RC Tanks Australia Forum

I removed the CIPs from the side of the turret this morning, and sanded back the scars.



not too bothered about getting a perfect finish here as I will be applying the anti slip surface paint that most Chally 2s seem to have, and the one I am modelling certainly has. I will use the same method as I did on my M1A2 Abrams build to achieve the anti slip, which will hopefully cover any imperfections in the plastics surface.

Here is the side of the Turret on the tank I am working from.



And a pic of the side of the turret of the Chally 2 prototype at Bovington.



A close up of the surface texture on the bovington Chally 2



At the moment I am piecing together exactly which of the tanks surfaces should have this texture.

Paul

I thought I would repost the pic from a link that a friend sent me on another forum which shows where the anti slip surface should be applied.



The red arrow is pointing to one of several round access panels which I believe should have anti slip just in the centres leaving the bolts clear.



The fuel fillers however do not have anti slip applied.

Masking is done ready for application of the anti slip surface texture.



I decided not to mask off the round inspection covers and fuel fillers. As they are slightly raised I will paint on the texture around them.

I was in the mood to crack on with this yesterday and that has continued into today. Up early to add the surface texture.

I used the same stuff as I used on the Abrams build I did earlier this year.

This is the texture paint I used.



it comes as a fairly thick paste



This is a great product. it is acrylic based, and water soluble so it can be thinned and cleaned off using water. I thin it down until it is the consistency of a thinnish milkshake. Make sure it is smooth and that any lumps are mixed out



This is where I diverged from the Abrams build. On that tank I wanted a fairly even coat of the antislip, so this paint was applied with a broad brush in two even coats. The Challenger antislip is less even.



So for this tank the texture paint was stippled on with a small flat brush. The front of the hull and turret seem to have a slightly thicker coat than the hull sides and rear deck. So the hull front and turret got 2 stippled coats and the rest got one stippled on coat.

Here is the result.








Once this has dried the masking can be removed, and any ares with have been coated in error can be removed using a moistened tooth pick. I also used a tooth pick to remove any paint that had gotten into the grooves that the challenger has between some panels.

I am pretty pleased with the result, it looks pretty close to the anti slip I have seen on Challengers.

Next I will be adding some of the details from the H/L add ons, and a few small parts of my own.

Paul

I am pleased with the anti slip so far, real test will be when I get some paint on

This morning I marked up the Turret sides ready to attach the add on armour mounts.




These mounts will be made from 2.5mm plastic rod, and will be mounted into 2.5mm holes drilled into the side of the turret. I discovered this morning that I don't have a 2.5mm drill bit so this is on hold till later when I can nip out and buy one.

Not being able to progress with this I turned my attention to the rear light clusters. This is one area where H/L have not done a great job really. The basic shape of the light cluster is pretty good, but the moulded in protection cage doesn't look good, and the lenses are only represented by stickers from the decal sheet.

I removed both of the light clusters from the rear, mine came off pretty easily but be aware that the LED for the rear lights is hot glued in place. I was lucky as it seems the hot glue only stuck to the legs of the LED on mine so they just popped out.
I then removed the moulded on cage from each light cluster, and also the moulded bolt head above the LED on each.



I made up lenses from 0.5mm clear plastic sheet.



These are on the masking tape as this provides a handy way to move them around and will also hold them and prevent any paint getting onto the fronts later when the backs are painted clear red and clear orange.

Next I used plasticard and 2.5mm plastic rod to build up the detail above the LEDs on each light cluster.



Thats it for now, off to but some drill bits now

Paul

So been to the shop for drill bits

holes drilled for armour mounts



and mounts fitted




waiting for the glue to dry on this side before gluing the mounts in place on the other side.

The other side of the turret is now complete




Paul

Cages added to rear light clusters.



I decided to go with a combination of materials for this. For the central vertical bar I used 20amp fuse wire. This adds some strength to the cage. The other cage rods are 0.75mm plastic rod. I decided on this as I could use liquid polly to attach the horizontal bars to the light cluster which gave me a degree of movement for long enough to position the the bars on the metal bar and secure them there with a dab of Gorilla superglue. Seems to be quite strong and even has a little flex which is also good. The lenses will be painted and added after the base coats of paint are on the tank using white PVA glue to hold them in place. I use PVA as this dries clear in small amounts and does not "cloud" the clear plastic.
I will clean up the cages a little and cut down the horizontal rods where they attach to the light cluster so that they match the real tank tomorrow once all the glue has dried.

More to follow soon.

Paul

I spent this morning refitting the rear light clusters, and some of the parts from the included add ons. Begins to look more like a challenger :haha: :haha:

I have to put the loose web straps and ratchets on the rear where the drums would be fitted (no drums on this one). I found some really nice ones from a truck model page, but at nearly £20 pound a piece (I need 4) they work out a bit expensive. Perhaps if I could see them in my hand then I might throw that sort of cash at the right part, but a bit of a gamble relying on internet pictures. If anyone knows of any anywhere I would appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.

Anyways pics of the tank, still quite a bit to do yet.






the upper hull and turret are just resting in place in these pics, that is why there is a gap apparent at the front

More to follow soon, keep watching

Paul