Armortek

Having handed the Centurion AVRE back to David so he can complete it, there was a Centurion shaped hole in the collection, so I ended up buying the original prototype from a friend.


As she was never painted, over the years the old girl has suffered from the elements. The plan is to clean up the steel parts and cover them with a satin lacquer to protect against any further corrosion. For surface rust like this, my go to is Jenolite Original. These pictures show the process from rusty to clean, which took around ten minutes for this bin lid.

This is the condition of the piece before I started. I'm using a cheap A4 craft storage box as a work area as the process can cause the fluid to be flicked up and it's quite obnoxious stuff:


A small amount of Jenolite was poured onto the piece and a small wire brush used to remove the surface rust, to allow the deeper pieces to be covered by the fluid. Gloves and goggles are a must when using a wire brush:


This is how it looks after a couple of applications and brushing sessions. I also used a brass pencil brush to go over the worst parts, as you can wind in the wire strands, which makes it more aggressive.


A close up of how it looks once cleaned, rinsed and dried.


Before the lacquer coats, it needs a couple of folds straightening out.

Being the prototype, the bins are machined from aluminium rather than the steel ones of the production run. These bin lids were held in with cap head bolts, glued into the holes in the tops of the bins. I'm going to see if I can use rivets instead, so that both sides of the piano hinge match.


Whilst looking for pictures, I found her run around the Dunkeswell Test Track was still on the Armortek YouTube channel:





As she was the prototype, I think it's fitting to use her as a test bed for some planned elevation and recoil upgrades.

She also seems to be running with a Comet sound card, so I need to source a Centurion one instead.

Adrian.

I have cleaned up the turret casting using AF Foam Clean, which is perfect as designed for cleaning textured finishes on IT equipment.
It goes on as a foam spray, gets into all the pores of the casting and then lifts out the dirt as the bubbles burst.
A couple of applications, until the cleaning cloth comes up clean, and the job's done.

Next were the unpainted steel mantlet pivot bolts.


Treatment was ten minutes sitting in Jenolite, followed by a quick rub down with a soft wire brush


Ready to be refitted.

Adrian.

Have refitted the barrel, servo and LED wiring loom.

The Amplifier module is still in the hull, so I have rigged up a 5V supply for the recoil module and am
triggering it manually with a length of single core wire








The LEDs look to be amber, red and cool white, which I don't particularly like, so when I've rebuilt it
I'll probably use two amber and red as the initial colour, so you get the rise and fall in brightness that
I originally planned.

The gun is resting on the oil bottle as the other end is quite a loose fit in the mantlet, and the servo
struggles to pull it back if the whole weight of the barrel is left hanging. There is a brass bush in the
mantlet but I think a nylon or PTFE one would be better, especially if the fit was better, so I'll investigate
replacing the brass one with something better.

Adrian.

You find some great deals Adrian. So cool to see these original models get some new life and love.
HNY 2025!
Bob

Hi Adrian,
Impressive work on removing the rust without damaging the softer metal hinges and rivets, it looks like new steel. It'll be good to see this one restored back to it's former factory fresh prototype look as per the video.
Cheers David