On Heather's Workbench - 1/76th QF 3.7 inch Anti-Aircraft Gun(s) and Scammell Pioneer tractor

[Heather Kay]

On 24/07/2022 at 22:21, Courageous said:

What with all your problems with the 3.7 that you have had, it looks pretty awesome built up in the photo.

Thanks. I hope it’ll come to life with some paint and weathering. I’m waiting for the mojo to setup the spray booth for priming. It seems a lot of effort for a five minute blow over from a rattle can.

 

23 hours ago, echen said:

but notice milicast produce a much more accurate looking version of the above weapon.

 

The range Milicast have is amazing. I find myself drawn back to it often, especially as I’m keen to add some suitable German vehicles to my collection. I like to have a selection of vehicles and figures to make temporary vignettes for photos of aircraft.

 

21 hours ago, roginoz said:

My godfather was works manager at Scammells in Watford when I was a sprog

You lucky blighter! I have a definite soft spot in my heart for Scammells. They’re literally full-sized Tonka Toy trucks. Simple, rugged, well-engineered, built to last. 
 

18 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Engaging progress Heather and an 'interesting' contrast in the quality of the two kits.

Indeed, Tony. I want to like Milicast kits, if only because they have the enormous range I mentioned above. However, experience of actually building them isn’t helping. It’s the lacking in quality of production that’s the killer, frankly. It does seem to be a feature, rather than a bug, as it’s been a common theme across kits bought over several years now. 
 

17 hours ago, xebec said:

I remember well the "good 'ol days" of having to rely on some pretty sketchy cottage industry type resin and vacuform kits

I loved the classic Airfix and Matchbox 1/76 ranges. The scope for kitbashing and cross-kitting was almost endless. I hardly ever built one straight from the box! I still have an Airfix Bofors Morris tractor that’s in progress to a GS bodied version. I must get back to that soon.

 

Right, where were we? Ah, yes, waiting for paint.

 

 

 

I am a proper heretic with painting vehicles. I know there are proper colours I should be using. Mike Starmer's excellent works should be my bible in this. However, like some of my aircraft, I take the view that I may not be using the "correct" shades and mixes, but I am consistently wrong with every build. As a collection, they all look the same, even if the colour isn’t authentic.

 

To that end, the Scammell has been given an initial brushed coat of Revell Aqua Dark Green 68. That’s the same colour I’ve now adopted for my RAF camouflage schemes when I brush paint planes. I haven’t bothered with primer, either. A couple of light coats of mildly thinned Aqua seems to do the job nicely. The period camouflage will be a mix of Dark Earth and Dark Green. 

 

 

The 8.4 litre 6-cylinder Gardner diesel engine was usually painted in a pale blue. The nearest shade I had in my acrylic box was Xtracrylix RLM 65! I’ll do some simple washes and a bit of dry brushing to give it a bit more life, but it may still end up with the bonnet side panels in place and be completely hidden! I will give various areas around the chassis a good weathering. Some grease and oil stains around the winch parts, a good dose of dust around the suspension, that sort of thing.

 

I have questions about some interior colours, such as the seat cushions. I’m leaning towards a black, but traditionally many kits recommended a dark brown. I’ll keep digging to see if I can turn up a good interior photo. I also want to add some detail in the stowage box below the cab on the driver's side. I wonder what sort of things would be generally found in it. Any clues would be appreciated. 
 

Other questions arise which have a tangential bearing on the build, such as how much ammunition was carried, and was it all carried in the rear of the tractor? Was an emplaced gun serviced by a different truck with more shells? Were the shells packed in cases, and if so how many shells to the case? How big are sandbags?

 

So many questions! I hope I get some answers.

[Heather Kay]

Once all the chassis and cab fiddling is dealt with, the bodywork goes together fairly quickly.

 

 

The cab scuttle and floor assembly goes on to the chassis. It has two strips underneath the floor which engage in shallow grooves inside the chassis rails. It takes a little careful jiggling to get the twain engaged. Once a drop of liquid cement has been run along, it’s all good. Next, the back and offside cab wall are fitted. You can see, after some interweb fossicking, I settled on black for the seat covers. I also ran a wash of a sandy colour around the cab to give a little life to the various nooks and crannies. I also toyed with the idea of a driver, but every one I have in my collection is a smaller scale or sans lower limbs entirely. Crewless the machine shall be. Anyway, once the rear cab sheet is in, the body floor is attached. The oddly shaped lump clears the large winch.

