Dave Dibbs' excellent resin ammo liners will be great for the turret stowage. I needed an open liner for the commander's MG. A bloke in the Philippines is selling them at a price but I decided to save myself the money and do the job myself, using some perfect reference photos from Mike Cecil. Thanks Mike.
The can is made from 010" brass, using resistance soldering, which really makes this sort of job feasible. Thanks to Fabrice le Roux for putting me onto it.
Firstly the pattern for the liner itself, which has a seam at one end. The rim is stiffened by a fold and the bottom is dropped in and soldered, as per the original:
Lid pattern. It has a stiffening rib at the top and an insert with its own stiffening rib. On the real thing, the space between the insert and the lid contains a rubber seal:
First part of the catch:
I made the hinges with brass rod and tube, soldered to flats. It works well and it overcomes the problem of finding piano hinges of the right size. I simply solder a length of tube to a flat and then use a Proxxon grinding wheel to remove the spaces. In this case, to allow the lid to be removed, I soldered a continuous length of rod into the other side and then removed the unwanted bits. Fiddly but it works:
Remaining bit of the catch, with the two prongs which engage on the fold on the base part, with an over-centre lock:
Finished article with the folding handle on top;
Tricky but satisfying and a lot cheaper than buying it in.
Regards.
Stephen
