johann morris

Its going quite well apart from a virus that slowed things down somewhat. As you can see the curve on the front of the hull was a success with lots of leverage and heat, which was very welcome in the snow. All ten suspension arms have been fabricated and my next job is to turn the locating arms that locate the suspension arms into the hull.

Oh and I made an Easter chocolate cake, which my wife demanded with menaces.

Jon

Jon

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I had quite a good day and tomorrow I will hopefully bend the front of the hull. The 4 front bearing houses are tacked in ready to be fully welded when the hull is turned on its side.

Jon

I am not sure eddy, you have certainly  got your hands full with the covenanter. Its a challenge that I would love but I would imagine finding the parts is going to take time, a lot of money and more important than all that absolute dedication to the cause. You have my respect for taking it on and I am looking forwards to the updates.

Jon

Sounds like a nice project keep us posted and good luck.

Jon

Thanks

I have been beavering away as usual and to tell the truth the turret ring took longer than anticipated but now I have a turret that rotates. I spent this weekend assembling the turret on to the upper hull and fitting all the various components. There are still a few details to finish but on the whole I am quite happy with it and excited to be starting the  running gear and lower hull, oh goody.

Just for a bit of  a change, I got a dummy to stand in the turret but don't tell my son I said that.

Jon

Revert back to the same format as before but using the new site or at the very least the new threads section. Every time I come on to try and make an effort with the "new improved site", not, I loose the will to live just by visiting the activity page. Why has every new post to every  topic got to be displayed, so that you end up with a list just repeating itself. There was nothing wrong with the old system, where it just informed you once, that a topic had been updated and make it all more compact. This new format just replicates sites like facebook and personally I don't use those either.

Jon

My wife is fantastic but I do wonder how much notice she actually takes. When we went down to the tank museum to take dimensions from their PZ2F, someone asked me what I was doing, my wife overheard the conversation and afterwards asked was the one that I was making the same size as the one that I was measuring, as she thought mine was a small model. This is the person who provides coffee  on a regular basis and has watched it grow and she hadn't noticed its size.

Thank goodness for that, one less thing to worry about!

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.

I hope Enigma thinks that it all looks ok now that its painted.

Jon

I don't like the new site, its a shame but I think I will have to find a new home.

Jon

Thanks for the positive comments it keeps one going when one thinks "why am I doing this".

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

Jon

Thanks Eddy. Personally no matter how they had to aim their weapons, they have my respect, I certainly wouldn't want to be shut in a tank.

Jon

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

Well its taken some time but at last I have new half shafts!. I was wrong about the first company, rakeway engineering, they proved bloody useless. I left it 10 weeks, then rang to see when I could collect the shafts only to be told that they hadn't even looked at them, and that he, the owner, was the sort of person that you had to pester to get anything done. He then told me that if I phoned back in 2 weeks and this is his actual statement "he would, if he could be bothered, have a look at them". To say that I was shocked would be an understatement, so the next morning I picked the shafts up and took them to GB engineering. Whilst they didn't honour their original 4 week delivery they did what appears to be a good job, only time will tell and were pleasant to deal with. It's taken some time and I have missed the summer but at least after the weekend I should be mobile and there's one last local show to attend.

Jon

The test fit of the 2cm gun went well and now I am ready to strip the whole thing down and spray it, oh lucky me!

Its all on its way, I am just waiting delivery of the cut pieces. Although it may take some time to finish it.

Jon

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

In reality this is nothing to do with the environment, diesel particles or emissions, it is to do with the large car manufacturers and profit. They need us plebs and by that I mean anyone not in the ruling class to buy new cars to keep the wheels of industry turning and their mates making money. Where all the electricity is going to come from is anybody's guess. There has already been a warning from the electricity providers that they will not be unable to cope with the extra demand but then, when your mate builds a new electricity station and you have promised him that he can charge 4 times the current cost per KWH, the only ones that really suffer will be us.

Jon

They used to do it every year at the Aldershot Army display in the 1970's.

Jon

My youngest son is 14 and has a model railway, loves steam engines, helps with my vehicles and likes mechanics. All his friends are in to computer games and have no interest in any of the above. apparently he is considered weird. Personally, I hope he continues to be weird, he will find the real world a lot more interesting.

Jon

Lovely vehicle, as it looks so original maybe it should be preserved as it is.

Jon

I use this company https://tools-paint.com/ekmps/shops/avenueonline/resources/Design/1221222651-headerv6-w700-h100.jpg. usually here in mid Wales in about 2 days from ordering.

Jon