My Beaut Aussie Cent

[Stephen White]

Just when you think you've found every surviving record of a subject, something new turns up. David Hay, the operator on 22B during the battle of Binh Ba, has just come across another image of his tank to add to our collection. It shows 22B back in Binh Ba. David has established that the photographer, Gary Gott, arrived in Vietnam in early August 1969, a couple of months after the battle. By this time, the Australians were engaged in a "hearts and minds" exercise to repair damage from the fighting.

To quote David: "I know she looks to be almost derelict, but underneath the rough exterior, the mechanics were kept in pristine state. I suspect that is why Bill Sprague, our regular driver, put the STP sign on the back. Every time we stopped the engine bay or transmission bay covers would be up and we’d be topping up coolant, engine oil, cleaning air filters etc."

There's so much more to these models than just building them, if historical research is your thing. I'm amazed that long after I thought the model might be "finished", the original tank, her crew and her current owner keep coming back with more.

Photo via Gary Gott, David Hay

Source: https://vietnam.unsw.adfa.edu.au/battlemap/

[Stephen White]

"I'm also not sure whether the aux gen will remain in grey."

It won't.

I've no hard evidence for the colour the Morris A41 Mk 2 or 2/1 motors were painted after rebuild in Australia, but there are references to the UK built engines being painted in "eggshell blue". The photos below show an unrestored engine in this colour, which is undoubtedly BS381c 101 Sky Blue, the colour used by many British Army engines.

I then asked David Hay, who crewed 064 in Vietnam and he was quite clear in recalling:

"As for the aux. gen. Morris Minor motor, I clearly recall this was a light, powder blue colour. I recall being bemused that this 50 tonne monster of a tank had a charging motor that was painted a genteel pastel blue!!"

This photo seems to confirm David's recollection, so off with the grey, on with Sky Blue.

The model Morris is far from complete and will need a lot of weathering but this is a good bit of progress.

I've finally settled on the Meteor being in the Grey used by the Hawker de Havilland for Australian rebuilds and Sky Blue for the Morris A41 aux gen.

Some more 1.2mm fasteners have arrived from Knupfer, which means I can continue with the assembly of the Meteor.

[Stephen White]

Heaven knows how Frank managed to assemble the two cylinder banks, induction manifold, top and bottom ignition leads, accessory drive and fan drives. It dawned on me that there was only one assembly sequence which would work and it's taken several dry runs to work out something which didn't leave an impossible last piece. Now all done. It's a triumph of design to get all that packed into such a small space.

Once the major assembly is done, it's relatively plain sailing to start to assemble the remainder of the ignition harness and some of the cooling system pipework. Making the joints seamless is a bit of a challenge but it's now all starting to come together very satisfyingly.

Before ignition harness

With ignition harness

Top ignition leads fitted

Starting on the coolant pipework

[Phil Woollard]

Love it!

[Stephen White]

The pipework is now really beginning to come together, it's a bit like knitting. Working on the coolant system today and some more paint finishing. Beginning to think of the installation. Frank has modelled the Armortek motors and has adjusted the parts accordingly but I'll need to start doing some trial fits to see how much or little of the pipework around the engine installation and the exhaust system can be fitted in.

[Phil Woollard]

Looking on intensely, I hope you can make it fit as it would be a shame to shave bits off!

[Michael Cecil]

Stephen,

Nice work.

Mike

[Stephen White]

I've managed the ultimate in realism, a smoker which dispenses sticky oil into the guts of the engine decks and then leaks it out of the access hatch under the hull. I noticed a very accurate oil slick under the tank..... So workshop time today was taken up with pulling the smoker to find that, not for the first time, the grommet which holds the element is allowing fluid to leak past it.

There was time, though to do a first trial fit of the Meteor and Aux Gen. I don't want to take the turret off before the next show, so tried to emulate the way a real Meteor is inserted into the engine compartment. After a lot of fiddling, it went in and now allows me to judge what more can be fitted in around it. I'm now thinking that I can probably get the exhaust manifolds in without fouling the Armortek motors. It's disappointing in a way to see how much of this wonderful model will be lost to sight, once it's all in place.

Neither the Meteor or the Aux Gen are supported by mountings, so they'll be in slightly higher positions but it gives a fair idea of how much room there is to spare, with the stock Armortek motors. Getting rid of a couple of Motion Pack modules by using the Beier Sound card and Open TX has helped a lot.

[jwwirds]

Neither the Meteor or the Aux Gen are supported by mountings, so they'll be in slightly higher positions but it gives a fair idea of how much room there is to spare, with the stock Armortek motors. Getting rid of a couple of Motion Pack modules by using the Beier Sound card and Open TX has helped a lot.

May I ask how you got rid of the Motion Pack Modules by using the Beier sound card? I am in the process of setting up the USM-RC3 in combination with the red motion modules of Armortek.

Thanks,

regards,

Jan-Willem

[Stephen White]

Jane-Willem

If you look a few pages back in this thread, I did a full description of the installation of the Beier etc, including a circuit diagramme. Good luck. Stephen

[mark j. radick]

The work on this model just blows my mind ! incredible !

[jwwirds]

Jane-Willem

If you look a few pages back in this thread, I did a full description of the installation of the Beier etc, including a circuit diagramme. Good luck. Stephen

Well, thanks again for your help. Yesterday I upgraded the software of the USM-RC3 top version 1.1 and was now able to have a continuous sound playing when the turret is rotating, or the gun elevating. In your diagram I saw you don't use the red recoil unit. I will try the same, but first have to figure out how to connect the wires to the turret to the Beier.

regards, JW

[Stephen White]

TankFest tomorrow. In the past I've had the odd incident where the BMS on my LiFePO4 battery has cut power when the current draw has exceeded limits. It's simple to restore it by applying a charging current for a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, the cut out never works anywhere near a 240 volt supply. I've taken the precaution this time of acquiring a Get You Going Again package: 500W 12 to 240 volt inverter, 24 to 12 volt step-down and a hefty 6S 5000mAh LiPo which I happened to have spare from model aircraft flying.

Sod's Law says I won't need it.....

Using a LiPo isn't ideal, so precautions like using a LiPo bag are in order.

So, roll on TankFest 23 and the first Purbeck ice cream.

[Stephen White]

Well, Mr Sod must have taken a day off because I did need it. Trying to turn on some quite long grass and the battery BMS cut in. The Get You Going kit was brought into action and in literally a couple of seconds with the charger applied and we were off and running. The LiPo didn't explode, in fact it hardly had any current drain at all as it took forever to apply the storage charge to bring down the voltage to the long term storage value, which for 6S is 22.8V. So an unqualified success. Won't be going anywhere without it from now on.

Never did get the Purbeck Ice cream - queues were too long.