Remember the Thunderbirds? Of course you do.

It is one of a famous series of puppet TV shows (using a technology called "Supermarionation") created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, the others are Fireball XL5, Stingray, Joe 90, The Secret Service, and of course........

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1968)

My favourite of the lot by far, much better than the rather juvenile Thunderbirds, with a more serious and darker tone. See the trailer here and youll get my drift.

Later of course, the Andersons created Space 1999 with live actors (another modelling tour de force). Thunderbirds and Joe 90 never made it to our TV that I can remember, but I did see all the rest on RTM/TV3 in the 70s-early 80s

For me (and I think many sci fi fans) these series are iconic, sorta like the original Star Trek / Star Wars / Forbidden Planet etc . To generations brought up on CGI, such old school technology may seem crude, quaint and kiddy. There was no CGI back in the 60's when these series were born. This was model building (mostly scratchbuilt) of the highest order with no PE, no resin, no aftermarket....just pure skill and imagination. The dio work, landscaping, detail and weathering is amazing.

Anyway, the star of the whole show for me (apart from the Angels :P ) was the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle..a nuclear powered armoured car with some fierce specs...see here (got wiki page some more!) and here.

THIS is a MUST WATCH....and see the SPV in action (with working suspension!!) and you can understand how good model building and diorama work this was back in the 60s. Catapult fighter launches, ejection seats, hidden secret vehicles, sexy figher pilot babes, retro music....CANGGIH.

You can gather from the web resources that there is a fierce fan following abroad, but its little known in Malaysia.....

The kit in question is from Imai, looks around 48th scale. Saw it in MH during the sale and grabbed it. Not cheap at RM 125 due to its rarity value, so had to build it. I have a die cast model of the SPV, but now Ill try to do one in plastic.


A simple toy-like kit, kacang puteh compared to the BR52/Leopold, and designed to be motorised. Nonsense in plastic value for RM 125 but thats not the point. Will add some scratch detail to improve it to display standard. Forget the motorised bit of cos....


Compared to the die cast. Seems about 25% bigger scale.


Note that the driver is facing...backwards! There are caterpillar tracks at the back which can be lowered for off road traction.



If I cant drive one everyday, at least I have a model of it!!! :D :D

wow classics!!!
keep it on!!!

Did some study of references and compared to the kit, also against the die cast one. Quite a lot of scope for improvement to accurize this build.....

1. 3 main axles with twin tires.


The kit only gives you one rubber tire per side and the inner one is plastic....it should look like the one on the right. Very obvious and must be fixed. Nothing suitable in the spares bin. Still thinking of a solution.

2. Rear tracks.


Kit gives very basic tracks, cannot be used. I found an old set of Bergepanther vinyl tracks and chopped them up as a replacement.

3. Underside.


Poor detail in the kit which can be improved with underside armour panels, suspension, steering etc

4. Intake vents:


The kit uses them as missile launch ports with some spring mechanism (can really shoot!). It should be air intakes, so I will add some backing plate and PE mesh

5. Third axle is part of the motor gearbox. I will still use this as it will be hidden under the body


6. Rear panel. Some major surgery here as the track mechasism is all wrong.


Mouldings are quite crude and chunky...a lot of cleaning up...and the instructions are all japanese and vague...luckily its not complicated. But hey, its my dream car! :D

After more studies...got more work to do:

1. Entire underside is "open air"..... there is no "sidewalls" so you can see daylight from front to back and side to side :o Got to build panels so the underneath is sealed up and looks like any other tank.....and fill the screw holes too.





2. Solution for the shortage of tires? Call up MH, find out theres another of these kits lying there collecting dust, go out and buy it! So now got TWO . What am I doing? :blink: :blink: Someone called it Primal Modelling Madness?



But now have enough rubber tires and rims to make one complete vehicle. One problem solved!



The other kit will be packed away until i find another set of suitable tires ...


I also wonder why I'm going to such lengths on this so called "relax build" with such a weird subject and such a crappy kit.....

But cannot la, sudah kantoi....the SPV is close to my heart and its a mission to make the best one I can....now i think ill enter this for SMM09 as well for added "motivation" :D Cari pasalllll!

Shah,

The SPV is a jem as a topic to build but as a kit, it runs into the same problems as old Airfix kits. You've got to love the subject enough to see through the problems just like we old kaki's do. Good challenge there and looking forward to seeing it up close and personal.

Just like you I would tackle it with the same enthusiasm, a plastic model kit in pieces to be put together. It's as simple as that. :lol:

Love the Anderson era of these Sci-Fi creations. Incidently I was old enough to catch the ThunderBirds and Joe 90 on RTM in black and white of course.

