00 FD 96 John's Main Contender

[Richard Goodwin]

Size 10 duly waiting JC

[Richard Goodwin]

Size 10 duly waiting JC

Besides, what do you need a mirror for, my floor is as bald as a coot and staying that way

[John Clarke]

Size 10 duly waiting JC

You'll be telling me next you can't see the detail cos it's Black

[Richard Goodwin]

Size 10 duly waiting JC

You'll be telling me next you can't see the detail cos it's Black

You guessed it! Lower hull all black apart from toe plate and rear end which will be in Berlin camo colours

[Steve Norris]

Hi John
As I mentioned earlier, I have added vertical bolts to pull everything together which has improved things but not completely eliminated the step between the hull sides and nose casting.

I have added 10 vertical fasteners through the nose casting and into the hull sides and nose plate. 4 cap heads into the side plates either side and 2 cask into the nose plate. Here you can see 2 of the left side plate bolts with the other 2 hidden under the Milliput

This is the step on the left side, about 1.5mm

This is the right side where the step is about 1mm

Tomorrow’s challenge will be to get the steps removed using my power file ( definitely a good purchase if you are going to build the Chieftain).

Regards
Steve

[Mark Russell]

Interesting John if you look at my build pictures then the one side on mine was flush and the other about 0.25mm stepped inwards, pretty good I think having seen yours. I did put shims in between the hull sides and the casting flanges though as the hull sides were toeing in slightly.

[John Clarke]

After being shamed encouraged to do better with my exhaust box by Richard G, I thought I'd try and go as far as I dare without turning it into confetti. This thing starts out as a large block type item and ends as a much reduced in size, sculptured piece of art by the artist's on the forum.

(Of course you don't have to do it, it make little sense why you do it, but it brings a little bit of personal achievement if you can do it).

Anyone building Chieftain will know it is an achievement in itself just to put it together. Hats off to you all.

Another sunny day and time to wake the neighbours. With achievement in mind I set about my exhaust box again. I reckoned I could get at least 7mm off the edge of the box to get some realigning angle (see Richard's Checkered Chieftain for the Full Monty 11mm?)

7mm removed with the grinder with a course flap disk (the go to tool) and it's not half bad. (No muppet jokes please)

While the grinder was out, I thought I'd have another go at the front casting. After removing 1.5+ mm earlier, the extra 0.5 mm on the sides was weighing on my mind, worrying about fenders toeing out too much.

I may still need a little bit of Timmy mallet work to get me over the next hurdles on both pieces.

The front casting doesn't look too bad either, and the fit. Any British Leyland employee would be more than proud of the workmanship.

Those fantastic car's British Leyland turned out in the 70's were (Un)forgettable, Marina, Maxi and innovative Allegro with it's square F1 style steering wheel. Who knew?

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[Richard Goodwin]

Cheeky bugger

Assuming your side plates are machined to the same dimensions as mine, 7mm from the back of the top plate would get you around 85 degrees. If I remember correctly, 10.5mm will get you around 83 degrees.

Nice job btw, very brave to take a grinder to a finished item

[Charles A Stewart]

Evening all.

Thank you John, for your hard graft, I have the same issue regarding your "Gordon bennet" photo. Good says I, I'll work that to the correct profile, many thanks for highlighting.

While we're on the front casting, a great piece of work in it's own right. Where the triangle box is supposed to fit, it doesn't, therefore as I see the removal of more marvellous Ali!
My reference is the Takon Chieftian plus photos.

Cheers Charles

[John Clarke]

Hi Charles, I haven't got to the fitting of the boxes or the front fenders/mud guards yet. I'm busy with the front of Chiefy Mc tank face casting at the moment. An aspect I've had trouble with visualising. I want the sexy curves with the cheeky roll to the lower armored plate without having to resort to filler. I think I'm about there.
Then I see the lug positions on the top of the cast plate and sigh.
I think Phil had to do some shuffling on his front boxes. You might find help there.

[Mark Russell]

I had to drill new holes in the fenders for the triangular boxes to reposition them, I didn’t remove any material from the front casting though. The front square boxes next to them were fixed in the intended position with the pre-drilled fender holes

[Charles A Stewart]

John, Mark, many thanks for your help. I think I will opt to file/grind only what is necessary re boxes. First time in weeks: It's raining so any metal removal on hold, for today at least.
Take care all.

[John Clarke]

Good luck with the drilling and grinding Charles, thanks for the heads up with the build Mark.

I have found it pays handsomely if you read and scrutinize the instructions throughout each time a new piece is fitted or section completed.
where's the part and when should I fit it? (Front casting lifting lugs)

I'm trying to improve the front top casting at the moment. (I'm waiting for parts for the exhaust box),
So I thought I'd get on with "Chiefy Mc Tank face" as I call it.
I have increased the definition of the front lower armor plate earlier to generate a more prominent center line by about 7mm across the front arc, now is time try and match the lower plate to the upper front casting.
The idea was to make a complete nose plate, pin and glue to the front, (plan A), sounded easy in my head.
Carved up an old fishing rod rod rest spike and ground the general shape. It looked good at first, but it was just too big and it needed a filler plate and a good dollop of P38 to complete. That's going to happen.
(Plan B) Grind off the top lip of the added armor plate and shape the single nose piece to match the upper armor casting and lower armor plate.
This, I think looks a lot better, it has the curve that I wanted to achieve between the two plates. There's still a need for a bit of filler along the joint line, but no where near what was originally considered.
There's a way to go yet, final fit when the upper cast plate is finally bolted in.

To most it might seem like madness, but I'm trying to recreate the curves and shapes that I think I need to see on the model.

During this grinding period, I thought I'd fill in the upper casting lug points which are not sited in the correct place, They will have to be re positioned at a later date. I'll be plugging and tapping some of the other mounting holes too so I can hold down the brackets with smaller bolt heads and not nuts on treads.

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[Richard Goodwin]

Nice work John Your almost encouraging me to take it on..........but not quite

[John Clarke]

Richard
I'll not be going to the same detail that you have undertaken on the exhaust box, so I'll be spending time else where.

A dry fit of the fenders/mudguards was fun, more holes in the tin plate than in the front casting. A tapped 3mm hole in the furthest hole needed.

The mid support bracket for upper side armor seems to be in the wrong place about 2.5 mm inwards and will need a) relocating or b) a spacer will be required?. I'm going for the latter. I don't think there's an inward curve on the side armor.
Unless anyone knows differently.
Certainly I'm not drilling any more holes in the fender/mudguards than is needed though. Lot's to come I've no doubt.
Now that fit is reasonable I can carry on and finish the Chief Mctank face nose.

On the front upper casting armor I've decided to "plug" some of the 3.5mm holes with m5 alloy threaded alloy rod, this is so that they can re-drilled and tapped either M3 or smaller for a scale look improvement. This removes the need to glue in smaller retainers or use very long retainers for the through the casting holes.

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