Novice Centurion tank builder

[Dave Nadin]

A very nice piece indeed, A novice no more, your work is gold standerd well done

[davidwilkins]

Hi all

For the next step I decided to make new loaders hatches, I was very unsure of the thickness of the hatches so I made them 4.7mm thick witch would make them 28.2mm thick on a full scale version. This is just a guess based on the on the roof being 30mm thick.
I also decide to try and make catches for holding hatches operate with some success.

I am now staring to look at the roof vent and the gunners sight, the gunners sight looks very complicated. The first part I made for this has gone straight in the bin.

David

[paul&robinmargle]

Another expert tank builder/fabricator
One thing you may need to check is that the rear half of the loader's hatch doesn't foul the commander's cupola ring. On the unmodified kit it doesn't open flat due to this.

Robin

[davidwilkins]

Robin, I just put the original hatches on the original roof and see what you mean but because I have made a larger roof there is just about enough clearance.

Thanks for your input.

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi All

Finally made the gunners periscope mount and fitted it to the roof. After looking at lots of photos of the cupola I have decided to make some changes to the shape, these changes are based on photos only and are mainly to do with the front angle of the cupola.

I have added a piece of aluminium to increase the vertical height before the deflection angle is cut, it was set at about 45degree but I have set it to 32degrees. I have also moved the 5 bolts in the front slightly forward. The top circumference has also been angled slightly by 5degrees. This is all guess work but looking at the end result and comparing to photos it does not look to far off

David

[Stephen White]

David, I've been so wrapped up in preparations for TankMOD that I haven't had chance to say how much I admire your Cent build. I'm always up for stealing good ideas from others and your build has given me lots of inspiration. I've noted a number of things to look at when I get to the turret, which won't be long now. Thanks for posting, it's really interesting stuff and a great build.

See you at Bovvy.

All the best.

Stephen

[davidwilkins]

Stephen

Thanks for the complements on my cent build I really appreciate your kind words. I am looking forward to the show and with over 100 models on show it will be really special day. It will be nice to see a few cents together and seeing your own masterpiece on display, I have just seen the work that you are doing on the 20 pounder truly outstanding attention to the detail on the counter weight lengths on the fume extractor.

After following your build, accuracy is one of the key areas that I want to improve on when I start my next project. As well as painting, weathering learning how to solder the list just gets longer.

Looking forward to seeing you at Bovvy.

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi All,

Progress has been slow since the show at the tank museum but I am moving forward. I have made few adjustments to some of the parts that I made for the turret roof after seeing the full size centurion, just reduced the size of the loaders catches and housing block for the Armoured cable from the smoke launchers.

I have started work on the inner cupola, trying to decide what upgrade to attempt was hard enough but I have made a start. Before I started on this I was not been happy with the way the cupola base lines up with the turret roof on the outside curve on the right hand side. So after speaking to Stephen White about this I decided to remove the over sized part of the roof in this area.(Stephen many thanks for the photo and advice)

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi all,

It has been a very frustrating since my last update as most of my work has ended up in the bin. The cupola details are very difficult to make and to look right. Thanks to a photo from Stephen White I decided to make a different approach, to make a new centre piece for the inner cupola.

I am not sure if this is going to work but it is looking ok so far, I will not machine the armortek cupola to fit new centre that I am trying to make until I have finished it, so that I still have options to try again.

Regards

David

[Chris glover]

Nice work as usual David!
I'm thinking of suspending work on my Cent gun tank and getting started on the arv for the winter.
Chris

[davidwilkins]

Chris,

Thanks for your kind words, good luck with your ARV build.

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi all,

I have been working on the hinge to the cupola hatch and I am fairly pleased with the result, the hatch opens and there is clearance for the periscope and the protection bracket above.

There is a huge amount of work on the cupola and although all my work is guess work based on photos, I now feel a bit more confident that I am heading in the right direction.

Regards

David

[Christian Steinhauer]

Hello David,

nice work on the cupola.

[Chris glover]

Nice work David

Chris

[Stephen White]

David, watching with interest. Great, innovative work.

One small point, re the outer chamfer. You've got the mounting lugs for the cupola hatch undercut by it but I wonder whether this photo suggests a flatter profile?



Sorry not to be of more help but I'm a long way below the top of the turret for now, deep amongst the hull bins.

All the best and thanks for posting, very interesting and inspiring.

Stephen