Armortek

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

> 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.....

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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.....