A 30 Challenger cruiser tank

[Neo]

Hello! I would like to show you my latest project. This is A 30 Challenger a very rare tank.

I won't speak about history of development cruiser. All you have to know that A30 was a military necessity, because Cromwell wasn't so good to deal with Tiger and Panther.

So A 30 is a the next step after A27. The hull was lengthened on one roller, rivets and bolts were replaced by welds. Turret was new with more powerful gun.



I have had two kits. A 30 from SKP Model and Cromwell from Tamiya. SKP kith is terrible and inaccurate with a bad plastic,useless resin details. So I have decided to to merge two sets.



Some of A30 had on applique armor on hull and turret - it is some kind of late A30 variant. I'd like to build such variant.



I have cutted Tamiya and SKP hulls and combined them. Then I've added some plastic,brass and copper.




Chassis.





I have bought SKP "workable" track links (SKP 147). It is rowerked kit by SKP. I have hoped that this kit will be correct. But unfortunatelly - no.



Quality of the tracks is very low. I need to work with each and drill 4 holes to put the pins.





Pins from the kit are terrible. I have substited them by Masterclub flat rivets. And I have drilled MC rivets to show the real pin.



So there is a little progress. this is hard work.






Driving wheel from A34 Comet.




I have added some bolts to the driving wheels from Bronco. I have maden spacers to the wheels because tracks were too close to the hull.

And very interesting mudguard was added from modelling garbage.





Tracks are ready.

[sabre]

WoW!!! Great start and nice conversion Neo, look forward to watching the progress.

[dierk]

Excellent work - as always!

[tobias5555]

Nice extra details

[Leon]

WOW....Nice conversion indeed! Awesome work cleaning up those tracks.

[406 Silverado]

Very nice detailing. Will look great with paint on her.

[Neo]

Thank you all for warm words about this work! As always I try to do my best.

Little addition with welds.

[maschinenkrueger]

Wow Neo! Amazing scratch build work and details! Do you need to use magnifying glasses?

[Neo]

Feb 21, 2018 10:13:12 GMT -5 maschinenkrueger said:

Wow Neo! Amazing scratch build work and details! Do you need to use magnifying glasses?

Hello and thank you! No. I do not use any glasses or lenses. Fortunatelly

And a little progress with rear.

[dupes]

Wow. That is some excellent work.

Of course, knowing the law of modeling, once you complete it someone will release a kit of this variant!

[Neo]

Feb 22, 2018 7:44:21 GMT -5 dupes said:

Wow. That is some excellent work.

Of course, knowing the law of modeling, once you complete it someone will release a kit of this variant!

Thank you! Probably yes, Bronco for example. But I am not afraid of it. I like to do models in a such way.

[dierk]

Astounding level of detail!
Don't worry, the time will come when you need magnification to do your work just wait till you're over fifty

[Neo]

Feb 22, 2018 9:31:34 GMT -5 dierk said:

Astounding level of detail!
Don't worry, the time will come when you need magnification to do your work just wait till you're over fifty

Hah, Dierk! Right you are  I will try to do many model before it

[Deleted]

I believe that your lovely scratchbuilt idler tensioning arrangement is the one from the Centaur, not the Cromwell. Cromwells had a tensioning arrangement inside the hull, which was one of the differences between the two A27 versions. As the A30s were built by Birmingham Carriage and Wagon I believe they would have had the Cromwell type idler tensioner.

Tamiya's lower hull is shared with their Centaur kit and they either got it wrong or based their kit on an English Electric built Cromwell such as the one at Bovington. EE started building Centaurs and then switched to Cromwells, but their lower hulls remained as Centaur-specification with the external tensioner and thinner engine bay armour.

Applique armour was 1 inch/25mm, 0.7mm/30 thou in scale. Yours looks a little thicker, but that may be a trick of the camera angle.

At least 1 source says that the A30's wheels were "slightly" smaller diameter than the A27's, but that would seem unnecessarily complicated in the middle of a war and I'm not sure I believe that source. However, there are 2 thin reinforcing ribs on the inside of the wheel rims, not depicted on the Tamiya wheels. One at the outside edge and one in the centre. 5 thou/0.1mm strip for the outer one, 10 thou/0.2mm for the middle one, both 15thou/0.3mm wide. Like this.

