Pete's Grant No.9

[Pete Nash]

Thanks, I smoothed off the wrong places.

[Pete Nash]

t a lot of work done recently, the dreaded garden needed attention.
Had to do a 'fix' on a tool so needed some worktop space so piled everything onto the hull.

It's going to be a BEAST!!!

Don't take too much notice of the slack tracks they are only on there to save workshop space. Still plenty of work to do.

[Pete Nash]

Good and bad news!

The good news is from Monique that she has started to ship the Grant Accessory packs.

The bad news is that I'm going to have to strip down my tracks and get them painted and re-built with lock-nuts sooner rather then later...

Roll on rainy days when I can't get outside to cut grass and the hoovering can wait

[Pete Nash]

The Option Packs duly arrived on Tuesday (thanks Monique and UPS)>
The S H One T weather has promted me to go back to the running gear ready for fittion the Motion Pack.

Phase 1. Remove the road wheels and carry out the 'Adrian Harris Mods'; Fill in the recesses on the Suspension Arms ( ED01120 and then round off the ends.

Removing the Road Wheels wasn't as hard as it looks.

First I centre popped the axle, drilled M2.5 and tapped M3
Found a long M bolt, gripped it with mole-grips and bashed the mole grips with a hammer. It was a bit tight to start but when the axle came out of the inboard recess of the Bogie Frame EN0104.

I have a lousy sense of where the centre is so I Intend to put the axle in the lathe and drill new holes to represent those on the actual axles.

Adrian Used P38 to fill his Suspension Arms, I'm using Chemical metal as I already have it. (Other fillers are available ).

[Pete Nash]

Adrian Harris visited Bovy recently and sent me this image of the Wheel Axle. It shows a number of details.

1. The hole in the middle is about 21mm 7/8 inch across.
2. The 'nu' on the end is quite thin.
3. the end of the Arm has a pronounced 'Round' to it.

Here is what I have done to replicate it.
1. I bought some M8 Form B washers.
2. I bought some M6 half nuts.
Put the nuts on the axle and into the lathe chuck.
3. machined the excess Axle off
4. Then machined it all down until the half nut was 2mm thick.
5. Drilled an M3 hole in the axle end.

The Axle hole should be 3.5 mm at 1/6 scale but I was too scared to weaken the axle.
The M8 washer is slightly oversize but some filler should blend it in.
The inside end of the axle is being left as supplied as it is not visible.

[Pete Nash]

Re-worked Bogies.

M3 holes drilled in all axles.
Machined down half nuts fitted and loctited on Wheel axles.
M* washers on Wheel axles to simulate rounded part on actual Radius Arm
M2 nut fitted to the Suspension Arm
Ends of the suspension reshaped to a rounded profile.
Inside part of the slide pad removed,(not visible), the real ones didn't have it and filing the excess off allows removal of the wheel without removing the slide pads.
Shoulders of the Bogie Frame filed round.

One side has been done. I've left it needing a clean up so the modifications can be seen a bit clearer.
If you haven't got this far yet, do it before painting

[Pete Nash]

A of Grinding needed to fit the Motors.

The Drive sht is que long, It starts to go through the hull sides and motor mount but the gear box impinges slightly on the web. So came the electric file to remove enough to rotate the motor and get the drive shaft into the drive gears.

[Pete Nash]

After seeing Michaels' progress I thought I'd bring you up to date on mine.

Started making the sand shields. Used 2mm Aluminium Checker plate as it was easier to get than plain sheet and also easier to cut on my band saw than steel.
Using M2.5 button heads throughout instead of Rivets for uniformity. Still plenty to do; waiting for extra fasteners to finish off the skirts.

[Pete Nash]

Forgot to mention the front end mods:

Bevelled transmission case ow rounded courtesy of Plastic Metal
Front and rear tow points courtesy of East Coast Armoury
M3 castle nuts courtesy of Mark Lawson
M4 grub screws from my stock

[Robert E Morey]

Looking really good Pete. The transmission cover details look so much better (rounded curves, castle nuts). Excellent work - following with interest.
Best regards,
Bob

[Pete Nash]

Been up to other things but now back 'on track' geddit?

I asked a friend to make me a 3d Track pad that were used in the desert. From that I made a silicone rubber mould and produced half a dozen Resin pads.

Fitted them to one of the tracks and took the hull outside for a workout. fot half an hour I ran it on concrete, tarmac road, grass and stones. forward backward circles as well as spinning on its axis and on each track. back into the workshop to see how they stood up.
No sign of breaking apart! I didn't (make that hope) they wouldn't becasue all the stress is in the metal work and not through the pads.

Now in the process of making and fitting 160 odd pads.

I'm using black resin, not painting them.