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..and on we go
The rear section:

Back to the first part of the two-part Front Armour plate:

Next, the outermost part of the front armour plate:

getting all these bits plumb and straight, will make everything that follows so much more bearable (and less peppered with expletives )

..and this is what a little progress looks like:



When I build the Cromwell, I had to make many of the detail fittings from scratch. This time, I'll use as many sources as i can to lighten the load on the ageing grey matter, and wobbly fingers.
I found, and ordered, these bits for the Cromwell on Shapeways. As it happens the four fuel caps and other bits will fit the Comet perfectly. I had to magic them up out of scrap bits last time...
It used up a lot of time- and Elastoplast, for the nicks in the old digital extremities.

They were made by Zavod- who, from the sound of it, could be a fan of Zaphod Beeblebrox in the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. It stands to his credit, if so...

Two long plates act as sides to the engine deck. They're really only supported at either end, and need a little reinforcement with a styrene fillet to stop them bowing out, or in, from the engine deck.

Two strips are cut to fit either side, and then pushed up into the apex (gently). The waiting line of cement was dispensed from a Revell Contacta Pro bottle, which has a syringe-like needle, and is ideal from recesses such as these, and for precision work.


Given the bendy nature of styrene- even up to 3mm bits, I find it prudent to reinforce joints, junctions, and fragile panels wherever possible- so long as the stiffeners (loath to write that )...ahem.. are out of sight.

Now for the Besa MG fittings in the front armour plate. This is what they look like in the Instruction pdf: The constituent parts (minus the base) are here in the sprue. (Note: Chris taped some bits in place so they wouldn't come adrift en route)

They, when assembled (and they are tricky to assemble) bond on to this base part: Unfortunately, the sprue with the base and several other 3mm parts didn't arrive with the main kit... A wee oversight, shall we say, that the Teutonic Tanker is now aware of...
Anyway, I decided to make my own base, using a circle cutter.


I've also beefed up the otherwise fragile mount by adding a 3mm brace up by the mount points...as in pic.
I also need to add a triangular shaped one underneath. When cleaned up and fully beefed it's meant to resemble the real thing more, the one in this pic I took at Munster Panzer Museum:


But that will mean a spot of extra beefing (stiffening.. ), tidying up; some surfacer, and some luck with the home-made base. Watch this space.

You'll notice those massive lifting eyes atop the corners of the Comet's Front Armour Plate. They don't come in the kit, and I shall have to make them from scratch (i.e. out of anything that seems usable).
You wouldn't believe how much time these projects can gobble up. Now, I have a sick pooch to attend to, and her home-cooked meal... Ah, Life's rich pageant, eh?

As you can see, the ball mount for the Besa MG on the Comet is quite a chunky, beefy affair. The MG design in Chris' kit is taken from the Cromwell, and needs thickening up to look a tad more authentic here.
Here's the retaining plate that holds the ball arrangement in the front armour plate:

It needs rounding off to look the part...so:

I keep a pack of these double-sided sanders, in various grades. They're indispensable. I think they were aimed at the manicurist, but some of these are so abrasive they could be used by a Farrier on a horse hoof
Now for some bolt heads.

After a while, you develop a gentle rolling technique with the craft knife/scalpel, that cuts a more even head, without pinging it off into the great living room void...

Gentle sanding with fine grades later with make it look more convincing, as will some surfacer. In the meantime, I coated the whole MG ball mount in Milliput superfine putty to give it the rough cast look you see in the pic of the real deal.
The distinctive plate that constituted the fifth (and main) part of the Kit was missing. So....I cut one out of spare styrene with my compass cutter, and drilled a hole for the gun to go through..

...and, this is what it all looks like when assemble and bonded onto the hull. Bear in mind, it still needs some delicate finishing and tidying up later, at the painting and tweaking stage..

Well, this is my attempt to make the gun mounting resemble, more closely, the one on the Munster Comet.

Moving on to the Driver and Gunner's hatches.These are the basic kit parts:


The side and top parts of the hatch are joined together, and have an internal triangular support bracket (not in kit...)

I found it best to bond them first, and not whilst in situ. (The fettling for fitting comes later...)This way I could ensure that they formed a proper right angle, and were flush at the apex.

A wee pointy file is very useful for fettling the bonded bits into place. The aim is to make the hatch a flush fit with the hull deck and sides. This is what the real one looks like (driver's hatch, in this instance) note the triangular support bracket:

Once the hatch is made level on the vertical and horizontal planes (my..we do get technical, eh? ), it's time to start fitting the pivots/hinges and pivot arm
Hatch nice and level

What I did, was to cement the arm in the correct position, and then align it with the hinges..before bonding them in place. It was quite fiddly. The hole through the arm was 'drilled' with a pin vise (an essential tool for jobs like these)

I wanted to make sure that the hatch opened evenly, and that the hinge was properly at 90deg to the arm.

The arms on which the hatches pivot have bevelled sides. To make them, I used right- angled styrene bars and Milliput extrafine as a filler and former. (Milliput was applied first, then the angled styrene was pressed onto it, and then cut to length and shape) Thus:


Later, I'll also use Milliput Extrafine, or Plasto, to form weld lines around the arm.
Using a bit of scrap (yep..it's never really scrap-it just stays an excellent resource), I cut triangular (internal) support brackets for the hatches;


Here you can get a hint of the hatch support arms' bevelled appearance on the opened Gunner's Hatch.

That's what I was attempting to replicate...if only symbolically. I'm after an authentic look, but I'm not really into that slightly nerdish Museum quality attention to detail.
Anyway, when it's all assembled for inspection purposes, it looks like this in it's raw state:

Time for a nightcap, I think