[TRM]

Looking great Neo! Looking forward to seeing this under some paint!

[Neo]

Hello,Peter! Thank you for the interest. Thank you very much for your constructive remarks.  I have worked with Cromwell few months ago. I see no difference in idler tensioner between A27 and A30 insteard mudguard on A30.

So I made a recontruction according photos of A 30 from Overloon and this photos from.... I don't know where it is. 


I have used 0,5mm Evergreen plastic for applique armor in one hand and some plates from SKP kit. They almost equal in thickness.

I got about the wheels. Will look at walks carefully. Probably I will try to show this moment on a model. By the way. From where this photo with the wheel?

[Deleted]

Well the Overloon photos don't lie. Clearly that A30 did have the Centaur-style idler tensioners. I remain surprised and corrected.......

You have this build posted on several forums. I noticed on another forum that you had trouble with the sprocket width and ended up using Comet sprockets. There were 2 widths of track for Cromwell, early 14 inch and later 15.5 inch, about 1mm difference in 1/35. I don't know if the extra width was between the sprocket teeth or just at the edges: along the edges would be logical for interchangeability. Tamiya have used the narrow track for compatibility with their Centaur. I presume that Challenger would have used the later wider track. Comet tracks were even wider again, about 19 inches if I remember correctly, but the sprocket width may well have been the same.

[Neo]

Feb 26, 2018 10:10:08 GMT -5 @petersmith said:

Well the Overloon photos don't lie. Clearly that A30 did have the Centaur-style idler tensioners. I remain surprised and corrected.......

You have this build posted on several forums. I noticed on another forum that you had trouble with the sprocket width and ended up using Comet sprockets. There were 2 widths of track for Cromwell, early 14 inch and later 15.5 inch, about 1mm difference in 1/35. I don't know if the extra width was between the sprocket teeth or just at the edges: along the edges would be logical for interchangeability. Tamiya have used the narrow track for compatibility with their Centaur. I presume that Challenger would have used the later wider track. Comet tracks were even wider again, about 19 inches if I remember correctly, but the sprocket width may well have been the same.

Unfortunatelly in the beginning of this build I have had a lack of information. So I was need in good advices. The British cruiser tanks are not popular topic in Russia. Now I have two books and one detailed walkaround.

Indeed. An information on Armorama helped me. Here are some photos.




So Comet and A30 have the same wheels but different tracks. Yesterday I searched a book. This what I have founded.

[reserve]

You don't do things by half, do you

Very impressive effort sir it looks great

Regards,
Mark

[Neo]

Mar 1, 2018 9:59:17 GMT -5 reserve said:

You don't do things by half, do you

Very impressive effort sir it looks great

Regards,
Mark

Greetings Mark! Thank you! And a little progress with rear. Now it is almost from brass

[Neo]

Hi all! i am back with a small continuation with front hull. Only half work has been done. Lack of time.Welds and works with complicated turret defence from shells. Seem's to me british engeneers are very severe =))

[Leon]

Very nice work Neo!

[Neo]

Mar 7, 2018 10:01:00 GMT -5 Leon said:

Very nice work Neo!

Thank you,Leon!

[Neo]

Greetings! Very little progress. Fortunatelly I have finished works with welds on turret box and turret bump stop. I am satisfied with the result. Next I will do some welds on the front plates.

[maschinenkrueger]

Wow, some of the cleanest and precise styrene and brass work I have seen in a while. Those welds are fantastic too. Great job.

[pt109]

Very nice progress....great details!

Paul

[Neo]

Thank you very much, friends!
By the way. I've promiced my friends to take part in their group build devoted to the Great war. It is interesting for and now I am working with Mark.IV from Takom in parallel with A30=) So updates with A30 will be later than usual.

[Leon]

That is some impressive work there Neo!

[dierk]

Very cool!
Enjoy the group build!

[Neo]

Thank's friends! This is something new for me,something very different. I think it will be good experience for me. When I will have more photos and materials I will start a thread.