00 FD 96 John's Main Contender

[John Clarke]

Thanks for the pictures Stephen, crisp and clear as usual.
I think I know where I can stick some numbers now on the Idler tensioners FV489354 left hand side and FV489355 or is it 352 right hand side. (Dam it) eni meani minei mo.
Either way they've got to go on the webs, no room on the flange....... as if anyone's gonna give a......
Still it will be a good game to play at a meet. Who can spot the most Flizzing Vexing numbers on the Chieftain.

Rivet counting for the numerically challenged.

Not being one to show off too much , I kinda like the big FV numbers on the turret roof.

Just seen a picture of the exhaust pipes, more .......FV numbers

[Mark Heaps]

I seem to remember that the ISPLs ( Ilustrated Service Part Lists ? ) not only gave the NSN ( NATO Stock Number ) and description, but also the FV number if the part was allocated one.
When demanding bits, we always provided the NSN and description. If the person on the other end typed in the NSN and got a different description then they would check they had entered the numbered correctly. If they had and the description still did not match then they would query the demand. Maybe two digits had been transposed when ordering.

There was a rumour that a QM of a Tank Regiment stationed in the middle of Germany was questioned why he was demanding a Nuclear submarine.

Mark

[John Clarke]

Easy mistake The QM probably wanted a "U bolt"

[Richard Goodwin]

Damn......those tensioners are looking real good!

[John Clarke]

Well the wheels of letters are in motion, I've had a word with the house pixies not to steal those tiny letters that jump like fleas when taking a knife to the spew. Not that there'll listen.
Having more trouble with the "F" than other letters, typical.
This is first time I've had a go at this and it was all that I expected and more. I know I'm dyslectic as you may have seen from my posts, but now I'm showing symptoms of tourette's after putting letters on upside down and in the wrong place.
I found the letters stuck better to the metal than to the paint, but that could be just down to my paint, Having dipped the letter in super glue, then wipe it slightly to remove the excess and then get the little blighter in place quickly.
3mm and 2mm letters ok but I'm dreading the 1mm letters.
For me, the casting numbers play a large part of the detail on Chieftain, I won't be able match the detail of others, so this is one line of detail I can manage. So where possible I'll have go.

Now where did I put those hubs?

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[Richard Goodwin]

Certainly looks the part John, just like the original! Didn't Stephen do a thing on numbering and how to fix?

[Stephen White]

John, probably far too late for this but here is my technique, born of many letters spread around irretrievably.

I pin the little B the letter firmly with a cocktail stick and cut it off with a sharp modelling knife. I then use the latter to pick it up and position it. Once I'm satisfied with 2 or 3 letters at a time, I put a dab of thin cyano down somewhere near with the cocktail stick. I then hit it with fixer before anyone can think of getting out of line. Works a treat, most of the time.

Stephen

[John Clarke]

Certainly sounds a good way if not the best way Stephen. Though I've never used a fixer, I think it usually comes as a spray and would be worried about blowing the letters away. the pixies seem to spirit enough of those away as it is.
I certainly did use the scalpel stab method and there's enough DNA off my fat fingers to prove the letters were set by me (who needs "Blue Water" anti theft marking). To do list buy some cocktail sticks.
Once I got going, it got easier and lets face it it doesn't have to be a calligraphy master piece. I'm sure the casting bods were not thinking about 1/6 models when they sand cast these bits and bobs. I worked in a foundry for 6 weeks before being layed off for being too safety conscientious.
I said some like "that looks dangerous, I'm not doing that"
Clock watching was the order of the day as most of the bods were on piece work.

I made some caps to cover the lock nut on the tensioner pivot shaft, they are locked to the nut so they turn with the shaft when the track is tensioned. I'll decide if I like them when I build up the hull.
When it comes to the letters too difficult to make out on the Chieftain pictures and there's no reference, I've had a bit of fun, my homage to "Full Metal Jacket", anyone remember "CND" it's on the "lefty side" of the web.
and on the other tensioner, homage to my terrible spiling on this forum

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[John Clarke]

Just about finished on the idler assembly, one thing that was tricky was the fitting of hub caps.
Screwing them on as tight as I could, they always left a gap of about 1mm+. just like the Bogie wheel hub caps. Though it was easy to sort out on the Bogie wheel hubs caps, The Idler wheel hub caps needed a rite good going over with the needle files.

Mind the gap.

