Armour Dreams

[Petr Brezina]

What a cute little vehicle!

[Jonathan Moore]

Originally Posted by Tim Bell

Do you have a picture of the morse key which goes on that holder.

Asking purely because I have a WW2 German Morse key somewhere mounted on a metal plate... I had assumed it was an amateur mod post ww2... but perhaps it is for this holder!

If I find the morse key, I will post a pic.

Exceptional work - you have me wondering what you would have created if you had been working as a Tank designer in the 1940s.

Cheers

Tim

Morning Tim,

This is the little devil but in this picture it has it's removable rubber base attached.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening All,

I have started fabricating the track guards, they are not as straight forward as one would think and as I haven't got the machinery neccassery to bend steel angle there is a lot of fabricating to do. The retaining brackets are a multitude of different angles and took quite a bit of research but I think that they are some where near. I haven't had any luck finding the correct steel for the guards at a sensible price, so at present I am just going to use modern diamond tread plate but I am making them in such a fashion that if some plate in the correct pattern does become available, it won't take much to change them.

[Jonathan Moore]

It took ages to find a horn of the correct diameter and I thought the chrome effect would look quite flashy in a combat situation. The piece of tube sticking out is a stop for the drivers hatch and will have a rubber bung in the end when I have made it.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening All,

All of a sudden it has grown and made, what would appear to be, a massive leap forward. The remainder of the resin has arrived, so I can now cast the tyres on the road wheels. Next job is to get the upper hull in place and start fabricating the engine deck.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Afternoon,

The first road wheel out of the mould.

Jon

[David Dunlop]

Looking good, Jon.

Any idea what it weighs in at? Once they are all cured and on the tank, it should make moving it about a lot easier.

David

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening David,

They weigh roughly 20kg each.

Jon

[jack neville]

Jonathan what is the resin material you are using?

[Jonathan Moore]

Morning Jack,

It's a high abrasion polyurethane casting resin.

Jon

[karlos59]

Looking great Jonathan making good use of Lockdown time

[Tim Bell]

Soon he will have the perfect vehicle for the supermarket queues

[Jonathan Moore]

Super market queues Tim, what are they or am I just lucky that I haven't had to experience any such thing.

Evening All,

Six road wheels finished and now I have to wait for more polyurethane.

This is the new Panzer ll sports model.

Today we pushed the hull outside to give the track guards a coat of under coat and to put the upper hull in place so that I can start to construct the engine deck.

[Jonathan Moore]

Someone asked me how I had made the turret ring, well this was my solution. A series of bearings spaced around the turret ring circumference, eight vertical and eight horizontal bearings trapped between an upper and lower flange, so that the turret can't come off. When I described what I had manufactured, I was told that it was the same as on an American Stuart light tank but as I have never seen a Stuarts turret ring, I can't comment.

[Jon Bradshaw]

I used a similar turret bearing layout. I found that it can bounce and rattle a small amount when driving on uneven ground. I would suggest that a thin layer of rubber be put between the flange and the hull and the bearings and the ring to eliminate the rattle.
Aside from that your build is amazing. I wish I had your time/tools/patients and skill.

[Jonathan Moore]

Originally Posted by Jon Bradshaw

I used a similar turret bearing layout. I found that it can bounce and rattle a small amount when driving on uneven ground. I would suggest that a thin layer of rubber be put between the flange and the hull and the bearings and the ring to eliminate the rattle.
Aside from that your build is amazing. I wish I had your time/tools/patients and skill.

Thanks Jon, that's an excellent suggestion. I am not sure that I have the space to incorporate rubber but when I clean it all down before final assembly, If I have the space , then it sounds like a very good idea to me.

Thanks again,

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Good Morning All,

The upper hull has had it's attachment flanges added and the whole structure has been bolted to the lower hull.
I have manufactured and welded the track guard brackets to the upper hull, so now the tract guards are secure.

[Jonathan Moore]

Most of the rear engine deck has been completed but it needs removing to finish welding the inside edges. The cover on the left covers the radiator and air exhaust tract.

