Assembling the front mudguards involves bending a plate, and can be pretty tricky. The outermost joint between plate and triangular side has a curved fillet to act as a former, and to reinforce the joint. The inner panel doesn't have a fillet supplied- so, I made one. The shape was already there in the discarded sprue/ styrene plate.
- Former and fillet for front mudguard
Now, both the inner and outer wings have a curved former to help shape the curved part.
- Mudguard curved reinforcing fillets.
I may not bond the mudguards on just yet. Access to the front idler is easier during setup, without the wing of the mudguard in the way. I discovered that with the Cromwell build.
Now, it's time to fit the headlamps. This will then allow me to bond the glacis plate in place.
These bits are what I have available for the job:
The headlights are from HL's Crusader model (an extra); but the same headlamps were fitted to the Churchill, Cromwell, and Comet as well. The donor lamps (for the wired LEDs) are from the Taigen T34. I bought several from Forgebear, intending to use them for the auxiliary lamps often fitted to the turrets of the Cromwell and Comet.
The Comet kit includes styrene lamp protectors, as seen below, but I preferred to buy the Crusader metal versions. They take a bit of shaping, and the crosspieces have to be cut out, but they're ideal for bolting- instead of cementing- in place
- This was part of the bulb transplant from T34 to Comet
I'm aiming to copy the light arrangement on the Polish Comet.
It ought to be fairly straightforward...
Ahh.. but with builds such as these, it's wise to expect the unexpected.
On these two blueprints (necessary when ye have nae other sources
) the lights and protectors are symmetrical, as are the curved retainers that hold the two ropes.
- Blueprint A- Comet front lamps
- Blueprint B- front lamp assembly
- Blueprint-Comet A34-version B-symmetry.jpeg (94.89 KiB) Viewed 2581 times
Sooo...I began drilling holes for the lamps on the glacis plate, having used a ruler to ensure the holes were the same distance from the edge. After I'd drilled the holes, and begun to fit the lights- I noticed something amiss. There was an odd lack of symmetry. Then, I twigged that the curved two rope holders are not symmetrical on the model. They're out. In fact, by a shade one is 22mm from the edge, and the other slightly over 25mm.
- Glacis component asymmetry
Hmm..that got the inner detail (semi) obsessive wondering what was going on. Did CL know something about the design that had eluded me, or could he have made a mistake?