Old Git Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Sorry, it's short for I seem to remember! Ah, now that's one I haven't come across before!!! Rick, if you look in that Rolls Royce history of the Meteor book you borrowed I remember there being a chapter talking about Centaur / Cromwell shock absorbers (dampers if we are being pedantic), have a look. Thanks for the heads-up. I have that book (somewhere) I'll just go see if I can find it (no mean feat in the cubby hole I call my office!) Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashtonpete Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 (edited) If you can still get this book, its well worth it although it won't be £5.95 now. Edited May 21, 2013 by ashtonpete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashtonpete Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 (edited) Adrian, thanks for advice on using jack on track link idea, I eventually managed to turn the track resulting in movement of the brake drums, steady going was recommended at a 3.7:1 ratio, all brakes shoes are just kissing the drums and pedal is right up... Nice one! Edited May 21, 2013 by ashtonpete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Git Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 not sure if you already know or not but the swing arms on the cavalier were shorter than on the cromwell/centaur. alastair the turret is coming along nicely and will be ready soon but i'm in no rush to fit it as it will only make life harder when it comes to getting in and out of the tank. i have a couple of leads on the main gun but nothing i can lay my hands on yet. rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Git Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Git Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Presumably the Cavalier swing arms looked differently too, or did they look identical? Here's a couple pics of my new model, swing arms... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashtonpete Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Thought about the final drive end, this may be of some use. Its a scan from a Workshop Manual for a Mk7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Git Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 (edited) 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!!! Edited May 22, 2013 by Old Git fixed img tags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashtonpete Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Gentlemen! A very sad day for the restoration fraternity. It has been decided to cut up the LEE for scrap as the project was deemed unworthy. Shown is a salvage dealer cutting up the upper hull. :cry: :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrettkitt Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Gentlemen! A very sad day for the restoration fraternity. It has been decided to cut up the LEE for scrap as the project was deemed unworthy. Shown is a salvage dealer cutting up the upper hull. :cry: :laugh: [ATTACH=CONFIG]76829[/ATTACH] A sad day indeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scammell4199 Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 WHATTTTTT!!!!! Looks fine from here!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antar Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 To save you wasting all that gas and oxy I'll nip over tonight to collect it ... £150 a tonne OK ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 It has got the wrong tracks, I mean, a Grant with CDP? Best thing is to cut it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_shadock Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 (edited) This M3 Grant was for sale by Hugh Movies Supplies in 2012, who bought it then? On the older photo, the piece of armor above the main gun is damaged, it needs some restoration works. Pierre-Olivier Edited May 22, 2013 by the_shadock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnixartillery Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Ex John Bellfield collection,it travelled from Oz in a container on its side,a very good surviving example indeed ! Rob.................rnixartillery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Scott Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 I very much doubt its being cut up for scrap !!! ,If it is then the owner is making a fantastic loss on it,it is very restorable project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnixartillery Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Here it is being loaded. Rob......................rnixartillery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashtonpete Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Was only kidding, sorry guys! Its coming on fine...... It was just an opportunity with cutting gear at hand to stage it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antar Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Was only kidding, sorry guys! Its coming on fine...... It was just an opportunity with cutting gear at hand to stage it. Hang on I'm waiting outside the gates with the low loader, you can't say that now ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrettkitt Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Gentlemen! A very sad day for the restoration fraternity. It has been decided to cut up the LEE for scrap as the project was deemed unworthy. Shown is a salvage dealer cutting up the upper hull. :cry: :laugh: [ATTACH=CONFIG]76829[/ATTACH] Mark has bought a cracking project good luck to him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billruston Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Why!?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashtonpete Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 Is 1/6th the biggest for modellers supplies or can you go to lets say 1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Git Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 If my Cromwell turns out to be rather good then I may look at the possibility of offering it for sale as a kit... If? From what I've seen, there is no question as to if! :clap: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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