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Chris Ludwig Cromwell

Old 11-01-2016, 12:53 PM
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tomhugill
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Default Chris Ludwig Cromwell

The second round of British reinforcements arrived today (I'll post the firefly later). I'm very excited about this one. Chris Ludwig kit, metal swing arms, bearing wheels with rubber tyres, metal tracks and sprockets, every hatch opens, there's internal detail, everything comes apart for servicing. Spot lights work. Details are out of this world. She's going to have a dbc 3 with benedini. I need to figure out how to get a hidden battle system in. Hopefully she will get a full crew. I'll hopefully be able to do her justice in finishing and painting her.


Overall shots:




















Buttoned up:











Detail:









































How she disassembles:





Old 11-01-2016, 12:54 PM
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tomhugill
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Mechanicals:














Old 11-01-2016, 01:17 PM
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Outstanding!
Old 11-01-2016, 01:21 PM
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Hi Tom
Nice. I was wondering how Chris set up the fender stowage boxes so the lids open? Is there an internal hinge or something?
I've got his Cent & would like to do similar for the stowage boxes on that.

Mal
Old 11-01-2016, 01:26 PM
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tomhugill
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Hey Mal, they're just brass hindges, the issue is they don't open too wide, I'll need to figure out a fix for this.
Old 11-01-2016, 01:27 PM
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Thanks Tom. Any idea where he got them?

Mal
Old 11-01-2016, 01:39 PM
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tomhugill
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Not sure sorry, I'd try dolls house hinges
Old 11-01-2016, 01:41 PM
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Cool
Thanks
Mal
Old 11-01-2016, 09:38 PM
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Very nice Tom, I am jealous!!!
Old 11-01-2016, 11:12 PM
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nice!
Old 11-02-2016, 06:07 AM
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Very nice. You put a lot of effort into. Just so you know the DBC3 does not have decoder programming for the TBS. You will be able to get the engine sounds, and you should be able to have the cannon fire.

Cheers

Dan
Old 11-02-2016, 06:18 AM
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tomhugill
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Originally Posted by YHR
Very nice. You put a lot of effort into. Just so you know the DBC3 does not have decoder programming for the TBS. You will be able to get the engine sounds, and you should be able to have the cannon fire.

Cheers

Dan
Hey Dan, I'm probably going to be picking your brain on this. Did you send them out pre programmed? It all looks hooked up but I've never used one before.
Old 11-02-2016, 07:42 AM
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Originally Posted by afv aficionado
Thanks Tom. Any idea where he got them?

Mal
Can try micro mark. And I can't remember where I saw them but one tank parts site has some as well, maybe someone will chime in with that.

http://www.micromark.com/hinges.html
Old 11-02-2016, 08:07 AM
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Originally Posted by tomhugill
Hey Dan, I'm probably going to be picking your brain on this. Did you send them out pre programmed? It all looks hooked up but I've never used one before.
I am sorry the DBC3 does have limited TBS decoder functions so you can get the basic cannon, turret rotation, elevation and MG. It has been so long since I referred to it as a DBC3( BARC3), I forgot, and of course the last version was the BARC4.

Cheers


Dan
Old 11-08-2016, 03:35 AM
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I've been grappling with the Cromwell all week, I hooked up the electrics fairly easily but had the resolder a wire onto the recoil and replaced the micro switch that triggers the flash. Had a bit of trouble wiring the speaker but got there in the end.


First run showed some issues, the bolt the hold the steel toothed rings on the body of the sprocket didn't leave clearance for the guide horns so forced the tracks off the sprocket. There was an issue with one side periodically seeming to catch on something. This week I've had the tracks off wheels off, checking alignments, altering the idlers to they're now retained straighter. I took the sprockets appart (30 odd bolts tiny per side) because the teeth were screwed.