The same technics were used for my favourite "UFO". Do you remember it?

Richard.

Wow. You'r eso lucky to get one. I have a Stingray though, somewhere in the stash. But apart from the SPV, the next vehicle in that series would be the Angel Interceptor.I used to have one AirFix model which I, er, fixed andplayed and broke and fixed and..... well, you get the idea.

Seriously, the latest (2006) Captain Scarlet series is in CGI and their Rhino is the updated answer to the SPV. Alas, it only came out in a toy but no model.

The angel interceptor brings back good memories!

Ya! man! First and only time seeing female pilots being inserted from under the cockpit instead of the conventional top with open canopy. :P

The aircraft carrier is also airborne in the sky...neat! B) That seems to be the only model not in kit form.

Richard.

Haha all the oldies crawling out of the woodwork? :D :D

Fully agree Richard. If you love the subject, its only about putting plastic together. Any old kit will do and the challenge of bringing them to life is very satisfying. Old can definitely be gold I say - just like your Stirling. Hahha, we dont like things cut and dried. Boring.

Incidentally, Imai did release the Cloudbase, but it was tiny scale of course:


Angels...ah....For those wondering what all this is about, this is an angel interceptor, which to me is as original and attractive as any other sci fi fighter (X-wing, Tie, Viper or whatnot) And this came from 1968!


I think when they showed Thunderbirds and Joe 90, I was too young....and yes, i remeber UFO, that mixed live action as well. And I recall they also showed Terrahawks here too.

Have not seen the CGI New Captain Scarlet, and not really interested to actually :P The SPV would wipe the floor with the Rhino or whatever its called lol

For this SPV, a lot of stuff will be added by my own interpretation as there are no real life references...so will inject whatever AFV knowledge I have to get it as logical and realistic as I can make it. Its like being the designer of the vehicle itself, you make the rules then build one for real.....This is the joy of scratchbuilding sci fi :D

Here is the picture of a Rhino:



From this website: Skybase Central

Try to get the new CGI episodes and halfway through, you'd realise the Rhino is actually very very cool.

To work!

First thing I thought to do was figure out the underside panelling....my usual way is to cut out simple manilla car templates to get the basic logic and shapes right (engineering mock-up :P ) .

The idea is cover as much of the holes in the simplest way with least no. of pieces. Compass and ruler is necessary.

There will be one sheet to act as the "floor" which covers the whole interior and another for the back bulkhead. The screw mounting pins will be removed.


Another two for each side wall, with cut outs to take the suspension etc:


Other smaller pieces will be needed to blend the new plastic into the kit.
Once the shapes are finalised, then start to cut plastic.

Comments always welcome.

Tonights work:

1. Front "air dam spoiler" - cut open panels for the headlights. Plastic is very hard, since this is a motorised toy anyway. Here, the one on the left not yet cut, on right already open. Will fabricate the headlight compartment, lenses and glass screen


2. Main floor cut from plastic card. Glued in position


3. Underside screwed on to test fit for side panels. Paper template in place so can finalise measurement of side panels, then cut from plastic. Next is to build up the panels behind the air dam to close off the whole thing before proceeding to rear panel.

Wee bit of an update tonight:

Main intake grilles fitted, and drilled out side windows and auxilliary air intakes...all were moulded solid in the kit:


The rear end needs a total rebuild after more study...the kit is 100% wrong...will start that tmrw...

Some sweet reference pics in case anybody ever decides to try building one of these:




This is a 22in long (studio model size) scratchbuild. Wow!:



Mine seems so tiny and sedih in comparison.... :(

Makes me wanna get one and build it!

Too bad the Patrol Car and High Security Car is no longer available at 'reasonable' price. I love to have those too besides the SPV.

Oh-oh. Better take another look at the front air intake. The mesh is out.

Yeah man, thanks for the pointer about the mesh, but i chose it on purpose.

I prefer this look as opposed to the vertical grilles..mesh looks more AFV-like to my eye. Anyway, a lot of the suspension, rear end etc wil also be as per my own interpretation relative to real AFVs.....so some liberties will be taken.

After all, this is sci fi, and since its my dream car will customise a bit :D :D

Some update on a rainy saturday afternoon. This build is becoming less "relaxing" and more "serious" by the day ! Apa sudah jadi ? :blink:

Underside boxed up. I kept the "chassis" separate so can work on the suspension. The rear wall was cut off and replaced with card:


No daylight visible now! More detail to be added here later.


