eddy8men

thanks for the comprehensive reply steve, modern track pins often have a threaded end with washer and nut to retain the pin. the bren gun carrier has something similar but with a washer and split pin which has stood the test of time so why they would not choose to use something similar for all track types of that period baffles me but that's just how they used to do things in those days (the hard way) eddy

i'm sure steve will let us know but i thought the earlier heavy track was the strongest especially on stoney ground, i believe the manganese tracks were found to be not up to the job when the going got tough. one strange thing about the track was the absence of a way to split it, as the track was one continuous loop with all the track pins fasten in situ with a stainless steel tab welded over the end of the pin so the only way to break the track would be to chisel off the welded tab, i can't understand why they never put removeable pins in every few links or so but that's the churchill for you, nobody could say it was a boring tank to study. bizzare, weird, eccentric, over complicated and over engineered but definately not boring :nut: eddy

nice cromwell turret, i need one of those ! have you still got the key for the gate jack :-D eddy

glad to hear the restoration is still moving along, speaking from experience i know it's hard to juggle family, work and money around such things but you seem to be doing a great job and for what it's worth the quality of your work is very good. keep the pics coming eddy

very nice work rob as usual, i look forward to seeing your collection one day. all the best eddy

now that's how to drive a tank :cool2:

i'm glad they left the battle damage on jackal as it's all too easy to look at a tank and think about it just as an impressive war machine and focus on whatever armour, armament and other technical attributes it possesses and possibly not so much about the crews that fought to the death in them. i know i'm sometimes guilty of that. eddy

hi cordenj you are right, it is a mk 1 or 2 churchill turret, i remember seeing a similar thread with a sherman turret that had been used for demolition training by the US sappers on the run up to d-day. it's very likely yours has a similar story to tell. great post eddy

great post mate, it's good to see how it all works. cheers eddy

looks to be a very nice place you've got there, i hope it goes well for you. eddy

bob, at this rate i'll be lucky if i see 45 never mind 90 but if by some quirk of fate i get to be that old i hope i'll be wise enough to let some other buggar do the hard work. i'll just sit back, make encouraging noises and let them know that they are doing their bit to preserve our armoured heritage. eddy

steve, that goes for all of us. cheers mate. don't be sad about the chieftains being on the range, you can guarantee that in 50 years when chieftains are rare that some poor misguided fools will attempt to recover and restore them. eddy

great pics and an interesting background story, thanks for sharing them with us. eddy

few pics of the eden camp crocodile. the interior pic is the flame projector taken from the drivers vision port.

hi fella's there's not so many churchills to be found in scrapyards nowadays but they're still out there to be had for those daft enough to try. i've a feeling that when the current churchill restorations are complete down at the isle of white and at rr services that a few hulls may become available when the necessity for spares is no longer required (so start saving up now) eddy

that's great news adrian, i hope all goes to plan mate and don't forget to youtube that first engine start up, i'm sure there's more than one or two here on the forum that will be looking forward to that day. all the best eddy

thanks for the post on the finnish charioteer prices adrian, it's good to know what ian paid for them originally, i'm not a 100% sure but i think i did the deal with ian on no. 251-3, i say not sure as i hadn't expected to be looking at the charitoteer it was the centaur i went down for so my mind was too busy weighing up whether i could afford both but ian sold me on the idea and it felt right so i went for it. i don't know maybe i'm getting soft and want an easy restoration instead of the range wrecks. with regard to the serviceability of the engine and running gear i was told by ian that the engine turns over on the battery so you never know maybe i'll get lucky and she'll fire up without major surgery. all the best eddy

but like you said jack, when it goes out of county level they won't fund or run it. i suppose it would be a national tourist board thing but i'm just guessing. (it would be a great site though) ! eddy

man ! that looks great but really really expensive. to finish it to that standard must be a very large undertaking by the owner in many different ways i doubt most of us will understand the fustrations and pressures of that kind of restoration job, but for what it's worth it's definately worth it in my opinion i'm just glad i don't have to pay for it eddy

not sure all those seperate county websites would get the hits to make them viable but what if it were www.ww2britain.com with a county map on the home page to click on the county of your choice to find out about that specific region. the down side is some poor buggar would have to run it all but the upside is the rest of us would know where to go. i've always been good at thinking big, it's the doing part that i struggle with eddy

i didn't think there would be any mk1's still about which i assumed was the reason bovy have a dummy mk1 as a gate guardian. i suspect they didn't want the hassle and expense of restoring a range wreck and to be honest i can't say i blame them. so if all that is left on pirbright is the stuff the rest of the tank collectors don't want does that mean i can have it. it would be nice to get on that range one day, preferably with a low loader :cool2: keep the pics coming please eddy ps. that valentine would be a nice addition for the old collection

it's funny to think that within 3 days of me saying on this thread that i would like to buy a cromwell but they probably wouldn't be for sale i ended up buying a centaur and a charioteer from the guy i was refering too. (must be fate) all i have to do now is find the rest of the cash and i've cracked it eddy

with regard to the a13 i've just called the batterie todt for an explanation and possibly to get hold of the scrap man on the off chance that it's not been shipped off to china yet, i got no answer but i'll try again tomorrow and let you know what they say. all the best eddy

sorry rog forgot to say thanks for the pics, (i'm still angry about the a13). nice pic of a mk2 churchill, got anymore. cheers eddy

i was planning to buy/swap that a13, it beggars belief that they would scrap something so rare, a tank that was used to fight the germans and eventually free france scrapped because they couldn't think of anything else to do with it. there would have been a hundred guys willing to take it on if they'd just let us know. man! that gets my blood boiling :mad: eddy