Armortek

Many thanks for those photos Steve

Some more progress. more words when I have been fed and watered.

Busy day in the workshop.

still loving every second of this build Phil, amazing work and so many hints and tips for those of us less gifted. Thankyou on behalf of the forum as a whole, those of us with Chieftains to build in particular.

As for the sidelights...... “yes please”, obviously

Cheers
Kevin

"At present the turret touches the rear deck"

That's because the kit hull is raised in the area of the engine covers. On the real Chieftain, it's only the transmission decks which were raised, in order to accommodate an increased capacity exhaust system. If anyone chooses to enhance the accuracy of the model, it will require "engine deck lowering" - sounds familiar to anyone who built one of the first Tiger models?

Cheers Kevin and I will post the side light pics tomorrow, Stephen Ivano will have a fit with any less room for the engine!
Oh I found this photo of the rear bin. The photo caption refers to the "red lead" stowage bin lid and interior.
I'm looking for a good photo of the front lights wiring route if anyone has any I would be so grateful!

Stephen White wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 14, 2020 6:24 pm

"At present the turret touches the rear deck"

That's because the kit hull is raised in the area of the engine covers. On the real Chieftain, it's only the transmission decks which were raised, in order to accommodate an increased capacity exhaust system. If anyone chooses to enhance the accuracy of the model, it will require "engine deck lowering" - sounds familiar to anyone who built one of the first Tiger models?

I once worked for an engineer that would pace out a wiring job. He thought one stride was a meter, we worked it out it was only a yard.

For a leaving present we gave him a quality tape measure with the first inch removed.

So,I'm buying more kebab's then?

This is probably a daft question Phil but have you got the spacer ring and toothed drive ring attached to the turret? It seems to me you only need the height of the spacer ring to clear the deck.

I don't think putting the spacer either side of the toothed ring would make any difference if that's what your saying Richard.

During Youngjae's build, he wrote

"I put a turret in the tank body today.
At first, I made it like a manual, set it up, then turned the bolts and turret that secure the wedge rails and leveled the turret at about 20ea of 5mm washers before I realized that the interference would go away and spin very smoothly."

If we look at his super clear pictures we can see what appears to be long set screws, nuts and spacers attaching the toothed ring and spacer to the turret, Lifting the turret 5 mm off the bearing ring.

Seeing the turret fitted, we can now see the gap generated by the spacers
By shaving some material off the underside of the rear of the turret I'm sure you'll be able to clear the deck like with the Armortek build. The gap between the turret to the front plate armor is a lot less. I also noticed that the turret roof plate is slightly bent upwards allowing the whole bustle to be lifted at the back end, a little more clearance needed possibly? Or just change the rear deck like Stephen suggests.

We also need to reduce the thickness of the drivers hatch too!

Oh yes, the "Slab" that should be fun.
Once it's been thinned out, the lifting bolt/shaft will be more exposed.
In the model boat world you can buy small rubber bellows units quite cheaply on fleabay
Put in search or something like it.

Rubber Bellows Fittings RC Boat 2pcs Push Rod Seal Radio Kit Replacement Parts

Ideal for the hatch lifting bolt/shaft cover bellows. Put a light spring inside the bellows and you have a pop up hatch!
You could use one of your latches to hold the hatch down too.

They look good, I will take a gander see below John I have cut the drivers hatch down, please note the section is tapered, thicker at the front thinner at the rear, or is it the other way round? Now the recess needs sorting out.

Hi All

Out of curiosity I had to test fit my turret, all looks ok.
The gap is small but there is clearance for the rear of the turret. I have not used any extra spacers

Regards

Hi Phil,

Great looking build by the way, I hope my build turns out as good, I don't have the machinery to attempt any of the really extensive mods on the hull.

Regards

Hi Shaun, maybe keep an eye on the clearance issue as you add more parts, you may be lucky but it's no big deal, I shall remove some of the underside of the turret or add shims ....what ever seems more appropriate.
The side lights.