Chieftain No. 34

[andymusgrove]

Hi Charles

That’s great thanks very much

I also received a small parcel today thank you

Regards

Andy

[Kevin Hunter]

EMA models sell the Plastruct range online - no trade account required.

https://www.ema-models.co.uk/index.php/ ... d-rod.html

[Mark Heaps]

Will I get away with "Sorry guv a track pin must of knocked it off, never heard a thing". Although I am sure it would have made a hell of a clatter.

Yes you would. It could go very quick from the pin hitting the inside of the skirts to it hitting the rear edge of them with enough force to shear the retaining bolts & the warning noise beforehand may not have been recognised as such. On one move as the 3rd man, I was watching the area behind our Chiefy ARRV & spotted a couple of skirts. On stopping to retrieve them, we found out that they were ours & we had come very close to losing the track on that side due to the pin coming almost all the way out. After that, we knew to recognise the sound if it happened again.

An outer circlip breaking, resulting in the pin drifting inwards & striking the hull caused a lot more regular noise and was more noticeable.

Mark

[andymusgrove]

EMA models sell the Plastruct range online - no trade account required.

https://www.ema-models.co.uk/index.php/ ... d-rod.html

Thanks Kevin thats perfect

Kind Regards

Andy

[Charles A Stewart]

Good evening everyone.

Been p***ing down last two days and a bit today too .

This means I have been able to tackle something that has bothered me for a while. I referenced a new build in a post or two ago, this, I have now avoided. It meant cutting up loads of 4mm wire and welding them together to form a new Commanders Basket. I hope the following will help reassure other Chieftain owners.

Real Commanders basket:-

Kit basket

Mod 1

Filling

Undercoat

There is some more filling to do to finish off. Thanks John for the Goo heads up, I was surprised how well it bonds.

Have a good evening all.

Charles

[John Clarke]

Well worth the effort Charles, I'll be doing the same with mine. A bit of wire mesh, flat trim, jobs a gooden.
The original commanders basket supplied was alright, but it just did'nt match the left hand side, which with its squarer edge is far more realistic.
A proper basket case.
Weathers rubbish so doing a bit of lettering at the moment, ABC and the Lexicon of Love on the boom box blaring out. Steady.

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[Charles A Stewart]

Cheers John.

That overview photo will be most useful, thanks.

Cheers Charles

[David Battson]

Hi Charles,
Nice work, that basket looks much better with the extra bar.
JB weld is good stuff, quite robust and certainly has it's uses. However, one problem I can find is that although it appears thick, it doesn't always stay put and can slowly run out of the joint before it has time to set. As an alternative, I've been trying out UV activated glue. Similar sort of properties, but you can zap it with UV before it has a chance to escape.
David

[Charles A Stewart]

Thank you for the tip David, I will have a look into it. It is something I haven't come across. Any recommendations

Cheers Charles

[Richard Goodwin]

Glad you found the JB Weld info useful; I've used it in quite a few places already and it is certainly very versatile and perhaps more importantly, reasonably priced compared to UV equivalents. Yes it does take a while to go off but if you know that, you can compensate for it. If you've ever filed in brick joints or such like, you will know that you leave the cement mix a while before using it; the same can be said of JB Weld when there is a potential for it to run off when first mixed!

Keep up the good work. I know I haven't posted in a while, the BL MG has been keeping me busy but my I still have my beady eye on the posts

[John Clarke]

I like JB weld adhesive for quite a few reasons.
A Quality product at a reasonable price.
Once full dry (24 hours) it is hard, unlike a lot of epoxies as I've said before.
Sticks most hard materials, (Not rubber, though never tried it)
If you leave it 3 hours or so before the surface fully hardened, its possible to shape the surface like clay using a wett'ed tool.
You can use it to build up a shape like the filler cap below or repair a machining fault. Then simply shape with fine wet and dry, needle files or (don't tell the wife) her nail file boards.

I agree if you were to use too much there will be slippage, but that's the trick with adhesives, just use enough. If filling or shaping, build up in layers and angle the position of the part drying so gravity has less effect. Blue tack supports most small items.

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I'm sure the UV stuff very good, though the fillings I had done with the stuff fell out.
And I wouldn't want the wife get hold of the UV torch to scare the living .. out of me, or take it on holiday to check the bed lining. Geeez, You'd never find anywhere to sleep on the Costa Lotta.

[Charles A Stewart]

Good evening everybody.

I hope all is well with you all. Not really done a lot recently, been on Hols. for half term and we are in hiding as son got the plague (from School), no symptoms though.

I have been bricking this next bit, trivial as it might seem, but I haven't done any milling since I had one go in metalwork at school in the 70's. I am using my la'al lathe and it appears to have worked

Take care and lovely to see the new Tiger builds too.
Cheers Charles

[Richard Goodwin]

Nice work Charles,they look tricky little buggers!

[John Clarke]

Nice job Charles.

[Charles A Stewart]

Good evening all.

I hope all is well and you're keeping safe.

On the subject of "safe", I had a near miss yesterday with No 34. I wanted to move the tank forward on the work bench, this isn't usually a big issue at tall.

The issue was the switch on of the electrics.

I switched on the transmitter (8v showing), I switched on the tank, the turret started to rotate with no input from me . The transmitter sticks & trims were in neutral. I was able to switch the tank off before the barrel got me, my workshop is quite narrow. Standing clear I switched on again and all was well.

I am open to observations, suggestion as to why this happened (this is the first and I hope only time). I should mention the outer barrel wasn't fitted.

Cheers all

Charles