A34 COMET

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi everyone
On Friday while busy at work,a man in Brown turned up in a Brown van,bearing 3 heavy parcels packed by Gill and full of bits made by Mark.
So a good read through the manual after unpacking the big first box on Friday night,I couldnt wait to start doing a bit on Saturday.

I think I have decided on a Comet 1A of the 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry as my subject.
Cheers
Phil

[Nick Farrugia]

Hello phil
Good to see your making a start on the build carnt wait to see more pics.
Have fun with the build,building them is as mutch fun as driving them around later, i found anyway. Best wishes
nick

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi Nick
Yes its all fun,especially when the suns out and the hull is still light enough to move outside to help the paint dry quiker.
So did a bit more today.

Cheers
Phil

[phil fitzpatrick]

[phil fitzpatrick]

Bearings fitted into the gear cases and the gear shaft,just had to counter
sink the screws a little bit more that hold the EMD Motor brackets to the hull,so that the Gear case would sit flush and the gear wouldnt fowl the one screw,every thing is going together easy at the moment,not much at all to clean up or open out.
Gill even packed an Armortek Pen with the manual,so its just handy for ticking off the stages.

Need to get the Hull inside painting finished now,so Araldited the bearing ring in and gave the Hull inside another coat.
Its had one etching primer,one red oxide and one grey under coat,the final coat for the inside will be Silver Aluminium.

Cheers
Phil

[Nick Farrugia]

Hi phil
your comet is starting to take shape ,keep the pics coming.
regards
nick

[Mark Love]

Hi Phil

Looking really good and following with interest, I have just received my Comet today and not even had time to unpack yet I have just taken the instruction book out and your photos are a great help.

[phil fitzpatrick]

Thanks Mark
Allways best to have a good study first,then once you start its like
dipping into a bag of fvourite sweats,you wont be able to resist doing
just that little bit more.
Have fun with your build
Cheers phil

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi everyone,a bit more progress
Nice and sunny this evening so did a bit of cleaning and studying my book
with a Lager and lime.

Fitted my gear boxes on.
I was really carefull with the use of the bearing retainer and pressed the bearings in right home and flush,then retained the gear shaft into the
bearing,and I had already counter sunk my motor bracket screws,yet one
of the gears was slightly marking the hull when tightened down.
So I made a gasket for each side to keep them the same.


Hull spacers with stop blocks and bump stops fitted.
The manual said 18mm cap heads for the stop blocks,but there were none
in my fasteners and it didnt sound right,18mm was too big or not big enough,so I bought some 8mm today.
Did any one else find that or was it me?

Cheers
Phil

[John Davie]

Phil,

Yeah, found that as well - short screws only needed to go into the tapped holes. I used 8mm from the fasteners pack.

John.

[Armortek]

Hi Gents

Amazing progress you have made!
The fasteners are M4*8 as you spotted. The fasteners in the pack were correct, it was just typo in the instructions. Sorry about that.

Mark

[robert michael hilton]

Hello you Comet builders.

Just a small build point.....I also noticed a 'noise', after I fitted the right hand gear shaft, (the left hand is fine), so I unbolted the gear drive...there is a 'score' mark made in the hull by the gear wheel turning...not enough to stop the gear...just makes a noise.

Now...as far as I know the bearing is seated and retained okay....so, do I file the hull side to remove the score mark....or what?.
It is a very fine score mark, and has no impact on the gear drive movement, just this slight noise.

At the moment I would rather put this right while I can.....before I move on with the build....Mick

[Armortek]

Hi Mick

It is not unusual for the gears to leave a witness mark on the hull side. If it is not preventing the gear from freely rotating you do not need to worry about it. If you file the hull side, you will just thin the whole side and the gear case will bolt up to the new position and leave a witness again. If you fit a gasket it will affect the the spacing between the inner and outer hull sides. This would only be a very minor effect. If you want to get it perfect, remove a little material from the face of the gear.

Mark

[robert michael hilton]

Thanks Mark, I have always been a worrying type....and a bit of a perfectionist, I will take your advice and leave well alone. This is one 'peach' of a kit.....enjoying every minute....Mick

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi Robert
If your gear shaft has stuck nice and firm and it cant drift out,I would
say its a lot easier making a gasket up to give you the clearnace,rather than taking metal from the hull.
The gasket would solve the problem and still be thin enough not to affect the motor gear meshing with it.
I did a gasket for both sides to keep it even.
You can see the edge of the gasket on my photo's of my gear cases,because I havent trimmid it flush yet.
There was also a debate when I was doing my Panzer 111L,with regards
to the use of Grease on the gear.
Mark said it was a No No you would just get a metal paste building up
inside.
The advice was a bit late for me but I had sorted ou the gear shaft so it
could no longer move and I had only used a thin film of CV Lith-Moly
grease as a belt and braces precaution.
See what others recomend.
Good Luck with your Comet
Phil