sirhc

In my experience 3D printing with metal costs as much as casting, if not more. 3D printing a wax pattern and then using that for investment casting could be an option, but is again expensive. I've had that done here before: http://www.lestercast.co.uk/

I assume you want the date in service? You need to send a freedom of information request to the MoD. Chris

Post some photos of the batteries installed in the vehicle. Have you anything else connected to the one which goes flat? 12v phone charger, radio, lights etc?

See page 6: Mine is fitted with mine blast (plate on the bottom) and ballistic protection (cheese grater Plasan armour) http://www.baesystems.com/download/baes_048444/cvrt

What's wrong with it? It's American so can't be that complicated.

I'll be there, bit late to help you out with bits though!

Another job ticked off the list. The mantlet is now fitted, along with the traverse and elevation boxes. I need to make the coax hole smaller as it has been opened out for the chain gun, I will come up with some kind of plug/bung for this. The Scimitar will go back on hold now as I need to get everything else ready for W&P and come back to it in a couple of months. Chris

That's block paving on my parents drive. Been keeping AFVs on it for years and it's not had any bad effects, except for a few oil leaks, but that's mostly from the Land Rovers.

Nothing on these kind of vehicles is rain proof! They are always full of water if left outside uncovered, and they are always left outside uncovered!

Remove the final drive, it will come off leaving the drive shaft in place. You can then remove the shaft more easily. You need to disconnect and remove the hand brake cable and the brake pads. Undo the bolts holding the caliper in place, they go through the final drive too. You should be able to then remove the caliper and the final drive, leaving the hand brake bands is place.

Remove the one on the stuck side. You won't be able to slide the gearbox left or right due to how it locates on the hull.

External connection box for the Bowman radios.

It has often surprised me how little the guys who served on the vehicles actually know. I had a massive argument with one over a YouTube video of my sabre. I had just got it running and was driving without suspension dampers, so it was bouncing all over the place. He told me I was a stupid civvy and didn't know how to drive. I pointed out the description which said it had no dampers, and he replied they never had dampers and I was making it up. I have no idea why bolting the imaginary dampers on suddenly made me stupid civvy driving better, but it did....

Might give everyone else a chance to get back on topic then.

So Tony a CVRT Striker has an anti tank guided missile system designed to destroy AFVs, is this a tank?

You can call it what you like, but I would say the turret defines it. I have seen a couple of Scorpion hulls which were converted to Sabres (Fox turret) and then later rebuilt as Scimitars with diesel conversion etc.

The turret is Belgian. That's a Belgian fire extinguisher mounted on the front left side. It's also not had the British modification to fit the stowage bins to the sides. Have a look at my Scimitar thread: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?37527-CVR(T)-Scimitar-07-FD-04 I've been turning my Belgian turret into a British one and you can see it started out similar to yours with bins/brackets in the same places. Chris

Post some photos, maybe we can help you. Chris

You are correct and I've heard of people doing this. You don't need to replace the calipers but can rebuild them with standard seals. I once bought a pair of cvrt steering calipers off a bloke who bought loads of them, put standard seals in and sold them to jaguar owners. I ended up with a bag of the seals he had taken out!

Probably less than you think.

Robin, The downsizer isn't working so I'll have to leave it at home! No inserts, I just drilled holes in the aluminium then a ran a tap down them. All the holes in the turret are like this. Chris

I haven't really spent much time on this project over the winter, but now the better weather is here I've had a chance to spend a few days on the Scimitar. A few weeks ago I took the turret off, did some adjusting of the turret ring and put it back on again. It now turns but it is stiff. It should be ok with the traverse gearbox but if anyone knows of any turret rings for sale (not in 100s of pieces) I would be interested. With the turret on I could take it back to the house so we can get on with the rest of the jobs. On Tuesday morning it arrived home. The first job was to start turning the Belgian turret into a British one. Over the winter I have been drawing 3D models of lots of missing bits and getting them made. I have found a good laser cutting company who can work from my SolidWorks models, so I can email them a file and they post me back the bits. Here are the turret side bin brackets. I measured one on a vehicle, drew it up and had them laser cut and folded. I was lucky enough to have the modification instruction to fit the side stowage bins. I had to cut off some of the footman loops which were welded on, then drill and tap quite a lot of holes. You can see the lower brackets in this photo, again laser cut and folded. I managed to find the clips in bags with 9CVT part numbers. The brackets fitted and the NOS bins I have fitted perfectly. I had a modification kit to fit the rear OTIS bin, which made that job easier, but the top retaining pins were again made in the same way as before. I also had part of the Bowman installation kit, so holes were drilled and tapped for those too. The next job was to sort out the air cleaner. This was an EM vehicle, it had the Environmental Mitigation pack installed so a different air filter was fitted. This involved cutting out a large portion of the side plate. I had to draw up and laser cut a new plate as I had the original diesel air filter to go back in. The photos below show the differences between the Scimitar air filter and one for the other variants. I knew the outlet was different, but it wasn't until I came to fit it I noticed the difference between the inlet end. I had the inlet end of the Spartan one fitted to the body of the Scimitar one and I just couldn't get it to fit! Eventually I worked it out and it is now fitted, with a new element. Scimitar air filter at the bottom of the photo: Scimitar air filter at the top of the photo: By the end of the week I'd managed to tick off quite a few little jobs, and some big ones. We put the mantlet in the turret to have a look at the trunions. I have one side but need to work out what to do about the other. It is now looking a whole lot more Scimitar like. I need to do some work to the hatches, fit some new pins, bushes and dampers, then I'll get some paint on the outside and start working on the padding for the inside. Chris

I will look in my modification instructions index next time I get a chance, this (and the other mods) will probably be in there. Chris