Armortek

Looking Good
Chris

Outstanding!
One other point about annealed alu, it tends to "grab" tooltips and drill bits, so lots of lube when doing secondary machining....
Cheers, Fabrice

Stephen, This is an amazing build, the quality of your build is excellent. I love the level of detail on this tank, keep it going.

yours
Martin

Hi Stephen,

This is truly a masterpiece in the making. I think Lacopo hit the nail with the word "versatility" but not only that, you seem to master new things from the word go. Almost every time I look you´ve tried something new with great results - an inspiration for us all (I still remember your fantastic Panzer III).

How do you compare silver soldering with brass/steel with alu soldering now that you have done some pieces? How thin alu plates can be used?

Love to see more exciting posts during 2015.

Per

Thanks all for the feedback. Per, I enjoy testing new materials and techniques and it doesn't always go right. Here is what happens with too little heat:



Once I'd had some practice, I found the technique quite able to produce neat welds:



It's still rather overkill for what we do and is far less controllable than say silver soldering, due to the much higher temperature needed (over 350 dec C). It's best suited to structural work such as joints between large components of roughly equal size. The problem of differential heating would be difficult to handle with adding small details. That's why I've chosen to use Loctite 3460 for some non-structural parts.

Once the joints are cool, they are much stronger than the surrounding material. I thought with a complex assembly like the fuel tank that putting later parts on would run the risk of unsoldering earlier joints but it really doesn't seem to be a problem. Joints have a grip even when parts of the alloy are molten. There is a bigger problem with distortion and thinner sections becoming soft and pliable. I found for example that the back plate was beginning to bow but it was easily manipulated back into true. With silver soldering, I've had to use a resistance soldering machine to overcome the problem.

Per, I've done all this with 2.5mm thick sheet. I suspect with thinner pieces, the distortion problem and the potential to reach the melting point of aluminium are greater. I will be trying some 1.30 mm sheet soon and I'll let you know if I manage to vaporise it.

Overall, the brazing rods work as advertised and provide a means of joining aluminium where welding isn't available.

Last panels, back and bottom fitted:



Trial fit:










Regards

Stephen

Stephen, your long range fuel tank is becoming a mini masterpiece in its own right.
Great stuff, still following your posts in awe.
Kevin

With the hard graft of doing the major assembly, it's now pure pleasure in doing the detailing and finishing. Added the top and side mounting gussets and welds, the panel for the re-fuelling deck, the two lifting eyes and the bump stops for the re-fuelling deck cover. It's starting to look a bit more complete. All this detailed work is so much easier with the drawings Allan Bower has provided, based on the photos and dimensions from Paul Scott (so Australia for the photos, New Zealand for the drawings and UK for the model making - an international effort. The Armortek community is great.













Best regards

Stephen

Fantastic

Very impressive, which is to be inspected following your previous work and eye for detail.

Regards

Dave

Stephen,
Just a tiny point Allan may have overlooked, the blocks aft of the refuelling hatch are asymmetric , the left-hand one not being in-line with the edge of the refuelling hatch, but slightly more outboard. Have a look at Paul's photos.
Probably easier to fix now than when painted...
Cheers Fabrice

Well spotted Sir - your eye for detail is on form! Thanks for that, as you say, easy to change. It shall be done.It begs the question though "why?" Yet another peculiarity of the beast. All the best. Stephen

Stephen.
Always interesting how the presumption of function can drive photo-interpretation. The blocks may not both be bump-stops as Allan shows in his drawing. Also the angle of the top edge of the blocks is not parallel to the top plate. I recall we discussed some of this when we last met. Perhaps something else was to be bolted over the top, stowage bin/basket or space armour? Ask our friends down-under!
cheers Fabrice

A real feast for the eyes!
Congratulations, Stephen!

Fabrice's observations unlocked a fascinating exchange with my Centurion network in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Between Allan Bowers doing the drawings in NZ and Paul Scott with his restored tank in Australia, Mike Cecil, Cent expert, in the USA, Rip Riley, Bruce Cameron and David Hay in Australia who crewed Cents in Vietnam, we may have found one more piece of the jigsaw. Fabrice is quite correct in noting that the so called bump stops are mounted asymmetrically and the tops slope down towards the rear:





There didn't seem to be any obvious answer to Why? They're not bump stops for the fuel filler cover as we originally thought because they're in the wrong place. In Vietnam, they were used to secure metal stowage boxes but that was clearly not their original purpose. Rip Riley found an AVLB with a spare roadwheel on the fuel tank:



But this photo suggests studs were welded on to secure roadwheels:



The AVLB may though provide the answer:



The AVLB carried two centre deck sections on the external tank:



And they're stowed asymmetrically, mirroring the position of the blocks:



So for lack of any other explanation, the two mysterious blocks are probably mounting fixtures for AVLB centre sections and nothing to do with a Cent Gun Tank. None of which contributes one jot to building the model but we enjoyed the research and unlocked a bit more history. The modifications were simple and I took the opportunity also to shorten and thin the lifting eyes which were a little oversize:









Regards

Stephen

Stephen,
Great detective work. Kudos to all the sleuths who contributed!
cheers, Fabrice