Another Accurate Armour Chieftain MK11 Build

[Wogga]

Hi all this is my inaugural build on the forum. I have "dabbled" in the past with out of the box builds but nothing serious. I am having a bit of a nostalgia moment thinking about times gone by and the plan is, if i have drove it i will model it. When i say drove i really mean a quick "cabbie" for most. I was apt at taking any opportunity to give things a blast in my Army days.

Kicking off with the ubiquitous "Chiefy", i have had few spins but the first was with 3 RTR in the late seventies.

I have made a start and will post pictures as soon as i suss out how to do it.

This should be a relatively easy build as there is already an excellent thread to follow by Dads203 which will be a great reference.

This is my first go with resin so any advice from the experienced would be gratefully received.

[Wogga]

Hopefully below will appear my first pictures, as with a few of the AA conversions they are based on a doner kit. In this case a Tamiya Mk5 Chieftain.

First job assemble the chassis and running gear.

Block up a few holes.

I still have a bit of work to do on the running gear particularly cleaning up the road wheels.

When i position the resin top deck, using the front for alignment and where they appear to fit naturally makes me think the top deck is a couple of mil longer as at the rear the rear hull overhangs?

Front natural fit?

Back with the overhang?

I am thinking the most important is to align the rear first and work with hew front?

As this is my first resin kit, i wanted to get stuck in, so whilst i ponder what to do with the chassis i got stuck into the turret by fixing on the resin bits. I am using superglue at the moment but not over convinced, i shall give a two part epoxy for the larger bits i think. Any experienced thoughts welcome here what do you use when?

[Alpha Delta 210]

Great start to an interesting-sounding theme.

I haven't built any resin kits, so can't offer advice, but I'll watch this build with interest.

(My wife bought me a tank driving experience for my birthday a few years ago, which involved driving a Chieftain, an FV432 and an Abbott SPG - great fun!!)

[Courageous]

I've built a number of resin kits; both armour and planes. With resin it's mainly about the preping. Wash everything and everything again. All sanding should be done with wet/ dry...want none of that dust in you. Bubbles on resin armour was my main problem; I used superglue as a filler, accellerate it and sand after 5-10 minutes otherwise it becomes to hard. Tiny bits are very fragile, take care or you'll be scratch building.

Now carry on with the build if you please.

[Dads203]

Hi Pete,

I used a thick CA glue on my build for the large parts and have had no issues with it at all, for the PE parts I used thin CA glue

And again no issues. As others have said make sure you wash everything in some warm soapy water to get rid of the release agent

From the parts or you might have fun in painting.

Regards

Dan

[foxy]

Like Dan say's, you have to wash everything when using resin/plastic combination.

Best also wash with any new kit, be it plastic or resin first.

Watching this combo build with interest

foxy

[HOUSTON]

Wogga,

good start.. This armor build is going to be one to follow..

Keep us posted .. Wouldn't want to miss a thing as it looks a fascinating subject.

Thank you

[Wogga]

Cheers for the feedback, not as simple as i thought it would be. When you open a resin kit there doesn't look to be many parts but there is a fare bit of fettling to do. Everything has been washed and i will give it a dip in some descaled prior to painting to remove any grease.

Thanks for the advice men it is appreciated.

Well i cracked on with the turret adding the resin parts and PE bits, quite happy but probably not perfect.

Next i thought i would have a go at a squaddies best friend a bottle opener for meine golden handbag of Herforder Pils Edel Export. Rather than use the etched parts i dug out my Bill Bedford handrail former and set to making some 6mm bottle openers with some 0.4mm brass wire. They will need aligning and soldering into position.

Next up i will have a do with the Friulmodel track.

[Dads203]

Hi Pete, your cracking on quickly fella, as for the bottle openers I'd think about using the kit part (AA) as

these are more to scale than using the brass rod, the real thing is almost like square section rather than

a rod.

Regards

Dan

[Stesca]

This is looking great, love that turret.

[Wogga]

Thanks Steve. Dan teach me to be a smart bottom i take your point. I haven't got a picture with that detail thanks for pointing it out.

[C&WR]

Welcome aboard, Wogga. All I can say about Dan's superlative build is "spotty dog"! I'm doing a Mk10 with the Castoff set but am a bit stalled.

With regard to the overhang I wonder if these would help:

Sorry, thought I had a better view of the front!

All the best, Matthew (former 5 INNIS DG).

[Wogga]

Cheers Matthew they most certainly will, I definitely wish I took more pictures in my time. Thanks for the uploads.

In the hotel so what not better than putting track links together 100 links later I have had enough.

Bugger, I can' t or more likely I don't know if I can upload a picture from my iPad, LOL

Q. How many Skins does it take to change a road wheel?

A. One and five to supervise.

[C&WR]

I was told the following, by a Major in the RIR while at Sandhurst:

How does one tell the difference between Officers of the Royal Armoured Corps?

The Skins wear bottle green trousers.

The Cherrypickers wear scarlet trousers.

The RTR wear dirt under their fingernails

[Wogga]

LOL! i used be amazed at Div HQ the dress of Staff officers, even in the field none of them had a matching uniform and hair down to their backside. I never used to salute them and if i was pulled it on it i'd say "sorry Sir i thought you were one of the Mojo's"

[Wogga]

A bit more progress, so far i have done a 100 links for the track i will finish it this week.

A few more hours to do the bottle openers, soldering wasn't too bad. I had bigger hassle getting them off the etch and into my tweezers. I used liquid flux and applied the solder from the back and let it flow through.

[Wogga]

Well i had a chance to try the track, this is with 97 links.

Spot the split link point.

[Dads203]

They are nice bits of kit the old Fruils,

especially as you can get them for £18 a set at Telford.

Coming together well Pete, looking forward to seeing more.

Dan

[Wogga]

£18 a set at Telford, i shall bear there in mind i think Dan. Yep they are a great bit of kit albeit a bit expensive (£26) but a definite on a piece of armour without return rollers e.g a CVRT i have in the stash.

`it is a shame to fit the plates.

[Dads203]

`it is a shame to fit the plates.

That's what I thought on my build

[Wogga]

Who supplies MV lenses Dan? had a quick google but all seem to be across the pond.

[Dads203]

I bought mine all from the US Pete,

Little cars sells a similar product but I have seen others using a craft product from Hobby craft, CW&R used them on his build

so I reckon he'll have them up on his thread?

Dan

[Wogga]

Cheers Dan, if i go to hobby craft my lenses will be wobbly eye type :-)

[C&WR]

As Dan says I used these for my model:

Think they came out OK - the IR lights have a spray of Tamiya Gloss black:

I used some larger ones for the searchlight. To be honest they're a bit bulbous, but they'll do:

As I said on my thread I searched for the gems at work during lunch break on eBay & they came up as ideal for nail art & vajazzling which caused soem humour

[Wogga]

Cheers Matt I shall investigate further, getting the sizes off the model would be a good start ;-)