Armortek

g'day steve. awesome workmanship & display of skills. i have a set of bollards & bin latches as well. my standard kit build is going well just not as detailed as your. nice looking at yours and dreaming...

looking forward to aquiring the canvas mantlet stencil from you

keep it going.
ray

Amazing work Stephen!

kind regards
Tim

Tim - great to hear from you. Are you applying your magic to something at the moment? Stephen

Hi Stephen,

sterling work on the rear of the Cent so far, extreme detail. I love the vent set up and think it fills the void well. I have fitted plates to the underside of the vents as per the suez version in the Centurion in detail book, not sure if they are a blast plate or some other form of armouring.

Been away from the shop for a couple of weeks doing domestic things but should get back on track from this weekend.

Can't wait to see the next progress report.

Regards,
Mick

Thanks Mick. I believe the plates you mention aren't armoured and were fitted to prevent dust ingress in sandy conditions. All the early Cents had mountings for some sort of fitting under the rear decks but there is no mention in the Illustrated Parts Catalougue of what was fitted there. Apart from the Suez Cent, I haven't seen any photos of anything else fitted there, such as a grill. So for the Vietnam Mk 5/1, I've just replicated the mounting plate. Heaven knows why, as it will be all but invisible once I fit the external fuel tank. Oh well, at least I know it's there...... such is model making madness.

Regards

Stephen

Hi Stephen,

thanks for the input regarding the lower vent covers, They look fairly thick plates in the photos so I have replicated this from steel plate. I will post an image as soon as I get back in the shop.

The resistance soldered work looks very good, so much easier than complicated clamping set ups I imagine.

I know what you mean about adding detail that will be invisible when the model is complete. Are you making this Cent for display or a museum? The quality of the workmanship is fantastic.

Can't wait to put up my instant garden shed and start painting when the weather picks up a little.

Best regards,

mick

Thanks Mick. I fear the Cent will live like my Pz III under a sheet in the garage. I need a display cabinet like Simon Manning has.

Next project is to raise the hull top deck. (Why should Tiger owners have all the fun raising and lowering bits?)

The original had a top plate of 80mm so I decided to replace the kit top deck with 5mm plate and to enlarge it so that it sits on top of the hull sides and show the complicated interleaving of the plates front and back and the curved section supporting the turret ring:







The original top decks came in four sections. I've chose to split the front plate to get the correct 10 degree slope down to the glacis. First the rear plate:



Then the curved inserts:





Then the front plate:



Driver's hatch opening:



I had to make some support brackets to ensure that the driver's cab top cover sits at 10 degrees to the horizontal and hits the glacies at the right depth:







Overall result:





Some detailing and finishing to do but overall, a step forward.

Regards

Stephen

Wow,

some more really detailed work here, I am making a start on the hull painting but hit a snag with the spray set up. I think its too warm in the tent structure as it was sunny and the paint seems to be drying before it hits the metal. Will have a play with settings and work on cooler days.

I have found a seamstress who will make me a pattern for the mantlet cover and make the actual thing itself so I will update you all as soon as I have news.

Cant wait to see the hull modifications complete Stephen, keep up the good work,

Mick

Mick hi. One possible cause of your spraying problems, in addition to temperature, might be the spray pressure. Too low a pressure can cause the drying problem.

Good news about the mantlet cover. These are a selection of a lot of pictures Paul Scott sent me:
























All the best

Stephen

Hi Stephen,

many thanks for the spray advice, I am going to take your advice and try to alter the gun pressure. I have seen a pressure gauge which attaches to the gun to check pressure right there so will try that.

The mantlet cover photo's will be a real boon to my seamstress I am sure, I will print them off to show her ASAP. I see there is no ring around the barrel aperture, I thought there woyld be some form of re-inforcing ring but obviously not. I have seen covers with a metal ring but will have to check for reference. I will update the forum when I know more.

Work this weekend so no tank time, drat!

Will chat later,

Regards, Mick

Bits and pieces this weekend. Interior of the rear deck given a coat of Deep Bronze Green:





The rear lift lugs needed a small fillet to complete the line at the bottom:





The re-built upper deck primed and assembled:





Then some detailing. The real deck had external mounting bolts rebated and cut the openings for fuel and water fillers:



Started on the filler caps:







Ran out of time, as ever.

Regards.

Stephen

g'day steve. can i ask you for the measurements of your filler cap holes? i think mine are wrong even after double checking. 15mm holes 40mm in from side. is my paranoia correct, did i stuff it?

cheers
ray

G'day Ray. I'd say you were pretty well spot on. I had to extrapolate the dimensions from a photo so could be a bit out but used a 16mm slot drill for the holes, bored out the rebate to 23mm. The hole centres on mine are 46mm in from the sides but if anything that is too much. It's going to be a tight fit to position the lug for the hinge. I'd be happy with what you've got. Thanks for looking. Enjoy the build.

Stephen

always looking & always enjoying your build.

Ray - thanks for the photos. I've just machined a plug for the two holes and will re-locate the fuel caps according to your dimensions.

A couple of days of machining and hand shaping to get the basic bits for the rear fuel cap covers and the front water tank cover. They look a bit bare and need some cast numbers to finish. The two sorts of caps were a subtely different shape but thanks to some great photos from Paul Scott, I've been able to replicate the different patterns. I've machined the hinges and locking lugs with a 5mm spigot to make sure I can fix them robustly to the deck, as they are going to be functional.














Fitted the front water tank filler cover:





Regards

Stephen