Armortek

Without words.....

i get confused over which i the model & which is real sometimes. can i assume you're a qualified fitter & turner who is now retired.

Ray, Denny Patterson will be chortling over your comment!
Stephen has Retired from a career in the Army. He is someone who has, I believe, primarily taught himself, and now has the time and patience to achieve these stunning results. Plus, is happy to pass on inspiration to others.
Steve

Paul, Simon, Phil, Derek, Iacopo, Ray, Steve thanks for your kind comments. As ever, I appreciate them very much. Ray, as Steve says, I've had no training in model engineering but I have made full use of the excellent material on YouTube and various books and articles and then I've gone off to a quiet corner and learnt by my many mistakes. Who said "I'm improving, one mistake at a time"?

I've just been catching up with various details before starting the next mini-project. Firstly, the AN/PRC-25/77 manpack radio needed to have the Dragon supplied AT-892/PRL-24 3 ft semi-rigid steel tape "Bush-whip", replaced with the AT-271A/PRC 10 ft (3.0 m) multi-section whip "Static" Whip-a-way rod AE:



I decided against making it assembled because it would be just too fragile, so chose to make it folded:







I also tidied up the radio interface and added labels:





Forming tool for the grab handles (the kit ones were a little oversize):







A package arrived from Knupfer with the cupola rotation handwheel and the 3mm butterfly nuts for the gunner's sight hood:





Regards

Stephen

Just working my way through a number of small fittings on the turret, while the final drawings for the turret bins are being completed by Allan Bowers in New Zealand.

Don 10 cable reel mount:



I don't intend to make the cable reel itself as it doesn't appear in any of the photos I have of 064 in Vietnam. I suspect Don 10 cable was carried by the crews to allow them to remote a handset to dismounted OPs or to the tank basha but the cable reel took up a lot of space in the basket which was at a premium once rations, personal kit and large quantities of water were stowed. It was SOP for crews to carry sufficient extra water to provide for an engine change in the field.

Forward Larkspur radio antenna mount:







Cable conduit for the right hand MBSGD (multi-barrelled smoke grenade discharger):





Early in the RAAC deployment to Vietnam, the MBSGD and mounting brackets were removed as they were unnecessary and the mountings were very susceptible to damage in dense foliage. At the time I'm trying to represent, (July-Oct, 1969), 064 had the MBSGD themselves removed but the mountings and cable conduits were still present:

Tank Museum Mk 3 with full MBSGD:



064 in June 1969 with MBSGD removed but mountings still present:



064 in 1970 with MBSGD mounts cut off:



Regards

Stephen

Many thanks Stephen for sharing your inspirational build and historical pics,
DW

Thanks David.

Completing the MBSGD cable conduits and the conduit for the inf/tank telephone cable:









Next is the Larkspur radio antennae bases. These are made of a flexible rubber and I intend to replicate this with a silicone casting. First is to create a master:









Next, to create the mould with General Purpose RTV Silicone:







Now wait forever for the silicone to cure.....

Regards

Stephen

After 24 hrs, the RTV had finally cured. It's probably at the end of its shelf life, lesson - buy smaller quantities. I then cast the two AE bases, using Polytek Poly PT Flex 50 PU rubber. I remember the much missed Mike Stannard telling me that he'd used the wrong rubber making prototypes for me and they were too flexible. I chose a Shore A50 hardness rubber and it's just about right, flexes but holds the AE upright. I cast the bases with the brass antenna mounting tube embedded:







Next to fabricate the mounting collar and the wingnut fitting which secures the AE:



AE bases mounted and painted. The AE themselves represent the Larkspur 8ft rods and are made from 1mm carbon fibre rod:







One more job ticked off.

Regards

Stephen

Brilliant.
Now can you make some German aerial bases
Regards
Steve

Hi Steven,

superb details as always! Is the antenna socket flexible now?

Nice try, Steve but I think Mr Dibb might have something to say about that...! Günther, yes, the base is flexible but supports the antenna upright. I think the Shore A50 hardness is about right for this application:



Stephen

Hi Stephen,

Fantastic job, did you have any issues with cure times or mix using the black pigment? Your castings look great! I had issues initially in my trials with the mounts tearing after a while when flex testing them, these look like they hold up well. I may have to try the polytech resin if its better.

Don't be frightened of offering stuff, I only have so many hours in the day and if someone brings something to the market I'll make something else instead

Best regards

Dave

Dave

Adding pigment to a resin mix is fraught with problems but to be fair, there is a warning on the bottle. I've found that one very small drop was sufficient, any more and it does seem to affect curing time. In this case, the resin behaved as advertised and was ready for demoulding in 60 mins. It needed another 24 hrs to lose the tacky feeling and I then coated the whole assembly in Purity Seal acrylic varnish.

The whole process was very straightforward, once I'd turned the master, which took some time. Polycraft resins are excellent. I get them here:

http://www.mbfg.co.uk/rtv-silicone.html ... GwodDNECEA

The mount is fully flexible and hasn't shown any signs of fracturing. It's also hard enough to hold the antenna in position.

For the sake of completeness, here is the finished article with the 14BA set screws holding the retaining ring and the weld painted:



All the best.

Stephen

Thanks Stephen,

Will give that one a try,

Best regards

Dave

When not in use, the commander's .30 Browning flex MG could be stowed on clips on the turret roof, behind his cupola. I've never seen any photos of the clips in use, nor heard from any crewman that they were used! But they're there and needed to be added.



I fabricated the clips from brass stock and used Dave Dibb's excellent Armorpax British 37 pattern webbing buckles and end tabs and some 1/6th webbing to make the retaining straps:







Regards

Stephen