Old Git

Adrian,

got any recent piccies mate, I'm feeeling a bit starved for Cromwell resto's now that Rick's is on the road :-(

Thanks Pete, if you can't manage it then don't worry mate, We'll sort something out when I get back from Normandy on August 17th!

Rgds

Pete

Pete,

loved the audio mate, although the little speakers on my laptop do not do it justice. I shall have to nip into the Kitchen and listen to it on the family PC! If you shoot me a copy on email I'll strip the Audio out of it and send you back the MP3 file!

Rgds

Pete

Thanks for that Rick, I've already got Toadmans site bookmarked. I probably should have been more specific as I was actually looking for bigger version of these two pictures...

But today I had a better look at the ones I have and have discovered that I can see just what I need to with these two, so all's well that ends well!

Here are a couple pics of the lower hull for my model, I managed to get some primer on it today and (as you'll know from doing the real deal) it's always a mile stone when you get primer on 'er!

I've got most of the various parts completed now and just require some assembly and tweaking, but this will have to wait for a couple weeks as I'm off to Normandy for three weeks on Saturday morning.

Picked up a copy of this book last week and it is a good book, but it's not the definitive word on the Denison! Don't get me wrong, I'm not slating it, it's just that I was hoping for a bit more from it. There's some truly interesting things in here and they have made good use of the Airborne Museum's expertise. However, they do not appear to have made any use of the National Archives and my overall impression is that of some interested amateurs publishing what they know, and can pull together, rather than 'in-depth' research. I would have liked to have seen more on the development of the garment and of the various camo patterns and I'm sure this info nust be in the National Archives somewhere, indeed I'm pretty sure I've seen references in the MRC files, and elsewhere, to the development of Airbornes specialist items.

I haven't read it all as yet but the text is a bit clunky in places and doesn't read as well as it ought to, I found myself having to go back over a few lines to try to understand just what it was he was trying to convey, but then as I say 'interested amateur' rather than professional historian/writer so that is to be expected. All that said it is still a book I really want to have on my reference library and it's well worth the purchase!

Just another quick one, does anyone have any large-sized pics of the Driver and Aux Gunners compartments that were taken during restoration. A few appeared in this thread earlier but they had been re-sized and so prevented zooming in on detail. If anyone's got those in large size I'd love to see them.

I like the fact that in every picture Rick's got a big cheesy grin, like the cat who got the cream! Fair play mate, I'd be the same if she was mine and I'd gone to the efforts that you've all gone to to get her up and running.... and looking so damn fine as well!!!

She's a beauty!!! Award justly deserved I'd say!

Rick,

might I suggest 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars, recce unit to 7th Armoured, and tank name could be Abbess of Chantry a well photographed 8th KRIH Cromwell that survived to take part in the Berlin Victory parade. It would also give you the opportunity to wear the 8th KRIH distinctive tent hat for officers, (the only item of army headress worn without a cap badge other than with combat uniforms) something which is still worn today by a small cadre of Officers within The Queen's Royal Hussars, indeed there are photographs on the net of the tent hat being worn in Iraq during the last land war there.

The 8th KRIH fought with distinction throughout WWII but also have an illustrious history stretching all the way back to the Wars of Spanish Succession. They also fought in Korea!

The 8th KRIH were amalgamated in 1958 with the 4th Queens Hussars to form the The Queens Royal Irish Hussars. This regiment was, in 1993, amalgamated with The Queens Own Hussars to form the The Queen's Royal Hussars (The Queen's Own and Royal Irish), which is now the senior UK armoured regiment.

And just to give you a bit of background you can do no better than Bill Bellamy's book about his time with 8th KRIH from Normandy to Berlin. Called "Troop leader: A Tank Commanders Story"; it's a pretty good read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Troop-Leader-Tank-Commanders-Story/dp/0750945346/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373815187&sr=8-1&keywords=Bill+Bellamy+troop+leader

Quick question if I may; does anyone know if the roadsprings and shock absorbers carried any makers marks? I assume not as you really wouldn't want to aid enemy intelligence by letting them know which factory manufacturers vital components, but I just thought I'd check before I finished making my own model shocks and road springs? I've tracked down the Newton logo and can print it to put on the shocks, (in that brass colour they used to use back then). Just not sure I ought to? Here's a wee pic to show you what I've been doing!

