Chieftain Mk3..

My Chieftain Mk3 tank has had some work done on it since I first bought it and is shown as it is now in the garden at home and in our local club hall.

The Chieftain has exhaust smoke and engine sound along with barrel flash on the main gun and the machine gun. The main gun also has synchronised barrel smoke that looks really good as it puffs out when the main gun is fired, illuminated by the gun flash.

I run the tank with full metal tracks that have the authentic track pads fitted as used when running on roads in Germany, but I also fit a set of the correct pattern moulded tracks too for running indoors etc.

Future plans include increasing the power by fitting a pair or "RED" motors into the metal gearboxes, and fitting a Clarke board to add the genuine Leyland multi-fuel engine sounds.

Bob.

Conquerer

Just for you Lew .

Here is a quick glance at the 3D printed Conquerer that I will be working on ...sometime...


Bob.

HAYA Centurion Mk5.

Hi Lew,

My 3D printed Conquerer is not fully assembled yet, but I will loosely put the parts together later and take some pictures for you.

To compensate, here are some pictures of my 1/16 scale r/c Centurion that I built from the HAYA Centurion Mk3 kit and modified it to a Mk5 as used in the Berlin Brigade.

These tanks in the Berlin Brigade were unique in being painted in Olive Drab - all other Centurions and British tanks in Germany were painted in the more usual (at the time) Bronze Green.

It is not so far off the mark as the Conquerer was brought in to supplement the Centurions in Germany to boost the available NATO firepower, but was short-lived as the Centurion's own upgrades made the Conquerer redundant and saved the army having to carry spares and parts for two different types of main battle tanks (MBT).

I am still working on the weathering and final paint but I have some spray masks made so that I can airbrush on the unit markings and the name of the tank etc in due course

The tank has a revolving commanders cupola, metal tracks and sprockets, authentic Rolls Royce meteor engine sound with machine gun and main gun sound via a Clarke board and has engine exhaust smoke as well as gun flash and barrel smoke following each shot of the main gun.

Future plans include adding more powerful motors to drive the two steel gearboxes to help the tank when running across some of the more demanding terrain that it has to encounter.

My tanks are like my Classic Model Power Boats insomuch that they are not "shelf queens" - they are driven often and enjoyed - and worked hard.

Bob.

Lew, you have a good selection there.

Partly because i was late to the hobby I have enough on my plate with the boats and my Tamiya Unimog and other hobbies. A neighbour, who was partly the reason for my getting into model boats, is also interested in trains, including a garden layout, and planes. He has offered to teach me to fly on more than one occasion but I have resisted! I nearly built a plane though, when helping to look after my mother but didn't in the end.

Any photos of the Conquerer? Lew

British Conquerer.

As part of my Cold War r/c tank collection I have a 1/16 scale 3D printed Conquerer.

This tank looks really impressive and is not available any other way than to scratch build it from raw materials, or to use the available 3D plans that really do produce a very good accurate model.

Unlike yourself, I an unable to 3D print anything but I was able to buy a set of parts via someone who advertised their 3D printing services.

Whatever plastic he printed it with is VERY tough and I have been trying to improve the surface texture for months on and off (I have been away a lot this year) and a couple of the small detail parts were not printed cleanly enough, but I have been able to replace them.

Maybe I will get it finished over the winter months. I have seen others (not many) online that are finished and running well and they do look very impressive (and big!).

Bob.

Bob... sounds good! We meet two Sundays a month for rc scale boats (SSMBC) and two other Sundays for armor (Bay Area Blitzkrieg). Pretty active with both.
As for my armor, I need to fix and upgrade my Abrams. It is based on a real Desert Storm tank photo. I have two Sherman M4A3 (105) and am getting a third, plus a M3 half track. This will be for my howitzer platoon. I also have a M26 Pershing and a "captured King Tiger" complete with Zimmerit. All have been repainted, remarked and accessories added.
Lew

Hi Lew,

You have inspired me to dig out one of my 1/16 scale British Chieftain tanks that I will be working on over the winter when I am not outside in my workshop working on any model boats!

This one has had most of the "technical" work done already as it has a gearbox with metal gears, a pair of "red" motors to give it a bit more power, engine smoke to use during start-up, and gun barrel flash with smoke.

The tank also has an authentic engine sound on the Clark board so it is quite well specified, but it needs some more work to complete the paintwork and the barrel wrap needs changing.

This tank does not have any metal tracks yet as I have not been able to find any to fit it with the right profile, but something will crop-up and in the meantime I will weather the plastic ones that are fitted as they work well and have the correct pattern moulded into them.

I have two other Cheiftain's that I had had for some time. They both have metal tracks and and have been weathered, but neither have the Clark board to give the correct engine sound or the red motors to improve their performance when running on grass that tends to sap the power!

Tanks are a bit like model boats insomuch that they are never really finished and can always be improved......

Your portable workbench must be perfect to take to events like your WW2 event last week 👍

Bob.

OK Doug, not a lengthy report. The WWII event was well attended, probably in excess of 6,000 people. I only went Saturday and I'm glad I did. There was a heavy rain on Sunday. We had a nice setup for our RC tanks. 100's of kids got a chance of being a "tank driver". Needless to say, we have to make a lot of repairs. The big battle was OK, I've seen better. The big booms frightened my grandson. For me, I enjoyed the sounds of those Sherman's with the radial engines running across the field.

Lew

wrong post :(