RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Its a joy to watch.
The figures are plain enough to be very versatile I agree. Been looking at those for other uses too.

Hi Louis - in case you haven't seen it, or it is not modelled in the AFV version, here is a photo of an Australian Centurion, showing the left side exhaust with the cover removed and showing the exhaust for the auxilliary engine.

Estnische wrote: ↑Mon Oct 02, 2023 3:32 am Hi Louis - in case you haven't seen it, or it is not modelled in the AFV version, here is a photo of an Australian Centurion, showing the left side exhaust with the cover removed and showing the exhaust for the auxilliary engine.

Thank you Estnische, this help identifying the starting position and the lenght of the pipe.


Looking at the TONGDE part, they start it just behind the heat shield and seems too short anyway, same as AFV CLub. I created a new part.


While checking the AFV CLub sprue, i noticed the base for the muffler, confirmed by a thorough search of pictures in the WWP book.


While installing the small pipe, I took the opportunity to create the small muffler bases attached to the fender supports that were completely redone.


On both sides.


While waiting for the brass plates for the heat shields, i did the tail lights. Accurate Armour shows a US WW2 style tail light with a simple guard in a loop over a small base with 2 bolt heads. These replaced the tiny Centurion British tail lights which were roughly done by TONGDE and previously removed.



Confirmed by pictures, however, we can see that instead on a simple loop following the armor angle towards the bottom, its more horizontal and complicated to do. We can see the base plate.


The late Sho't Meteor tail light is different than the Sho't Kal, which is enclosed in a round pipe.


As usual for my US tail light, i like to use the Shapeways M41 tail light as a base.


However, i removed the star like features that i did not think were used on that Sho't version.


Continuing on following post

These are overlays for a 5mm red LED, exactly what i needed. At this time, the 3D printed part is just inserted over the LED, it is not glued to keep it removable. It is only after painting that these part will be cemented together. It does a much cleaner paint job that way.


The Late Sho't Meteor tail lights. Be aware of the difference between left and right.


Take note of the new fender supports and the reflector on the mud guard.
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It's the LED Wires that keep the LED in place.


Got my brass sheets, so i am starting with the pipe heat shield, ref picture below from Prime Portal and many others were studied to try to make sense of it all. These are more complicated that most model makers make them.


Continuing on following post.

To help me with the creation of the heat shields, i am using thin Albion 0.12mm brass sheet, selling for a few dollars. I should have used 0.25mm thick sheets but they would have been a lot more difficult to cut and bend.


These are my great metal bending tools... Honestly, i am poor in tools but such need for large plate bending does not come often. The most important thing i used is the thick Heng Long Metal gearbox base for bending brass as it provides a strong, long and sharp corner.



Brass sheet with a thickness of 0.12mm can be easily cut with a hobby knife. It takes about 4 scribes on the brass and the plate snaps cleanly for a precise and sharp cut in seconds. Cutting the horizontal lenght is the easy part.


A pipe of the required size is used to roll the plate for a nice and clean rounded corner.


The biggest problem is finding the right vertical dimension for the part, requiring a few attempts. When the calculated lenght is really bad, it is sometimes simpler to start from scratch than trying to unbend the parts to salvage it with new bendings. But this is a tank head shield, not a Ferrari so its ok and realistic to show imperfections. Then two of them needs to be made exactly the same.


After much dry fitting, the exhaust pipe heat shields are done and installed on both sides.


Now, the muffler heat shield. Again much study is required. It is raised and not sitting on the fenders or directly flat on the mufflers like many model vendors tend to provide them to simplify things. The heat shields are highly visible, correctly detailing them adds a lot of realism to the model for a bit of time and a few dollars in material.


This specific picture is very important, showing the base, the thickness of the shield and the attachment points under it. Also shown is the little pipe at the bottom, done earlier.


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Muffler heat shield part is created, everything is always easier with practice and some experience, this is no different.


Need two of them exactly similar, comparing the shapes is easy.


Instead of wasting time trying to create attachment points by bending strips, i decided to cut a U channel and sand to dimension. It makes a much stronger base.


Attachment points are in position. The small brass ones are mostly for the look as these are apparent. The real base are the hidden plasticard strips in the middle, ensuring a strong and flat base for the brass.


Dry fitting, looking good.


Muffler's heat shields are in place.


There is a little metal stip at the back linking the two shields, and recreated.


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Both sides are finished. All in all, the shields were done in about 5 hours of work, a lot on the first one while getting organized and trained on metal bending, and then it gets much easier.


The model as it stands today.


