OLDIE!!!! 1971 Vintage M-56 Scorpion build blog!

[fhvn4d]

Ever since my friend and fellow model builder extrodinare Mike DelVecchio built the Hobby Fan M-56 Scorpion, I have wanted to get my hands on the old Revell kit that was issued in the 70s and 80s. This weekend, another friend and fellow model builder, Tim Rothenberger point out to me one of these kits available on Ebay, and for the first time it was under 50 dollars shipped!!! Suffice to say, I own it, and I am going to share with you all my efforts to build it straight OOB. I am sure I could add a lot with aftermarket, PE, and some other things, but there is a method to my madness that some can probably already guess. For starters, I thought I would show you the kit as I recieved it.












Later today I expect to actually have it built, and I will take pictures along the way!

[captfue]

Looks like you're in for some real fun.

[fhvn4d]

Sofar so good Cap! No real surprises yet, since I dont expect much from a plastic kit thats a year older than I am. Fits been actually pretty good, some of the molded pieces are noticalbly flashed around the edges, but I dont mind sanding. Couple of small places where things just didnt line up at all but they are gonna be pretty deeply buried in the kit I hope..... for now... step 1 and 2 are done.





The gun cradle has some pretty small and intricate parts that I was pleasantly surprised at, but the cradle itself has a spot in the front where the two plastic parts are badly mis-aligned. I am waititng to put the rest together to see what I NEED to do for it

[fhvn4d]

Made a little more progress on the dinosaur including some paint and more assembly.....

[Leon]

Looks like your off to a good start Brian!

[dierk]

Nice start Brian!
I know absolutely nothing about this kit. 1/40 scale? Certainly gets a high reading on my weird-o-meter.

[fhvn4d]

It is a 1/40 scale! The kit was popped in 1971, and for a kit thats 45 years old I am honestly impressed! It held up well, and even the decals look fine (right now, we will see what happens when I try and soak them). Lots of little bits of flash, seams and some ejector pin marks, but I think they will all either sand out or be hidden pretty well.

[mrt51]

Looking good!

[sturmbird]

Oct 3, 2016 6:15:16 GMT -5 fhvn4d said:

It is a 1/40 scale! The kit was popped in 1971, and for a kit thats 45 years old I am honestly impressed! It held up well, and even the decals look fine (right now, we will see what happens when I try and soak them). Lots of little bits of flash, seams and some ejector pin marks, but I think they will all either sand out or be hidden pretty well.

I built that kit sometime in the sixties. They also did a nice little Sherman and a 105 howitzer. To my slightly educated eyes, the howitzer was very accurate.

A couple weeks ago, I found a photo of several kids I was with in basic at Ft. Campbell. They all were standing by an M56. Little bitty thing! Not much bigger than an M37 truck. Might add that they experimented with the 20mm Vulcan mounted on the M56 hull. None ever saw combat
gary

[fhvn4d]

Gary I cant even imagine what a 20mm would do to that little buggy of a chassis!!! was it the same turret as the VAAD system they put on the 113s ?

[sturmbird]

Oct 4, 2016 6:59:44 GMT -5 fhvn4d said:

Gary I cant even imagine what a 20mm would do to that little buggy of a chassis!!! was it the same turret as the VAAD system they put on the 113s ?

I would assume it was the same turret. They also experimented with the M42 in the same configuration. One might have been shipped to Vietnam with the First Infantry Division. The 173rd was the only unit to ever use the M56 in combat

gary

[fhvn4d]

Tiny progress last couple days..... Painting needs work.

[Leon]

Nice progress Brian! Looking good.

[thechaos]

A niche old kit, Good work.

[fhvn4d]

After a long pause, back at the bench with this one!! Decals on and some light rusting/shading. Flat coat next and a base and it will be done.

[Tojo72]

Dot see this one every day,looks good so far

[fhvn4d]

Thats what I love about it, its NOT a very common build. Pretty sure there wree only two kits ever made of it, this one from the 70s and a resin kit that is rediculously expensive. I picked this thing up for 30 bucks off ebay and it has been worth every day!

[wbill76]

Glad to see you back at this one!

[deafpanzer]

Looking good... glad you are able to show the old kit who's the boss!

[fhvn4d]

Still trying to get the missing seat made up right, three other pieces put on and get this thing weathered appropriately. Shes gonna go on a small base of grass with a concrete pad to sit on as a sort of war memorial. Its strange because the pictures look better to me than the model at this stage of weathering and I dont know how much further to take it. Probably step aside and work on the base this week.

[TRM]

Looking good Brian!! Smart move to step back and take another look. You may feel differently once you have the base together!

[Leon]

Looking good Brian!

[deafpanzer]

Love when the flat clear does it's job... it is really looking good!

[fhvn4d]

Picking the brains of a couple of weathering masters, I stepped outside my comfort zone and added a couple more layers of weathering using some mud and rust washes and some ocre yellow pigments...i was THOROUGLY impressed with the effects of the pigments effects when put on wet.....





Thats all for a bit, moving on to the base so I have something to tie it all together before I do more weathering.

[Leon]

Nice start on the weathering Brian!

[fhvn4d]

Spent a little more time on weathering and the base. I used a yellow and a green wash, which I dont care for the results at the moment but I have a plan.... and the base starts taking shape!!!

[Tojo72]

Real nice job on the weathering

[deafpanzer]

I agree... great job!

[TRM]

Great progression on this Brian!! Looking forward to you working the base magic!

[406 Silverado]

Nice work on the old timer Brian.