Steves Comet build

[Paul Wills]

Hi Steve,

You must be slacking, you usually finish one before buying the next great looking Comet mate, and now you've got the Panther it will have something to shoot.

Paul.

[Steve Norris]

Hi Paul,
Well I did have 2 for 24 hours !
The Panther A arrived on Friday and the Comet went on Saturday.
Tim Page is now the new owner.
Regards
Steve

[Tim Page]

Hi all, owning 2 Armorteks has required that i have a bit of a re-org in the garage/werkstatt.
I have just built this heavy duty shelf unit to hold all my 1/6 armor.
Each shelf can hold upto 350kg evenly distributed.
The dimensions are 1800 high X 1600 wide and 600 deep.
I got it from ebay for under £60 with free postage.

It went together pretty easily and seems very solid now it is together.
The unit still need to be fixed to the wall, but it was getting too late to do any drilling.

Cheers
Tim

[mark lawson]

That looks well organised Tim

[Tim Page]

It will certainly help with storage although it is a bit of a pain moving them on and off but hopefully will become easier once i get the hang of it.

Cheers
Tim

[Tim Page]

I am hoping that someone can help regarding Comet markings.

My Comet T335011 'Crusader' is a 3rd RTR Comet but i am trying to find out which squadron it was in and therefore which squadron markings to use for it.

Can anyone help?

Also, i thought all British & Commonwealth AFVs and soft skins carried a Bridge Classification yellow disc.

I see them on Shermans, M10's and Cromwells but have never seen them on a WW2 Comet.
I have seen the yellow disc with a black '40' in post war Comets and on a few restored Comets.

Is there a reason for this?

Cheers

Tim

[Stephen White]

Tim, I guess you thought I might pick this one up!

CRUSADER is one of the original Tank Corps names dating back to the First World War. It was first used on Mk IV 2060, in July 1917, bearing the tactical number C59, C Battalion of the Tank Corps (Chris Hall note). It then appears in 1930 on a Medium Mk II, MH9822, of 3rd Battalion, the Royal Tank Corps. It does then appear, as you say, on a Cruiser A34 Comet Mk I of 3rd Battalion the Royal Tank Regiment in NW Europe in 1945. 3RTR fought throughout WW2, so the name was probably on older AFV but I have no records for it.

By 1944, 3RTR was the second armoured regiment of 29th Armoured Brigade, 11 Armd Div and would therefore have carried the Arm of Service number 52 (white letters on a red square). It would also have carried the 11 Armd Div tac sign, the Black Bull (black on yellow). My records don't tell me what the vehicle number was but T335011 is consistent with the Comet range ("my" Comet, Celerity, was T335335). As the second armoured regiment in the brigade, 3RTR carried yellow tac signs.

I've one source which quotes the commander of CRUSADER as being Maj John Watts. John Watts was a very distinguished armoured commander. He won a well earned Military Cross for his leadership in command of B Squadron, 3RTR during the bitter fighting around Hubert Folie in Normandy, in July 1944. John Watts later took part in the Battle of the Bulge and then took command of A Sqn, 3RTR when the Regiment re-equipped for the second time with Comets after the Bulge operations. He was killed in action on 2nd Apr 1945, just over a month short of the end of the war. Such is war. The A Sqn tac sign was a yellow triangle.

The absence of the Bridge Classification sign is easily explained. The signs, painted on the front and rear of the vehicle, were thought to be too visible and were often painted over, discarded or painted in less conspicuous colours. It didn't appear on 3RTR Comets. That begs the question about why the yellow and black Black Bull sign was retained but history doesn't relate why one survived and the other was removed.

Regards

Stephen

[Tim Page]

Hi Stephen, I had a hunch that you might be the one person who could answer my questions.

I do have one source of RTR Census numbers but they don't include any Comets.

I have already got the correct AoS 52 and the 11AD Tac Signs that Steve added.
There are several pix of Crusader that i've found and the Census number is correct but it is not possible to see what squadron markings have been used.
I will probably mark it up as 'A' Squadron but will need to make up a stencil first.
What size was the triangle and was the rear triangle the same size as on the turret sides?

Looking at some period photo's the tank name is often painted on the rear of the tank as well as the front, so i will need to add this too at some point.

Thanks for your help.
Cheers
Tim

[Tim Page]

I took the Comet to Abingdon yesterday, and had a bit of a problem when the tank cut out about 800 meters from the club stand and car.

I checked and the Power LED was Amber/Red rather than Green.
So, I turned round and limped back without sound and made it back.
I checked later in the day and the power light was Green again.
There was still enough juice to load into the car and unload again at home.

I had the tank on charge prior to the event and assumed all was well.
The charger i use is one of the 4amp Mobility scooter chargers that works well on the Panther.
The batteries are almost brand new as Steve only used the tank for the first time late last year.
I am now assuming that i have not managed to get any charge into them as ive only run the tank for less than 1 hour since i got it.

I checked the voltage on both packs last night. One showed 12.6v but the other was reading 11.2v.
Not sure if this indicated a failed pack.

I have got a 12v CTEK charger so i will check them tonight & charge them individually this week and see what happens.

Cheers
Tim

[Adrian Harris]

Sounds like the batteries have different internal resistances, so aren't charging equally. You'll probably find one over charges and the other undercharges, so that to the charger it all looks fine.

I use two 12V 5A Ctek chargers to charge my AGM battery pairs, as it shows when one has reached the end of its life.

Adrian.

[Tim Page]

Hi Adrian, I also have a 5a Ctek which is now completed bulk charging the 11.2v pack and is now into phase 4 which could last another few hours.
When done, i will get the 2nd one charged up.

I think i will rewire the battery circuit on the tank and insert a meter to give a better charge status.
I have fitted one of these to my Panther and it seems to do the job.
It just measures the voltage drop from 24.6v down to 22v in 7 green bars, then changes to amber, then flashes red when it drops below 21v. This is obviously still far higher than the indicator on the Power Module which goes red at 14v.

led-bm.PNG (126.16 KiB) Viewed 8130 times

Just re-read the Comet Manual and it states the the tank will cut out if voltage drops below 14v.
Fun and games.....

Tim

[sean kerambrun]

Hi Tim,

That is a very nice and neat battery meter. Where did you get it from?

Cheers

Sean

[Tim Page]

Hi Sean, I found them on ebay but i think they came from Hong Kong and are still available.

Cheers
Tim

[sean kerambrun]

I have been using the CTEK comfort indicators

Cheers

Sean

[Tim Page]

The Ctek did it's magic last night and completed the charge process with no errors.
I checked this morning and the voltage was a healthy 13+ volts.

Same treatment planned for tonight on battery #2 which i hope will also be a success.

Next job will be to rewire the battery loom and fit a meter.

I don't really want to purchase another Ctek 5 charger so i plan to get the in tank charging working with the 24v charger for normal operation, but will perform a Ctek 12v charge on each pack twice a year to keep them tip top.

Cheers
Tim