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Circloy

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    A Quick Heads up!

    in AFV WWII

    Posted

    The last one is interesting, wonder if it's on a half track chassis, which may explain the sloping 'bonnet' and the short track. The two with the bike may be hiding the wheel.

     

    Could it be a deception to make it appear from the air that german tank numbers were larger than they actually were?

    Tiger question

    in AFV WWII

    Posted

    If you d a search on this ste for hs name it crops up a few times, several in the pinned superthread.

     

    Unsure that superthead's help much though as, with multiple builds/themes on the go,  they get confusing quite quickly.

    • Like 1

    "Worn out moulds", why some more than others?

    in Aviation Chat

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Peter Lloyd said:

    Is this because the moulds were made of better steel in the first place?

     

    Steel can be 'tweaked' by addition of varying combinations & quantities of alloying elements. Chromium for example imparts a degree of resitance to oxidation, rust resistence, inclusion of cobalt & tungsten are good for producing steels that will hold a cutting edge or retain properties at high temperatures. whole families of steels have been developed that excell in certain areas. These families range from simple mild steels through to quite sophisticated steels for use in jet engines and somewhere in the mixture lay a set of steels suitable for moulding and again properties of mould steels can differ with some grades more resitant to others to distortion some more suited to moulding metals than moulding plastics etc. In addition steels needs to be heat treated to atain the desired properties. so it's not about a 'better' steel, better at what?, its selection of a suitable steel.

     

    Having selected a steel the design of the mould plays a factor, not just the kit parts & runners but also ejector pins and cooling ports. Moulds get hot during use and that heat needs to be effectively removed, if the mould gets too hot then the properties of the steel will change, if it's removed unevenly the mould can distort preventing the faces of each half not meeting correctly.

     

    Mould are designed to be used in specific moulding machines, these machines wear and a mould that sat in machine type 'A' when first run say 20 years ago may not sit correctly in that same machine today, if that type of machine is still available if it's not then the mould may need modifying potentially introducinng issues.

     

    The number of uses, length of production runs, storage between uses, the grade of plastic(s), it's temperature, the volume injected, etc all have an influence on the quality of the kit parts.

     

    1 hour ago, Peter Lloyd said:

    They are re-cut and maintained? 

    Options are limited, early moulds were often hand made by skilled toolmakers, CNC machining not being around in the 50's & 60's, a re-polish may be all that's possible.

     

    Many models today are short runs that may not use steels moulds but use other easier to work alloys with such moulds have a limited life. This is noteable in the Model Railway sphere where a manufacturer will issue a model of a locomotive which remains available only for a short time then a few years later introduces an improved version addressing faults on the first.

     

    I've probably not mentioned everything but as you can see there's a lot of factors at play when it comes to getting a good clean moulding.

    • Like 5
    • Thanks 6

    Least value for money, What have you noticed that has shrunk in size but increased in price?

    in Chat

    Posted · Edited by Circloy
    additional info

    £2 per day, 225 working days per year, 41 plus years - £20K's not far off.

     

    I switched when my regular lunch increased by 50% in twelve months that wasn't it though, the end came when having moved to new premesis the same order increased by over £1 overnight, over double in less than 9 months.  Since then i've always bought the ingredients from one of the German supermakets & made my own @ work.

     

     

    Should have said that was around a dozen years ago - nothing to do with the recent increases.

    • Like 3

    Bedford OXD

    in AFV WWII

    Posted

    In the Tankograd book on British military trucks of WW2 there is a clear low level shot that shows no spare wheel attached to either the chassis or under the body or fittings for such.

    In their book on British trucks in Wehrmacht service thereis a rear three quarter shot showing the spare located flat on the load bed by the nearside tailgate.

     

    Both are early versions with civilan type tyres.

    • Like 1

    MBT setting by numbers

    in AFV Cold War

    Posted

    No numbers but in the 80's/90's Vickers had two factories, Leeds & Newcastle, both producing Challenger 2. Whilst ostensibly the same tank those produced @ Leeds were destined for the UK Army and armour plate had to undergo proof testing production to ensure performance levels. Newcastle built Challengers were for the export market & whilst the armour was to the same composition and metallurgical requirements the proof testing was not required.

     

    As this may be the same for other tanks it may be better when quoting numbers to differentiate between markets or even production sites if possible.

    • Like 1

    Discussion purposes only.

    in Chat

    Posted

    11 hours ago, John_W said:

    There is a clause for the use of Images for "Academic Purposes" as long as source/originator credit is given.

    Interesting but what does the clause permit or prevent?

     

    Which juristiction(s)?

     

    Persumably the term 'academic' limits use to within an educational (school, college, university) establishment and not the WWW.

     

     

    Work on the premise that if it's not your own work then posting a link is the safest option.

     

     

     

    • Like 1

    AEC Hippo and Matador Aircraft Refuelers

    in AFV Cold War

    Posted

    Official Leyland drawing of the commercial chassis version with dimensions, note wheel base matches the Mick Bell plans @ 17' 11".

     

    Hippo Chassis  (open the link & click on 'zoom page' then use the mouse to drag the scan of the page around)

     

    The wheel base of the AEC 0854 Tanker, never officially referred to by the RAF or AEC as the Matador, was 14' 9.125" long i.e. just under 3' 2" shorter so the Airfix chassis will require lengthening.

    • Thanks 2

    Companions for the Ferret?

    in AFV Cold War

    Posted

    The company I used to work for was a major producer of armour plate & in the mid sixties, when the MD at the time was made 'Master Cutler' for the year an open day was held at the works where all sorts of equipment was on display including one of AFV's so one of mine will be used to re-create the display which consised of a Ferret, a FV432 & a Saladin. Also gives a nice excuse for pristine vehicles.

     

    Now where did I file the picture?

    • Like 1

    Wanted - B.W. models Alvis Salamander instruction sheet

    in Instructions & Painting Guides Wanted

    Posted

    On 01/09/2023 at 17:00, Mark_Ellis said:

    Hi all,

    Wondering if anyone still has an instruction sheet for B.W. model's Alvis Salamander, please?

    I have no idea as to when B.W. Models closed, so hoping someone has an instruction sheet somewhere.

     

    The one I have is an illegible photo, rather than a scan. I'm after the blurb rather than the instructions.

    I've been building a webpage on the Salamander 

    https://sites.google.com/view/alvis-stalwart-hmlc-files/alvis-salamander-crash-tender

     

     

    Wanted items should be in the correct section, there are rules were all expected to follow.

     

    https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/661-instructions-painting-guides-wanted/

    30 cwt 4x2 GS truck kits - are they different?

    in AFV WWII

    Posted

    13 minutes ago, bootneck said:

    Hi Steve,

     

    yes, I know about the others; I was just wondering it the two kits were of the same vehicle, mainly as one kit is cheaper to buy than the other.  If they are of two different vehicles then I'll likely have to buy both, when funds become available. It would be good if they are both different vehicles, such as a Bedford and an Austin etc.

    cheers,
    Mike

    Both are Austin K2's stemming from the 'Katy' ambulance both produce.

     

    I believe that the Airfix represents an early version, Gecko a later version with the roof hip ring. Price difference is due to the complexity, parts count of the build.

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