Running gear built up. I imagine the SPV as a 6x6 vehicle so the front wheels were given axles and drive shafts. Also, a steering linkage was added. Parts taken from Tamiya M151 Ford Mutt. Bergepanther and whatever else that looked "right". Plan to add some hydraulic and brake hoses:


Suspension is independent wishbone type with coil springs:


Most of the suspension or drivetrain detail is invisible once the underside panels are added. More detail added from plastic card and spares. That brown piece may be familiar to Panzer modellers :P


Improved rear track mechanism with roller and tensioner. Tracks are not strictly accurate, but oh well, 100% accuracy was never the main idea of this build...janji it looks the part:


All 4 tracks in position:


Actually it is fun, like building your own personal AFV. No hard and fast rules, no FS codes, no "must follow" references only "if it looks right, it is right!" :D

looks cool man.

Thanks BV, consider it futuristic Centauro haha

Saturday late night progress:

1. All wheel rims are supposed to be like the ones on the left with the "spokes", but strangely the kit gives you 2 which are a different shape (wrong). Using parts from the second kit, I managed to get a complete set of correct rims. However, to get them to all fit on the axles and maintain correct offset required sawing and drilling:


2. Wheels dry fitted to test, starting to look SPV-like!




Edit: Noticed one track direction wrong...Fixed!

Theres still another 8 small wheels to be fitted. This rig has a total of 20 tires!

Thats all for now folks! Time to hit the sack

Rainy sunday afternoon progress:

1. Chassis completed, ready to be washed then primed for painting. Hoses and cables were added. The flat top plate helps make sure all gaps are closed and everything is lined up.


2. "Snout", "Air Dam" and "Shark Fin" added. Headlight compartment built up. Two sink marks on the nose need to be repaired too. Quite a lot of filler needed, left to dry before sanding



3. Base found. I dont know if anyone does this, but those wood kitchen cutting boards make simple and cheap bases. This one cost RM 8.90, once varnished will look quite nice. They come in round and square shapes and several sizes. The hole will be covered with the caption plate:

Ini malam cerita - the fun part begins at last :D

1. After more sanding and cleaning up, body and chassis primed with Surfacer 1000:


2. Once dry, body fine sanded and given pre-shading on the panel lines which are quite prominent. Underside is matt black.


3. Chassis looks much better with base coat. Reference shows the entire underside to be black. Not sure gloss or matt, so went for matt for the "AFV" look... Once dry will do detail painting with brush. Two lobang for the screw will fill in later and blend in the front panel cos i need to use the screws to align properly to the body


4. Top part not painted as it will be cemented to the body:


Body colour looks to be a metallic light blue from refs. Will give it some weathering too. Spectrum vehicles are always working hard to fight the Mysteron baddies !

Looking good bro, sekarang baru nampak menarik sikit spectrum ni
Walaupun aku tak pernah tengok series ni heheheh

Wah!! Really Chun lah.

Your progress also very fast and already at the painting stage.

Noticed in an earlier picture just before priming that there was a sinkage on the bonnet. I'm sure you would have noticed it and filled it.

On the color skeem, some show them as green and some blue. Which is the correct one...used to watch it in B/W :lol: :lol:

Great job on the undercarraige with all the mods.

Richard.

Thanks guys....this is a "close to the heart" build for me, so please pardon if my post is long and i keep talking about this series :unsure: But I hope all this will be a help for anyone wanting to build this kit in the future.


Richard, noted the sinkage earlier and fixed it, thanks. Here is how it looks so far this evening. Mixed up a lightish blue with some metallic hint. Didnt want it too strong, trying to make it more "realistic" konon. Three light coats here, and leave the pre shading show a bit. Later masked off and spray the white (should have done that first...but was impatient to see the blue, oh well).





Do a wee bit of touch up with brush then leave to dry fully before futuring, decals, then weather. Final finish will be satin-ish i think

So far the pics of other builds I have found range from light greeny-blue to a darker strong blue....and all kinds in between. For example, the die cast model I have is a greeny-blue which I dont like. Looked at YouTube videos of the series also. This is a screenshot:



Even in these two shots the blue is not consistent as you can see. Dont know if its caused by different lighting or different vehicles or what. In the end went for something that I thot nice to my eyes while lebih kurang blue lah. Didnt want to depend on other people's builds. Everyone has their own interpretation I suppose

Next is the rims (some pics show chrome, some grey)...I went for grey. Not logic for combat vehicle to have chrome rite? :lol:


Details on underside picked out with brush to add some interest:


Lan: Ko kena tengok la series ni, I tell you its fierce man! This is one of the angel fighter pilot babes. Dig those retro shades! :D

Really nice and nostalgic.

