My Beaut Aussie Cent

[Stephen White]

Kevin, thanks. Great encouragement to keep going, I very much appreciate your kind comments.

Finishing off the basic sight enclosure, I've made the sight head for the gunner's sight, which, as 064 was fitted with the ranging machine gun, was a Sight, Periscopic, AFV, No 40, Mk 1 with x6 magnification and a x1 window and ballistic graticule pattern:



The rest was straightforward:









Now for the sight hood and wiper.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen

[simon_manning]

another nice attention to detail part, keep going, your on the home straight, regards simon

[Stephen White]

Simon thanks. I've also had a great suggestion from Liam Mahoney in Australian that I put a ruler in some of my photos to give some scale. Thanks Liam, very much appreciate your kind words in your PM.

On with the sight hood, which included a heated window with wash/wipe. The top cover is hinged to allow the interior of the glass to be cleaned.







I had to make card patterns to get the size and shape and then soldered up the hood and wiper motor enclosure in brass. I don't think I could have done it without resistance soldering and the fibre glass cleaning pen. The hood itself is simple but there is so much detail that it's not a quick build. Some shots of the basic structure and detail being added:













Rivets, screws and washer jet added:





Washer pipe, wiper motor cable and junction box added:





In the previous photo, also added the securing tabs and bolts for the hinged lid. I'm awaiting some small wingnuts from Knupfer in Germany.

Started on the trickiest bit of all, the wiper blade itself:







Almost there!

Stephen

[Paul Morris]

Hi Stephen.
The detail you have put into this model is simply incredible ... I am stuck for words at every instalment ... I did think it would have been very hard to top your Panzer three but you are going to do it I feel sure.
Hope to see you soon ...
Kind regards Paul.

[simon_manning]

i know i have posted regularly on this build, but the quality and effort deserves a reply, interesting and clever, regards simon.

[davidwilkins]

Stephen,

Absolutely stunning work, I have been looking forward to this part of your build to see how you approach the making of the cover to gunners sight. This update helps me a lot although I will have to wait until I have the finance to buy all of the soldiering equipment and get some practice in first.

I think all you need now is a tiny electric motor on the wiper blade and then you can find some targets in the rain.

Regards

David

[Kevin Hunter]

Simply amazing but, to be fair, we have come to expect nothing less from you! How many of us attempting the gunners sight would opt for a simple one piece wiper.....?
The ruler certainly adds a new dimension, emphasising just how minute some of your detail work is. We do still like the regular photos though, where we can't tell your work from the real thing
Kevin

[Stephen White]

Thanks for taking the trouble to comment. If the photos inspire anyone to push the boundaries, great. Nothing is certain in this game and I often approach a part without any conviction the chosen method will work and sometimes it doesn't. My scrap bin is never lonely. I do like to push things to see how far you can go and the wiper is a case in point. Cutting out the parts and soldering at such a small scale does turn out to be entirely possible, with the right magnification and a good setup for work-holding. Here's the final instalment on this saga.



Sometimes, it's less effort to replicate the way the original is built than to work out a simpler method which may or may not look right. I finally worked out that the blade is held on between fixed and moving lugs, with here a 14BA set screw and nut.







That's it. Phew.

Regards

Stephen

[Uwe Gerstenmayer]

Hello Stephen,

hard to find words for the enthusiasm and detail you're puting into your tank, wow

That is real champions league


All the best,

Uwe

[Phil Woollard]

Looking forward to seeing your Cent finished and thundering around, will we get to see some video Stephen?
There are some movies cumming up over the next few days on the Quest channels,(movies for men maybe) looks like from the trailer there are Cents charging about so best take a gander...Phil

[Stephen White]

Thanks Uwe. PHil, there are a few videos on my YouTube Channel, Tank Builders, here:



Just got the gunner's sight enclosure and hood painted and installed and added the brush guard, which required widening and moving the cut-out in the turret lip. I will add the weld around the top turret plate eventually, which will cover the obvious gap between it and the turret casting:

















Regards

Stephen

[Paul Wills]

Hi Stephen,

What can any of us say, your dedication to detail is outstanding, its really is great to see. I think we need a WOW button for detail like this

Paul.

[simon_manning]

remarkable, well done, regards simon.

[Phil Markham]

Steve,

Fantastic work, your a true craftsman. Looking forward to seeing the cent before too long.

Phil

[Derek Attree]

Hi Stephen
Are you sure you haven't got a real tank hidden in your workshop.

It looks stunning

Regards

Derek