Mick's Panther A

[michael hilton]

Hello everyone, with the inclement weather, I have secured a short term lease on the third bedroom workshop. A full 'wheel' production run now in progress. First mistake, I fitted wheel studs to both the front and rear....wrong, resulting in a shortage of studs......'Araldite' is a sod to release....Oh, and make sure you vote Mick

[Adrian Harris]

> Araldite' is a sod to release

Heat breaks epoxy glue down - a soldering iron would probably do for the rivets - and acetone cleans up the mess, but make sure you do it in a well ventilated area !!

Adrian.

[Phil Woollard]

Hi Mick, you could order some more studs from Armorpax regards Phil.

[michael hilton]

Thank you Adrian and Phil, I think it's the easy route...just buy some more studs.....Mick

[michael hilton]

Wheels to go....I side stepped the 'stud' problem by fitting hex head bolts to the hub caps, they look rather nice. I have jacked the old girl up on blocks to fit the wheels, and ordered the 'Option' packs, all is well, that ends well.....Mick

[michael hilton]

With the weather booked fine for the weekend, I made an early start laying down paint....I also started the washing machine..... After sixty years of marriage (4th June 2017 our Diamond Wedding Anniversary) I know my place.... ....Mick

[michael hilton]

Best wishes to everyone attending Tankfest enjoy the weekend....post lots of photographs...... Kwik-Fit man arrived couple of days ago. Using my patented M3 Super Strength Double Sided Tape to fit the tyres

[michael hilton]

Hello everyone, went for it this morning fitting the wheels. I had already made up the drive sprocket consequently I was unable to locate first double wheel set. Removed the outer sprocket ring for access....all is well....Mick
P S enjoying the Tankfest photos.....

[michael hilton]

Made a start on the turret....nice easy fit. On the PhotoBucket issue....unable to gain access. Have not posted on their site for quite a while. Fortunately, all my early build photos are saved on my external hard drive.....I now load photographs directly onto the Forum....Mick

[michael hilton]

Question, I have tried to fit the Pivot Bolt (CH0439) through the part (CH2409) Mantlet and into the Inner Mantlet. The bolt is a good fit into part (CH0438) Inner Mantlet but will not slide through the Mantlet. Now, it seems to me I need to remove some of the threaded area, Ok..Problem solved with a fine round file, job done....Mick

[ian.cameron]

Hello Mick

I dry built mine (No 27) quite quick and found the same issue. I don't have the luxury of pillar drills, lathes etc., mine was going to be built straight out of the box, otherwise I am sure I could have drilled out and tapped to the correct size. Luckily I had a construction project near to Honiton and Mark and Jill re-worked it for me.

You are correct the inner mantlet requires drilling and tapping to the size of the bolt thread supplied, just a minor glitch in the CNC programming that was overlooked. Hope this helps.

Kind regards

Ian Cameron CMIOSH (Ret'd RAF Armourer)

[michael hilton]

Thank you for your reply Ian, All's well, I carefully ran a smooth round file through until the bolt entered. Then used a thread cutter to clean the threads out. Thanks again....Mick

[michael hilton]

Hello again merry men, Having resolved the Inner Mantlet/Pivot Bolt location problem. I need to ask this question before going further.
I am now working on the Outer Mantlet to Inner Mantlet area. The instructions read as follows......'radius corners ( of Outer Mantlet) with a file to allow Outer Mantlet to fully position' inside the Inner Mantlet. I seem to be removing lots of metal, I have rounded the edges of the Outer Mantlet however, I am still about 2 millimetres away from being able to locate the Pivot Bolt and rotate the Outer Mantlet. Do I keep going with the file, or have I again missed something......Mick

[Armortek]

Hi Mick

This reply is for all Panther builders really

The inner mantlet does not require drilling and tapping to fit the pivot bolts. There is just a tiny bit of interference caused by a burr thrown up during the threading of the boltsa and tapping of the holes. It takes only seconds to resolve with a file. This is all we did to the set that were returned to us.

It is, however, necessary to remove quite a lot of material with the file, to get the outer mantlet to sit down in place and pivot. A full radius is required to get the clearance.

Mark

[michael hilton]

Thank you Mark, my hero .....the pivot bolt was an easy fit after work with the round file. I was just concerned that I had missed something.....didn't want the whole Mantlet to end up on the garage floor as filings.....