mitch

Once we had casting sorted we started on the chassis. to that end we bought over 100 metres of 60/40/3 box section (of which about half was later stolen I had in april of 2013 splashed out and bought an engine welder that gave us both a welder and a very nice generator. (3.4 kva) we then made a steel chop saw using a wood chop saw (bought for a fiver at a boot fair) with a steel cutting disk in place of a blade. This much to everyone's surprise worked flawlessly and really made getting our cuts right a doddle and as no one died we consider the experiment to have been a success, the one fly in the ointment was that it used 210 disks which it would seem are obsolete, so once we ran out of them the saw had to be retired. (we have since bought a purpose built one--its better at the job but lacks the element of "danger" that made the old one fun. :cool2:) with our first steel cut we began.. thus ended 2013s build.

having gotten a basic set of drawings made up for the hull we then set to work on our track design. Initially we considered buying cvrt tracks but cost and lack of challenge in that approach left us cold. Instead we decided to make our own tracks. To that end we kicked around several ideas ranging from steel plate with welded on grip/joints etc but dismissed it as being to much effort and likley to be very very expensive. Instead we decided to build our own smelter and cast our own tracks. initially in Aluminium but later if the basic version works then we will attempt to make them in iron. So to that end in 2013 we built our own smelter, then began practicing casting using a rough track pattern . The smelter is a beast! we used forced air and propane gas. The smelter is made up a composite of normal cement on the outside and refractory cement on the inside. its easily capable of melting aluminium. copper, steel and stainless steel. indeed our first "test" crucible was a stainless steel beer bucket, we accidentally melted it. so we must have been running it at around 2300 degrees. Now we have more understanding of the beast we can easily melt down 20-30 kilos of aluminium at a time and when running hot it can melt several kilos in just minutes. it took us four attempts to get a decent result using the smelter. the first three attempts we got the placement of our runners and risers wrong while also we discovered that the mould must be dry otherwise the steam created by the hot metal stipples the surface to an unacceptable level. the last attempt we made in 2013 was however perfect! the track that came out was perfectly acceptable once the sprue was trimmed off. now that we had casting worked out we paid for an engineering firm to make us a much improved track pattern that would be optimised for easy sand casting. (its due to arrive very soon!) Unlike the real steel tracks we decided to depart from the original design in the interest of ease and strength, to that end we are using elements of a gentleman called "gizmo's" track design. In his design (for a much smaller replica tank) he uses wooden track plates and steel guides bolted to industrial conveyor belt. In ours we have opted for cast aluminium plates for the outers and steel sheet for our inners/guides bolted together on either side of extremely thick and strong industrial conveyor belt (ours has an 8 ton breaking strain. once the vehicles built we should be able to change over to CVRT or similar tracks with just a change of drive sprocket, but got the moment we are sticking to our own Aluminum tracks, these should be adequate for off road use and hey,, its not like we cant cast more of them.

Having completed our workshop we then got stuck in on design work, (an initial drawing of our steering system) none of us are trained engineers but I have always been very good at making things work so it fell to me to do the drawings. I decided to keep the build super simple and at the same time as close to the original as possible in dimension. To that end I scoured the net for details while also buying three different 1.35 scale models of the tank. These have proven to be a very useful guide and by simply measuring every aspect and then multiplying it by 35 we managed to get a full set of dimensions. (we had planned to compare all three kits and take the average measurement, however all three we exactly the same size to the mm-even though all three came from different manufacturers). once the basic dimensions were known I drew a simple framework that would be easy to build, the right size and shape and above all strong!

http://mitchh14.moonfruit.com/'>http://mitchh14.moonfruit.com/ Hi everyone, and welcome to my tank build topic. unlike most other threads on this forum this one doesn't cover a restoration as such, but rather a ground up build. Back in 2012 myself (mitch) and my two friends Paul and Matt were discussing the costs of owning a tank. At the time I had two military vehicles (a 1963 munga and a 1958 simca unic) and knew from experience that it only gets more expensive when you add armour and tracks into the mix. Not to be put off we decided that if we couldn't afford a real one we would build our own. disussing our options we decided that whatever we built had to be be small enough to fit on a trailer while at the same time being full sized, feature as simple a shape as possible to fabricate with minimal tooling and have very few large castings, finally it had to be a tank that was widely used so as to give us multiple nationality and variant options. After so research we decided on the British Vickers 6ton tank, with our first tank being the late model Russian t26. Having reached a decision on what vehicle we wanted build we then set about the practical side of things. first job was to build our workshop. While I live on a farm, I don't actually own it and so access to buildings with mains electric wasn't on the cards. so we had to make do with what we were given. in this case a derelict wood shed that was far from the rest of the buildings and deeply overgrown. most of the summer of 2012 went into clearing about half an acre of scrub and brambles and then we set too rebuilding the shed, removing the old collapsed roof and replacing it with a much higher and more sturdy one, clearing the floor space and building a workbench. all this was finally finished in early 2013. http://mitchh14.moonfruit.com/

Munga man, contact a company in germany called Kemper, http://www.kemper-parts.de/ they carry clutches in stock, Its a relatively easy one to do, but if you get stuck the forums always here to help.

paul, this is pretty much exactly what happend to mine. im currently swapping the bad gear box out for a spare one i bought off of commander last week, in mine its not the clutch cable, the clutch is functioning fine--and if your ones only starting with the clutch down i'd say your cables fine. in my one it looks like somethng jamming the first motion shaft. initially it wouldnt do anything without the clutch down, i have managed to "jiggle" it free with jerking forwards and backwards in 1st and reverse, so now mine starts in neutral with the clutch up, but its not running right. if your not in a hurry once i have my new box inplace i am planning to do a postmortem on the old one, and i will be happy to give you my findings!

i will have a dekko!

