Armortek model build

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

Would never have thought I could punch spring steel like that. Without Red Square I'd be onto my 50th burnt out drill bit and the last of my patience lol.

I will get the other three done and then make a start on the spring hangers on the chassis. 

[ebinmaine 63,839]

19 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

Would never have thought I could punch spring steel like that. Without Red Square I'd be onto my 50th burnt out drill bit and the last of my patience lol.

I will get the other three done and then make a start on the spring hangers on the chassis. 

 

 

The idea came from our experience with a friend who works in a shop that builds Heavy Duty trucks. 

They have at least two giant "punches".

 

Their machines can pop a hole through a piece of steel or other alloys I wouldn't ever have thought possible. 

It uses what I assume is super hardened metal bits of various sizes and shapes to make the holes. 

 

It's a HUGE  time saver to snap a hole in a literal split second vs drilling hardened steel occupying several minutes per perforation. 

 

What really stuck hard in my mind was when we tried to poke holes in the skidsteer bucket edge I bought for my 60" plow. 

The metal is so incredibly strong that the Piranha machine couldn't pierce it 😳.

The machine absolutely crushed two bits. 

Our friend has been in that industry for decades and had never seen the like. 

 

We finally ended up using a plasma cutter to create them.  

 

[lynnmor 6,903]

I was working is a customer's shop and needed a shim about 1/16" thick so I found a piece in the steel rack.  I needed to drill a hole and the drill bit was wasted in seconds, I thought maybe a cheap drill and tried again with the same result.  I asked about the steel and they said (after controlling the laughter) it was some scrap from testing AHSS for use in car doors.  Advanced High Strength Steel is used to reduce weight and provide considerable strength for safety, in this case a guard rail inside a car door.  That stuff looks just like any other mild steel but bending and machining takes considerable work.

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

All springs punched and assembled.

 

Once I'd sorted the method I could do a full spring in four minutes. 

 

The accuracy and consistency is fantastic. 

 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

I decided to catty on with the leaf springs today. Each one has four metal clips around the leaves to prevent them crabbing. 

Each one is riveted to a leaf end and then folded around the leaves above it.

I used 0.7mm steel sheet to make these clips and riveted them with copper rivets. 

This is the set of parts for each spring.

Here the clips are riveted in place ready to cut them to length and fold over the tops.

This shows a rear spring with no modifications to it other than the centre bolt. The front spring above shows the leaf clips in place.

I'm quite pleased with how they look and hopefully they will perform as good as they look. 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

A little more progress on the front suspension. 

 

I drilled the spring plates and front axle casing so that I could assemble the springs to the axle and see how things look. 

 

I did have a message from a guy on the Armortek build site and he said punching the springs was the wri g thing to go as it may crack the hardened steel. Well it all went well and I trust the advice and expertise of my Red Square buddies.

 

I also bought myself a bench polisher  or rather a mini bench polisher. It's a jewellers tool but wow does it have some torque. 7000 rpm and I cannot slow it down. The mops are only 4 inch so you can see how small it is. It will also take small grinding wheels and a flexible shaft tool so I can use dental handpieces. 

 

 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

Slowly but surely.  I built up the front axle and tried it in place on the chassis.

All lines up OK and I'm happy so far. 

Obviously the detail is not as fine as it could be but the kit is made to a good standard and is operational, not just a static model.

 

 

 

The shock absorbers are held on by a 2.5mm bolt and there was some play which I wasn't happy with. Quick bit of lathe work and brass spacers were made to take up the gap between mounting and shocker eye. 

 

 

I just forget about everything else when I'm in the build space, so relaxing.

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

Ive been looking at the shock absorbers. They are just an aluminium tube with a solid piston. Even though its a nice sliding fit, there is no resistance at all. Not like a shocker should be.

So I'm experimenting with making a new piston which will offer resistance.

 

I made this one up in brass, an O ring groove has been cut and the centre drilled down with a cross drilling meeting it. That allows air to escape.

I then use very high viscosity lubricant on the piston, which provides the necessary resistance. It's really sticky stuff and does a great job. 

The result is pretty impressive and gives the damping effect of a real shocker.

