Chieftain (Haya) Mk.5 to Mk.10 Modification Build
Posted: Fri May 07, 2021 7:33 pm
Finally, I have been able to bring my latest project forward and present it here. As many of you will know I began this re-build/upgrade some time ago but was hindered greatly by poor health and much time in hospital - whatever. The consequence, however, is that I was unable to bring to the forum a more traditional build thread, much though I would have liked to.
Nonetheless, I have a collection of images of some of the progress I slowly made and I will show these here in a very loosely chronological order (well, sort of). This is very much a cobbled together thread rather than like my previous step by step build threads but I hope some will find it of a little interest anyway. I will try to explain the development and some of the detailing as it unfolded.
I began, of course, with Andrew Haya's Chieftain Mk.3 which makes for an excellent base model for this amazing cold war British tank. As an RC model it works well enough but I really wanted to do something more for it, both as a RC model and representation of the Chieftain. Haya already sells some 3d printed parts to take this Chieftain from a Mk.3 towards a Mk.5 (the final production version although the army's 'Totem Pole programme' of upgrades provided later versions up to the last, a Mk. 11). Moreover, I already began to modify some parts (e.g. cannon barrel, see in pic above) but was not happy with the results.
Having been up close and personal with Bovington Museum's Mk.11 I eventually decided on upgrading my Chieftain to Mk.10 as this included the visually striking Stillbrew armour upgrade amongst (very many) other things. By opting for a Mk.10 and not the Bovington Mk.11 I also avoided needing to swap out the projector light (searchlight to the rest of us) for the TOGS (Thermal Observation and Gunnery Sight) unit - good move I thought .
Well, I had no idea what a challenge and rabbit hole this was going to be!
Early on I made a start by designing and making the various parts needed to upgrade the Chieftain to Mk.5 and beyond. The following are just a few of the 3D printed parts I made. In fact I designed and printed around 50-60 parts in the end but I didn't get to take pictures of them all unfortunately (pictured here is the raised 4 door engine deck, the MRS light projector, MRS mirror housing, cannon boot, Capola ring, Clansman radio box, and fume extractor counterweight)....
Here are a couple of the more difficult parts from the Fusion 360 collection, the NBC no.6 pack for the rear of the turret and the later design travel lock which I designed to be fully functional.....
Some of these parts I installed on the turret and upper hull during the strip down
Having begun to strip down the Chieftain I began installing some of the upgrade parts. However, I eventually arrived at the point where I need to tackle something that I knew was going to be a bit of a challenge - the StillBrew armour . I knew this was going to be a challenge because I had little available in terms of data for the shapes, depthss and angles, etc, involved and I am just not too good at all when it comes to surfacing modelling in Fusion 360 . Well, the truth is this is my Waterloo, so to speak, so I decided to do it the old way - the really old way with modelling clay. The reason for this was that using this medium provides a long drying time, and time is what I needed if I was going to get this anywhere near where I wanted to be...... Over several days, as time permitted, I worked the surfaces, sanding, grinding, etc, and applying liberal quantities of Mr Surfacer too ... The picture below shows some of the detail added to the front of the upper hull, not least of which is the two Stillbrew armour collars either side of the drivers periscope as well as the new sidelights now complete with working switchable LED lights, cast identification letters and numbers on the glacis plate, and a modified drivers hatch with the lock, latch, and travel stop, etc. Additionally, the drillings for the turret ring bearings are visible here. Ironically (perhaps), the addition of Stillbrew armour to the turret of my Chieftain has made the it much heavier, just as this did to actual tank (by some 2.25 tons apparently). As a precauation I decided to add ball bearings to the face which are supported underneath by a reinforcement ring that i 3D printed earlier. I also upgraded the turret drive ring and gearbox to the all metal versions..... The next picture shows the upper hull primed prior to top coating. Visible here are the nearly 40 handles that festoon the 'bazooka plates' (skirts to me). For practicality I used stiff wire sheived with shrink wrap - I just knew that being a working RC model any paint would otherwise wear off very quickly. The glacis plate casting effects can now be seen, as can the mud flaps and the bazooka plate fixings and tow cable fittings (all missing previously). Notice, in particular, the cutaway to the corner of the triangular storage bin, this is not present on the left side bin....... In the next post I will show some of the internal changes and upgrades (that I hope will be of some interest ), many of which were made concurrently with the development of the outer hull and turret (more on this to follow).
