Armortek

Travelling still, so no build updates this weekend but continuing on the theme of detailing the back deck, I'd like to share some stunning 3D modelling from Allan Bowers who is creating a virtual Cent to help with his RAAC Cent. Allan has done the basic hull:



We've been corresponding about the engine decks and here are Allan's stunning virtual models, with interiors:











The second and fourth decks have a longitudinal welded fitting for the wading kit and the cross piece has three bolt holes. Those on the remaining decks have four. Allan's models show this brilliantly.

Best regards

Stephen

Normal service resumed after travel.

This is the Warco Formit, which I use for bending, cutting/shearing and rolling sheet metal. The interior fittings of the engine decks would have been tricky without it:



With Allan Bower's fine drawings to hand, I completed the last intake cooling air baffles and added the wading kit mounting rails, noting that Allan had spotted the different number of holes on the two narrower intermediate decks:







Allan has also made a 3D rendition of the transmission decks:







The outer decks are actually slightly wider than the centre three, something that only emerged in building the 3D model but confirmed from measurements. These subtleties are give a fascinating insight to the production complexities of a 1950s piece of technology.

Only the lifting handles and resilient rails to complete, then prime and paint.

Regards

Stephen

For the very small tack welds on the wading weldware fittings, Milliput and CX5 would be too crude. I've to thank Fabrice for the solution, 3D fabric paint, which can be squeezed straight from the bottle in very fine amounts. It isn't very robust, so is best used where the weld is protected but it is very quick and effective:





Coming to the end of a section is always an interesting time - it's the first chance to see the final, overall effect of the details as a whole, to see which bits work and which are best forgotten. With the base colour on and a coat of lustreless varnish, applied, time to mount the deck hinges and sit back:













Regards

Stephen

well done stephen, getting some paint on is always satisfying, the build is looking good. regards simon.

Hi Stephen
That looks more real than a real one.

Derek

After a week away, I came back yesterday to continue installing the engine decks. The tools were exactly where I'd left them. The remaining hinges and roll pins were however, missing. I spent all of yesterday and some of this morning searching high and low for them, convinced I'd forgotten maybe that I'd perhaps put them somewhere safe. Having wasted the best part of a day and a half of precious build time, I was in a foul mood. To lighten the gloom, my wonderful wife produced that Englishman's comfort in difficult times, a cuppa. It was then that I saw it.....



A muddy trail leading into the sub-woofer? Didn't seem right. A thought began to crystallise, I'd noticed one of our cats, taking a bit of an interest in this corner a while ago but dismissed it as Lil's well known behavioural disorder. On opening the back of the speaker, this is what I found:





Hinges, roll pins, a jar of acrylic paint, some largish chunks of aluminium, various set screws and nuts. Was this creature running a covert secret weapons programme? Or maybe just jealous of Armortek? And what short of creature can lug a large paint pot into a speaker?

Our cats, of course, are totally useless. My wife lives with the charming delusion that they catch mice. Truth is, the mice they "catch" started out in the garden and their enforced re-location inside is entirely due to the cats. Well, the speaker is now protected with gaffer tape. Doesn't do much for the sound quality but the mouse will have to find another workshop for itself.

So, after an enforced delay, the decks are mounted and painted:






Next, a start on the remaining gun depression rails:





I'm off to find a mouse trap..

Stephen

Stephen
Having countless nuts and rivets hit the floor over the last couple of weeks some trained klepto-mice to pickup and then place them in a suitable container would be fantastic. I think you should breed them and select for this enhanced trait, put me down for a small family in a couple of years time. "Retrieving Mice for the 'where did I leave that' "
Steve

BTDT and have the mouse poo to prove it

Mind you, not that I'm a scatologist or anything, but that looks like Squirrel to me. Mouse poo is about the size of a grain of rice, and they wee continuously as well. Bleaugh

If I may just derail the thread further, I've just kitted the workshop out with these interlocking floor tiles:
Surprisingly, they make just walking around, and especially kneeling, in the workshop so much easier. They absorb sound and provide thermal insulation as well.

Another benefit is that they are just squidgy enough to absorb the impact of something being dropped, so rather than bouncing off the hard concrete floor into some long forgotten corner, things tend to stay where they're dropped. Now, if I could just learn to stop dropping things...

Anyway, back to Stephens Centurion, which is looking superb. Can't wait to see it in the Aussie-like sun of TankFest next year.

Adrian.

Stephen, those depression rails - are you still using your resistance soldering tool, or more conventional methods ?

Adrian.

Simon, Derek, meant to thank you for taking the trouble to comment. Apprecaited as ever.

Adrian, yes still using the resistance soldering kit. These rails would be very difficult and frustrating with conventional soldering irons. The issue is the ability to apply heat very locally where you want it without heating the piece so generally that previous joints are compromised. With conventional soldering, you can to some extent overcome the issue by using solder of different melting points but the risk is still there. With resistance soldering, you can apply heat very specifically in both time and place and - a crucial difference - work holding is easier because the caliper tool can be used to hold the part being applied. I use the single probe and croc clip tool for seams and the caliper for applying small parts to the assembly.

For work holding, I use a base of steel, covered with a piece of card, and rare earth magnets.

Those mats are great too. By the way, if what you thought was mouse poo really was, I'd be seriously worried. They're actually some form of seeds from the garden. Must have been stocking up the larder for winter.

Stephen

Hi, After scrabbling about all over my garage/work shop floor looking for dropped tank parts that have vanished off the planet. I now realise they were falling on some cats head in Australia. You didn't find 2 Tiger 1 stowage bin catches by the way?
Cheers Jeff.

Jeff - this guy was after bigger booty than bin catches - you've not lost a couple of roadwheels by chance?

Anyway, I've locked the cat in the shed overnight. She can earn her living for once.

Stephen

Enjoying the surreal vistas opened up by this thread.
Picturing be-goggled mouse in swarf-encrusted papier-mâché cupola singing (like Alvin)

"I got it one piece at a time and it didn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style, I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is around...
..Uh, what model is it?
Well, it's a '42-'44-'57 PanzerCom-Tu-Ri-On!"

With all respects to Johnny Cash ( and Stephen of course)

Cheers,Fabrice

A bit of work on the insides of the decks to make them sit absolutely flat and then the mountings for the hull gun depression rails. Same format is before, made up from brass sheet, using the resistance soldering kit and various grades of solder. Straightforward but fiddly. Using rare earth magnets to hold bits has been a godsend - not sure how I'd have done it otherwise.















Mice one, Fabrice.

Regards

Stephen

Good evening Stephen,

I have been following your build with interest and I would like to say that your work and your eye for the details is fantastic. I have just started my road on the Armortek path with the 25 pounder, on which I hope to learn the art of working with a metal kit. Looking at your build and others, and once I have completed the 25 pounder and limber, I hope to get a Centurion kit, but this may have to wait until Mark produces the next batch.

Good luck with the rest of the build, and I hope your cat catches your mini hoarder.

Regards

Dave