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Photos 1-6 show the different pieces of wood fitted together and in various stages of carving. However, the rear track guard (the cowl-like piece that forms the back of the vehicle and covers over the tops of the rear tracks), needed to be moulded in ABS plastic since it is more-or-less hollow. So I carved a wooden mould (see photo 2)for this. I also made the main top body (see photo 6 sorry no large version) semi-hollow to allow for the opening doors and also to lighten the model, as since it was solid wood it would end up being heavy

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Once I'd finished carving the main body; using standard wood carving chisels and finishing off with fine grade "garnet" paper, the rear track-guard was fitted in place with polyester car filler and rubbed down to blend in. I then gave the wooden parts 2 coats of "celulose sanding sealer" and rubbed these down dry with 240 grade wet-and-dry paper. I then gave the whole model several coats of "high-build" filler (this is a mustard coloured primer-filler) and rubbed it down with 320 grade wet-and-dry paper -used wet. I made the side mudguards by cutting strips from EMA large diameter pipe as they are curved and also stuck these in place with polyester car filler. I then gave the whole model 2 more coats of grey car primer. (see photo 7 sorry no large version) 

A key feature of the SPV's design are the deep panel lines spaced evenly along and around the body. To achieve these I layed on very thin strips of masking tape (see photo 8) I then gave the model several more coats of grey primer. Once this had dried I peeled the masking tape off. This left the deep grooves. A quick rub over with 600 grade Wet-and-Dry paper was then necessary to clean up the edges of these grooves and the main body was ready for final spraying. I painted the model "Zircon" blue. Which seemed to me to be as near the original model as I could get. The doors were carved separately with a clear perspex window set into each one. These were mounted on brass rods which allowed the doors to slide in and out. The chassis, including the wheels (all 20 of them!) proved quite a problem. On the original models, I understand tyres from a 1/12th scale racing car kit were used. These days that kit is no longer available. (and even if it had been it only had 2 tyres the right size in each kit) This would have meant buying 6 kits to get 12 large wheels -impossible these days!

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So I had to make the larger tyres from scratch. I "turned" a smooth tyre on the lathe in high-grade resin and then turning the lathe round by hand, and using the cogs on the lathe to graduate the number of grooves, I cut in the tread pattern to match that on the original model. This was the most time-consuming part of the whole model, as once I'd made the mould I then had to cast each tyre in 2 halves. I made a polyester mould (see photo 9) from my master tyre and cast them in cold-pour silicone rubber dyed black. Luckily, the smaller tyres (of which there are 8), I found from a lorry kit which was currently available this saved me a great deal of time! The wheel hubs and caps proved another problem. There are 2 types of wheel hub; 6 large and 4 small. Each one had to be turned individually on the lathe out of alluminium bar, and then the slots (in the case of the large hubs) and the holes (in the case of the smaller hubs) cut in with a milling machine. This turned out to be a major engineering job in itself! I made the main chassis box out of perspex (see photo 10) and fitted the wheels onto brass axles. These went through vertical slots in the side of the chassis box to allow them to move up and down as I made little spring boxes which each axle rested on to give the model working suspension. (see photos 11 and 12)

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Then I tackled the rear track assembly! On the original model the rear wheels and tracks came from a tin Japanese toy tank called the M1. I was lucky enough to obtain one of these so I was able to use the wheels and tracks from this, once again saving considerable time! I built this assembly onto a perspex plate and then I also added detail in brass rod perspex and plastic (see photo 13) to match photo reference I had. This whole assembly was screwed on to the back of the model under the rear track guard (see photo 14)

 The chassis was secured to the main upper body of the model with self-tapping screws.(see photo 15) The rear red tail lights on the SPV were instantly recognisable to me. I had got some from "Radio Spares" in London in 1974 for the underside lights on the alien ships in in the "SPACE 1999" episode "Alpha Child" Those had been green but they were the same light fitting! There are also 2 units that appear to be lights hanging down under the back tracks. I could not identify these so I made them from scratch in brass on the lathe. I also scratch-built the 2 hook-like units that are under the nose of the model in solid perspex. It became necessary to put some form of interior in the model as I did one set-up where the door was seen open. I built the seats from smooth 30 thou Plastikard with cushioning made from ribbed EMA plastic and also scratchbuilt the steering unit and control panels in the same way. To finish the model off I added The "Spectrum" badges. These were done by getting colour photocopies of those seen in the 1967 annual and sticking them on with "Spray mount" adhesive. The chrome strip along the side of the mudguard and around the headlights was done with Christmas chrome decoration tape -(although quite why an armoured fighting vehicle like the SPV would have chrome trim is beyond me!) And finally, I added the SPV on the front and side doors in rub-down "Letraset" and weathered the model with soot and air-brushed matt black enamel. Photo 16 shows the completed model.

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One final note: In the 1967 Captain Scarlet Annual, the SPV is seen climbing a rock face tipped back onto its rear tracks. On the "DinkyToy" the tracks folded down. In the TV series the SPV was never seen using these rear tracks, So in discussions with Alan Fennell, the editor of the comic, I decided to show the SPV doing just such a cliff climb. I set the shot up but it immediately became apparent that this manouver would have been virtually impossible for 2 reasons. 1. Unless the angle of the cliff face was almost exactly 45 degrees, the craft would either tip over backwards or fall forwards back on to its wheels! 2. When in this position the 2 lights that hang down below the catarpillar tracks scrape the ground! So, on the whole I think the "Dinky" toy got it right! The tracks would have folded down onto the ground to give extra traction. But the photo I did with the SPV doing the cliff climb (picture 22) did look quite spectacular -as you can see from the shot reproduced here!"

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