Nonetheless, I have a collection of images of some of the progress I slowly made and I will show these here in a very loosely chronological order (well, sort of). This is very much a cobbled together thread rather than like my previous step by step build threads but I hope some will find it of a little interest anyway. I will try to explain the development and some of the detailing as it unfolded.
I began, of course, with Andrew Haya's Chieftain Mk.3 which makes for an excellent base model for this amazing cold war British tank. As an RC model it works well enough but I really wanted to do something more for it, both as a RC model and representation of the Chieftain. Haya already sells some 3d printed parts to take this Chieftain from a Mk.3 towards a Mk.5 (the final production version although the army's 'Totem Pole programme' of upgrades provided later versions up to the last, a Mk. 11). Moreover, I already began to modify some parts (e.g. cannon barrel, see in pic above) but was not happy with the results.
Having been up close and personal with Bovington Museum's Mk.11 I eventually decided on upgrading my Chieftain to Mk.10 as this included the visually striking Stillbrew armour upgrade amongst (very many) other things. By opting for a Mk.10 and not the Bovington Mk.11 I also avoided needing to swap out the projector light (searchlight to the rest of us) for the TOGS (Thermal Observation and Gunnery Sight) unit - good move I thought .
Well, I had no idea what a challenge and rabbit hole this was going to be!
Early on I made a start by designing and making the various parts needed to upgrade the Chieftain to Mk.5 and beyond. The following are just a few of the 3D printed parts I made. In fact I designed and printed around 50-60 parts in the end but I didn't get to take pictures of them all unfortunately (pictured here is the raised 4 door engine deck, the MRS light projector, MRS mirror housing, cannon boot, Capola ring, Clansman radio box, and fume extractor counterweight)....
Here are a couple of the more difficult parts from the Fusion 360 collection, the NBC no.6 pack for the rear of the turret and the later design travel lock which I designed to be fully functional.....
Some of these parts I installed on the turret and upper hull during the strip down
Having begun to strip down the Chieftain I began installing some of the upgrade parts. However, I eventually arrived at the point where I need to tackle something that I knew was going to be a bit of a challenge - the StillBrew armour . I knew this was going to be a challenge because I had little available in terms of data for the shapes, depthss and angles, etc, involved and I am just not too good at all when it comes to surfacing modelling in Fusion 360 . Well, the truth is this is my Waterloo, so to speak, so I decided to do it the old way - the really old way with modelling clay. The reason for this was that using this medium provides a long drying time, and time is what I needed if I was going to get this anywhere near where I wanted to be...... Over several days, as time permitted, I worked the surfaces, sanding, grinding, etc, and applying liberal quantities of Mr Surfacer too ... The picture below shows some of the detail added to the front of the upper hull, not least of which is the two Stillbrew armour collars either side of the drivers periscope as well as the new sidelights now complete with working switchable LED lights, cast identification letters and numbers on the glacis plate, and a modified drivers hatch with the lock, latch, and travel stop, etc. Additionally, the drillings for the turret ring bearings are visible here. Ironically (perhaps), the addition of Stillbrew armour to the turret of my Chieftain has made the it much heavier, just as this did to actual tank (by some 2.25 tons apparently). As a precauation I decided to add ball bearings to the face which are supported underneath by a reinforcement ring that i 3D printed earlier. I also upgraded the turret drive ring and gearbox to the all metal versions..... The next picture shows the upper hull primed prior to top coating. Visible here are the nearly 40 handles that festoon the 'bazooka plates' (skirts to me). For practicality I used stiff wire sheived with shrink wrap - I just knew that being a working RC model any paint would otherwise wear off very quickly. The glacis plate casting effects can now be seen, as can the mud flaps and the bazooka plate fixings and tow cable fittings (all missing previously). Notice, in particular, the cutaway to the corner of the triangular storage bin, this is not present on the left side bin....... In the next post I will show some of the internal changes and upgrades (that I hope will be of some interest ), many of which were made concurrently with the development of the outer hull and turret (more on this to follow).