I have had to add a hole that wasn't on the original in order to access the fan belt tensioner. The large access panel below that, gives access to the fan and the fan belt tensioner locking nut.

[Jonathan Moore]

This cover also houses the radio operators escape hatch, which itself is part of the cooling system and contains a fresh air inlet for the radiator. The cover seemed to take ages, as I had to work out what the hinges looked like and how they worked, so that they gave clearances for opening. The radio operators means of escape is very tight, as you can see.

[Jonathan Moore]

The cover to the right covers the engine bay. I was worried about access to the engine but although tight, everything seems fairly accessible.

In the righthand side of this cover there are air vents that allow the fan to draw air over the engine. The air is the drawn through the fan and exhausted out of the rear of this same cover.

And there endeth the lesson for today.

Jon

[Ganmain Tony]

Best reading I get to do when you do updates on this thread. Can only marvel at your work and the effort you put in with authenticity and attention to detail.

[karlos59]

Tony as usual brilliant work cant wait to see it finished

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening all,

Thanks again for the comments, they are all very encouraging, especially during the periods where enthusiasm is lacking.

Not much to report as I have been getting on with some other projects but I have managed to make the engine compartment hinges and the lifting hooks and the rest of the resin was delivered on Friday, so back to casting next week.

Jon.

[David Dunlop]

Looks like those racing wheels give you a nice working height for the hull right now, Jon.

With the body work fleshing out so much, I am curious what you thoughts are for markings? Have they stayed pretty much on course during the project, or have other photos turned up that you might now be leaning towards? Not sure how long a service life that model had during the war.

Enjoy your weekend!

David

[Jonathan Moore]

Hello David, sorry for not replying sooner I didn't see your post. I am staying with the current markings as I have several images of that particular tank. Although the Panzer ll was obsolete it remained in service until the end of the war although most were converted for other purposes such as the Marder ll.

Time for an update me thinks.



I have finished the engine cover although I have cheated and used 1.6mm steel sheet for the covers to save weight.

[Jonathan Moore]

Around the opening of this cover there is a radiused section, best shown in this picture.

Also there is a 15mm gap right around the covers, too big a gap to be just clearance. I had assumed that it was a rain water channel but the more I studied the pictures I realised that the reason for the large gap and the radiused section was to allow air into the engine bay around the sides of the covers but I assume, not allow splinters to enter. On the original tank the two covers were not locked together, the lower over had no locking mechanism being held in place by it's own weight and the top cover having a locking mechanism. In my tank the covers lock together, as the lower door is not heavy enough stay in place on it's own.

The radio operators escape hatch mow has it's latch and handle.

[Jonathan Moore]

Next to the radio operators chair there is a wall which is part of the engine bay bulkhead which for some reason is cut across at about 45 degrees.

Most probably to give access to the engine bay from inside the tank. Most of the pictures that I can find show this as being a bolted in section apart from one that shows it as having a hinged access door. I decided that as my ignition coil and amplifier are situated in this area a hinged cover would be a very good idea.

[Jonathan Moore]

When I made the radiator hinged cover, I made it as a two piece assembly.
Once the hull top was in place it became obvious that it wouldn't close and should have been made in three sections. The only thing that then concerned me, was would it block the radio operators escape hatch. Once I had altered it, it became obvious that it tucks away nicely out of the way.

[Jonathan Moore]

The radio aerial on the panzer 2 is raised from inside the tank using this device.
The handle is rotated up to raise that aerial and rotated down to lower it. The end of the handle is sprung so that when it is in the raised position it locks it's self in position, to lower the aerial you pull the end of the handle out and rotate it down.
The unit to the right of the main unit contained a rotary coupling for the cable from the aerial to the radio apparatus. The shaft going between the rotating unit and the aerial outside the tank would have been in two parts and insulated so that the operator didn't get a shock when he touch the handle. In mine the shaft is in one piece.

[Jonathan Moore]

The radio mast was attached to the shaft via a coupling. This is the one on the Panzer ii in Bovington.
And mine.

Sorry that it was such a long update, I get carried away or as my darling wife says, I should be carried away.



Jon