Easy Eight No22

[simon_manning]

Good Tutorial, i have learn't a lot from these on the Forum, Interesting, many thanks, regards Simon manning.

[David Hartwell]

Simon, thank you for the very kind words.
Following on from the previous post the other end of the shovel.

Started off with a T shaped piece then bent the fixing tab.

Then through trial and error worked out the lengths of the sides and cut them to length.

Then bent them at slightly over 90deg. to start the curves.

Made up a little bending jig and gently tweaked the sides in a few places with bending pliers to get the curve on its way.

Then inserted the other pins in the jig and gently tapped the front to form the curve with a piece of brass.

Hopefully it should end up like this.

Then made a 3mm thick plug to go up the inside.

Drilled and filed the hole in the deck.

Made a little stepped plate to attach to the plug and the underside of the deck.

Fixed like so.

And topside.

Still got the tying down handles to do but really pleased how that little area worked out.

So the next bit to do. I can see some work required on the fuel cap protection pieces, shall put that on the list. I will do the pick axe handle next. May I ask if anybody has a photo of the long crow bar they could help out. I have got plenty of photos of the box type sections that it goes in but I haven't got a clue what the actual crowbar looks like.Thanks in advance.

[Robert E Morey]

Nice fittings, definitely heavy duty.
Bob

[David Hartwell]

Thanks for the comment Bob. They are definitely heavy duty and I am pretty confident they won't be falling off.
On with a few bits and pieces.

After adding all the bits, the speaker box mounting brackets needed a bit of alteration to miss everything.

Like so.

That's those done.

Then went through all the boxes of running gear to see what needed finishing off. I hadn't bonded the oil tanks to the dampers. So a bit of prep ad and paint, then dry fitted together to mark the oil tank positions.

Marked up ready for bonding on.

Making sure they are level.

And all the same.

Then dismantled and into paint, then fitted back on.

Final fixings.

And final paint. That is those completed.

Onto something much simpler. I didn't want to see that hex fixing on the return rollers, so found a way to hide it.

Nipped down the local diy store and got a pack of these things for hiding screw heads in cabinets. They are really designed for cross head screws but they plug into the hex head nicely.

Quick coat of paint. A little blob of loctite on final assembly will be required. Ok they may not be perfect but at least it hides the hex head.

The reason I am going through the running gear is because I have started the final prep on the underside. I am hoping to get that into paint this week then install the running gear etc. Let us hope this week goes to plan.

[David Hartwell]

At last the weather is good enough for painting.

It is green, what more can I say.

I will leave it to harden for a few days then start installing the running gear.

[David Hartwell]

A little bit of progress.

I wanted to get the mudguard plates permanently fixed on. Flipped the hull back over and fitted all the mudguards then removed. everything apart from the plates.

I will paint the fixings now it is upside down again.

Cleaned all the shafts up ready for the return roller fitting.

Decided to use the rear fixing discs instead of the wider ones. So ordered another six, thank you Monique. Then the raised section on the front of the idler was machined to the same width as the small fixing discs. That left room for some fixings.

Fitted like so.

Then high build primer and paint to hide the head of the screw

Then the larger return rollers were fitted.

That is those all done. The suspension and road wheels will be next time.

[Robert E Morey]

Excellent details ! First class work.
Bob

[David Hartwell]

On with the suspension.

First job was to clean the paint form the spring cup pivot points.

Spring units assembled.

First pivot installed.

Then insert the spring unit and swing the other swing arm into position and insert the other pin.

Drivers side.

Bow gunners side.

Then checked they were in line and parallel.

I inverted the photo to show you what they look like the right way up. So first job tomorrow is tidy up the paint work on them.

[Derek Attree]

Hi David
A great build and detailing on this easy 8 .
Still have mine in boxes as jumped straight into my
Jagdpanther .

Then I have the new issue skdfz 7 next.

Still have a m3 Lee too.

[David Hartwell]

Thank you for the comment Derek. That impressive list of projects you have lined up would take me about 20 years at the speed I am going at. Good luck with all of them.
Regards, Dave.

[Adrian Harris]

Lovely details on the running gear.

I have one here that I bought as a runner which has issues with the suspension arms binding, so make sure you grease the moving parts to prevent moisture getting in an affecting the movement.

Adrian.

[David Hartwell]

Thank you for the comment Adrian. Very good advice on the pivot points, I have used dry lube as a trial. When I first dry built those units everything was very tight, especially the spring cup pivot points. What I did was fettle all the parts so it all worked smoothly then as I took them apart I numbered each part, where it won't be seen, so after painting everything went back in the correct place. You can just see the numbering on the swing arms by the road wheel axles. Im sure there will be snags to sort out further down the road but hopefully not too many.

Just a couple of pics. Painting all sorted out.

Inner road wheels fitted. Just the hub caps to fit then I can turn it over. I will fit the outer ones once it is up the correct way. That is getting pretty heavy so I don't want to add anymore weight.

[David Hartwell]

A little bit of progress.

I found those hub caps fiddly little things to hold. So I used a bit of blu tack to make it easier to hold them and line them up.

Like so.

Then let the loctite go off and remove the lump of blu tack.

Like so.

That is them all done.

Finally up the correct way.

Then added the outer wheels.

Outer hub caps to go on then the rest of thee running gear. Finally feel like it is moving forward.

[David Hartwell]

A bit more progress.

Outer hub caps fitted.

Idlers.

Decided to use button heads so nothing is sticking down under here.

Left the thread just below the surface of the nut so I can fill them to replicate the screw heads.

Drive sprockets fitted.

Tracks fitted.

A couple of pics.

That is the running gear completed.