Panzer 2 turret

[67burwood]

Always impressed with the workmanship and level of detail 👍

[terryb]

your skillset and attention to detail is exceptional Jon. must be a great feeling to sit down with a brew, look at what you've made, and say "I made that"

[johann morris]

Evening Terry,

I don't really get time to stop and stare, before one jobs finished my minds else where. Plotting and planning the next job to be done, so as one job finishes, the next has begun. 

 

Evening all,

Both sprocket flanges are finished as are the two cover caps and hopefully this weekend I will find some time to test fit them onto the final drives.

 

Then apart from the three vision port covers, associated fittings and the dummy gearbox cover, in theory I have finished making parts and the whole thing needs stripping and painting. That of course ignores the elephant in the room, the track links. In a moment of shear madness  I emailed every iron foundry in the UK, attached the wartime specification for Malleable cast iron track links and requested a cost, some luck. Most didn't even bother to respond, some were down right rude and some where clearly taking the P. However one did provide me with a figure of £30,000. That was before the current increase in electricity and material costs, so it's back to fabricating them, oh joy.

 

[Philliphastings]

Hello John,

 

I struggle to find the apropriate words to describe your dedication, patience and amazing skills, but the most impressive ability you have shown during this thread us that you ALSO cook !!!

 

keep up the great work,

 

Cheers

 

Phill

Edited April 9, 2022 by Philliphastings

[John F]

£30,000, ouch!

Are you now planning to cast your own track links, Jon?

[Gordon_M]

I have historical experience with casting like this.  Ideally you would have an original link, make up a pattern to match whatever production method the foundry was going to use, and just donate gallons of blood for the cost.

Given the way that you have done everything else, I'd suggest that you find or make one track link you are happy with, and then get steel plate and section laser cut so that you can just fabricate them.  That would be much easier to fine tune, make small batches, and make extras than actually casting them.  Still lots of cost and lots of welding, but you would be doing a lot of it yourself at a rate you were comfortable with.  Do you have one original link, or is there somewhere like the Tank Museum that may have one and could give you access to copy?

Edited April 9, 2022 by Gordon_M

[welbike]

With castings, China is the way to go now, but better use a British company to order and they will have the experience to deal with the foundries there.

A mate here in Holland has just taken delivery of the first Bren Carrier tracks that were made there, I can ask him how much a set is, but the Pzkw 2 will be a little bigger and heavier.

Cheers,

Lex

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by welbike
additional info

[welbike]

I had a couple of trailer hitches cast in London, last year, and was amazed at how expensive they were (forgot the exact amount, around 300 quid a piece), but with only a couple, it's not worth it to go to china for that.

[johann morris]

3 hours ago, welbike said:

With castings, China is the way to go now, but better use a British company to order and they will have the experience to deal with the foundries there.

A mate here in Holland has just taken delivery of the first Bren Carrier tracks that were made there, I can ask him how much a set is, but the Pzkw 2 will be a little bigger and heavier.

Cheers,

Lex

 

Lex,

 

I would be very grateful if you would ask your friend for me.

Regards,

 

Jonathan

 

[johann morris]

Evening All,

I found time this evening to have a test fit of one of the sprockets.

 

 

Jon

[johann morris]

8 hours ago, Philliphastings said:

Hello John,

 

I struggle to find the apropriate words to describe your dedication, patience and amazing skills, but the most impressive ability you have shown during this thread us that you ALSO cook !!!

 

keep up the great work,

 

Cheers

 

Phill

As I tell my wife "I have to do everything".

 

[johann morris]

7 hours ago, John F said:

£30,000, ouch!

Are you now planning to cast your own track links, Jon?

Not cast John, fabricate. If truth be known unless I find a really good deal that's the way that I will be going. I have been offered 4 good links which I have accepted, well if they are still on offer, and the rest of the tooling I have or will have in the not tooo distant future. I was feeling lazy and just thought I would cast my rod and find out what was out there, it turns out that British industry want's us all to go to China!

 

Jon

[welbike]

Ok, I have emailed my friend, but he's slow.

