Hamden Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Whilst working for ABRO/DSG in December 2007 I was asked if I would like to go to the British Army Training Unit at Suffield, Alberta, Canada for three months winter repair season. I left the UK on 2nd January 2008 on a 24 hour trip to Medicine Hat the nearest town to Suffield with an airport. We were put up in the Medicine Hat Lodge hotel as there was insufficiant housing on the camp and we travelled dailly, the journey taking about 3/4 of an hour each way. Towards the end of the three month deployment I was asked to stay on in Canada as part of the year round support to the BATUS training fleet which lead to me staying in Canada until October 2010. Anyway what has all this waffle got to do with modelling, well just before Christmas 2019 my daughter and son in law presented me with this saying I could make something to remind me of my time in Canada Well I worked on heavy A vehicles second line serviceing/repair and Challenger 1 tanks were not in UK service at this time, I very diplomatically said this to my daughter and son in law and was promptly told to open the box............................ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH Accurate Armours combi kit of the CRARRV that changed to out look to the build somewhat! This then was the original CRARRV replica so to update to the 2009/10 spec Challenger 2 track and sprocket carriers and later type road wheels were added to the mix, I also obtained a copy of the Tankograd BATUS by Carl Schulze which has pictures of a great deal of the BATUS fleet types during exercises on the training area, this book covers the 2007 year exercises when the vehicles were in green/sand colours as apposed to the single colour sand of the period that I was there. I will start this project in the near future but as @Dads203 asked what was next this is a sneak preview Thanks for stopping by Roger 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viper-30 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Excellent looking forward to seeing this come together. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dads203 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Nice one Roger, I'll have to hang around for this one, it's also in my stash Nice haul of AM as well buddy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan-o Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Looking forward to this one 👍 The Tankograd books are a god send for finding where bits go that the AA ‘instructions’ don’t show! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 Glad to have you along Dan, hope I don't disappoint! Planning to do this one without the CS kit as thats how we had them in the workshop. Look forward to seeing yours on the assembly line Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 3 minutes ago, ivan-o said: Looking forward to this one 👍 The Tankograd books are a god send for finding where bits go that the AA ‘instructions’ don’t show! Glad to have you along thanks for showing interest hope I don't disapoint Having spent time on base overhaul strip and build as well as almost three years in BATUS second line servicing/repair I have a fair idea of where most bits fit but the memory does fail at times. The Tankograd book does have some good referance photographs of CRARRV's at work. Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dads203 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 8 minutes ago, Hamden said: Glad to have you along Dan, hope I don't disappoint! Planning to do this one without the CS kit as thats how we had them in the workshop. Look forward to seeing yours on the assembly line Roger Just be careful with those tracks Roger, I would look at the Bronco double padded tracks rather than using the AA resin link and length bud, they are not the easiest to fit. A hairdryer or boiling water is a must to get them to conform properly if you have to use them. Dan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 3 minutes ago, Dads203 said: Just be careful with those tracks Roger, I would look at the Bronco double padded tracks rather than using the AA resin link and length bud, they are not the easiest to fit. A hairdryer or boiling water is a must to get them to conform properly if you have to use them. Yes they are not the easiest tracks to use, I have used them on an earlier CR2 build and as you say hot water and a hair drier are a must. One reason for getting the AA tracks is that they come with sprocket carriers and sprockets which are needed as on the 1:1 scale version they have to used as the CR2 tracks are wider than CR1 track. Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG058 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Hohoho this is right up my street, I'll be joining you on this one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 2 minutes ago, DAG058 said: Hohoho this is right up my street, I'll be joining you on this one. Glad to have you along Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bish Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 This should be fun. Your lucky flying into Med Hat, we had to take the bus from Calgary every time i went to BATUS. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 41 minutes ago, Bish said: Your lucky flying into Med Hat, we had to take the bus from Calgary every time i went to BATUS. All our guys were flown into Med Hat, London Heathrow to Calgary, Calgary to Med Hat usually landing at Med Hat about 23-30, a total journey time of about 23 hours from Dorset. If you were lucky your case made the flight from Calgary with you, often the luggage didn't arrive until mid day the following day! All good fun. When were you at BATUS? Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil5208 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Hamden said: Yes they are not the easiest tracks to use, I have used them on an earlier CR2 build and as you say hot water and a hair drier are a must. One reason for getting the AA tracks is that they come with sprocket carriers and sprockets which are needed as on the 1:1 scale version they have to used as the CR2 tracks are wider than CR1 track. Roger Challenger 1 and 2 track is the same width, sprocket and torque tube size difference come from CR1 track drives against cast hole in each link and CR2 drive against the end caps. Good looking project, had some good times on CRARV's and 512 on the prarie Edited January 30, 2020 by neil5208 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 3 minutes ago, neil5208 said: Challenger 1 and 2 track is the same width, sprocket and torque tube size difference come from CR1 track drives against cast hole in each link and CR2 drive against the end caps Yes you are correct the old memory box plays tricks now and then! Thanks for the correction Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bish Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 1 hour ago, Hamden said: All our guys were flown into Med Hat, London Heathrow to Calgary, Calgary to Med Hat usually landing at Med Hat about 23-30, a total journey time of about 23 hours from Dorset. If you were lucky your case made the flight from Calgary with you, often the luggage didn't arrive until mid day the following day! All good fun. When were you at BATUS? Roger Its a blody long trip isn't it. We had to travel from catterick down to Brize, usualy sit there for half a day, fly to Calgary and then a bus to the base. first time was 96, then 99, 2002 and 2004. Last one i was driving on the range saftey team. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 What a great gift, obviously well thought out. I'll be following this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted January 31, 2020 Author Share Posted January 31, 2020 5 hours ago, JeroenS said: What a great gift, obviously well thought out. I'll be following this. Thanks hope I don't disapoint Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted February 2, 2020 Author Share Posted February 2, 2020 Right Oh, plastic has been cut, I have made a small start on this by fitting the two final drives, the hydrogas sumps, road wheel axles, idler arms and brackets. These are all parts from the Tamiya Challenger 1 donor kit. One thing that is missing from the idler arm brackets is the adjuster bolt and nut, so these have been added from the very useful Meng bolt heads and nuts set. I remember having to count the number of threads showing as part of the track wear checks as well as struggelling to get enough tension on the CR2 track to stop spragging. Front of hull showing one side with the tensioner adjuster added and the sheet of Meng bolts. Last two pics: showing the current state of play, next job is to fit the new resin rear panal and the hull top. So far so good. Thanks for stopping by, more soon Roger 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted February 2, 2020 Author Share Posted February 2, 2020 Well I just went to check the suspension arms were cureing and staying more vor less in line when I thought why not see what the back panal looks like so well I could just remove it from the casting block and see what the fit is like so one thing led to another and a bit of epoxy was mixed up and this what happened There is a small amont of damage to the central towing pintle, the eyes have ether been broken in transit or didn't cast properly so I'll have to have a look at that later. Having fitted the rear panal I thought I'd lay the hull top in place for a look see, there is some adjustment required but doesn't look to bad a fit Well that's deffinatly it for today as the epoxy needs to fully cure before any more work Thanks for stopping by Roger 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 That's going to be a handsome beast once it's finished. Nice work so far Roger. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted February 5, 2020 Author Share Posted February 5, 2020 Thanks for all the comments and likes it's very much appreciated Right hull top fitting, well this is like a short run aircraft kit in that you have dry fit, fettle, dry fit check alignment and fettle some more until you arrive at the best fit can. Anyway the hull top fitted fairly well to the front of the lower hull tub and has left a gap along the top of the rear plate joint, the rear side fit is almost perfect so I'll have the gap at the top to fill. I have also had to change the way I want to display the finished model as I originally planned to have the base model with no cs kit as I would have had the vehicle in the workshop but AA have moulded a lot of the cs already in the stowage which would have made it difficult top remove cleanly(these parts are resin remember) or scratch building new baskets and bins so it will now end up being displayed on a section of BATUS prairie ground. Please excuse the slightly out of focus pics: Hull top with supplied driver in place There is no filler plate for the sponsons above the tracks so I guess that's the next job Thanks for looking and I hope your projects are progressing well Roger 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted February 6, 2020 Author Share Posted February 6, 2020 Filled the gap along the rear top edge of the pack compartment using CA and flour as recommended by @giemme and @keefr22 over on the aircraft section. This worked really well and I'll certainly use this filling/glueing method again. Sorry no pictures as it was too dark when I did this. Thanks for the likes and your time more soon I hope! Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silenoz Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 That last pic hurts... but it's a nice table ;-). Interesting version you are building 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 Hi Roger, looks good already! Very nice work! Have a nice day Nick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viper-30 Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Good job the lower hull has come together quickly. terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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