Armour Dreams

[Tony Mathers]

Lovely work that I am following with interest...

In regards tracks, the ones you showed appear to be identical to Pz I tracks... A few years ago I found this advert:

"Here are new production Tracks for the Panzer 1 and Opel/Ford Maultier German Halftracks, exact copy, with pins, very nice, and nowhere else for sale! Call or Email Erik on: 0031617946119 info@greenparts.nl"

I suggest you check and see if they have any available still.

Have fun

Tony

[Tony Mathers]

Here is a picture of some of my Panzer I track.. These pieces are not as worn as yours.. But are the same otherwise. As you might guess I am slowly building up my bits to build a Pz I.. Hence why I like your posts so much

Track.jpg

[David Herbert]

I suspect that Pz1 track is not interchangeable with Pz2 track in the same way that British Universal Carrier track is different to Windsor and Aust LP track. I am thinking of the width of the wheel path and possibly also the overall width too, though that wouldn't matter so much if only a cm. or so.

I see that the Pz1 links in Tony's post have ice cleats on them. If you run these on a hard road surface they make rather a mess, even in a straight line !

I still think that there must be lots of Pz2 track waiting to be dug up in Poland and Russia, though buying tank track from Russia might be difficult just now.

David

[Ganmain Tony]

I guess its a visit to Bovington and having a look at a Panzer 1 & 2 to examine the track links.

Tony's and Jon's pictures look mighty similar.... but I wouldn't be betting the price of casting on them!!!

Moot point, I suppose. Jon has the correct one.

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening All,

The Panzer is coming along slowly, I will post some pictures at the weekend.

The track links on a PZ2 are wider than on a PZ1 and yes I have the right link, i just need 229 more.

Thanks for the continued interest.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening all, it's only little old me coming out of hibernation. I thought that I would give you a quick update. I have been making quite a lot of changes as the assembly progresses, some out of necessity, others because I wasn't happy. I have changed most of the crimp connectors in the wiring for automotive connectors that won't pull apart easily. I have cut out any wiring in the old Jaguar system that aren't absolutely necessary and rerouted a lot of others. The light switch failed before it was ever used properly so had to be replaced. I couldn't find an all metal one apart from in the USA but in the end I settled for one out of a Jeep, not exactly what I was looking for, because of the push down button but after some modification it looks perfect. I had to make a new back plate for the switch that was a bit more in keeping.

I designed what I thought an original one might look like, printed on to water slide transfer paper and applied it to a aluminium plate that i cut out of a piece of old Land Rover body work. I applied the transfer and when dry, gave it a coat of vehicle paint lacquer.

[Jonathan Moore]

One part that I hadn't made, were the cones that go on the idler wheel centers. A very enjoyable bit of fabrication.

I have removed all the copper coolant pipes and replaced them with steel and rubber bends and joints, as I was worried that the soldered joints, in the copper pipe work, would fail through vibration. The plastic pipe clips that held the coolant pipes in place, have been replaced with stainless ones.

The exhaust has been wrapped and I have added a remote oil filter for easy access, along with a drain pipe from the engine sump, so that both are easily accessible. The pies from the engine and gearbox to their oil coolers now have quick fit couplings in the pipes.

I was always wondering where to put the fuel filter as I didn't want to put it in the engine bay and eventually decided to put it under the floor panel in the crew compartment.