I suspect the need for it was not appreciated before Normandy and the wading trunking precluded fitting it anyway. It is clear from pictures that originally the solution was very ad-hoc but presumeably the 'official' design came in quite quickly.

Thanks for that Adrian, I haven't quite gotten to the cowl yet and have only thought about it obliquely, if at all. My Cromwell will have a Normandy Cowl of course but I'm still not sure if I'll go for the 'official' design or the ad-hoc design as shown in the video above! I sort of favour the ad-hoc design for a little extra authenticity but then that idea is tempered by the realisation that I'll have to spend a lot of time explaining to 'certain folks' why it's the 'wrong' shape!:-D

Re the Normandy Cowl, here's an interesting little video which I found on British Pathe

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=53387

There's a lot of stuff in here but at 2:02 minutes and afterwards there's a shot of a Cromwell crossing a Bailey Bridge. What's of interest here is the shape of the Normandy cowl which you just see a close-up of as it goes by. A field modification no doubt and quite different from the ones normally seen!

I've never been sure if the Normandy Cowl was a pre-invasion design or a field mod that was made from cut-down wading stacks. But I'm happy to bow to Adrian's superior knowledge on the subject and have it confirmed as a post-invasion field mod:)

And another curiosity can be seen if you single step through the stills (you'll see a link to the stills on the right side of the video window). At Still 100 - 105 there's a couple pics of a section of British Infantry walking along a hedgerow. They're being led by a Lance Jack who is carrying a Sten and wearing the standard universal pouches. But the interesting thing is that none of the rest of the section are wearing universal pouches, they look like they're wearing '37 pattern cartridge carriers. I didn't know these were still being used by Normandy period!

Thanks Guys for the info,

Brown Cow that is exactly what I was looking for, though I must admit I'm a bit stunned to see a lathe in the back of a jeep. I really didn't expect to see that, LOL!

woa2, thanks for the info on the chap at the centenary, I suppose that supports the theory that they did have some sort of mobile workshops on the back of jeeps. The REME museum is my next port of call but I thought you fine chaps could at least give me a steer in the right direction before I submitted a formal request... and that you have done!!

Fantastic job Guy, Bravo!!!

Just wondering if the REME made use of Jeeps in the role of Light workshops etc.? I know the Germans had a mechanics setup based on the Kube (back seats taken out) with some basic tools like drills, vis, etc. Just wondering if the REME had something similar and if so what was the proper naming convention?

I'm not talking about the trailers (although I'd be interested in any info on other types of workshop trailers other than the electrical workshop trailer on which there's already a thread); I'm more interested in possible conversions of the Jeep itself to this kind of role. Did the REME ever do anything like this?

Incidentally, I once came across a reference to a WO file in the National Archives on a trial in Burma theatre for using Jeeps to transport Bailey Bridge components. I can't find the original file in the National Archives though!

Some more fantastic pics of parts not normally seem in restorations, this really is a very valuable thread indeed!

Incidentally, I believe the RE drill holes through the centre of all their spanners and tools and then tie them to their person when working. Essential in their game as when they drop a spanner it goes to the bottom of the River that they're trying to bridge!

I have a similar problem. It's not a constant occurrence, but it has happened several times now. Basically put I'm typing away and when I try to hit enter to get a carriage return to start a new paragraph it simply doesn't work. My cursors just sits there at the end of the last line of text. Every thing else works fine and I can use the mouse point to move around to any point within the text already written but I can't start a new paragraph. In fact I've just tried it now and I still can't do it!

I get around the problem by cutting the text from my post and pasting it into Notepad and adding the CR's there. However, and here's the interesting thing. In order for it to work properly I have to add two CR's (carriage returns) in Notepad to ensure that I have one CR in the editor on HMVF. If I use only one CR in notepad then the HMVF editor does not recognise that as a CR and puts all the text into one large pargraph, so I have to add two CR's. For the record this happens on two PC's I use.On my laptop I am using IE 9 but it also happens on the family PC and which uses IE 10)

If I had to hazzard a guess I'd say it was one of the plugins on HMVF that has been upgraded in the last couple of months. Or, more likely, it'll have something to do with the hosting company upgrades to something like ModSecurity which is known to have issues with Vbulletin and other PHP based forums!