I have my replacement gearbox and the missing two chairs at last! thank you commander! next week i have a break in filming so I am going to swap out the gearbox and see what happens! will, how are you making the door frames? do you have a pattern to work too or is it best guess?

Great video---good find and thankyou for posting it!

Great pics--i cant beleive how far you have come with your old lady,, she has gone from pretty sad to like new. I will definately get you a pic of the little metal clip for the jerry,, though its nothing complex--just a rectangle of steel with a turned up end. I was planning to lift my one's engine out today but have been struck with a bug so am stuck indoors feeling antsy.

thanks mark, I am looking now,

have you a link for the flikr stuff? be nice to take a looksee, I cant help you on supplying a new clip for the jerrycan, as I only have the one myself, but I am happy to take sime pics if you want a reference to make one too. I got my old lady running today, (the easy bit) and even managed to unjam the gearbox with some judicious rocking between first and reverse, but it sounded dreadful:-( screaming and honking, and stalling away when in neutral. im pretty sure the box is going to need extensive work and thats going to hurt the finances,, i might have to see if i can get my hands on a new gearbox. anyone got one laying around quietly whimpering the words "use me, please use me" i'd love to know about it!

god its been an age since i was here,, but winters passing now and finally its warm enough for me to work on my old beasty,, this week its engine and gearbox are coming out again--this time to sort the jammed first motion shaft and see if i can't scotch once and for all the wandering hi lo selector----its either fixed or i will lock it firmly in high range. willyslancs---your is looking better than new!

just reading back through the thread (catchup time) the lack of lock is how they are--the turning circle on mines on a par with an artic,

its looking bloody good now, cant be far from finishing it! mines still waiting on the gearbox repair--am partially rebuilding the garage first though so the old lady is sitting outside looking at me in a sad way..

thanks for the responses on this one guys, im having to put my purchase on hold as the price for the one i was looking at has been bumped up from the original one quoted on the site by just shy of £5000,. so now looking for a cheaper one somewhere else. .,

Hi Brdm driver,, got to say I enjoyed the pics you have an awesome beasty. ok first up electrics, is it a 12 or 24 volt system, and what are they lilke to jump or bump start? Also will I be able to use commercial western lightbulbs and fuses for the indicators/stop lights etc. Second, bearing in mind its a swimmer, are the fuel and brake lines prone to corrosion and are they inside the hull? also does it have a bilge pump? Engine, how easy is it to get too and is there room to work on it? also I have heard that most russian V8's are based on u.s. models, if this is true any idea on exactly what ones? also what oils do they require Controls, not being all that conversant with crylics and mindful at how many switches and dials there seem to be in the cab, , how easy is it to figure out the controls and is there an online guide available (say a pdf of a manual) Visibilty, good enough to drive solo safely or is it a co driver/spotter vehicle. Stowage, is there a "boot" or similar and whats it like space wise inside? General issues, has it got any bad habits (such as diffs cracking if driven on hard surface or leaking hatches etc) finally, whats the TV monitor in your one for? Finally im looking at shipping the one i am getting over from the czec republic, am i gong to have border controls and customs going bat sh*t over it? regards mitch.

thanks for the info guys, im still in the looking planning stage at the second but i plan to be making a purchase some time early in the new year. my main worry is wether i can ship it across europe on a low loader or will it be paperwork hell?

Hello chaps, Im seriously considering purchasing a brdm 2 and was wonderigif anyone onhere had experience of them. are they easy to drive? whats a good price to pay and if I buy abroad will there be any import issues that i will have to deal with? regards mitch.

Hi Iain, yes it is, im attending an airsoft event there as a shooter, going to be going up there with about 6 kitted out shooters riding in the back of the simca, (assuming its still working by then)

I shall do, at the moment im thinking of just making a simple pull up handle as oppose to a wind up one, the mech in the standard ones a bit complex and a bitch to open -- lots of rivets overlapping important bits, but im also considering putting in the mech out of somehting else--just a question of finding something suitable.. id love to come sunday but im off shooting folk at the "secret nuclear bunker" sunday --the simcas carting a load of us up there. should be a good photo op,:cheesy:

after a very succesful test run today where everything worked well---and it accellerated up even steep hills! i was just parking up and feeling triumphant/smug when i broke the sodding window winder.. now got two to fix. I have decided that as they seem to be fragile stock im going to modify them so they are (a) a heck of a lot stronger) and (b) a lot easier to fix) other than that im very chuffed. g0oz,, are you an essex mvt member? if you are im thinking of going to their monthly meet at the bell this month, if your there I recon I owe you a drink for the RR link you gave me.

hi paul,, yuo got a picture of it? i cant say i have ever seen one.

that looks like a pretty good setup with the plugs--i take it they have a good spark showing? anytime you want to go to RR let me know--your only up the road from me and i would be happy to share the cost by coming up with you, odds are i am going to need more bits at some time in the future, im also starting to store away the faulty bits i remove--so i might be able to help out with the odd component. wheels wise im groovy but thanks for the offer, i nearly popped my button lifting the sod into the back of my monster so the thought of a whole new seat just fills me with fear! mitch,

HI Iain, first off got to say thanks for the link to RR services, I was up there this saturday and managed to get a decent spare wheel and tyre, a complete dashboard unit (i only want parts for two switches) a complete air release thingy for the brakes and a seat cushion, all for £100 only thing I am still looking for now is a new window winder mech for the passenger door, though im still hopeful about my chances of successfully repairing the one i already have. Pressure on engine was 105 psi for the right bank (from the cab looking forwards) and about 75 for the left. the chap at RR services tells me thats fine and its not bad enough to need fixing. so far so good!