Alvis Scorpion FV101 Standard Light Tank

The Scorpion was one of the first tank models I made when I was a kid. It was the old Airfix kit in 1/76th scale which I had painted in black and green then used a hair bristle from one of my Dad's paint brushed for an aerial. How things have changed since then!

This model is built from the AFV kit in 1/35th scale of the Alvis Scorpion FV101 Standard Light Tank. What can I say about it? Such a lovely kit to build. I thoroughly enjoyed building it, but my only gripe was the rubber tracks that come with the kit. They are not long enough. To make them fit, you need to do some adjustments to suspension mountings for the rubber tracks to fit. So I opted to use the individual link tracks that AFV produce as an aftermarket item for this and the Scimitar kit they produce. Building the model was straight forward, everything went in place without any issues. There is a few etched brass parts to go onto the model, the biggest part being the grill over the exhaust which needed to be curved around a 5mm diameter rod to the correct shape. The rest of the etched parts were just small detailing items.

The kit comes with five different markings options. A all white scheme of the Royal Army in UN markings, the Royal Hussars in black and green, the Royal Army in Desert Storm scheme and then the Belgian Army and Spanish Marine Corps booth in olive drab. I went for the Desert Storm scheme, painting it in British Gulf Armour Light Stone then weathering is in the appropriate pigments and paint. The model was finished off with two lengths of wire for aerials glued into the drilled holes on their mounts.

I say that the model is finished. Yes, the main construction is finished, I was on a deadline for this project for a club competition. In the future, I will most likely add some of the usual clutter around the tank that you would find on them during a deployment. But this will be at a later date once I get the correct items to go on the model.