Armortek

Great detail work: congratulations, Stephen!
Now I am waiting for the rest of your progress weekly as a compelling episode of my favorite show!

Ciao!

Ciao, Iacopo, your Pz III is looking pretty special.

Just some finishing work on the suspension housings. Still to do: the bump stops, which I'll probably cast.






I've had a production line going today to try and get ahead with the remaining housings:



Regards

Stephen

Hi Stephen.
Brilliant just brilliant the bar is going way high on this build.
Cheers Paul.

Hi Stephen,
Over the past couple of weeks I have been catching up on your build and it is absolutely outstanding, your build skill and your knowledge is mind blowing but very inspiring to a novice like myself.

David

Hi Stephen
That is a fine bit of production work you have
there.. It is a main source of interest looking at
what you will do next..

Out standing

Derek

Paul, David, Derek, thanks for the encouragement on this long haul build.

A short diversion on colour, entitled "Fifty Shades of Olive Drab". The Australian Centurions were painted in Olive Drab Lustreless, to a 1967 Australian standard, ADE(M) 146-1/1. Although there is one model enamel on the market which claims to be a good match, there is very little reference material available. It was such a distinctive hue that I wanted to get it right.

The paint is still made by Protec for the Australian Army but they wouldn't part with the spec, so I couldn't be sure the colour hasn't subtly changed over the years. Paul Scott very kindly supplied a swatch on aluminium which I had matched by 355 Restorations in UK. I still wasn't able to say for sure if the result was good. Now, thanks to Mike Cecil, the former Head of Military Heraldry and Technology at the Australian War Memorial, I've been able to compare the model with the original colour cards, which Mike kindly sent me.



In this shot, the colour card in the middle is Olive Drab Lustreless and below it is the sample from Paul:



In this shot, the colour card is Olive Drab Semi-Gloss to ADE(M) 146-1/3:



Interpretation? The colour is about right but it's closer to the semi-gloss rather than lustreless. It needs a flat coat to dull the finish - apparently that's consistent with a whole lot of stuff about "chromaticity" and "luminance" but hey, life's too short......

For anyone wanting the exact colour, in CIE x,y,Y it's: x = .358, y = .371, Y = 10.2%. Phew!

Back to filing and drilling.

Stephen

There were two types of Centurion Shock Lever Housings. The early type had the oil filler on top, the later ones moved the oil filler to the front and added a blanking plate. The housings were handed and interchangeable. Here are the oil fillers:



The blanking plate, fixed on and then blended in with epoxy:



Finished and fitted:





Regards

Stephen

What a treat! They look real .... congratulations, Stephen!

Travel has blighted the Cent this last couple of weeks but thanks to Mike Cecil, I've now got a much clearer handle on the fire extinguishers on Australian (and British) AFVs.

Up to about 1968, AFVs carried portable Methyl Bromide extinguishers, similar in shape to the wartime extinguishers but painted green and using the same brackets:



This is similar to the Armorpax one although that has some detail differences. Methyl Bromide was highly toxic in confined spaces and by 1968 (ie before deployment to Vietnam). had been replaced with BCF (Bromochlorodifluoromethane!!!). No problem measuring up one of these, this sits in the boot of my car:





In South Vietnam, from July 1970, a yellow bodied Quell extinguisher came into service, BCF also but needing a new bracket:



Finally, this is the modern equivalent on Paul Scott's tank:



Regards

Stephen

Made a start on the bump stops for the suspension housings:







A relatively simple bit of machining but with left and right handed versions needing six off each, I've decided to cast them in resin. Masters:







Regards

Stephen

Bump stops cast in resin and mounted:



(and I did realise I needed another four, once I'd put the resin kit away).









They didn't take too long, which might be a relief if they turn out to be totally invisible behind the roadwheels.....

Regards

Stephen

Hi Stephen
Nice work on the bump stops,looks great comparing it with your full size picture.
Cheers
Phil

Congratulations Stephen,
I think it will be a shame to mount the wheels to your tank, and then cover this incredible detail work!
I would leave it like that ... in maintenance!
Of course, I joke!
Good work!

Ciao,
Iacopo

Thanks Iacopo. Not much new to report after business travel and flogging through the rest of the suspension stations.

One thing I missed, despite several posts on the matter, was the small rebate on the final drive casing to avoid fouling the damper lever arms, so I've had to grind out the section rather roughly in situ:







Finally completed the basic suspension housings and applied some rolled plate armour texture to the remaining hull sides:





Now for base coat.

Regards

Stephen

Base coat of Olive Green Lustreless applied:













As soon as the mine threat in Vietnam became apparent, local modifications were made to carry spare roadwheels. Although initially hung from the 100 gall external tank, mounting brackets on the glacis were soon adopted. Their shape gave rise to the name "Omega Brackets".

One of the pleasures of this build is the outstanding support I'm getting from Australia, not least from members of the 1st Armoured Regiment Association, including former troop leaders and members of the crew of ARN 169064. Thank you gentlemen.

They were able to point out that the Omega Brackets went through three stages, level horizontal, vertical with the driver's side lower than the other (to improve view close in front) and vertical level. In the latter case, the brackets were 14.5" in from the side and 15" from the bottom.

When I originally chose to model ARN 169007, Buku Boom Boom, I positioned the brackets in the second style, vertical, one up, one down:





With the change to ARN 169064, Phuoc Me, I needed to level them. Had I not had advice, I would have raised the driver's bracket - wrong.... (sod's law with a 50:50 choice!)





As Kent would say, it's all in the details.

Regards

Stephen