Armour Dreams

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening All,

After my last post, fate intervened and stopped me getting to the victory show or really achieving much at all, however on Friday I decided to do something to take my mind off of life. I have started tackling the steering brake mechanism, obviously it's not going to perfectly replicate the original but I will make it look as near to the original set up as I can. I still need to machine the ratchet teeth in but I will wait until the whole mechanism is bolted in place, to see where they need to go,



Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening All,

For various reasons I have achieved jack since my last post but this afternoon I managed to finally complete and connect all the brake, steering linkages. How efficiently it will all work, is yet to be seen and I still have to machine the ratchet teeth into the quadrants.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening All,

I thought that I would make the drivers seat so that I could test the driving position before I finish things off with the steering /brake levers etc. I can't believe that anyone could clamber into the drivers seat if it had a fixed backrest, so I fished around and found several designs of Panzers drivers seat and came up with this. As the steering / brake linkage is my design the seat had to fit around it.

[Jonathan Moore]

………..…………………..

[David Dunlop]

Nice to see more of the interior filling out, Jonathan.

Were the Panzer seats equipped with simple pads, like our carriers? Not much wiggle room for sprung cushions, I would think.

David

[Jonathan Moore]

Hi David,

I am going to put a simple foam pad covered in synthetic leather on the base and the same on the back rest. I really don't know how the original would have been constructed, the only picture of the interior that I can find, that I know has the original components still in it, doesn't show enough detail to copy. I have found pictures of drivers seats in other marks on Panzers but even those do not seem to be consistent. As for wriggle room, there's bugger all, especially if you consider the drive shaft across your shins. I am 5ft 11" and when the turrets on, getting in is going to be fun, I would hate to have to try and get out in an emergency. I think tank crew must be a special breed.

Jon

[David Dunlop]

A wild and crazy thought, Jonathan.

Might the seat cushion in this case be a one piece design?

The seat cushion could have a wood board base with a pad of horsehair etc., on the top, sized so when complete, the board ‘locks’ the seat cushion into the steel pan. The back is just a soft pad with no hard backing. The oil cloth, or similar material, would run from the front edge of the seat back across the seat cushion and then run up the back cushion, forming a sort of hinge between the two section at the bottom rear junction of the two sections.

At the top of the seat back, a light weight cotton or canvas layer is added to the mix. This is stitched in to enclose the seat back pad and prevent it from sagging to the bottom of the seat back over time. The oil cloth material then wraps over the top of the seat back pad and down the back of the seat back cushion to the junction of the back pad and seat pad. It is stitched down the sides only, staying open across the bottom.

This forms a pouch down the back portion of the cushion assembly that is pulled down over the seat back frame to the point where the seat cushion portion can drop down and lock into the steel seat pan.

I notice the seat back can adjust and has a noticeable recline ability. The recline mode might be to make entry to and exit from the drivers seat easier for the driver and the one piece design would enhance sliding in and out of the seat quickly.

Then again, I could be totally out to lunch!

David