Novice Centurion tank builder

[davidwilkins]

Christian & Chris, Thanks for the complements.

Stephen, Thanks for posting another great photo, I will look to see if I can improve this area. I think I can shave a bit off the vertical part of the hinge, I will also look to see if I can shave a bit off the horizontal surface.

I think these 2 options might improve its general layout, again many thanks for your input.

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi all,

Making slow progress on the cupola, I have shaved a bit of material off the sides of the hinges and off the horizontal surface and I think this has helped to improve the overall appearance of the cupola. I have made some periscopes and will try to fit some clear polycarbonate sheet to replicate the glass lens.

I have also painted the detachable turret roof and I am pleased with it's fit.

Regards

David

[Chris glover]

Nice work David. I do like those larkspur bases!
Chris

[davidwilkins]

Hi All,

It has been a difficult few days working on the cupola as the more work that I carried out on the cupola the more I felt it was going in the wrong direction.. It was at this point that I decided to fit my cupola centre to the armortek cupola centre, I managed to get a good fit but the more I looked at it the more I felt that I had made a big mistake with the width of the rubber seal that I had made. I felt very disappointed at this stage so I had few days break from this part of the build to have a bit of time to think about this issue.

Because I had used white plastic to replicate the rubber seal this highlighted my mistake so I decided to paint this part to see if it would blend in a bit better.
It has helped a bit and I think I will leave it as it is as I can no longer fit the original cupola unto my lathe chuck or rotary table chuck.

I have learnt a lot about using a milling machine on this part of the build and the one thing that I regret is not having DRO fitted when I purchased the machine, so that's another lesson learnt the hard way.

Regards

David
:

[davidwilkins]

Hi all,

Making slow progress with the cupola, I have been working on the machine gun mount and had some success with most of the brackets. The one bracket that I am struggling with is the bracket that machine gun locks into, I have one drawing and I have seen a few photos on the internet but I am struggling to interpret the details of this bracket.

There are a lot of links and plates to this bracket so I have just made a basic slot bracket for now, perhaps when I have more skills and a better understanding of this part I might be able to improve it.

Merry Christmas to you all

David

[Stephen White]

This may help, David:





The handle at the top folded down to allow the commander to fire remotely from under armour. It was a pain in the (insert any appropriate part of the anatomy) and was generally binned in service.

All the best.

Stephen

[davidwilkins]

Stephen,

Many thanks for the photos they will be a great help, this bracket is very complicated but a least I now know what the handle is for.

Following your detailed build of the cent bins I have made a list as long as my arm on all the tools and bits and pieces that I will need for when I purchase the soldering tools to try and make complex parts like this bracket.

I am hoping to start learning this new skill early in the new year.

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi all,

After studying the photos of the machine gun bracket provided by Stephen I decided to try again and I think I have made reasonable progress. There is still a lot of work to be done but I think it is going in the right direction.

I have also finally found some material that will act as a rear reflector and it seems to do the job, if I find something better later on it will be easy to change as it was only some kind of sticky back plastic about 0.5mm thick.

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi all,

Still working on the machine gun bracket, I am finding it very hard to interpret how it was made but I think I am on the right track. I now have purchased some brass sheets and bars from Knupfer and was very impressed with the service and quality and it is all in metric which is a big bonus, so now I will start to look at making the ammunition box bracket.

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi all,

Decided to try and make the handle for remotely operating the machine gun from inside the turret, now need to make a small bracket to hold it in position.

I have made a vain attempt at making the vane sight I think this is a reasonable result following the photos that I have. Now it is backed to the ammunition box bracket for the machine gun.

David

[Frank Breitenbach]

Hello David
Like every time perfect details. You are really a novice...
Regards
Frank

[davidwilkins]

Hi Frank,

Thanks for your kind words. I really did consider myself as a novice when I started out on this build as I had never used a milling machine before and my knowledge of tanks was very small.

Also what I have not shown is the amount of parts that have ended up in the bin A lot of credit has to go to this forum with all the advice and help that I have received.

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi all,

Still working on the .30 cal mount bracket, I decided to remake the U bracket for the machine gun so that it is now a few mm higher so that it can now get enough depression to be able to shoot directly in front of the tank. It is nearly finished just waiting for a few new tools to arrive so that I can finish making the long bolts.

I have fitted the tools and the new towing cables and I think my centurion is really starting to take shape, I am hoping the weather will warm up soon so that I can get these parts painted.

I have also stated to build a storage trolley for my models, my aim is to be able to store 3 large models on this trolley but it will be on casters so that I can move it around in my workshop.

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi all,

It has been a while since my last update as a couple of other jobs got in the way of tank building. I have now painted and fitted the cupola and I am fairly pleased with the result. I have also tried to paint some identification markings on my model but this airbrush painting is a skill out of my league. This is the reason I decided to paint my model as it was newly delivered to the army.

Regards

David

[Sam Hough]

Wow!