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1/16 Scale Centurion


Stuart Galbraith

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  • 9 months later...

Well, did not want to open new thread, but it fits here - some Russian prop maker and his 1:6 FV4005 project. 3 parts so far:

 

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  • 2 months later...

Tamiya is bringing out a 1-16 scale kit next year.

https://tamiyablog.com/2021/12/full-details-of-tamiya-56045-1-16-rc-british-battle-tank-centurion-mk-iii-full-option-kit/

Basically you wait 50 years for a 1-16 model, and 2 come along at once...

d6.jpg

d10.jpg

Edited by Stuart Galbraith
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I have had the 1/25 scale non motorised kit in my stash for 20 years or so, I don't think that I will race out and order the 1/16 in a hurry.

Edited by DougRichards
wrong year
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  • 7 months later...

Get Chinese "mini lathe". It is about 450-600 euro new and used ones can be found sometimes for half of that. It is not good for steel (except for smallest details) but is quite decent for aluminium, bronze/brass and plastics. Plus it is small, which is always a benefit for a hobby workshop.

 

Edited by bojan
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I might look into that, Ive got to clear all my old books out the shed first. Ive picked up a cheap chinese pillar drill for less than 50 quid. Its not very special, its hard to use, but for 60 squid ive no real grounds for complaint.

What I may try in the interim is making a mould of the plastic wheels, casting them in resin, and drilling them out to add bearings. The only negative with that solution, is that im not convinced resin is going to last long rolling over metal track, and its still going to leave plastic suspension. Im not sure its really worth it.

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Depends on what kind of resin you use, regular modelers one will not last long, but you might try those with glass powder additives (IIRC used for boats and such), those can be quite durable. But I would recomand making rubber bands anyway, even if they are just rubber tubing pulled over wheels, those will reduce damage to wheels significantly, since resin is very weak to a constant vibrations and rubber is good in absorbing those.

Edited by bojan
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Thanks, Ill try and get some glass powder. I did use some other stuff in the bottom of the hull to thicken it up (it warped alarmingly in some circumstances) but I dont think it would cut it for load bearing

Trimming a tube for tyres is not a bad idea though, might try that. if im casting wheels anyway, i can trim down the edge so the wheel wont be overlarge.

Have you ever found a good metal/rubber adhesive? I bought a set of tracks that had rubber pads inset in them, and ive tried variuos epoxies, but nothing seems to make the buggers stick for long. The torque on carpet is fatal.

Edited by Stuart Galbraith
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Polyurethane glues like "Gorilla Glue" should work on metal-rubber contacts. There is also Soviet/Russian BF-4 which is even better, but it has became unobtanium outside Russia few years back because some of it's components are on EU blacklist.

klej-BF-4.jpg

Edited by bojan
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9 hours ago, bojan said:

Polyurethane glues like "Gorilla Glue" should work on metal-rubber contacts. There is also Soviet/Russian BF-4 which is even better, but it has became unobtanium outside Russia few years back because some of it's components are on EU blacklist.

Yeah, figures.

Ok, thanks for that, Ill give it a try.

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Friend's one (he uses it way more than I use mine) is doing quite well after 6-7 years, still capable of 1/10k" precision as claimed on the specifications. Thing is to do small depth of cut and have patience.

Edited by bojan
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I've actually been working with aluminium sheet for the first time, noted to make the brackets for the tracklinks that hang on the rear hull. Cut it with a dremmel , filed and bent it to shape and went fairly well. Just got it stuck on the tank with JB Weld. Nice material to work with.

In one respect it's a mistake to stick all this shit on after I've painted and weathered it, but at least I know now how to weather it to fit in with what I've already done. And having something of an obsessive nature, it's not always easy to know when to stop. :D

Thinking of modding a Soviet tankdriver  into a British one with some miliput. Shame there are so few British figures in 1-16, but I quite enjoy figurebashing.

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Yes. 1 tenth of the 1 thou or 0.00254mm. Both mine and his mini lathes are inch pattern, not metric (not that it really matters, except that you can not disengage half-nuts during thread cutting metric threads).

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The following is based on a lot of reviews of youtuber hobby lathe work rather than personal experience - I need my retirement workshop before I start throwing chips about.

Youtube has many videos of machinists reviewing the mini lathes. They tend to agree that one of the most productive things to do with them is to dismantle them and ensure that all manufacturing swarf and grinding grit/residue is gone before you put them to work. This is true of most if not all cheap Chinese equipment, including everything from Vernier calipers on up.

Operationally, for steels you'd be making very, very small cuts and you might not be able to generate the surface speeds needed to get the best use out of carbide tooling, but they can be made to work.

This Old Tony has an introductory video for setting one up that's quite accessible. Many others present home-shop modifications that improve the capabilities as well.

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IIRC, TOT noted that changing spindle bearings is pretty much mandatory.

Quote

They tend to agree that one of the most productive things to do with them is to dismantle them and ensure that all manufacturing swarf and grinding grit/residue is gone before you put them to work

1954. US made (South Band Lathe Co) had "if brand new check for a residues of machining from a factory before powering", embossed into lathe itself. :)

Edited by bojan
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On 7/29/2022 at 2:54 PM, bojan said:

Yes. 1 tenth of the 1 thou or 0.00254mm. Both mine and his mini lathes are inch pattern, not metric (not that it really matters, except that you can not disengage half-nuts during thread cutting metric threads).

The head stock run out is 0.0004". Hard to get 0.0001" precision.

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Friend makes parts with above precision repeatably. Maybe his lathe is better than average, maybe not. He did change bearing on his, as is recommended, so that might be a reason.

Which is all semantics - for modeling 1/16 tanks... even 0.001-0.002" would be perfectly fine. For what I do... 0.005" would be more than fine.

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