 

[ebinmaine 63,839]

5 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

The result is pretty impressive and gives the damping effect of a real shock....

 

That's just slick right there.  

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

Not much done on the build this week, just a few bits of sub miniature welding....

 

 

It's actually liquid metal adhesive, piped out of a hypodermic syringe needle just like icing a cake. When it's painted it'll look just like arc weld.

 

I'm also making a mini linisher or flat belt machine to help in the build. Made a start today with the flat bed and front idler pulley. The belat are 40mm wide and the bed will be just three inches long. I'm planning to run it using the flexible shaft motor I have which should be powerful enough. Just have to build a drive connector.

 

[ebinmaine 63,839]

2 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

It's actually liquid metal adhesive, piped out of a hypodermic syringe needle just like icing a cake. When it's painted it'll look just like arc weld

 

 

That's neat.  

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

Done a little more on the linisher,  made the drive fitting for the rear roller. 

Just waiting for some miniature bearing to arrive next week so I can male the rear roller supports. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

Sandra, Mrs. W, has been away in Thailand for nearly three weeks, so I've had to run the house etc. Shop time has been pretty scarce as I wash and iron and clean and tidy.

But I managed to get the mini linisher running OK this morning. 

Still a few little bugs in it but I guess it will free up with use.

I'm pretty happy with it and it will be great for flatting off the tiny parts I'm making for the Land Rover. 

 

I'm working on the instrument panel right now. Making it look as correct as I can given the scale of it.

 

[ebinmaine 63,839]

Looks like an excellent  copy

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

My picture is downside up lol.

 

The fascia is a steel pressing so I've tried to make the model one look similar.

It's mainly the instruments and lights that need turning. The ignition key and light switch will be a bit of a fabrication job.

The kit has some water style decals for the speedo, volt meter and fuel gauge. But they are a bit unclear so I may tinker with having new ones made. Depends on the printer I guess.

Community garden tomorrow so no opportunity to work on the Landy.

Had to pop up there this evening as a tree was blown over into a neighbouring property. I'd been advocating to cut it down for a while but no one wanted to, despite it being dead. The wind made the decision for us lol. 

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

 

Little linisher is finished, I can get back to the model build now.

Oh, when Mrs. W releases me from yard work duty lol.

 

[ebinmaine 63,839]

3 minutes ago, Mickwhitt said:

when Mrs. W releases me from yard work duty

Ya caint just tell her there's more pressing things to do in the modeling process? 

😅

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

Like that will work! 

 

I have to rip up broken paving and put decking in its place. 

[ebinmaine 63,839]

Sounds like a great time! 

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

Made a start on the dash board gauge bezels today.

 

Some of the smallest turning I've done. 

 

Very thin walled and fiddly but I managed ok.

 

Need some crystal clear epoxy to fill them with to give the impression of glass. 

 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

What with community volunteering,  doing repairs at my S I Ls hair salon and building giant greenhouses I've not had much time to do work on the Land Rover. 

But I finally got the dash panel just about done. Just the dials and lenses to fit now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

Today we visited the British Motor Museum at Gaydon in Warwickshire. 

 

It's the home of very many beautiful vehicles. And of HUE 166, the first ever production Land Rover.

 

This is the one I will be basing my build on. 

 

 

A really interesting place to visit and I learned a lot to boot. 

[Mickwhitt 4,281]

This one shows how small the Landy is.

[sjoemie himself 2,930]

On 4/23/2024 at 5:18 PM, Mickwhitt said:

 

Some of the smallest turning I've done. 

 

Very thin walled and fiddly but I managed ok.

 

 

⁸

 

Very impressive detailing! Can you give us an idea of what kind of diameters and wall thickness we're talking about here?

 

Also the mini beltsander is just as cute as it must be useful for miniature building. Nice tool to have I imagine.

[ebinmaine 63,839]

4 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

A really interesting place to visit and I learned a lot to boot. 

 

 

We have a WWII museum nearby. Our best friend is/was/has always been an absolute nut for anything of the era. 

 

When we went last fall the phones were very busy taking pics and us crawling all around the machines. 

 

Excellent day I'd repeat in a heartbeat.