Armortek

After much thought and constantly looking at the Armortek web site i finally managed to pluck up the courage to place an order for one of the new armortek comet tanks. I phoned my order in and spoke to gill who was very helpful. Its so good to see a british company making this sort of model and to this high standard and also out of real metal-not resin or plastic !
The rest of my family perhaps think i am bonkers but what the heck, this model like all the others in the armortek range is truly a marvel of modern engineering. I am already preparing the garage to make a dedicated work area and already have a dragon 1/6 scale tanker figure ready and waiting for active service !
Being a keen modeller since the age of about 8 years old when i got my first tank as a birthday present which was about 1/32 scale i guess and ran by clockwork with rubber tracks ! ( I wish i still had it !)
i have built many plastic scale models over the years including airfix, tamiya,hasegawa etc and in recent years spent my time building and flying radio controlled model aircraft.But as we all know planes are prone to falling out of the sky, at least tanks are a safer option!
I am really looking forward to when the comet arrives, i know it will give me a great deal of satisfaction both in the building and painting stages and also will be using the model not just displaying it. Looking at the various forums on the armortek web site i can see a wealth of information that other purchasers of armortek tanks have posted for others to read and some superb pictures of their models too.
One thing which im sure someone will be able to answer is what happens if your tanks batteries run out of charge when you are out in the field ! these models are very heavy ! does anyone have a system to let you know what the available charge is left in the batteries running the tank like you have in your rc transmitter?
Im sure this has cropped up before and someone will put my mind at rest...
Again looking forward to receiving the comet tank !

Hi Neil, and welcome to the Armortek forum.

In answer to your question, the new Armortek Power Supply module comes with a battery charge indicator light which shows the following states of the battery:

Fully charge (23V plus) green
Partially discharged (18V- 23V) amber
Battery low (14V-18V) red flashing

If you get to the stage where the motors won't move the tank, pretty much the only way to move them, without the use of another set of batteries or a trolley, is to take out a track pin, remove the tracks and push the tank along on the road wheels.

Adrian.

Interesting post Neil, my situation is the same, my first 1/6 tank.
I have previous experience with building model aircraft, model boats etc,.
I guess we will get to understand with time, when the batteries on these models are running low.
With aircraft you can glide to a landing, boats can be manoeuvered to the poolside.
Like yourself I have not taken this purchase lightly, without many anxious moments...will I be up to the task,and so on.
I have followed the Forum posts for some time. The amount of information and advice is second to none. That said, I think we will be offered plenty of help along the way.
Can't wait for the Comet to arrive...Mick

thanks for the info adrian, just what i needed to know !
regards,neil

Hello Chaps

You wont be disappointed

Lee

Neil

Just like yourself I after a considerable amount of thought I have purchased a Comet, and all the necessary trappings.

I have been building wooden sailing ships for a number of years and decided to move on to more serious metal, and powered, kits after being pointed at the Armortek website last year.

I am also looking forwards to receiving the kit and hopefully the interchange between all the new owners will help us build some great tanks.

David

hi, im sure we will get a lot of support from other armortek users, it will be good to see how others are getting on with the build and finish as everyone has there own style.
Im still not sure if i will finish mine as a ww2 tank or later model. Im sure most will go for the ww2 option but i may well go later as a 1950s tank. Finding good pictures of the comet is a challenge in itself.
It Certainly will be a busy time in the workshop over the winter months !

regards,neil

Hi Neil,

My history parallels your own except for the RC aircraft.
I finally took the plung around Christmas 2009. It has been a great experience.
I looked at the plastic/resin 1/6th scale out there and decided I wanted the best too.

Cheers...

Hi Neil
I am new to Armortek myself,I have recently finished my Panzer 111L and now waiting for my Comet.
When I was first looking at the Comet I thought that the Photo's and information would be hard to find at first,but I was wrong.
There are already various links in the Comet section for photo's and the two recommended books
Armor PhotoGallery British Criuser Tank A34 Comet
and
The Chief Inspector of Fighting vehicles Comet 1 Handbook from M.I.R.S
The first has lots of info and photo's
and the Comet 1 Handbook is brilliant it almost tells you how to do the nuts and bolts up on the full size Comet,the detail is great.
Try these links for Comet Photo's
There are 419 photo's in total with details of the Comet.
www.primeportal.net/tanks/
Then choose A34 Comet.htm from the list.
For Photo's in pdf on the shadock site
http://the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_Comets.pdf
I found if you miss the www out and use a capital S in Surviving and
a capital C in Comet,it loads straight into the pictures.
There is a Comet in the War Museum at Duxford which is just a bit up the road from you on the,cant remember whether its the M11 or M10 but I know its junction 11.
As far as a subject goes for my Comet,after reading books by Osprey and looking in Wikipedea I thought there were Comets in Korea in reconaisance platoons,but it seems they are both wrong and they were Cromwells,although I can understand getting mixed up in the heat of battle but not writing a book.
As far as I can see the Comet has 4 return rollers and none of the Cromwell variants had any.
That left South Africa or Burma.
But if I end up with a green one it will be a tank from the 2nd Fife & Forfar Yeomanry,11th armored Division.
Good luck and have fun
Cheers Phil