eddy8men

hi alastair we put it down to a dicky magneto on the b bank, apparently it's a common fault for old mags to lose their magnetism once they get hot. I took the tank to shauns hindles place in October as you know for his show and it's still there. the new mag was fitted just last week but it still had a fault on it according to shaun but he hasn't had time to do a full road test yet so the jury is still out on whether the fault has been rectified. regardless of what pans out at shauns I plan on bringing it back to Manchester next month and carrying on with the resto, mostly small stowage bins in the turret and hull gunners compartment. I recently bought a "top cocker" Thompson and 16x20rd mags for fitting on the commanders side and i'm looking forward to seeing it fitted. after that i'll sort the bren stowage, it's nice to be at the stage of the resto where you can put the interesting fiddly bits in :-D rick

to be honest getting my @rse in and out is easy it's my shoulders that get stuck, I go in feet first then put one arm in with the other behind my head while I slip in and gravity does the rest. getting out I reach up for the periscope shroud and wriggle a bit and out I pop. it's a bit like being born again . I like the idea of 3 cromwells together at w&p. not this year but next year is looking good so far ! rick

i'd like to think it was muscular physique that makes me struggle getting in and out when I got home from war and peace last year I had a line of bruises running across my back from armpit to armpit where I had contorted myself into the drivers seat. no pain no gain ! quite looking forward to having a bash at another Cromwell so soon after mine, many lessons were learned the hard way first time round and these will not be repeated. I also have done nothing but live and breath Cromwell for the last 2 years so i'm hoping for an easy resto, "just a walk in the park" I plan on helping a few other Cromwell/centaur/cavalier resto's along the way so we should see a bit more brit armour on the show circuit in the next 3 or 4 years. my long term plan to flood the market with british armour is coming to fruition :cool2: once the Cromwell's are done i'll be moving onto the Churchill's rick

2 maybe 3 churchills and another brit tank resto. which is strange when it was only 2 months ago that i was considering getting out of the hobby but i guess im getting in deeper. funny old world. rick

already got another 3 ww2 tank projects lined up

i was down there on wednesday and the conqs were still there. i didnt ask but i reckon they would be available for less than scrap. something around 7k should do it. if anyone is interested send me a pm and i will pass on the details

lots of great ww2 armour on there at the moment. it's good time for those with a little cash to burn

i'll give you a bell in the morning pete

pete if your looking for something to play with then i have some rather large bits churchill to keep you occupied :-D hey leonardo i prefer this painting to your others

I also heard the rumour of buried sas carriers and ammo. a friend told me about a Cromwell pushed down a mine shaft, might have to chase that lead when time permits :cool2: rick

don't shed any tears for a man that carried on killing civilians long after the war ended.

very interesting set of pics, one thing I noticed was how static the positions looked, they might have been there for years facing the germans blowing each other to bits. a true war of attrition. rick

sorry robin, speling was never my strong point.

always fancied a holiday to canada :cool2:

I think alastair has restorers remorse, a common complaint amongst many of us. the early symptoms are normally aching joints and back leading to a sharp pain in the wallet area followed by prolonged periods of divorce :-D luckily the cure is simple, sell everything and take up golf. rick

amazing to find a panther in Canada. I wonder if it was on suffield or whether the canooks had it on one of their ranges ?

no Chinese eye. just a jap's eye often found on the drivers seat it's funny you mention 4RTR. I went to the isle of wight earlier this year and stayed at a b&b my mate booked, anyway we got chatting to the landlady and it turned out her father was jack Pritchard who finished up as the CO of 4RTR. it's a small world. rick

you'll like this I don't know the history of my Cromwell so I named it AJAX which was a 1 RTR tank

you wouldn't believe just how much is still out there ! mostly heavily stripped except for the concreted targets which seem to have escaped the attentions of the big names but don't go rushing in just yet bill these things can easily take over your life and become an addiction. my name is rick and I am a tankaholic :-D

interesting history mate but now you know it was in bos are you going to paint it white, I have an old blue beret you can borrow

thanks again for all the positive comments, i must admit i'm quite pleased with it although there are 4 or 5 boxes in the turret that i still need to fit but other than that it's very complete. john you are right about the breech ring as i managed to find an original 75mm (the dealer has more available but the £1500 price tag is a little steep) the good news is i no longer need the repro breech ring i had at war and peace and you are welcome to it but it will need to be machined out on the back from 140mm to 167mm to accept the threaded barrel end which should be easy enough if you're friendly with any local engineers and don't worry i haven't forgotten about the gun shield . pete i'll be round at the weekend with the turret for you :-D ben the arabic cush has been replaced by a nice greek boy (sounds like a michael barrymore party)

that's a real nice looking wagon. it's surprising how many defects a good paint job can hide.

Finished

ian's the guy that sold me 3 tanks and the old 24 stud engine from his lp2a is currently being rebuilt and will be fitted into my carrier in the new year. rick

sounds like ian galliers