In the meantime I saw this on FB, dug up in Russia, guy says it's for Pz. 2,

I seem to recall, you already made one?

Cheers,

Lex

[johann morris]

19 minutes ago, welbike said:

Ok, I have emailed my friend, but he's slow.

In the meantime I saw this on FB, dug up in Russia, guy says it's for Pz. 2,

I seem to recall, you already made one?

Cheers,

Lex

Morning Lex,

Thanks for contacting your friend, it will be interesting to see what they would charge.

Yes you are correct, I have already made an aerial connector but thanks for the thought.

The only item that I am struggling to find information on or even find detailed pictures of, is this leather MG pouch.

And it is really irritating me. In the later vehicles they used a metal box and the normal infantry MG teams used a small leather case but in early tanks the pictures always show the same case. The nearest that I can find is a post war Czech version, the dimensions appear to be correct by scaling, but the Czech one is made of canvas and has a handle. In the end it may have to do, that is until in the dark and distant future I find a real one to copy.

 

If perchance anyone out there has any more detailed information please let me know.

 

Regards,

 

Jon

Edited April 10, 2022 by johann morris
added text

[eddy8men]

the guy casting the carrier links is richie harrison, i'll speak to him and see  where he got them made.

[Citroman]

A friend of mine does have his engine and machine parts cast at a foundry near Liege (B). He makes his own wooden models for the castings.

[welbike]

9 hours ago, eddy8men said:

the guy casting the carrier links is richie harrison, i'll speak to him and see  where he got them made.

Those are different carrier tracks, no casting numbers, but the more options the better for Jon.

Lex

[Mk3iain]

Just a thought.  Domonic Chinea of the Repair Shop has a fascinating YouTube channel with a thread dedicated to reviving the Ranalah English wheel.  

 

Anyway, it documents his journey to re-manufacture the wheels and the focus for much of the story so far has been recasting the components.

It was for me an eye opener to the process of having parts cast and the folk he meets along the way includes some real characters and legends.  Worth a watch as the pattern makers and foundry are all in UK. 

[Richard Farrant]

I have been watching his Youtube channel for a while and very interesting.

[John F]

On 4/9/2022 at 9:06 PM, johann morris said:

Not cast John, fabricate. If truth be known unless I find a really good deal that's the way that I will be going. I have been offered 4 good links which I have accepted, well if they are still on offer, and the rest of the tooling I have or will have in the not tooo distant future. I was feeling lazy and just thought I would cast my rod and find out what was out there, it turns out that British industry want's us all to go to China!

 

Jon

From what I've seen up to now in this thread, Jon, I suspect it'd be well within your capabilities to cast your own track links. But naturally the decision rests with you.

[Bob Grundy]

4 hours ago, welbike said:

Those are different carrier tracks, no casting numbers, but the more options the better for Jon.

Lex

By Jove Lex they look good, tell us more, where from and the price.....

[welbike]

That picture is, sofar as I know (Rick??) from a company called Vanguard in the UK, the other ones, see more above, are frome a mate in Holland, who had them made in China, they have the casting numbers, he also had the Panzer 1/Maultier tracks made, many sets, and went all over the world, pictures of those below.

Cheers,

Lex

[welbike]

Here the link to the UK supplier of Bren tracks: Brand new track | Bren Gun Carrier Spares (vanguardrestorations.co.uk)

8000 for a full set, not bad!

Lex

[johann morris]

1 hour ago, welbike said:

Here the link to the UK supplier of Bren tracks: Brand new track | Bren Gun Carrier Spares (vanguardrestorations.co.uk)

8000 for a full set, not bad!

Lex

Thanks Lex. I have seen these before and emailed the Gentleman enquiring where they were made and would he consider supplying some for my tank but no answer came the silent reply, so I assume that it is a closely kept secret.

Regards,

 

Jon

[johann morris]

I seem to have missed several posts and I appologise for not answering. There's some very useful information and I have obviously missed the Vanguard  Foundry but I will ring them in the Morning. 

Thanks to you all for information and the leads, I appreciate it all.

Regards,

Jon