Imai SPV

[saturnapollo]

This is the third time I have built this model over the last twenty years.

There was always something not quite right (apart from being a basic Imai kit) kit and only 8" in length.

In that time lots of reference photos (and the internet) have become available, so it got stripped back to basics. It never looked quite right and eventually decided it was a fraction too short. Only 6mm, but by adding a couple of 3 mmm spacers centre and towards the rear, it made quite a difference to the overall look. The Imai kit is quite squarish so lots of filler was applied to add some of the curves the SPV is famous for. I had previous cannibilised a vinyl kit of similar scale (no idea of orgin) for parts including the "mudguards" the spine and the small wheels. Had to scratchbuild the entire rear including the tracks. Could have gone with generic tank tracks, but decided after all that work really had go the extra distance.

A friend donated a couple of kits which I was able to use parts of and they served as good test beds for the painting.

After several abortive attempt with Halfords metallic paints, all of which looked out of scale for something this size, mixed enamels to get a (sort of) metallic look. Since photos of SPVs vary greatly eventually, after several attempts decided to go for a slightly darker look.

Anyway, here is the finished result. A few things I couldn't change being an Imai kit (in retrospect I would have preferred the SPV lettering on the "bonnet" to be slightly lower - but too late now, if I try to redo them I might make a mess of it), but it served well as a basis for the model.

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

[HL-10]

You really have done a lovely job on that!

Great work

 

[Kallisti]

Getting the colour right on this is incredibly difficult and you've done a great job!

[saturnapollo]

Thanks. Lost count of how many different paints and colours I ended up mixing!

[Kallisti]

Yeah I went through that same pain when I did mine a couple years back. Mine ended up to0 blue and metallic as opposed to the grey/blue you achieved

 

 

 

[saturnapollo]

Nice! Every photo you see of the SPV looks different. Some metallic, some not, some light, some darker.You can't get Zircon Blue anymore, but when I tried a variety of Halfords metallics they were either way too light or way too dark and when finally I found one I could have used, but for a model of this scale far too metallic and shiny - even after matt coating. So eventually mixed an enamel silver and blue colour, getting darker each shade until I got to this.

 

Workling on an Anderson style air force base for a backdrop rather than use real settings. A lot of work for perhaps two or three photos.