Comet A34- Ludwig kit

This section is for builds that are not strictly Tamiya or Heng Long. For instance, replacing the electronics from a WSN or Matorro, or even a scratch-build.
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PainlessWolf
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Re: Comet A34- Ludwig kit

Post by PainlessWolf »

Roy,
Coming right along. Some innovative fixes there to make things work. Following along.
regards,
Painless
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43rdRecceReg
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Re: Comet A34- Ludwig kit

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

PainlessWolf wrote:Roy,
Coming right along. Some innovative fixes there to make things work. Following along.
regards,
Painless
Many thanks, Painless!
Yes, there are no instructions for these projects. One is required to write them :D
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
Tubby
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Re: Comet A34- Ludwig kit

Post by Tubby »

My hat is off to you, Sir.

Stellar work
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Raminator
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Re: Comet A34- Ludwig kit

Post by Raminator »

A very neat job on the internals Roy, glad to see the Comet coming along. Half the fun of these builds is trying to Tetris everything into place, and it never feels like there's enough room unless you're building one of the big German cats.
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43rdRecceReg
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Re: Comet A34- Ludwig kit

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

Thanks, Tubby, and to you Dan. :wave: Yes, the 'Tetris' analogy is a good one. Sometimes, taking measurements and sketching things out is no substitute for actually testing the tanks furnishings in situ. I'll post some more pics when it's all wired up. :thumbup: I'm making a mount for the power switch currently, and then I have to fashion some 'exhaust' outlets to go inside the Normandy Cowls. The plastic pipes from the smoker will be connected to them.

A tip to anyone planning such a build: don't put all the delicate printed detailed parts on (gunsight, aerial etc..) before the work on the interior is complete. At various junctures, and even with big bubble wrap for protection, the upper hull and turret will have to be resting upside down. In this position, when working on the wiring, turret ring etc.,it's easy to break the fragile bits on the turret... (I've had the repair the gunsight twice :/ ).
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
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PainlessWolf
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Re: Comet A34- Ludwig kit

Post by PainlessWolf »

43rdRecceReg wrote:Thanks, Tubby, and to you Dan. :wave: Yes, the 'Tetris' analogy is a good one. Sometimes, taking measurements and sketching things out is no substitute for actually testing the tanks furnishings in situ. I'll post some more pics when it's all wired up. :thumbup: I'm making a mount for the power switch currently, and then I have to fashion some 'exhaust' outlets to go inside the Normandy Cowls. The plastic pipes from the smoker will be connected to them.

A tip to anyone planning such a build: don't put all the delicate printed detailed parts on (gunsight, aerial etc..) before the work on the interior is complete. At various junctures, and even with big bubble wrap for protection, the upper hull and turret will have to be resting upside down. In this position, when working on the wiring, turret ring etc.,it's easy to break the fragile bits on the turret... (I've had the repair the gunsight twice :/ ).
The Above is Sage Advice indeed! I cannot count the number of times something internal was gremlin-ized and I had to pull the upper off. ( Latest example was the Taigen recoil mechanism on the early Pz IV F ) Those gas cans in the rack were a major pain....
regards and following along,
Painless
...Here for the Dawn...
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jarndice
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Re: Comet A34- Ludwig kit

Post by jarndice »

43rdRecceReg wrote:
A tip to anyone planning such a build: don't put all the delicate printed detailed parts on (gunsight, aerial etc..) before the work on the interior is complete. At various junctures, and even with big bubble wrap for protection, the upper hull and turret will have to be resting upside down. In this position, when working on the wiring, turret ring etc.,it's easy to break the fragile bits on the turret... (I've had the repair the gunsight twice :/ ).
A great build that may well have taken longer than Vickers/Vauxhall Motors took to design and build the thing :haha:
Your tip is the best reason though not the best advise for charging Tank batteries in situ :lolno:
I think I am about to upset someone :haha:
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43rdRecceReg
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Re: Comet A34- Ludwig kit

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

Thanks again, Painless :thumbup:
Shaun, well the jury has been out, historically, on charging the battery in situ via a charging point (something car drivers of the future will become very familiar with ;) ).
Broadly, and for reasons previously stated (separation breakage problems, straining the wiring loom, etc.,) I'm in favour of a charging terminal. Indeed, I fitted one to the Cromwell. It would permit charging through the openable engine deck hatches.
Here, I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible, in order to get it working outdoors.
Yes, the design and production of the Comet itself certainly took less time than this is taking. :/ :D Then again, we were at war then, whereas I'm just trying to fill my time creatively. I'm also trying to avoid making some of the errors I made on the (fact-finding) Cromwell build.
Meantime, here's a shot of Tiger F01, and the neat hole made in it by a Comet (The Tiger Crew managed to get out in time to avoid the ensuing internal fire, I believe).This was one of the few occasions towards the end of the war, when Tiger and Comets locked horns (well, tracks :D
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This Tiger had knocked a Comet out the previous day (crew survived), and so this was payback time.
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
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43rdRecceReg
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Re: Comet A34- Ludwig kit

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

A wee update. I've made a retaining base for the latest iteration of the HL smoker, and now it's attached to the hull floor via 3M double-sided pads.
Then, a made a mount for the power switch from scratch. Conveniently, when it's attached to the inner wall of the hull (front right), the switch can be reached through the Driver's side hatch.
Then, I made a tray for the battery. It's also fixed with 3m stickies. This way, should I need to fit a battery with different dimensions in future, this tray can be removed with nothing more than strong fingernails, and mild expletives. :D
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The Battery tray and Power Switch...
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The speaker's also attached now, again, with 3m stickies.
The rest of the soldering is now on track. One issue, though, is the servo cable from Heng Long's new alloy servo recoil unit (with provision for side rotating elevation unit), is on the short side. One thing I've noted with some of the latest HL tanks with TK 6 series units in them is that some of the leads are too short. In the 'olden days' the uper hull could be separated from the lower hull, electronically, at least, at the point where the ribbon cable went into the 8 pin connector. Now, all individual electronic compnents plug directly into the MFU. Thats' fine, and I prefer not having the intermediary connecting block and ribbon cable. It's just that some of the components cables are too short to permit easy access to the separated hulls. :problem:
So.....I've had to order a 100mm servo cable extension from Ebay. All the other wires had to be adapted anyway, pretty much, and so I was able to tailor their respective lengths to access needs.
One potential plus of the alloy recoil, is that it's designed to accept the HL barrel smoking feature. I may consider that in future, as this barrel has no flashing LED light fitted as yet.
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
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43rdRecceReg
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Re: Comet A34- Ludwig kit

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

Having had a wee bit of success lately making my own smoker connectors, I made some for the Comet- again using styrene tube (4.5mm Outside Diameter. Stock translucent smoker tubing is around 5.5mm).
I bond the styrene tube sections- that form the angle- with cement; but then seal the joint with Milliput (leave it 24hrs to get rock hard).
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I drilled holes for the smoker exhaust outlets in the rear plate before fitting the 'Normandy' cowls, by the way.
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After a bit more tweaking of the wiring connectors, the whole of the lower hull is now wired and connected up as planned. The only query I have is whether the polarities on the LED terminals are the same on this 6.1s unit, as they are on the 6.0s. :problem: They're marked "-" (left) and '+" (right on the 6.0s. There are no indicators, however, on the 6.1s unit. :eh:
Once the servo extension I've ordered appears, I'll be able to connect the hulls together, and then run some tests. The Deans/Tamiya adaptor turned up a couple of days ago.
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"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
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