While browsing the web, i found this interesting picture. This is clearly a Sho't Meteor with extended hull, but with a jerrycan on the back plate and still with a 20pdr gun with a type B fume extractor, not the 105mm L7.


And Painless was right, the old man looks better with his forehead showing. I had to rework the back of his neck again to be able to slide the helmet towards the rear. As he is looking through binoculars, i won't give him back his sunglasses, he looks better without them. Case closed.


Regards, Louis

Wow... One question or maybe a suggestion. With those translucent tail lights, I will typically paint the inside and the of the housing black before installing the LED. That way when the final paint goes on, there isn't all that LED bleed through the plastic. Just something to think about. Great build so far...as usual.

tankme wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2023 10:30 pm Wow... One question or maybe a suggestion. With those translucent tail lights, I will typically paint the inside and the of the housing black before installing the LED. That way when the final paint goes on, there isn't all that LED bleed through the plastic. Just something to think about. Great build so far...as usual.

Thank you, yes, at this time, i didn't glue the Shapeways part to the LED for this purposes. Usually, the coats of enamel primer and then acrylics are enough to stop the bleeding on all sides.


The following posts are for the M2 ammo boxes and ammo.


Usually for my modern (meaning not WW2) M2 .50 cal Brownings, i get the ABER M2A1 ammo box and ammo links. This time, i tried the Voyager Model ammo boxes coming with the M551 Sheridan upgrade kit. Other than the rim for the Sheridan road wheels, we get 10 ammo boxes and 70 tie downs for about $26 at BNA Modelworld. I thought it was a bargain when looking only for ammo boxes because Aber sells 1 ammo box with ammo for about the same cost.

Upon inspections, the VoyagerModel ammo boxes are weak, undersized, the instructions really suck and there are no decals. Someone that does not know how a real .50 ammo box looks in absolute details would not known how to properly assemble it from the instructions. The metal is weak and so is the hinge when trying to open and close the box. Plus, the locking mechanism is not operable like the ABER.

I will manage to use them on this build but if you are looking for one .50 ammo box for your model, my recommendation is to get the ammo box from ABER, it's more solid and accurate.



I saw a couple of pitfalls for the newbee. The strips for the hinge are too long and need to be cut.


Microscopic parts to anchor the handle on the front cover are too small and weak for someone with regular vision and tools to fold and position. I had to use a brass U channel, cut a thin slice and reduce the thickness with a nail file in order to recreate the part. It is actually not bad, probably better than anything that can be achieved with the parts provided.


I created one opened ammo box for the M2 mount, and one closed box to put on the turret top. Looking ok but the Aber box is better.


Need some .50 ammo in a belt for the Browning. I have some remaining from previous builds.


I was intimidated the first time i saw these.


But the look of ABER ammo on an Tamiya M2 is difficult to beat. This time, i just need a belt of about 12 cartridges to show between the box lid and the Machine gun so it will be fast.


As usual, forget about using the jig provided by Aber, it's useless. I used 2 length of 1.19mm brass rods to help me folding the links with the tip of a blade.


And then i just assembled a small belt just like the real thing, done in about 1 hour. It's tiny... Once satisfied with every link inserted, i put a tiny drop of superglue underneath to keep it in place, carefully avoiding any bleeding to the top that would really not look good.


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I now have a 12 cartridge .50 ammo belt. Guys with better optical equipment could do a perfect job on the ammo links but its good enough for me. These are very small fingers to position around the cartridges, it's only through close up pictures that i can really see for the first time what kind of job i did.


Great, i still have Aber ammo box decals from past builds. Notice the different ammo mixture to select (API, Ball, Tracer)... Cool.


The Tamiya M2 that was created for the M26 Pershing is just fantastic. I always have at least 5 of them in storage, just in case Tamiya one day decides not to produce them anymore. They probably figured that some crazy guy like me would one day try to load them with ammo. However, in order to fit correctly, the inside of the M2 needs to be trimmed a bit, otherwise the ammo won't fit in.


Dry fitting of the ammo belt loaded on the M2, looking really good. It was worth the trouble and the effort.


And then fitting inside the slightly opened ammo box. No need to fill the interior with anything else, it won't show. As the Voyager model ammo boxes are undersized in width, i had to trim the tip of the Aber cartridges for the ammo to fit in, this situation is extremely annoying for a rivet counter like me. Those Voyager ammo boxes should be used only to show in storage.


It's the imperfect alignment of cartridges that make such ammo belt more realistic, plus i won't have to paint the cartridges, there is no paint in the world that will ever come close to real brass cartridges.