Not sure how'd you'd test for that but on my own forum I recently discovered an issue with adding certain strings of text in posts. Any post that had the words "strap on" in it could not be posted. So for instance if I was discussing a MkIV rifle that came with it's strap on then the post simply wouldn't be permitted. As it happened it transpired to be ModSecurity getting a bit touchy about what it though was appropriate language to be used on my forum (I always thought that was my job). Anyway, I mention it only as a possible route of investigation for the mods!

This is the July 1945 Pamphlet covering the O.Q.F. 75mm Mk 5 main gun and the besa 7.92. I'm specifically after good copies of the plates Fig 1, on pg 26, and titled "75 mm mk.5 Breech Mechanism" and Fig 4, on pg 42, which is titled "75m.m. Mk.5 Breech mechanism (operation during run out)". I have a reprinted version of this manual but my copies of these pics is very, very poor so if anyone has good clear copies of these pics I'd be very grateful!

Also, if anyone know the exact dimensions of the O.Q.F. 75mm Mk.5 Breech Block (height x width, x depth) that too would be most helpful!

No no it looks wonderful I wouldn't change it to much otherwise you will never finish it, you can always make some parts 'stripable' for new improved bits just like the real thing.

Thanks for the vote of confidence! I'm trying to do just that so I can set it up in different configurations, either running over the bridge or simply being worked on by the REME! I'm hopeful that I shall have it finished very, very soon! Most everything is done it's just a case of putting it all together and painting her!

Well good luck with it! Don't hesitate to ask me for photos of things that I can get at easily. I am sure every little bit helps.

Thanks Pete and I'll post up some more pics when I get the running gear on her!

Cramp, arrgh! Nothing worse when you're in a confined space!! I used to suffer from it a lot as well, sometimes it would just come on when I was in bed. I'd wake up, stretch and suddenly wham! Then there's be the mad dash to get my foot on something cold to relieve the cramp!

If? From what I've seen, there is no question as to if! :clap:

Thanks Adrian, that's very kind of you to say so. Although I'm beginning to wonder if the 3D printed running gear isn't going to make the rest of the tank look just a little shabby!:red:

Pete, I work in 1/6th scale because the eyes (and now the hands) can no longer cope with the fiddly stuff in smaller scales. But also because I've been collecting all the parts of an old MoD model Bailey Bridge which happens to be 1/6th scale. It's like a giant Meccano set and so far I have a fair bit of bridging and a full set of Pontoons (it's a very, very big thing). But there's no point in having Bridge if you don't have something to dress it with hence the need for a good looking Cromwell. Baileys and Cromwell's give you the 'great swan' up through northern Europe (and I might add the 'great swan' was very much faster than the much vaunted 1940 German Blitzkrieg in the opposite direction).

However, the further up the scales you go the harder it is to find stuff that works effectively well in that scale. With 1/6th scale there's a small, but determined, market which can be plundered for ancillary stuff like figures and whatever to dress your model. They're not always ideal but they can be made better if you're prepared to invest the time and effort. I'm sure that sounds familiar to a lot of vehicle restorers. For instance I have a section of 1/6th scale sappers that I intend to place on or about my bridge when I set it up and a couple of Tankies in denim tank suits for the Cromwell (when it's finished). In addtion to that there are things like fuel cans, weapons such as Brens and .50 cals which can all be added to the model when complete. So, 1/6th scale is a good scale to work in if you want to look at completeness. The only problem with it (like a lot of military modelling) is that it's dominated by German equipment, followed by US equipment. For instance you can buy Tigers, Panzer II's, IV's, Shermans, Kubes, Schwimmers and Jeeps all in 1/6th scale but there's not much in the way of British vehicles and if your in anyway nationalistic (wot like I am) then that can stick in the craw a wee bit. So, we have to make our own and hope that others catch on. If my Cromwell turns out to be rather good then I may look at the possibility of offering it for sale as a kit...but that's much further down the line at the moment.

