Israeli Centurion - Sho’t Kal C (Gimel) - IDF 1980s - Build

Post by **Model Builder 4** » Fri May 24, 2019 8:34 am

The mantlet cover looks great Louis, nice idea to use a flexible material, should help a lot with the barrel elevation

Cheers, Lee.

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Fri May 24, 2019 12:59 pm

Thank you everyone,

I went through a scavenger hunt in the house trying to find the right material.

Some were too thin and would not fold correctly, others too thick, others did not have the right texture on close up analysis.

: Mantlet cover; Capture23.JPG (56.64 KiB) Viewed 2690 times

I tried a latex glove, bad idea.

: Mantlet cover

Although easy to handle, it was a bit too small and I had to stretch it too much to fit the large mantlet. Too thin, it did not show correctly and was too weak at the corners of the rectangular mantlet, a small tear and it was over for this experiment. In any case, it looked like I was putting a condom over the mantlet, that was real ugly and an insult to a Centurion. Might be ok for other tanks...

: Mantlet cover

Yes Herman, painting it will be another experiment. Ideally, a khaki glove would have been the best. We shall see.

Post by **HERMAN BIX** » Fri May 24, 2019 10:41 pm

This may be dumb, and certainly a backward step, but does the glove you used have a woven texture in the inside of it.?
Perhaps fit it inside out ?

c.rainford73 · Post by **c.rainford73** » Sat May 25, 2019 2:57 am

Louis another extraordinary build. The glove idea is very cool. Would automotive paint used for flexibility on bumper covers thinned out adhere and do the trick?

I assume you could do a test on another piece of material and get it in a color close to whatever you need....

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Thu May 30, 2019 12:56 pm

Thanks Guys.

There must be a lot of different types of gloves available. I was so happy when i found something in the house that seems to do well, i did not even think of going a step further and do some shopping. The interior texture is the same as the exterior. Anyway, it should look good painted with a thin layer of acrylic, i'll see, that is a problem to resolve later.

Continuing with the build, this is a WIP post for the turret detailing.

First step was to disassemble the turret top for rebuilding and detailing.

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

The gun sight is complex, with many angles and shapes to worry about. Sho't Kal were converted from many Centurion marks. Depending on the picture, it could be a Mark 3, 5, 7 or 11, coming from various sources, new or used and the turret top show differences. Some have parts missing or removed during the various upgrades which add to the confusion of trying to recreate a standard Sho't Kal Gimel turret top. There is probably not one. The wiper box on top of the sight box is missing on this picture.

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build; Capture2.JPG (81.21 KiB) Viewed 2830 times

The flat base of the sight was raised and enlarged

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

The base

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

The gun sight, recreated the best I could mainly from pictures. The sight is so small on the 1/35 model that it was of absolutely no help. This item is very small to scratch build in plasticard even in 1/16 scale.

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build; Capture5.JPG (76.85 KiB) Viewed 2830 times

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build; Capture6.JPG (89.07 KiB) Viewed 2830 times

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

I'll be adding the fragile wiper and some other gizmos later because they will either be on the way during the build or be lost or damaged during build manipulations.

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

Next step was the commander's hatch. Pictures of the real thing are non existant and I had to rely on the 1/35 model. The standard Mark 3 hatch needs to be replaced by a raised hatch, surely allowing the commander's head to have a better position when looking through periscopes.

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

Continuing on following post.

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Thu May 30, 2019 1:08 pm

The body of the cupola hatch is made of layers of thick plasticard glued together

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

then shaped as per 1/35 kit reference using the Dremel and nail files. Mounts for the opening brackets were added after.

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

The mounted new cupola hatch

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

I was not able to fully reproduce the shapes of the arms for the cupola hatch opening mechanism, they go high and the required thick brass would have broken if I bended it further. But they look ok and are functional.

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

Views of other detailed parts. 4 small rectangular brackets on the right side of the commander's cupola are shown in position or removed in reference pictures. Since I had no clear picture of them or what they were doing, I reproduced only the mounting bolts, seen in references.

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

Continuing on following post

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Thu May 30, 2019 1:18 pm

Seen on top

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

Reworked air vent to show the mounting bolts.

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

A binocular periscope seen on the right side of the commander's cupola

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

Reproduced. The builder should not skip building such small items. It is quite easy with brass tubing, residual plasticard and a nail file and tube cutter. These are the small details that add a lot of the model. Analysis of reference pictures is fun. If you are just building the basic parts provided with the Ludwig kit, the Centurion will look naked.

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build; Capture24.JPG (90.89 KiB) Viewed 2860 times

View of the Sho't Kal as it stands today.

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

: 1/16 RC Centurion tank Sho't Kal Gimel IDF build

The turret is still work in progress. I am now going on a 3 weeks vacation in Spain, I will pick up the build on my return mid June.

Regards, Louis

BarryC · Post by **BarryC** » Thu May 30, 2019 1:46 pm

Excellent detail work, looks great Louis!

Enjoy your vacation.

Barry

Post by **HERMAN BIX** » Sat Jun 01, 2019 6:19 am

Spain eh !
Be sure to check in on the battlefield that Mr Jussek & his mates are building

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Sat Jun 22, 2019 3:28 am

HERMAN BIX wrote:Spain eh !Be sure to check in on the battlefield that Mr Jussek & his mates are building

Honestly Mr Herman, the Spanish natural sceneries are extremely beautiful and making it hard for tanks to compete with. I took 6,000 pictures over 2 weeks.

: Spanish vacation sceneries

: Spanish vacation sceneries

Now, restarting the build after my Spanish Costa del Sol vacation. It took me a couple of days to put my head back together into tanks but i am back at it now.

I installed the gun elevation. I made the Centurion the honor of having an expensive DKLM metal unit and it shows. I am connecting the elevation servo to Channel 6 on the VRB rotation knob instead of going through the TK22 control with sticks. I have found that the VR knob for elevation provide much simpler control than having to deal with 2 sticks.

: Centurion 1/16 tank RC Sho't Kal Gimel

I installed the Ludwigs 3D printed rear basket. I had issues finding the right grill material to cover the basket. The real sho't has wider squares. In any cases, It will have to do but it reinforces the 3D material which can otherwise easily break.