My Limber Build

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Robert Reid
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My Limber Build

Post by Robert Reid »

<t>Hi All:<br/>
<br/>
I started the build on my limber around Christmas, mainly following the details from Dave's Limber build. I bought an Armorpax upgrade kit and am just absolutely blown away by the quality. I've not done any 'resin' building before. But the parts are easy to get fettled and fit. And I just love the detail. So most of my details... I'm leaving out because I am just kind of following Dave's build. <br/>
<br/>
A couple of things I will point out if you are going to build the Armorpax detail parts. One is that you should not put the 'drawers' for the shells and carriers at the lowest level. Or you will interfere with the axle. The second is that the nature of the resin is that it might have a bow or a twist in the drawer carriers. If you warm the resin with a propane plumbers torch, you can easily twist it into shape and straighten it out.</t>

Here is a picture of a lot of metal parts. Mostly have been prefit. I make it a practice to put some kind of paint or primer between any metal parts to prevent rusting or electrolytic corrosion that always happens between unlike metals. Maybe gilding the lily here... but habits are habits. And these models are largely built to live a long, long time!

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This is a picture of the main parts with primer and some pre-assembly done. Nothing very unique here. The primer is partly Corlar epoxy primer I had left over from some other projects. And SEM-brand automotive etch primer in a rattlecan.

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Fender with the brackets installed. I did a bit of reversal here because I thought the nuts in the original kit looked too big. So I put the Allen Cap screws on the lathe and cut them down to a smaller head size. And filled the Allen head with epoxy. They are still a bit large, but not quite as noticeable. The brackets at the top have been fettled to round the corners and make them look more like a stamping. I will probably do a bit more rounding on the edges.

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This is just an odd little visual upgrade. Dave's detail kit has the spring clips as part of it. But these are leaf springs (Trivia... made by Firth's of Forth...) are too smooth to look like leaf springs. Solid billet was just a bit too slab-like. So I took a Dremel and made some striations to try and delineate the leaves. The small striations make all the difference in these springs!!!! I debated using a small mill, but just the little rough-looking work with a Dremel cut-off wheel, once primed, makes a big difference.

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This shows some of the resin parts from Dave and Armorpax on the flange. Did I mention how great their stuff is? Instead of using the small Allen head's, I have used some 2/54 Brass screws and nuts. In the UK, these would probably be 10BA or similar BA size. But I could get these easily here in the Colonies. I'll be using these small brass machine screws and nuts elsewhere. I also took this flange and put it in my lathe and turned a 'seam' in it. That way it looks like an actual flange, with a line between the halves. If you don't have a lathe, easily done with a file and can be turned in a power drill while putting a line in it. Not in the photo, but I used some epoxy to simulate some weld or seam lines.

This is a start.... More to follow.

Cheers,

RPR
Last edited by Robert Reid on Sun Jan 07, 2018 9:15 pm, edited 6 times in total.

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Adrian Harris
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Adrian Harris »

Sorry Robert, Photo*ucket are blocking your images. You'll need to find another hosting site...

Adrian.
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Robert Reid
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Robert Reid »

Ok... I can see them fine.

I'm on it! Thanks for letting me know.

Cheers,

RPR

Robert Reid
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Robert Reid »

Adrian Harris wrote:
Sat Jan 06, 2018 11:23 pm
Sorry Robert, Photo*ucket are blocking your images. You'll need to find another hosting site...

Adrian.
Decided that I hate Photobucket... after spending a couple of hours purging photos to get storage back... they still want $400 a year to use sharing? I think not. Nice free Imgbb.com account. Worked like a charm. I hope.

Can you see pictures now?

Cheers,

RPR

Vince Cutajar
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Vince Cutajar »

Photos are OK now. Thanks for taking the time to make them visible.

Vince

Robert Reid
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Robert Reid »

Got a lot done today with the work over the last couple of weekends (on and off) being all about pre-fitting and test fitting things. Though this kit could easily be built in a weekend as a basic kit, the superdetailing... the fun part, for me... makes it a much longer process. Which is a good thing!

Lots of assembly, again primarily to Armortek's plans and Armorpax's detailing photos. So I am really only going to add some things that build on their great foundations, not reprise their posts.

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This is the tray at the leading edge of the box. It's stamped and folded. I only modified it by using some epoxy to fill in the seams where the folds left gaps. Though I had to make one more small modification later... the initial work was just to blend the seams.