Can hear the title music whilst viewing your build..."Captain Scarlet...ten..ten..ten....."...and the two "O's" drifting across the screen looking for the next victim. :D

Them retro specs are in vogue now man!!

Richard.

Den...den...den...dendendenden LOL

Did up the decals tonight. The kit decals (only 6!) are horrible and thick but finally settled down after lots of softener. The black lines on the nose were made from individual pieces of black decal stripes...leceh but looks a lot sharper than if i were to try to paint it. Red decal stripes were used to make up the ejection panel squares and intake warning line.

Also added various other stencils and warning signs scrounged from the spares box on the body and chassis. Some were rather old and needed lots of setting and softening fluid...





Leave it all to set overnight now.

Tonight:

I sprayed on flat clear to seal in the decals. After dried, sprayed filters on different panels to add contrast. Removed the maskol from the cabin windows and brushed on some future for shine. Rust and stains added with pastel, but not too much as I presume this SPV is made from some super hi-tech metal...but can karat a bit also la then baru real :P


The kit decals are really thick and a bit of the film shows up <_<


Also fitted and painted all the wheels. Earlier, I had brush painted wood stain onto the cutting board base:


After this will be weather the chassis, then fit to the body to it so can work on the rear panel. Couldnt figure out any other way as the back panel is half attached to the body, half to the chassis. Adoi....

C&C welcome as always.

den den den den........tiuuuuu.....den den den den....tiuuuuuu.......ting tong3x

best la theme song.........mcm lagu soul train pun ada :D

looking good bro.....with your skill 'sap sap sui' nak fit the body

Lan....kan aku dah cakap....funky series man! Deng Deng Deng Dendenden!

Anyways, so far tonight:

1. Rear panel built up from plastic sheet, added a piece PE chequer plate and other pieces from spare part box


2. Mounted the chassis to the body, and fitted the rear panel. This was not as difficult as I thought....added a "A" frame for towing other disabled SPVs.....not as per reference, but simply lah :D


3. Underside fully painted and flat coated ready for some weathering here and also tracks and back panel. Screw holes plated over.


4. Base construction - I cut out a sheet of Verlinden airfield tarmac to make a simple little feature


5. Will add a suitably dramatic signboard, also from Verlinden sheet


Thats all for today folks....just a light hearted fun build. ISA (Ikut Suka Aku) :D

Cantique bro....

lama gua intai bro punya kung fu.... :)

Beautifully done, cant be easy weathering bright colors, but u pulled it off.
:)

Naza: Ko intai kungfu aku, ko tau aku pun dah lama intai kungfu ko....sama sama belajaq dong
EngHui: Thanks for the kind words...yes, bright colours are much more "interesting" to weather than the usual drab military stuff LOL
Richard: Fellow Captain Scarlet kaki, ok ka? Reasonable replica of SPV?

Wrapped it up this afternoon..exactly 2 weeks of work:

1. Balance of weathering finished. Gave light mist of light sand colour to give impression of dust. Mounted to base, some pressure needed to make all 20 wheels sit properly. Caption plate made using my usual method



2. Tail lights improved with some suitable spare parts and clear fix for lens


3. Antenna added using guitar string


4. Signboard properly made up and glued to holes drilled in the base


First time ever got theme song for a build? Well, here is the series theme song :D :D

Captain Scarlet,
He's the one who knows the Mysteron Game,
And things that they plan.

Captain Scarlet,
To his Martian foes a dangerous name,
A superman.

They crash him, and his body may burn,
They smash him. But they know he'll return,
To live again.

Captain Scarlet,
As the Angels are flying wing to wing,
Into the scene, Spectrum Is Green.

Captain Scarlet,
Though the Mysteron's plan to conquer the earth,
This indestructible man will show what he's worth.
Captain Scarlet

Haha, love it: Into the Scene, Spectrum is Green!

Now can start the Vanishing boat....Thanks everyone for looking and indulging in this simple fun-fun build. My humble apologies for any flaws and sorry for talking too much about this series ;)

Speechless!! Really good Bro.

Now everyone will know that there were other Sci Fi before Star Wars and their special effects models.

Richard.

Memory is a bit vague for this vehicle but can distinctly remember the interceptor and some of the theme song starting sequence.
Remember those puppet heads and rolling eyes....?

Shah,

U can really build, salute.

congrats bro for finishing this spectrum......den den den den tiuuuuu den den den B)

Nice one bro...quite nostalgic. good mix of a real and fantasy based vehicle!