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[John Clarke]

While I'm waiting for the paint to dry on the idlers.

I thought I'd share a "Proplexing Moment" (angle pun intended) a Bogie Mystery and I don't mean the Maltese Falcon.
Has anyone noticed that the Bogies are unidirectional. Meaning the leading swing arm on one of the tank side is the trailing swing arm on the other side of the tank.

Now because of the construction of the swing arms in each Bogie, one has (I will call them prongs) one prong and the other has two prongs supporting and compressing the spring assembly. The single prong allows full rotation of the swing arm and will hit the bump stop when fitted, but the other swing arm with two prongs will collide into the Bogie housing way before hitting the bump stop.

Which means travelling forward the tanks suspension can travel further on the left hand side compared to the right hand side.
or in reverse it's the other way round.

In reality, the model, it shouldn't make much difference due to the relative low speed.

But, there's a further restriction with the dummy damper pivot arms on the front Bogies, which will only allow so much suspension travel due to the limited length of slot in the linkage. Therefore If the front Bogie bottoms out it will be against the linkage and not the bump stop on either swing arm.

I have spent a fair amount of time looking at armortek tanks running around on the tube and it's clear most of suspension travel is on the front road wheels.

So I'm in the process of making a few minor alterations to the front Bogies so that they will have full suspension rotation on the swing arms allowing the bump stops to hopefully do their job.

This is not a life or death mod, it will just mean the front Bogies will be better balanced travelling forward.

Pictures show actual max visual travel angle and the simple mod to the front Bogie, right hand side two prong swing arm, I don't need to do the left hand side swing arm as I'm only interested in the forward motion. Both damper arms, both sides will need to be looked at I think.

Unless of course it's meant to be this way


Limited travel on the right hand side.

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The prongs hit the housing showing gap between bump stop.

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Fettle the prongs

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Linkage limiting swing arm travel.

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[John Clarke]

Finished routing the dummy shock absorber arms, now the front suspension swing arms have full rotation.

While I was rebuilding the front bogies, thought I might as well mod all the "double prongs" on all the bogies.

This tank is going to be as well balanced as I can make it. Forward and Reverse.

So of course, it will now be able to get out of trouble faster than it got into it.

The bogies all look happier now, check out the even smiles.

Even made the dummy inside swing arm shafts, good call Phil.

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[Charles A Stewart]

Hi John
As a Newby apprentice with this challenger(pun).

Thank you for your last posting. I was about to fit my suspension units to the hull this weekend. Between you and Phil, the guidance offered is reassuring given the outlay and what we wish to achieve as an end result.

So No.34 will strip down & sort suspension units, no offence intended but I might rework the the gun cradle as some point.

Again thanks for the advice.

Cheers all.

[John Clarke]

Hi Charles
What ever I do on this Chieftain model will be a first, so I'm in the same boat. I've rebuilt two Armoutek models and built one from the box.
This time I want to enjoy the experience of the build, I do have access to a lathe and small pillar drill although not at home, they are covertly used during quiet times.
I also know people who know people and with an appropriate bribe I might get some job's done that are well out of my league.
The Armortek Chieftain model can be built relatively straight from the box and as we have seen with an awesome paint job, it will look extremely good.
But If you want go that little bit further and savor the build, then the little details that can be easily added should be. (my opinion)
The gun cradle is a bit chunky, but with a bit TLC could turn into an even better looking piece.
Until the hull is built (after Xmas and I've got the option packs) I won't know if the suspension can travel like I think it does, but I do know there's nothing restricting it now.
It's Track day
I've taken the Lazy way out, leaving the track Au natural, but worried about real rust accumulating behind the rubber blocks, I decided to paint and protect with Hammerite. No under coat required, slap it on both track and block.
The track pins have been lavishly adorned with a dry ceramic lubricant which should give the track a long life. Each track will be dressed gently on both the inside sprocket slots as there is a small lip casting mark on many of my track links. This should ensure smooth track running round the sprocket.
I must add, I'm always thankful to Phil, Stephen and the all the other builders that ignites and sparks my imagination that adds to my build.

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[John Clarke]

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[John chamney]

Hi john tried to pm you but doesn’t seemed to have worked , just received chieftain number 42 which is the first armortek kit for me so want to try and achieve the best I can . Just looking on the forum to get ideas and think the small numbers and letters make the items really stand out , any chance you could let me know where you get them from , thanks.

Regards John