 

The nearside cab wall was then attached. The cab roof didn’t quite settle neatly on to the tops of the side sheets. After sanding the top of the cab rear sheet to see if that helped, I resorted to gluing thin styrene strips on the tops of the sides to fill the tiny gap. In between all this, I’d cut out and glued in the glazing. I’d been leaving it out during painting operations, but as I’m not going to be airbrushing anything it seemed sensible to install the clear material before gluing the roof on.

 

The bonnet and radiator were fitted. I’ve left the side panels off to let the lovely little engine be seen. The panels were often left off, presumably to help with cooling. The tiny headlamps were glued in place - again, the carpet monster remains unsated. There’s an air filter unit on the offside of the engine, attached to the cab front. The main body side sheets and the end "door" have also been attached. Once paint had been retouched, I glued the roof in place. 
 

For the stowage box under the driver's side, I knocked up some scrap styrene to look like an old plank, and folded a simple tarpaulin from masking tape. At least the box isn’t empty now. 
 

All that remains for construction is some PE for various things round the back of the vehicle, not forgetting the rear view mirrors on the cab, and to glue the wheels on. Then I can play with the camo pattern and decide on suitable markings. All in all, an enjoyable little kit. I am sorely tempted to acquire another one! 

[Dave Slowbuild]

Sounds like you are really enjoying this one, after the trials and tribulations with the Bofors!

[Mr T]

Very nice work on what looks like a very challenging kit. Although an  aircraft modeller, small scale armour looks quite appealing to me, but  the 3.7 looks a bit of a handful. The Scammell looks good. I have their Bedford QL Refueller, so looking at a small scale IBG kit is instructive. 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Great work! 
 

The 3.7 in particular looks wicked! But then I’ve always had a soft spot for those particular guns. 👍
 

When I was a kid, dad was a member of a museum that had one and I thought it the most awesome thing I’d ever seen… which TBH, at the time, it probably was!

[Bandsaw Steve]

On 14/07/2022 at 19:14, Graham Boak said:

"My" 3.7" was a white metal one, which certainly conveyed some of the heft.  I hadn't heard of it being used for direct fire/anti-tank, other than during the siege of Tobruk, though there's no lack of comment of the "i wish" kind.  I read that the problems were its weight, difficulty/slowness of changing it from the travelling mode and the lack of a suitable mounting.

 

 

No doubt all factors in the rarity of its use as an anti-tank gun but - as I understand it - just as important was the fact that these guns (and their highly trained crews) were so valued in their primary role that there was great hesitance to risk them on the front line.

[Markh-75]

Love these old chunky trucks, great job Heather!

[Heather Kay]

1 hour ago, Markh-75 said:

Love these old chunky trucks, great job Heather!

I have a real soft spot for Scammells. They all have that air of competence, a no-nonsense lorry that could just do the task at hand.

 

 

I thought it might be fun to show some of the kitbashes I’ve done over the years. About 30 years ago I was building a OO model railway, and I found I had developed a real thing for fleet vehicles of the 1950s. I had grand plans for a fire station, and a GPO Telephones depot. This pair have obvious Airfix heritage, with the Austin K6 from the emergency set, and the Bedford QL from the refuelling set. Both have been based on real vehicles in the GPO supplies fleet of the 1950s. If I did them again, I’d source decent aftermarket wheels, but I’m still proud of these little models. The model railway is long gone, but I’ve kept all the period vehicles I built for it.

[Heather Kay]

 

I don’t have a better image, so this will have to do. On a club layout there was a coach builder. I took the Airfix emergency set ambulance chassis, grafted the K6 cab on to make a civilian K5, found some decent wheels in my Bits Box, and scratched a "timber" frame for a horse box under construction. As it was quite fragile, the model was stuck to the layout.

[Heather Kay]

Right, apart from some paint touching in, a windscreen wiper I need to source, and the stickers, this little beauty is done.

 

 

 

And, as a taste of things to come…

 

[echen]

Is you middle name "Supersonic" by any chance?

Great build btw - and so quick to such a successful (almost) conclusion.

[Heather Kay]

Just now, echen said:

Is you middle name "Supersonic" by any chance?

Great build btw - and so quick to such a successful (almost) conclusion.

My middle initial is S, so… 🦸‍♀️ 

 

The IBG kit is thoroughly recommended. For once, I’ve not had to deploy filler, and even most of the wheels touch the deck! 

[xebec]

That is just....wow. Super nice work. You've really transformed that little gun. 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Heather, I really like that gun and have been following this build. One thing I found puzzling though - the  four stabilizing arms or rather the baseplates on them - it seemed to me that you had them wrong. I thought they should be on the outside of the arms so they sit on the ground when the arms are lowered. HOWEVER, I've looked on the net and photos I've found show them as you have modelled them, on the inside when the arms are raised. I don't know how that would work but please forgive me for doubting you. 🙂 It's a great model. Regards, Jeff.

