looks realistic I'm pleased to say! So all thats left to do tomorrow is sort out the driver and commander figure. Should be a piece of cake (he says laughing hysterically!) Looks like I may even finish this one in time to take it to IPMS Farnborough on Monday evening... oh hang on I've still got to sort of the bloody decals... bottom! Might need to take a quick trip into the office tomorrow to use the colour laser printer... Edited June 10, 2012 by Kallisti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 and so we come to the finale of my totally enjoyable build. I present to you, Scorpion callsign 23A, 3 Troop, 'B' Sqn Blues and Royals as it appeared in May-June 1982 during the Falklands Conflict. Larger Version Larger Version Larger Version Larger Version Larger Version Larger Version Larger Version Bit more mud applied, this time mixed with acrylic resin (all MiG stuff), plus some soft pencil rubbed onto edges to simulate wear and of course the figures. I've just realised looking at the photos that one of the driver's goggles is still white as the Krystal Clear I used to make the goggle lenses hasn't totally dried lol! The only things that are still missing are the decals... there are only two of them which I'll print on the works colour laser tomorrow. The two decals are the small black square with the callsign marking and the broken red square squadron marking. The registration numbers have been overpainted (there is a difference in the colour for this but the camera can't pick it up) and unfortunately I forgot to put the Convoy distance markings on before adding all the mud - so they've obviously been totally obscured by the mud - ahem! The commander's face doesn't show up very well in the camera which is a shame as I spent quite a bit of time on it this morning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Modeller Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Hi Mate, The only fault that i can pickout is the tracks, you've got the road wheels perfect, but the road wheele contact area of the tracks get squeegeeded clean by the roadwheels and shiny from the constant wearing effect of the roadwheel contact. Hope this helps Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 Oh so you mean there would be two clean lines where the tracks run under the road wheels? Bugger, but late to do anything about it now... ah well you live and learn! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishbed Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 This is very useful. I have been wanting to do a Falklands Scorpion for ages. Got as far as the basic build, but never sure of the details (and where to get spare boxes etc from). May be this will kick-start the build again. Was at the Newbury show, and missed the tracks, oh well. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Modeller Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Oh so you mean there would be two clean lines where the tracks run under the road wheels? Bugger, but late to do anything about it now... ah well you live and learn! That's it, I keep trying to get some photos to illustrate this. Another one is that in dry conditions tracks rapidly get worn to bare metal, not quite shiny, but not far off so, once this was done, all it took was some damp and once stationary (in Bks) the tracks rapidly rusted. But once again run cross country the rust would have been rapidly worn off. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 It will the next time I build one - which won't be long - got a Scorpion, Scimitar and Samson in the stash and another Scimitar on the way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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