M1A1HA, 9/18/23 update. Delay of Game, two week penalty!

[BarryC]

I have the etched screen from North Star, waiting on Albion Alloys brass angle to arrive to make the frames. Hopefully it will arrive next week by mid week.
Once I see how sturdy they are with the brass frame and screen I may open up some of the spaces between the louvers

Barry

[greengiant]

I left the plastic gearboxes in so gearbox noise is not a problem for me. I also have the speaker in front and although admittedly the screen openings didn't increase speaker sound much as I had hoped it was improved a bit.
At about 12 pounds mine are working pretty hard to move them and heat dissipation was I think improved as I'm using the stock rx 18's and they so far have no sign of any inside hull heat buildup damage.
Haven't seen anyone else comment on heat as a problem using the stock electronics but most haven't weighed theirs down enough to really worry about heat buildup.
Main reason I originally went to very fine screen was to get scale look of screens in 1/16 and the hatch holes needed to be opened to fit the screen. My first one I did some rudimentary louvers under the screens, on the second one I didn't bother as the screen is so fine that unless looked directly down on the louvers can't be seen anyway. Anything to make the screens look scale vastly improves the look of the rear deck. Especially the difference between the look of the large left sponsoon openings and those on the rear deck itself.

[BarryC]

Green Giant,

Heat is a concern for me as well, tank weighs 15 lbs now, I expect final weight to be around 16.5 - 17 lbs. I do not expect to operate tank for extended periods of time but I will monitor closely once it's complete.

I have the appropriate brass mesh to replace all the molded "grills". I am still considering opening at least some of the louvered vents once the screen mesh is fitted.

Barry

[BarryC]

Hi guys,

I started making the hinge sections for the Heat Exchanger Intake Louvers. Here are few photos of how it is proceeding.







TAFN,
Barry

[mcevoyi]

Hiya Barry

An absolutely beautiful build

My hat off to you

Iain

[BarryC]

Iain,

Thank you for you kind words.
I am striving for as much realism as possible within the confines of the basic model.

Thanks,
Barry

[BarryC]

Hi folks,

I have been busy making hinges for the access hatches, all are complete. Great fun as only the ones for the two aft center hatches are the same, all other sets are different. I laminated different sizes of styrene strip together to give me the need dimensions before filing and sanding to the required shape.

I used the same method to make the external “seals” for the main battery boxes and handle mounts for the access hatch “locks”. Two on the battery boxes, two on the center forward hatch and one on the large hatch forward of the engine & transmission oil heat exchanger intake louvers.



After completing the hinges and locks I moved on to the debris screens for the engine and transmission oil heat exchanger intake louvers. I spent close to 20 hours making the first two which included making several temporary fixtures/jigs. All four are different in height with only the two on the left having a common height, all four have differing widths. I used 2mm brass angle to get the width needed for the mounting pads. The space between the pads has been filed down to approx. 1mm and the other leg filed down to approx. .5mm. LOTS of filing and fitting.

The screen mesh is made by NorthStar Models and you can see it is very fine but allows visibility through it, so louvers will be visible as on the actual tank. It is also extremely thin and difficult to trim without tearing and very, very easy to bend!!

Though quite trying and a little frustrating I believe the end results were worth the effort; what do you think?









Now to build the next two.

Thanks for looking,
Barry

[greengiant]

That screen is very fine. As fine as what I used I think but thin, mine was quite thick as it was meant to be a filter.
Paint with care or you will end up with paint thickness closing off parts of the screens. I used rattle cans of paint and it was hard to do that as the spay was not very fine.
The hatches look great by the way.

[HERMAN BIX]

And the understatement award of the year goes to Mr Barry C for "Oh My " !!!!!!

Just stupendous work Sir,
I get your background in Aeronautics gives you the skill set, but where the hell did that patience come from
Is your mum(mom) Mother Theresa

[BarryC]

That screen is very fine. As fine as what I used I think but thin, mine was quite thick as it was meant to be a filter.
Paint with care or you will end up with paint thickness closing off parts of the screens. I used rattle cans of paint and it was hard to do that as the spay was not very fine.
The hatches look great by the way.

Yes, the screen is very thin and it will require care when painting to prevent clogging the openings. I will be using an airbrush and will paint the screens separate from the louvered vents.

Barry