Armour Dreams

[Jonathan Moore]

Now, I know that this sort of thing is frowned on by some but I have always dreamt of owning a tank and not having endless resources of money or living in an area where I might find one, I decided my only option was to build one. At first it was only going to be the turret but now that this is nearly complete, I have decided that I might as well make the rest. The decision as to what tank to build was decided by the chance buy of a 2cm KwK magazine as found in a Panzer 2. Anyway, I have just finished the main armourment.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

more pictures

[Jonathan Moore]

and some more

[Jonathan Moore]

and some more

[Jonathan Moore]

and that's it for now.

Jon

[colin jones]

Excellent fabrication there Jon! nothing like finding a magazine then building everything around it.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

With your fabrication skills you will have a running PzKpfw II in no time, for sure. Keep at it!

Are you going for the regular PzKpfw II, or for the Luchs version?

Hanno

Luchs-4-600x360.jpg

[Jonathan Moore]

Apart from a few other projects, I have been busy making this little item. Its the elevation and depression mechanism for the mantlet, and thus the armament. Not only does it move the mantlet but it also contains the trigger mechanism for the main 2cm gun. I was going to make it a welded component that looked the part but didn't do anything, when I mentioned that to my wife she just gave me one of those looks that said "don't be silly". Anyway Rotating the hand wheel obviously moves the mantlet and then if you pull the lever on the hand wheel, it pushes a shaft, that moves a cam, that pulls a shaft, that rotates the dog leg shaft that in turn moves a roller that lowers a flap that fires the gun. Simple now that its finished. This is the last major item that I have to make for the turret, so apart from a few pins that I have to turn up on the lathe, I can get on spray the bits and pieces. While I wait for the steel profiles for the rest of the project, I will have time for the Morris, I hope.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

A few more pictures

[jdmcm]

the only word I can think of is...WOW!

[Jonathan Moore]

Today was the big test, because up until now I have never tested if the mantlet, elevation mechanism and the gun carrier, all fit together in the turret. Happily they do, so I can now strip it all apart and play at spraying it all the right colours. Happy days!

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

One thing that has been vexing me somewhat, is what was I going to us as a sight for the turret. The panzer 2 used a tzf4 sight and as this sight was only used in this tank, there aren't many about and the ones that I have seen for sale have been very expensive, so I came to the usual conclusion. I think that I am right in saying, that British tank sights of the time were fixed, so that the gunner had to raise or lower his head with the guns elevation or depression. German sights were made to bend so that the Gunner didn't have to move his head as the mantlet moved. This makes the sight quite an interesting project in its own right using 4 mirrors to reflect the light and hence the view. I have managed to replicate the reflection aspect and no matter how the sight bends you get a good view out of the end, all be it small. The problem comes when I introduce a lens, as you can see. I am sure that there is a simple solution out there somewhere.


Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Three more.

[Jonathan Moore]

Flat pack panzer 2 upper hull and blanks for the suspension arms.

Jon

[colin jones]

John, excellent job you're doing and great fabrication work. Have you decided on a drive train yet and what type of tracks are you going to use.

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening all,

I have been very busy, the upper hull is complete, painted and waiting for me to make all the fittings. The drivers vision cover is complete. The turret has been painted and the markings applied and now I just need to assemble all the fittings into it. I decided that while I am making other bits it would be nice to have a stand so that I can sit the turret on top of the upper hull and as you can see that's done but I am going to add some casters so that I can move it around easily.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Some more pictures

[Jonathan Moore]

And lastly for now.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

There doesn't really seem much to show you because I have been fabricating and machining lots of components ready to install into the hull. It all takes loads of time for what seems very little result. Firstly sorry for the quality of the pictures the light wasn't very good tonight. As you can see from the pictures ,the main hull has been welded together and over the next week I will attempt to weld the various components in place. I hope by tomorrow night to have rolled the front of the hull but its a major job with my very limited equipment so it may take more than one attempt but we will see.

The 3rd and 4th pictures are the inner and outer bearing houses for retaining the radius arms into the hull side and the plates with the holes in are strengthening ribs. First job tomorrow, before rolling the front, is to get the 4 front housings in place and accurately in line. Not an easy job by hand, these housings would have been machined on a special machine so that everything lined up perfectly but I don't have such a machine so fingers crossed.


Jon

[kevin powles]

Looks suberb, well done.

[James P]

Really amazing fabrication skills there in your build. Why the Dunkelgelb for the interior Vs White ??