Dave Ruther’s SPV from Captain Scarlett part 1
Well, what can I say. The Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle, or SPV as it’s more commonly known, is one of my favourite Sci-Fi icons. The SPV itself was in fact one of the less puppet-like stars of Gerry Anderson’s sixties series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Like many of the Gerry Anderson craft, it was designed by the late Derek Meddings. The SPV was so popular that it was Dinky Toys number one selling toy.
I built an SPV years ago. It was about 2 foot long and featured detailed illuminated interior, the front and rear lights lit up and it had rubber model aircraft tires. However, I was never that pleased with the result, no matter how I tried to be after the many hours spent on its construction (from fiber glass? Mainly due to it’s complex shape.
So, here we are, years later. I have a new found zest for model making. Also, I have learnt a lot and most importantly, learnt how not to do things. I started by getting my old SPV down from the attic and attempting to put right what had gone wrong…
…No! Start again was the only option. Apart from anything else, I wanted this model to be complimentary in scale to the Maximum Security Vehicle that I built quite recently.
On a routine shopping trip, I happened across a toy lorry for sale at a bargain price. This I duly bought for the sole purpose of using the wheels for my new SPV model. I then drew up plans of the SPV in line with the wheels.
Then armed with a pile of balsa wood, I began making up patterns in line with the plans. These pieces were then carved to the correct shapes and glued together. In a matter of a few hours, the SPV was born…
I coated the entire balsa structure in fibreglass resin, in order to provide some strength and a basis for the automotive filler I would be applying.
Once this was dry, I covered the model in body filler and sanded it down smooth. The rear section was added from balsa and also filled to blend in with the rest of the body work.
The next stage was to create the wheel guards, which run down virtually the entire length of the SPV. These were cut from bathroom waste pipe. I then super-glued these into position and filled the seam.
The most difficult part (so far) was to get the vents the correct shape. I cut the vent backing pieces from plasticard, in line with the plans, to ensure that I kept the same shape whilst applying the filler. I then cut thin strips of plasticard and glued them on, to provide the grills. Another smaller grill was also made for the top.
The rear end and the front top, of the SPV, were coated in fibreglass. This is due to needing to remove most of the balsa wood from underneath and still maintain the strength.
It was now a case of continually sanding, filling and priming to get the shape and surface perfect. Also, more coats of resin were applied to the model.
I came to realise that the wheels were not wide enough and to be frank would just look silly on the model. Therefore, I cut the back off of each wheel and glued them into pairs. Therefore, two wheels became one thicker wheel. The problem however, was that I now didn’t have enough wheels! This resulted in having to make a latex mould of one wheel in order to cast the additional ones in solid resin.
On to part 2
