Centurion Bridge layer (FV4002)

[hawkeye3guns]

Hi A few people have asked me to post some photo's of a model I have been working on & off for the last 18 months. I obtained some A4 line drawings from Bovington Tank museum and a set of Photo's of a Centurion Bridge layer (FV4002) The Drawings I Scaled up to 1/16.
To save building a hull from scratch I looked around and decided to use a KV hull and running gear and then modify it to suit. According to the drawings the hull is 200mm short on width 160mm short on lenght compared to the full size hulls so at 1/16 its not really noticable.
The front and rear of the hull was removed and then rebuilt to suit, Also the sides was raised to give the correct profile.

Next came the basic engine covers and deck cover.

On the centurion the mudguards/ Trackguards are just prefabricated tin bolted to the hull, carrying the toolboxes and the exhausts.

and then the last major hull mod is the extended range external fuel tank.

The rear Bridge supports and crossbeam are the next to fit.

I now decided to rough build the bridging units to get an some idea of the force required to lay the bridge.

[hawkeye3guns]

Do not know how to combine the two posts so added the rest of the build so far as a part two.
The rest of the bridging units and then laid along side the model for size .

Whilst these was drying I went back to the hull and constructed the front lifting arms and some of the hatches for the hull.

And here's the bridging units roughly in place on the hull while I try to make a deploying mech that looks scale and most importantly that works.

I'll keep you posted as things progress.
Denzil

[lliw180]

Nice work Denzil ! looks good

[Wildboar44]

Ive got to admire your skills there , how will you motorize the lifting arms ? Very curious about that

[hawkeye3guns]

Thanks for the comment? the lifting mech is whats driving me insane. numerous attenpts have hit the garage wall. I'm now attempting to replicate the hydraulic piston's but having a screw thread inside them to extend and retract them but with a small 10mm X10mm x30mm 600:1 motor / gearbox unit on the side driving the screw thread a bit like a electric linear actuator but a lot more compact. The problem is both piston's need 92mm (hull piston) & 95mm (bridge piston) of movement but when retracted need to fit into a space only 120mm long. When I evenually sort it I drive them just using a plain minature speed controller for forward and reverse of the screw thread.
regards Denzil

[hawkeye3guns]

I had a brain storm and finally cracked the the main hull piston by building my own linear actuator. once I had the eureka moment they are quite simple. First pic is of the components a small gearbox from E-bay china £5.99 free P&P some threaded M5 bar from B&Q and some Brass Tubeing from local model shop. I'm lucky I have a small gas brazing outfit to assemble the unit

Once the unit was assembled and tested I boxed it in plastic card to look approxiamatly like the real unit going to paint the wires and disguise them as hydraulic pipes.

The unit was tested for pulling power on the bench by anchoring to my drill base and then placing a house brick on the bench with a cord around it and attached to the piston. It pulled 3 bricks piled on top of each over on 9.6volts and 1.8amps load but stalled on 4 bricks, so I'm happy it powerful enough. By rigging up a test arm I was able to determine the best pivot point for the hull piston.

Just got to build the first pivot brackets and rollers in place of the test rig and then I can measure and set about the second bridge laying piston.
regards Denzil

[Snipermadrid]

Hello!

Good jop. Great and nice.

One question the drawing 3 view in wich page are download?

Thankyou best regard from Spain.

Antonio.

[hawkeye3guns]

Thank you. If you mean the drawings for the vehicle, I contacted the Bovington Tank Museam and for a fee they was able to supply a booklet with some A4 size drawings which I then scaled up to 1/16 size.
Denzil

[chucky]

it looks even better in real life, cant wait to get it on the painting bench.

[hawkeye3guns]

Thanks Chucky.