Steve,s Chieftain #46

[Steve Norris]

After a pleasant morning with my power file in the sun I have now got both hull sides and the nose casting flush.
One thing that is immediately obvious is that I will not be carrying the hull around for much longer, it’s already a very heavy lump of metal and very large to, (the Kingtiger seems a bit of a lightweight compared to this).

A bit of filler required to blend everything in and it should be ok

Regards
Steve

[John Clarke]

Mine's a joy to handle at the moment, easy to take to the garden back and forth for a good grind. Thought I nearly took a door frame out flitting from the garage Sunday.

I'd like to see more of your nose job Steve.

My front end's looking like a trout pout at the moment especially with the extra full width front plate look. It's going to be emotional trying to get that to look right with the front end casting.

I want too start from the back end as reference, not sure where the front casting plate will actually end up.

Paints drying at the moment on the rear end, I'll got to go and rummage in the boxes for some more bits now.

[Mark Russell]

Hi Steve noticing that you have “permanently” fixed the front casting in place, I made the same mistake, as I then realised that some or the ancillaries that fit onto the casting require fixing from underneath at the front and you cannot get to them once fixed down. They need to be fitted before securing the casting. Ie the top front lift/toeing eyes...

[Steve Norris]

Hi Mark
Thanks for the heads up about fitting the casting. I realised that there are some parts that would be better fitted first but with the mods I am doing I have to go down the route of permanently fixing the front plate. The 2 large lift points are in the wrong place anyway and are on my to do list for later, as for the smaller tow points I will figure out a installation method later but they will unlikely to be attached securely enough for towing.
Regards
Steve

[Steve Norris]

Hi John
The nose job is a work in progress at the moment.The basic idea was to attach a correctly (as near as I could figure) angled 5mm plate over the existing nose plate as you have done, then fill the void between the 2 with white metal (that was fun). The actual nose is then formed from a piece of L section glued and screwed to the nose plate and all blended with filler.
I will try to post some photos later.
Regards
Steve

[Steve Norris]

Ok here’s a couple of nose job photos, still a bit of refining to do but you get the general impression.

Head on, and I think I have managed to capture the distinctive V shape of the nose.

Side view, and the straight line when viewed normal to the nose plate has been achieved

A good texturing is still needed and the void between the casting and nose needs filling with Milliput, then the large weld added.

Regards

Steve

[John Clarke]

That's really very good

I guessed there'd be some work to do, wasn't expecting lug movements though.

I liked Stephen's version of the nose job, though I don't want to start taking too much metal from my newly fitted armor plate just yet.

It's a big lump to keep lifting in and out and it'll damage all my nice fender paint work doing it if I not careful.

(it's a tank!)

[Steve Norris]

Steady progress has been made over the last few days.

Nose section now complete with the exception of some cast texture which will be added later.

The upper nose to lower plate weld is now complete and a straight line when viewed normal to the nose plate

I have made a start on the suspension units which have turned out to be a long and messy process, lots of material to remove if you want full travel of the suspension arms.

I have Removed some material from the suspension arms to gain a bit of clearance between the arm and suspension housing.

Only a small amount of clearance needed

The main job is to remove a large amount of material from the inside of the suspension housings to make clearance for the springs.

A small amount was also removed from the top outer edges of the swing to gain a bit more clearance and reduce the amount of material needed to be removed from the spring housings

End result is full travel

I still have the forward spring housing dampers and arms to complete which involves more material removal to achieve full movement.
More later

Regards
Steve

[Steve Norris]

Has anyone got any detailed photos of the suspension housings ?
Regards
Steve

[andymusgrove]

Hi Steve

I took these at Bovington hope they help.

Keep up the good work - loving the posts out there.

Regards

Andy

[Steve Norris]

Thanks Andy
Yes those will help for the mid and aft stations, the forward stations have the dampers attached and are taller units so a bit more work required on these 2.
Will post photos when I have something to show, planning at the moment.
Regards
Steve

[Stephen White]

Steve, these might help:

[Steve Norris]

Thanks Stephen
That top illustration is what I was looking for.
Bit of work needed to get the forward suspension units looking something like.
Regards
Steve

[Steve Norris]

Whilst waiting for the primer to dry on the suspension units I decided to mount the exhaust box and ancillaries to the rear plate. The Chieftain really needs some forward planning (I have seen that written on another Chieftain thread) so hopefully I will not regret fitting these parts, before anyone asks, yes I did install the rear deck mounting bracket that sits behind the exhaust box.

The back end is now beginning to look the part

Back to the suspension

Regards

Steve

[Steve Norris]

Another little mod I have done is to the idler mounts, as supplied there is a large nut retaining the idler shaft. What I have done is remove the threaded stud and the drill and tap for a washer and countersunk M4 bolt.

Much easier to see what I have done with a photo, modified part on the left, as supplied on the right.

Regards

Steve