RecyMech

Ah, my era of interest....he was on proper tanks then, with petrol engines...Cents, Conqs...& had all the other famous kit around him as new....Champs, Saladins, Saracens, Pigs. :cool2: Get him to pull up a sandbag & pump him for stories about Conquerors. He'll most likely fall into one of two camps...loved em/hated em.:-D H

Quote;- So am i right in saying that these faults were on the early marks of chieftian, If so what problems did you face on the later variants ? And were the engine and gearbox faults and the serveer leaking problems rectified extensively on mk 10s and mk 11s ? As I said, I'm speaking from a Recy-mechs view point not a crew or A Mech fitters view. The period I'm speaking of was 1972 to 76, so they were certainly some of the early marks, & reflect my memories of the beast. There are others profoundly more competant to speak about later marks than I & whether they eventually got things sorted. But I believe it was let's say 'troublesome' to the end. Another thing I remember is the stowage boxes for the bag charges being fluid filled with dry tubes for the bags themselves, this was to suppress any fires if hit. They used to leak quite badly though & bombed up tank could find half its bag charges soaking wet. Best of luck with your restoration though. H

Quote;- What was it that kept going wrong was it a particular flaw or component or was it a catalouge of things that just kept breaking and did you used to go out to a vehicle thinking oh i bet such and such has gone, And can i ask you about your opinions on the chieftian as a whole as far as its good points and its bad points and are the later mark vehicles far better mechanicaly ? These are just purely my views on the above questions...& speaking as a Recymech not an A Mech fitter (thankfully). Firstly I have to say I believe things got generally better with the Chiefy the longer it was in service & I dare say most faults were ironed out by the time it was retired.....so yes, later ones must(?) have been better...but in my experience & at my time of service (pre-laser range finders), almost everthing wrong with it was down to the L60 itself & a weak gearbox. The list of mods carried out to the L60 was quite staggering. The poor bloody fitters would start at one end of the regiment & by the time all 45 packs had been out, fiddled with & put back it was time to take them all out again for something else. Fan drive belts, fluid leaks by the score, coolant leaks, injectors, gearbox failures, steering brake failures. Entire fan drive housings cracking & breaking off was common for a time, caused by excess vibration (makes a big mess). The early & most amusing mod for this (if I recall correctly) was to remove the pack, clean everything down around the fan drive housing, drill a series of holes & insert studs...roll out a wall of plastice & create a dam behind the fan housing....mix 2 half gallon cans of araldite & pour into the dam. You can tell from that, that things were pretty dire at the time. (I used to lift the packs out for them with the Martian, make tea, & then watch them do the above) Engine (L60 a rolling oil leak) & gearbox aside though....when they were running well they were great, pretty quick on a road march, excellent gun kit except for some problems with the 'vent tube' ? not sure what it was but I heard it complained about regularly. Good electrics generally I think. No bother with tracks & suspension, occasional thrown track but that was more down to driver error than design, & the QOH crews liked them a lot apart from the breakdowns. Just my thoughts & memories H

Deffo, very good indeed. Just had time to watch half & will get back to rest later. I just don't remember Chieftains going that fast or that far without breaking down though, one in the film went almost 400 yards without getting the decks up!! (cynical ? me?) H

Fugly, I forgot to mention...smashing pics, thanks for sharing those. Very interesting to me as you can imagine, having just battled through getting the kit together. Keep the pics coming if there are more. Ferretfixer, Sadly no, fraid not....RC not really my forte. Best Regs H

DOH....this is worse than waiting for Santa Claus to bring new toys. Just kidding Andy, fingers crossed it goes smoothly from here on in. REALLY, looking forward to seeing on film (& hearing it, tissues at the ready) H

Speaking as one who lovingly tended to every need of Cent ARV 03ZR59 for 3 years....I'd have to say Cent. Reckon I could still stick change & throw one around Soltau given the chance. Assuming the left leg is still strong enough to depress the clutch of course. BUT....I'm also leaning toward the much maligned & legendary Conqueror. Bit of a Cent on steroids & with lots of added attitude. A very misunderstood piece of kit that was not really given the chance it deserved. Such a pity there are not more of them in private hands. H