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This is just a reprise of the flange I put up yesterday, mounted onto the trail pipe. I used epoxy to simulate welds and blend the resin bits into the flanges. The hex heads scale up to about 3/4" bolts. Which seems about right to me.

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Mock up of doors and some of the resin parts going on. I spent a lot of time today on the slide-ins for the ammo trays. More on that later. But wanted a nice shot of the doors. Note that I am going astray from Armortek's plans in that I am not going to use the cap screws above the doors... but some leftover/extra hex bolts. I'll cut them off shorter. And at the bottom, I am using brass bolts and nuts to secure the bottom. Trying to avoid having any cap screws/Allen Heads at all showing in the finished product.

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The fitting of the trays has turned out to be quite involved. One thing that may help folks out is to keep only one side as an 'outside' tray. The nature of the resin is that it is challenging to get the trays aligned and square. I found that I had done a great job of getting them square, but when I went to slide the 'unit' into the box, it was a bit too wide. Not at the door end... but at the front. I finally cut the tray off and moved it to the inside. And it all fit beautifully. Fitting the Armorpax inside trays is a really delicate task. Making it doubly-rewarding when you get them in place! But don't rush it. Alignment is everything. And when it all aligns, the trays slide in great and it looks fantastic! I now have two 'open' ports and am debating making a couple of brass 'shells' to put in the open hole. May be able to use .45/70 government brass as shells! Or I'll turn something out of brass.

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With the trays aligned, I tacked them in with cyanoacrylate and then used epoxy to really anchor them in. And also as a seam sealer. I'll let that sit for a few days and sand smooth next weekend. Note that you can see a bit of primer sprayed onto one.... and it shows that there is a lot of silicone release agent on the resin (or similar residue that makes paint 'not' want to go on nicely. This is easily solved with good washing and surface prep. But I am learning that painting on these kits and upgrade parts needs to be preceded by good cleaning and prep!

There seems to be a picture limit per post... so next post will have some more images.

Cheers,

RPR
Last edited by Robert Reid on Sun Jan 07, 2018 10:12 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Robert Reid
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Robert Reid »

A few more pictures.

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Test fitted fender. One of the brackets just barely interferes with the resin 'stampings' provided by Armorpax. Note the small scribe line, which will be how I cut the fender strut back to clear.

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Using Dremel to re-shape fender strut. Pre-fitting... assembly, disassembly, etc.... is your friend! Measure three times.... bolt together once! Or something like that.

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The other spot where the fender interfered slightly. A quick run on the Dremel and it was all fixed and fit nicely. These parts would not have been 'attached' or welded together on the original. But they would not have interfered, either.

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Just a picture of the limber's main body as it sits. Pretty!

This is just a rehearsal for the main event... the 25 Pounder. And I am going to treat myself to a full-up Armortek kit this year. So this is practice!

Cheers,

RPR

Robert Reid
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Robert Reid »

After a couple of weeks off doing other stuff... I got back on the limber this weekend.

Adding the Armorpax pieces has been a blast. Their Britannia-metal castings are just superb. And the build threads here on the Armortek forum make it really easy.

Here are finished pictures of the door buffer spring packs with the spring clips on them.

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I found that by filing a small groove in the spring, I could get the clip to fit on really easily and that the britannia 'bolt' would slip right through.

A couple of people have asked about door hinges and getting them to open all the way. Here are some pictures of the finished door hinges for one side... you can see I ended up removing a lot of material from both the hinge blocks and the door hinge itself. It's straightforward now, but took a lot of trial and error. Hopefully these pictures help you guys out.

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I'd add that you also need to round off/bevel the back corner of the hinge block where it sits against the stamped back of the limber. This helps it conform to the very slight radius introduced into the metal during fabricating.

More pictures tomorrow as I get in the brake backing plates, but I want to put in a bit of linkage between the brake lever and the brake shaft, like on the 25 PDR... before I put on the fenders and start buttoning it up.

Cheers,

RPR

Phil Woollard
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Phil Woollard »

Looking good RR, keep posting as it's very interesting, you are the master of the close up photo 8) cheers Phil.
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Robert Reid
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Robert Reid »

Thanks, Phil!

If you like those close-ups... I have a couple more for you. Short day today and may be off the project next weekend. But got some good progress. Again, not posting a 'redux' of some other great builds. But am posting a couple of fun things I am doing different. Add to the knowledge base... not repeat it.