[Heather Kay]

12 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

I don't know how that would work but please forgive me for doubting you.

Jeff, it’s not a problem. The inverted sole plates have me confused as well, but I went with the photo evidence anyway. I shared one or two images on another forum, and the same thing has excited much debate - and yet we still can’t actually figure out how the outriggers were rotated, assuming they were. I’m hoping I may, one day, turn up a copy of a field manual or something that explains how the machine was operated.

[xebec]

50 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

Jeff, it’s not a problem. The inverted sole plates have me confused as well, but I went with the photo evidence anyway. I shared one or two images on another forum, and the same thing has excited much debate - and yet we still can’t actually figure out how the outriggers were rotated, assuming they were. I’m hoping I may, one day, turn up a copy of a field manual or something that explains how the machine was operated.

Heather Kay- it seems to me that they quite simply pulled the pins and inverted the entire leg for transit- note the orientation of the legs in the following photos:

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by xebec

[Heather Kay]

Now, you see, I’ve peered at photos for ages trying to work it out and there we have it. Obvious when you think about it. 
 

I can rest easy in my bed now!

[xebec]

You know Heather, on closer inspection I'm going to revise my guess to say that the upper hinge pin isn't removed, but the entire upper chassis hinge does, in fact, rotate (parallel to the ground). Note the difference between the outer portion of the upper hinge in the two photos. I really appears that the upper hinge of the chassis portion must rotate. Thus, you pull the pin from the lower hinge, swing the leg into a vertical position, and that upper hinge then allows the leg to rotate so that the bottom leg hinge can pe pinned into the block visible on the chassis deck. That would help explain the peculiar post connecting the upper and lower chassis hinges (it's an axle for the upper chassis hinge). Also would prevent the crew from having to man-handle that heavy leg.... Probably irrelevant at this point, but it stoked my OCD a little bit...lol

Edited July 27, 2022 by xebec

[PeteH1969]

6 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

Right, apart from some paint touching in, a windscreen wiper I need to source, and the stickers, this little beauty is done.

 

 

 

And, as a taste of things to come…

 

As with all of your ventures in modelling Heather very very nice  work indeed.

 

Pete

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday all, it seems I've started a bit of a discussion. Thanks for the photos. So it looks like the legs are swiveled 180* while vertical and then lowered. That vertical pin visible of the right leg in the second photo would suggest that to me. Then it all falls into place (or on someone's foot 😫).

     You can have your thread back now Heather. 🙂 Looking forward to seeing more. Regards, Jeff.

[Heather Kay]

Still got to sort out the wiper, but…

 

 

With no reference for scale, you’d never guess how big this was. As I wrote elsewhere, the detail level at this scale is absurd. I love it!

Also…

 

The gun and carriage primed and painted. It will never win any awards, and it might be quite a while before I pluck up the courage to build the second one.

 

I shall arrange proper RFI images at a later date. I ended up using the kit transfers as they came. Only clever Army know-it-alls will know the unit markings. I’m not sure, but it looks like IBG used Arial Bold for the census numbers. That serif on the 1s annoys, and I’m sure it wouldn’t have looked like that in 1940. Not to worry.

[Bullbasket]

You've done a great job on the Scammell and the gun Heather. Always had a soft spot for the Pioneer, ever since riding in the one that our unit had in Germany as a heavy break down truck. 21mph, flat out!! I've got the big brother of your one to do (someday) in 1/35th scale.

 

John.

[Dave Slowbuild]

Great looking combo you’ve put together.  Made for each other!
I’m really tempted to put planes on hold for a Scammell or two.  Mix things up a bit on the display shelves…

Thanks for the WIP Heather, another fine job!

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Heather, I think they look great. Very well done. Regards, Jeff.

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 7/27/2022 at 4:53 PM, xebec said:

Heather Kay- it seems to me that they quite simply pulled the pins and inverted the entire leg for transit- note the orientation of the legs in the following photos:

 

 

This is fascinating me. I don't think swiveling the leg through 180 degrees, pulling the pin with the handle, and letting the leg fall into position works. This seems to leave the leg hinge without the handle, attached to the inboard chassis hinge. Just follow that handle-less hinge around and you'll see what I mean. 

 

I have a suggestion. I wonder if the gun in the photos is prepared for rail or sea travel with everything tucked in tight. Maybe when the thing was unloaded in the operational area the legs would be removed completely, with many men lifting, probably with a hoist, and reattached the other way round with the pads facing outwards ready to be quickly deployed when the time came to shoot.