There are guys over on the UKTC forum (that's a forum dedicated to RC vehicles in all scales) who have got stuff from 1/16th scale all the way up to 1/4 scale. However, the 1/4 scale stuff is very rare and precisely because they tend to be one off labours of love made by some chap working on an old lathe at the back of his garage! Again when you get to those very large scales you do find that you also need to be able to hand make a much more passable figure to stick in the turret as a commander. That said though, there are now companies who will scan your head and print you a copy of your own head in whatever scale you want. This can then be added to a torso and arms and used as a tank commander. Now that would be cool, a 1/4 size tank with a commander sporting a copy of your own head! Add some animatronics and off you go!

Pete,

thanks for that mate, that's a cracking picture (the best I've seen) and answers several questions I've had. It goes a long way towards explaining what the naked FD cone looks like, below you'll see a picture of the one I made based on what I could deduce from various drawings and pictures. The thing that always flummoxed me was the top, flat part oft he cone. Without any specific knowledge I had to guess...

I don't suppose you have any info on what size the gear wheel and pinion wheels were and how many teeth they had?

And, just as importantly, this picture also appears to show the Newton Type s.600 shock absorbers. The original shocks seemed to us a split casing, with one smaller diameter casing sliding up and down inside the other. From the drawings I have here it would appear that the later s.600 type had a single smooth casing but I could not be sure of that until is saw a picture and here it is on this picture! Even The 'spring casing anchorage' and the trunnions apepar to be different from the earlier versions. God but these Cromwells are confusing... an anoraks delight though!

Here's a pic of the shocks on the Centaur and as you can see it's made of two casings, one which slides inside the other.

The drawing I was working too showed the s.600 in sections and seemed to imply that it was a single casing, which of course implied a different design to that used on the early Cent's and Cromwell's, but I wanted to see a pic before I made that decision for sure! As it happens, last night when I was looking for the Rolls Royce book I found an old box file which I went through this morning. In the bottom of it I found a much better drawing of the Shock from a Cromwell IV. I must have had this from the Tank Museum library and, not appreciating its worth at the time, filed it away. It literally was the last page in the bottom of the box!!!

Presumably the Cavalier swing arms looked differently too, or did they look identical?

Here's a couple pics of my new model, swing arms...

Between pages 68 - 70 in the RR book there appears a copy of a RR memo dated May 26th 1942 and part of this memo contains a list of works 'initiated by Belper' but being 'carried out by other companies'. One of these is "Improved Shock Absorbers - Newton & Bennett". My interpretation of this memo would suggest that these improvements were destined for the Cromwell III which was due to enter production in November 1942. So it would appear that the shocks were upgraded during the development of the Cromwell which may explain why the ones I saw on the stripped down Centaur look different to the drawings I have for the shocks on the Cromwell IV

Pete,

thanks for the recommendation on that book mate but I have it already. The problem is that (for whatever reason) David Fletcher decided to make that book about the Cromwell I and I'm trying to track down the differences for the Cromwell IV. Not always easy but since I've been on this forum I've discovered a lot of very, very interesting bits of information that you just can't get from the books or the drawings! You just can't beat very good pics of stripped down Cromwells, Centaurs and Comets for giving a good indication of what's what.

I have a drawing of what I believe to be the Newton S6 shock absorbers and I've found some pics of a stripped down Centaur with the road springs and shocks exposed. The shocks on the Centaur don't look anything like the S6 shocks so from that I deduced that the later Cromwells had their shocks upgraded as part of the Fighting Spec.

Thanks to the referral to the Rolls Royce book I found this on pg 184...

"The original suspension retained and modified to accept the increased performance. This entailed repositioning the cross-tubes through the hull upon which the swinging-arm suspension was mounted, and employing longer-stroke shock absorbers."

This appeared in a section on giving a "resume of the work undertaken by Belper to improve the Original Cromwell".

Incidentally, I bought my paperback copy of that Rolls Royce book for £15:00 direct from RRHT (Rolls Royce Heritage Trust). I now see the same paperback edition on Amazon for a whopping £82!!! I'm sure it can still be had from RRHT though at the normal cover price?