Steve,s Chieftain rebuild

[John Clarke]

Oh that's a shame on the original part supplied Steve, I was hoping to carve it up to honor the term at work "something from nothing".
Humm, Cladding seems to be the order of the day then Still, I've got my Parelli tape measure, I'll make it stretch
I guessing the batteries were bit weak on the slide rule when they measured up for Chieftain back in the day (2019)
Have you got any sizes or is it the Mk1 eyeball and a rule of thumb (may have a problem there)

[Steve Norris]

John, the basic box structure of the sight measures 42mm x42mm, it is a combination of mk1 eyeball, Takom Chieftain and Armortek kit shape made to look something like what is fitted to the original tank.
Charles, thanks for the photos and dimensions, this will help tremendously, I may have to adjust the dimensions slightly so that it looks correct against the sight.
Regards
Steve

[John Clarke]

Thanks, Steve for the gunners sight sizing, bang on target

[Vince Cutajar]

Was in the mood of a little 3D modelling. The MRS body should be standing on four circular spacers (which I haven't done yet) but I still think that the MRS body should be higher. Anybody have info?

Vince

[Charles A Stewart]

Hi Vince.

You could have the answer to a head scratcher for a few folk I suspect, me included.

Good work.

Cheers

Charles

[John Clarke]

Very impressive Vince, now if only I could sand cast.

[David Battson]

Steve,
Great work on the turret so far, some really good looking details.

Vince,
Does the attached help ?

[Steve Norris]

Vince’s gunners sight is now fitted, I had to add some filler to square up the turret in front of the sight otherwise the armoured shutter would have a gap below it when closed.

The armoured cover for the sight in its closed position,the turret needs a bit of filler to get the gap bellow the shutter even.

The shutter open, I have hollowed out the internals of the sight housing and added a scratch built sight with a clear lense.

I am going to use my own MRS housing rather than Vince’s as the mounting points on the turret have been added and don’t fit Vince’s MRS. My sight has also been made to accept a red LED.

Vince’s MRS and mine together. Very little difference size wise apart from the mounts. Vince’s MRS has better detail but requires work to accept a LED

Bit of tarting up around the sight and MRS and this area should be done.

Regards

Steve

[Vince Cutajar]

Good to see you received the bits and pieces.
Did you have any problems assembling the gunners sight?

Vince

[Steve Norris]

Hi Vince.
Thank you for all your effort producing these beautiful parts.
The sight went together very easily with just a slight bit of sanding required to get the shutter mechanism to move easily. I also did a bit of grinding on the bottom edges to allow it to sit correctly.The biggest job was on the turret itself where I had to widen the rebate for the sight and square up the area below the closed shutter.
Really pleased with the results so far, just a bit of final detailing to do.
Regards
Steve

[Steve Norris]

It’s been a while since I posted any progress shots of my chieftain, so just to prove things are happening here’s where I am up to at the moment.

A few more details to add

The light housing door has a servo to open and close it

Phil Woolard supplied me with a very nice comanders sight

The commanders coupola looks very good with the Armorpax updates

The next major bit is the NBC housing and interior details.

Regards

Steve

[Vince Cutajar]

Steve, just out of curiosity, what sort of glue are you using to attach the plastic parts to the turret.

Vince

[John Clarke]

Nice Job Steve, liking the all the hatch latches Time takes it's toll on all the fine detail.

[Steve Norris]

Hi Vince,
Sorry for the late reply, I’ve not been keeping up to date with the forum recently. In answer to your question I’ve used superglue for small parts and the casting numbers, the gunners sight, MRS and IR detector are attached using Araldite metal 2 part epoxy glue.

John,
I thought the turret would be relatively quick but six months in I still have a way to go.

Now I wonder if anyone can help me with some detail photos of the following

What lives under this hatch ? As it has hinges I think I need to add some detail inside.

The same goes for the NBC pack, I have some photos but not enough to add the detail I want.

Regards

Steve

[Charles A Stewart]

Hi Steve

Any use?

Cheers

Charles