Comet A34 Scratch build

[c.rainford73]

Looks fantastic

[silversurfer1947]

Words fail me. It looks outstanding.

[wibblywobbly]

Thanks for the compliments, though what is eternally at the back of my mind is whether it will actually run or not. I should try and get hold of some PIII or PIV tracks and bolt the gearboxes to find out.

[c.rainford73]

Thanks for the compliments, though what is eternally at the back of my mind is whether it will actually run or not. I should try and get hold of some PIII or PIV tracks and bolt the gearboxes to find out.

Mr Wibbly have you been able to attempt to fit the gearboxes for testing? I'm anxiously awaiting the outcome of your efforts

[wibblywobbly]

I have an old set of HL plastic gears loosely mounted at the moment, with the sprockets attached. They only fit because I built the rear of the hull to take them. I had a look at Tom's Cromwell last month, and he has the brass gearboxes installed, these being of a different design allow fitment whilst keeping the correct hull shape. If you ask him nicely he may be able to post up a pic.

Once I have acquired some tracks (which seem to command a Kings ransom nowadays for some strange reason - I used to buy Bulldog tracks at £2.99 a pair???) I can line everything up, get the tension right and screw the gearboxes down properly, but I daren't do it without having tracks in place.

[wibblywobbly]

Decided to have a go at a geared recoil instead of the usual set up using arms and bits of wire. The amazing thing is that it works! lol. Should be a lot more reliable too. I made it as small as I could as there isn't much vertical space to play with in there. Cost about £0.30p to print?....but a few hours to get the design right.

Also added an IR emitter holder that will allow me to pull out the led in the unlikely event that it fails.
Muzzle flash led installed.
Turret rotation motor installed and tested, that all works, thank goodness.
Just need to lock the barrel elevation level, or install a mount so that I can use a servo.

[HERMAN BIX]

Jeez its looking good. So clean & uncluttered.

[AlwynTurner]

A simple and ingenious approach to a tricky problem - great work!

Alwyn

[wibblywobbly]

Over 2600 lines of programming code to get this far....and counting.....

[wibblywobbly]

Managed to make a kind of ratchet system to keep the barrel where I leave it, I can clamp it solid when everything is completed and I know where 'level' is. Started giving it a brush over with a green/matt varnish mix, just so that I can see the last of any gaps.