Scammell Pioneer SV2S, TRMU-30, R100 Army Wheels in Detail
Photo Manual AW18
By Petr Brojo
Capricorn Publications
Zeniskove 2124/8, 149 00 Prague 4,
Czech Republic
ISBN: 978-80-87578-17-9
48 pages soft cover
Review by Terry Ashley
Capricorn Publications have released this book on the Scammell Pioneer SV2S, TRMU-30, R100 in partnership with the new Scammell Pioneer Tank Transporter from Thunder Models (kit 35200) but of course can be used when building the IBG Scammell kits also and provides an excellent reference for those wishing to add that extra level of detail to the kits.
The 48-page soft cover book is half and half English/Czech text with a mixture of wartime period photos, museum photos, technical drawing excerpts from the vehicle technical manuals as well as 1:35/1:72 plans with sections on the TRMU-30 Tank Transporter, SV2S Heavy Breakdown Vehicle and the R100 Heavy Artillery Tractor. Apart from the first two pages of text the remainder of the book is devoted to photos and illustrations with just the captions in keeping with the 'Photo Manual' title. The photos range from 2, 3, 4, 5 to a page with the occasional full page photo but most of the smaller photos are of a single detail item.
The inside front cover and page 1 has a brief text only development history of the Scammell Pioneer and the three variants included in the book along with technical data tables for a good backgrounding on the Scammells.
Pages 2 to 11 cover the TRMU30 Tank Transporter with semi-close-up b/w period and colour museum photos along with close-up shots and illustrations of the tractor fifth wheel as well as the TRCU30 trailer details again with good close-up shots of the trailer deck and suspension plus manual illustrations.
Pages 12 to 21 covers the SV2S Heavy Breakdown 6x4 and again has 6 pages of semi-close-up b/w period and colour museum photos followed by a brief walk-around of the rear body and crane supplemented with manual illustrations.
Pages 22 to 25 is a brief overview of the R100 Heavy Artillery Tractor with overall b/w and colour vehicle shots plus illustrations of the cab and rear interior layouts.
From here the common features are covered in more detail with close-up photos and technical manual illustrations that provide many excellent details for modellers building any of the available kits.
Pages 26 to 31 deals with the Chassis with numerous close-up photos and manual illustrations detailing the front axle/spring and steering assembly as well as the rear suspension again with detailed photos and manual illustrations that provide detailed coverage of the suspension components.
Pages 32 to 33 has a brief but detailed coverage of the winch with line drawings of the winch and rear chassis mounted rollers/pulleys as well as colour photos of same on a museum vehicle.
Pages 34 to 39 these pages cover the engine is great detail with detailed shots of the engine outside the vehicle as well as a series of 8 shots with the engine being winched into (or out of) the engine bay as well as others with the engine fitted inside the engine bay. These shots are supplemented with multiple detailed manual drawings of the engine, the transmission and the radiator assembly to provide a wealth of info to detail up the kit engine if you so wish?
Pages 40 to 41 deals with the cab interior and has a series of B&W and colour photos of the interior and instrument panel along with line drawings showing the position of the gear levers, foot pedals and other details. Photos of the TRMU-30 and SV2S are included to compare the two.
Pages 42 to 45 has 5-view 1:72 plans of the TRMU-30/TRCU-30, SV2S and R100 with single 1:35 left side elevation view of the TRMU-30 and R100 but unfortunately a funny thing happened on the way to the printers, they seem to have been printed fitting the 1:35 plans to the page instead of reproducing in actual scale as there are large discrepancy between the kit parts (both IBG and Thunder Models) and the plans. The Thunder Models wheels used for the demo image measure out to the known tyre dimensional size (give or take a fraction) as do the IBG wheels and all other parts are similarly out by similar amounts.
This means you could use these as general arrangement drawings or run them through a photo reduction process to get the correct 1:35 scale before using for any meaningful measuring of the kit parts, I am assuming the 1:72 plans have similar issues although I've not checked this as I don't have any 1:72 kits available.
showing the discrepancy in dimensions.
Pages 46 to 48 has colour profile illustrations with two colour schemes being shown for the three vehicle types for a good representation of the difference cam finishes carried at different times.
It's unfortunate the reproduction of the plans was not to exact scale but are still useful and as mentioned can be reduced to correct scale for more accurate plans if needed.
Highly recommended
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Thanks to Capricorn Publications for the review book.
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