Armortek

It's a red letter day today, a small package arrived from California with the bomb load for the tank, well, two rounds anyway. Tim - they're magnificent, thanks so much. Otto is happy although judging by his face, he keeps his opinions to himself.

Mr Bowman's magic:





Thanks again Tim - great.

Regards

Stephen

Decided to make the latches to scale:

The brass plate bottom right worked with a pin on the latch to limit travel:



Turned blank for the handle:



Installed latch:



Five more to go.......

Regards

Stephen

Hi Stephen. I guess the Panzer IV I was looking at had numbers rubbed off or were lost under layers of paint. I didn't find any in some of the other areas I expected to find them.

Stephen,

Couldn't help noticing Otto's boots still look a tad...um...well..."glam rock". More Abba than Abteilung

Dunk him in the leftovers when you are next weathering the turret, then he will look really at home. Man and machine, united in filth!

cheers, Fabrice

lovely work stephen, and your posts fabrice always worth a read, informative and amusing, regards simon manning.

Fabrice - must have been a Guardsman with all that bull.

Decided to infill the hatch hinges as without it there is a great black hole behind the hatch which is very visible from both front and back::









Made a start on the vision ports. I'd intended to use the Armorpax parts, which are great, but they are significantly undersize (Dave, hope you don't mind me commenting):



Regards

Stephen

Moving on with the side doors detailing. Trial fit of the new vision block exterior armour:



Manufacture of new vision block interior mountings:









Addition of the working clamp for the Glasblok cover:


More to follow.

Best regards

Stephen

Hi Stephen

Amazing work!

Thanks to you, I am now convinced I must make new doors for the Panzer IV.

Kindest regards
Tim

Stephen nice machining work on the port covers. They look excellent. Amazing detail you are putting into this P3. Best regards,
Bob

More work on the vision ports for the side hatches. The Glasblok mountings installed:



Fabrication of the Glasblok retaining covers:







Addition of catches:



Finally, I made a set of resin copies to assess feasibility:



I've now done a trial run with the water clear resin for the Glasblok. A video on youT likens the MEKP accelerator to the fuel used in the Me 163, which was notorious for spontaneous explosion, so standby.....

Regards

Stephen

Stephen,

These are beautiful!

Nice work, again, again,again!

Thanks for showing us how it is done!

The side hatches are finally pretty much done.

I used water clear resin for the Glasbloks and wasn't very happy with it. Apart from the handling difficulties (toxic, inflammable, stinks etc), the mix is very critical, the surface left a pronounced meniscus and it is volatile so the mould needs good sealing. Despite using RTV silicone, one of mine leaked and nearly ruined the part. In the end, I kept the water clear resin for the cupola optics but removed it from the side hatches and used clear acrylic. Maybe someone with more experience will speak up for it:








Finished the locking handles which inevitably differ from those on the other hatch:





Added the locking hasps:




Final mounting with the rain gutters restored:










Regards

Stephen

EL SUPREMO, MAGNIFICO, regards simon manning.

Stephen,
wow the door hardware looks like a real tank! Super job. Can't say it enough.
Bob

Stunning Stephen!

Looks spot on like the real thing and it is hard to see it is a model and not 1:1.
I am not worthy this hobby!

Kind regards
Kent