Armortek

Chieftain number 46 has now touched down in Manchester !
I will not be starting it for a while as I have a Stug to build first.
Regards
Steve.

Looking forward to it nonetheless
Kevin

Before I start my Chieftain build I need to decide on a particular vehicle. I live south of Manchester and wondered if anyone knows of a Chieftain in the North West that could become the inspiration for my build ?
Regards
Steve

Hi Steve,

The Armourgeddon Museum in Lutterworth restored a Chieftain without Stillbrew fairly recently. That's about 2 hours away from Manchester if that's any help. Best to call first to check though in case they sold it on!

Steve, there's a good list of preserved Chieftains here:

http://preservedtanks.com/Types.aspx?Ty ... oryId=3570

Hi Richard and Stephen
Thanks for the info, looks like I will have to travel a bit if I want to see one.
A few years ago I had access to a Centurion on a farm near Bury which helped when building the Cent kit, there was also a Chieftain mk11 in the same building but I failed to take any photos of it (wish I had now). I believe both have been sold on now.
Regards
Steve

As the Stug is now complete it’s time to start the Chieftain.
I have been following all the other builds and have been inspired by what I have seen so far. One thing that is very apparent is the fact that there is a awful lot of additional work required to add all the additional details that are missing, This is not a complaint as the kit as supplied is superb and is probably the most detailed Armortek kit ever.
Anyway on with the build.
My next step is to modify the exhaust box which needs to be reduced in height and detailed, I will give a update on this when I have worked out how I am going to do this.

Regards
Steve

Hi Steve Chieftain looks great. I'm desperate to get the hull right side up, but I'm finding it easier to work on the back plate with the nose plate on the floor, hull rear end up. Nice angle plate mod and the bum cheeks look good too.
I've chomped up the exhaust box quite bit, but it's for the best. I've changed my original cutting points, the new cutting point helps to produce the gap below the box and generate the devision between the boxes welded face plate and bolted face plate. I'll put some pictures on my topic tomorrow so you can see what you think of the cut.

I have been busy working out the best solution to correct the exhaust box height and change it’s appearance to be closer to the real item. I want to do this by minimising the amount of work required and using the supplied parts suitably modified.
Regards
Steve

Hi Steve
I have Chieftain #19 safely tucked away, I’m currently cutting my teeth on Elefant #19.
Like you I’ve been following the other builds with interest, there is some amazing work going on out there and it’s interesting to see and follow all the different mods that are taking place. Some are way beyond my skill set but will be completing some of the simpler ones.
I have a small library of Chieftain photo from both my time serving and from Bovington which is just around the corner from me.
When things get back to normal I’ll be happy to pop along and take. Pictures you need.

Regards
Steve

Hi Steve
The basic kit will build into a great model with no mods, the good thing is that you can tailor your build to suit your skill level and available tooling. When finished every tank should be slightly different which is a good thing.
Hopefully it won’t be to long before Bovington reopens and we can get back to something like normal.
I have a reasonable amount of Chieftain photo’s that I use for reference plus the Takom mk5 kit.Additional photos are always useful (it’s funny how many kits I have built where the part I am detailing is just out of frame).
Looking forward to seeing your build when started.
Regards
Steve

I have got a bit more done over the last week or so, lots of cutting and filling plus plenty of fiddly bits made.
Progress is a bit slow but there’s no rush and the end result is what matters.
Regards
Steve

Looking very familiar Steve. Nice job on the little boxes and the exhaust tail pipes.

Nice detail. Loving those couplings! I might consider those when I eventually get to that stage

meticulous as usual, I see you managed to find some suitable conduit for the cabling.