Quote;- Lovely! What a Superb Looking vehilce the Saladin is. I wish I could afford one these days! I can do you a nice 1/24th scale one fairly soon:cool2::cool2: Handy size, cheap to run & got all the detail the real thing's got H

Witnessed a Chieftain go off the side of an Antars trailer at Hohne back in 74, can't say the Polish TTR crew were overly impressed about it either. It did`nt flip onto its side but it did end up wedged against one of those huge triangular concrete bollards outside each tank hanger door. The crew had to drive the Antar & trailer from under it. H

BRILLIANT Andy !, sitting here having watched it twice with a HUGE grin:D:D She doth protest at being awakened though me thinks. Once she gets here throat cleared she'll be right. All I can so is MORE PLEASE...lovely. Howard.

tickets please !

Looking good, got everything crossed there are no problems for you. h

MAGIC....I am SO looking forward to this. Keep up the great work H

Tubby the Tuba enlists with US 2nd Marine Corps 120mm Ghetto Blaster accepted for service H

This is truly fascinating (to me anyway as an ex RecyMech), well done to all involved. Really hope the big start up goes well. Is someone going to U Tube it so those of us who can't make a visit can see it start up?? Howard.

:rotfl::rofl: H

'New England manager introduces harsh training regime for goal keepers, England still lose 6 nil' H

Quote;- omg^^ is the chieftain not to heavy for the trailer or what you call that^^ sorry we say tiefgänger ^^ A Nooteboom 78/04 4 axle low loader will carry 78 tons ok. So I reckon he was ok on 5 axles. H

Great pics, thanks for a look. Eeeee bah gum, we had some kit back then. Nowadays that lot represents the entire strength of the army.... I exaggerate of course (or do I?) I think the Stolly is just a bit randy & about to hump an Abbot Quote;- Interesting that the six Rovers that one can just about see, all seem to have identical disruptive black patterns. Well it is the RA after all Clive. Beyond the average plank to design two variations of green & black :cool2: H

(muzzle through screen)........A Breach Too Far ?? & (truck on bootlid) "Can you hear something rolling around in the boot?" H

Thanks for explanation Bran, good man. More crackin Sally pics. Keep em coming.:-D H

The hull the blokes are in front of is a Cent, but I don't recognise the large hook device on the front...possibly a variation...AVRE or a bridge layer maybe...definately not a Mk2 ARV though. Someone here will confirm it. H

Crackin stuff !! thanks for sharing those. Question for anyone in the know......at 5 o'clock & at 7 o'clock from the drivers side episcopes on the outside of the hull are two round devices with an electrical cable coming from them & each being covered by an armoured shield held on with two bolts. These appear on some Saladins & not others.....any know what they are & why they are present on some & not others ?? Ta. H

I just learned something that I did`nt previously know. As a result I feel a bit red faced :blush: about my comment regarding the 7.62 ammo box hanging on the side of Bobs .30 cal browning. The previously unknown fact is that the .30 was re chambered to accept NATO 7.62mm...something that had totally passed me by I'm afraid. I'd assumed (wrongly as usual) that the 7.62 box was there because .30 cal boxes were somewhat rare. You learn something new every day I suppose. Apologises Bob ! Howard.

Hi recymech66 Is the '66' date of birth or year of joining ?....must be date of birth I guess if you crewed a CRARRV (what's that stand for again ?....it was just plain ARV in my day) If you like the KFS kits thus far wait till you see Saladin. The aluminium turned 76mm ammo came this morning. I just spent the last hour writing up the decal artwork...for the decals that go on the 3 different types of round, HE, Hesh & smoke. Parts count has now gone off the abacus. I must be insane. It'll be a pricey kit but worth every penny. Guaranteed.!! The bigger scale just allows a silly amount of detail. Remember that Chinese recymech?....Win Chin (the old ones are best) H