hobo_keith wrote:Hi,
Thanks Roy - yes it's a really decent little camera and I don't think I could have done better for the £120 or so it cost. That said you've reawakened my hankering for something a little better, and those X series ones caught my eye before. There's nothing better than a first-hand recommendation at the end of the day. Might be time to save my pennies. Also I've just been reading up about the 43rd Recconaissance Regiment - quite an outfit. He must have been a brave man. My own father was in the REME in Malaya, just after the war, so not many tanks out there but lots of Dodges, Chevs and Diamond T's etc, but he'd been around them in England before being shipped out, and was a life long, and very skilled model maker. He died only a few weeks ago after a mercifully very short illness but he was still very much in charge of his faculties and helped me out with a bit of advice on the right colour green for the Firefly as well as the commander's uniform (he'd somehow managed to purloin himself a set of lined tank overalls for riding his Norton around in the winter after he was demobbed!)
Also many thanks to you greengiant for the kind words a truly great tip. I did think the barrel looked a bit like a telegraph pole sticking out of the turret, and didn't realise that there was an aluminium inner - time for a bit more plastic surgery.
Must say being a newcomer to radio control tanking, it's an extremely welcoming hobby full of encouraging and interesting folk, and that makes it all the more of a pleasure. Cheers, Keith
Well, thanks for the thanks, Keith.
Elements of 43RecceReg were the first to cross the Rhine into the German heartland, I think. Their job, as the spearhead of the British Army was to locate the German positions by tearing (often blindly) into enemy territory in armoured cars, and Bren carriers...There, they would stir up the hornet's nest with mortars, brens, and 2-pounders...and anything else they could lob. My Dad had an elder brother in the same
unit (a sergeant, and mortar instructor), and he did his best to keep the wain ('young un' in scots) out of trouble. As I recall, the Reichswald Forest campaign (Kleve area) was the one that made them both look the most reflective; though 'Hill 112' after D-Day took a severe toll on the unit and its division- the 43rd Wessex. (Though they were actually part of the Royal Armoured Corps too) They had got as far as Bremen when the war ended., where they witnessed germans living in cattle trucks, and there's a terrible irony in that, of course.....Still.. More importantly, though,they came home in one piece.
Sorry to hear about your Father, but I'm sure you'll have fond memories of him to cherish and smile about in the decades to come. Sadly, my old man (also a Norton fan, by the way!) survived the war only to die in a car crash in Largs, Scotland 25 years ago....But he didn't suffer, apparently. That's life, eh?
As the youngest son of the youngest son, I have cousins who were born in the 1930s. One of them was in the RAF in Malaya, and another contracted malaria so badly there, that after years of torment, he hanged himself from a lamp post in 1960. It was one of those old heritage victorian gas-powered ones; though quite why I always recall that particular detail eludes me.
While we can revel in, and build the tools of the soldiers trade, all too often we overlook the consequences...(PTSD etc..'Shell shock' in WW1..amputations, and above all: death
)
Incidentally, there was a re-enactment group dedicated to the 43rdRReg, and I contacted them some years ago to see if they could put me in touch with others veterans; but I think they've all gone to the ultimate demob by now..
My son is a massive fan of photography, and has the X-Pro Fuji, two vintage Leicas (35mm film) and a Canon 5D...but then he works in a Swiss bank, and earns more in a month than I get in my various pensions in an entire year! I'm happy with my old Canon SLR and my new iPhone 6 camera...they do the job, and that's what counts.
If you feel the urge to upgrade: just do it. I'm sure many on this forum would support the 'I'm just treating myself..I deserve it" imperative
Just look at the massive collections of model tanks on here.!
Anyway, here's a link to a wiring digram Alwyn posted last year. It may give you an idea of what you're twiddling with for starters. You'll probably find a similar diagram for Mato models if you dig deep into the search box options.. 
..or further afield on the 'Net'.