Main thing I decided was that I wanted more robust door latch hinges than the Armorpax design. So decided to modify the hinges. Very easy to do since one of the features of good Britannia-metal is that it is easily soldered! Both soldered... and soldered-to.

So I turned up a couple of brass hinge barrels and drilled them to .076. Which is right on for a U.S. No 1 machine screw. Adjust yours for BA sizes accordingly!

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And then ground off the end of the latch handle and soldered on the (tinned) brass barrel.

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Above you can see one handle with its brass barrel soldered on. The other about to get soldered. Good tinning of the brass is critical!

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Then I took the hinges from Dave at Armorpax and filed off all the protrusions. And using a .076" drill, put top and bottom holes in the ears. Drill press and a good drill vice is critical for this. Or do by hand using a pin drill in a handle. I wouldn't try it with a Black and Decker... unless you are really good!

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Here is one hinge plate completed and the other 'as it came' from Armorpax. The No. 1 machine screws are shown in the handle hinge barrels.

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Mounted on the doors... the action is really smooth and the locks work well!!

For Phil... a nice close-up of the finished latches!

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Just so you guys can see the whole project... I got the fenders mounted. Made some progress on the trail. And got the backing plates built up with some faux brake cross shafts. More on that in future installments...

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Of course, this is just a warmup for the main event... I already have the Admiralty-pattern Rolls-Royce on order! Can't wait for that one!

Cheers,

RPR

Robert Reid
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Robert Reid »

So the pictures in the "Original Limber Question" of the spare wheel got me playing on the lathe today...

I made up this little gem to mount on top of my limber.

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Wheel with Armortek wheel.

I think I am going to modify my Armortek hubs to take 5BA studs and nuts. Rather than use the supplied 3MM hex bolts. Because, well, why not?

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Here's a close-up. Just an aluminum bar turned to shape. Used a hex bolt and drilled it up to make the hex 'hubnut.' Was easier than trying to mill a hex. I don't think I am going to mill the scallops in it. It would mean putting the rotary table on my mill and it weights about 100 lbs. So I think I'll declare victory as it is ;-)

Cheers,

RPR

Phil Woollard
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Phil Woollard »

Looks good RPR, the doors locks are great and the spare wheel hub is excellent, keep it up regards Phil
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Dave Dibb (Armorpax)
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Dave Dibb (Armorpax) »

Excellent work Pierce, I do need to catch up with you about RR parts when I get this week out of the way.

Cheers

Dave
www.armorpax.net

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Robert Reid
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Robert Reid »

Sounds great, Dave!

Look forward to catching up.

Cheers,

RPR

Robert Reid
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Re: My Limber Build

Post by Robert Reid »

So have been off the Limber for a few weeks while working on the restoration of 2 US Civil War cannon carriages... 1:1 scale.... Live tubes. 'Merika!

At any rate, here are some updates on the limber build:

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Setting up the arms at the trail link. I wanted to put in a real nut/bolt and take it a bit further than the Armorpak upgrade. Their Britannia metal parts are amazing... but you can take the fastener part one step further to use BA or UNF hardware for attaching their parts. So here is the trail link with the Armorpax parts slightly modified to take brass hardware.

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To get it to fit, I had to lower the castings a bit to fit on the trail stamping, not directly on the machined aluminum part. So to get it to fit, I made a small tapered wedge from hardwood. This let the pieces fit beautifully to the trail.

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I cut the original Armortek aluminum machined piece to take a cross-bar and then fitted the whole unit together with spring. Note that the arms are now secured with some brass nuts/bolts and a friction washer between. The whole unit now moves beautifully and is bolted together, rather than just glued. Dave's Armorpax pieces are amazing... and with some extra effort and brass BA or fine US thread hardware... they can go even further!

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More or less together... Showing the Armorpax parts, the Armortek parts... and some tweaks on my part.

I should have some more pictures tomorrow, but my phone-camera died before I could take any decent pictures of assembly.

Got the rear-end, doors, bars, etc. done today. And most of the lugnuts vs. Cap Screws conversion done today. I think that tomorrow. river don't rise, I may have all the assembly done. Ready for paint. Which I'll do at the same time as the 25 PDR. I think that may be... right behind the Rolls-Royce.

Cheers,

RPR

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