I drilled out the suspension arm road wheel shaft holes as they hadn't been drilled straight. Took out the gearbox and shimmed it so that it wasn't catching on the output bearings. Added an extra washed nineteen the road whee halves so the guide teeth had a bit move room and hopefully wouldn't keep riding up onto the wheels. After all this it was still periodically slowing and seemingly catching, tank narrowly avoided being booted out the garage.....Having taken a breath I took the track off and notice things weren't smooth. I could wiggle the sprocket freely all the way round which discounted the gearbox. Eventually I tried plugging into the other motor output, smooth as silk. So seems all along the issue was with one motor channel of the rx 18 running in one direction. Swapped the plugs around, reversed the channels and all was well.


https://youtu.be/8Vt0n9UNnEQ
All the fettling done hasn't been wasted though as I think it has improved things.


Now having run it properly it seems on the slow side, so I'll be changing up to an ibu2 base and run it on 3s
Old 11-08-2016, 07:53 AM
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Could just be the angle or the paint throwing me off but the teeth on the sprocket don't look matched up either?
Old 11-08-2016, 09:16 AM
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Originally Posted by TheBennyB
Could just be the angle or the paint throwing me off but the teeth on the sprocket don't look matched up either?
They were miles out! You have to position the tooth rings in exactly the right spot to have them line up, queue much swearing
Old 11-08-2016, 11:53 AM
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Originally Posted by tomhugill
They were miles out! You have to position the tooth rings in exactly the right spot to have them line up, queue much swearing
Good to know. I've had this build on the back burner for a couple years now sitting in a box in my basement. Will have to note some of the other findings you come across.
Old 11-10-2016, 04:39 AM
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She's now running an ibu2 on 3s, much closer to the original in terms of speed and manoeuvrability!

https://youtu.be/ENSyGOn4rjM
Old 11-10-2016, 07:37 AM
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Looks like you have it running pretty good.
Jimmy
Old 12-06-2016, 12:38 AM
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tomhugill
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Hey folks, a little update on my Cromwell, I shall post a video later but I've swapped out the IBU2 and adds a Clark tk-60 (still on 3s), I've converted the recoil to servo and added an LED flash. (Pictures to follow). I've installed the last bolts on the hull so now she's not far off paint.











Moved the fenders so they're straight





Finally I've managed to figure out the hidden battle system. First off I had to add an ir emitter. The gun barrel and muzzle break is far too small so next option is in the mantlet (which isn't much better) first thought was to install under the mg mount but when the gun was depressed it would obscure the emitter. I settled on removing the turret mg and using the hole to mount the emitter. I enlarged the hole in the mg cradle as far as it will go but remains to be seen if it causes a (large) drop in emitter performance.


Currently not sure if I'm going to mount the emitter tube flush with the mantlet.





Or have it stuck out for better performance:





Next issue was the positions for the hidden battle unit.


Front and rear sensors weren't too bad as they could go in the perescopees in the cupola.








I opened the pistol ports so a left and right could be installed:








Once all that's done, a little more detail and some paint.
Old 01-12-2017, 10:23 AM
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WOW!.. I have one of these Ludwig Cromwells waiting in the wings... your build is excellent! and will be a great help for my future build.. Thanks, Joe
Old 02-18-2017, 05:19 AM
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Been a while since I posted an update on this one on here, quite a bit done.


Firstly the hidden battle system. Gary "Thetankman" page kindly reworked the vampire wiring loom for me, making the leads longer and removing the "bundle". I had to do some head scratching about placement on this one, I try and avoid drilling holes in the turret sides to place sensors as they're hard to hide. The cupola was an easy option for two but getting the left and right ones looked tricky. The solution was to open up the pistol ports on the turret giving a natural hole for the sensors to go behind.

Next job was the tidy up the electical installation and improve access to the on off switch and the volume.




Now the fun part, the detail! I found a decently walk around and made a start. So far I've added the lifting eyes to the turret, welds to the ending deck, clamps to the storage bins, details to the search light, fitted the giant hockey stick thing, attachment for the tow cable, brackets for the two cables and added the tools and brackets.

Clamps







Lamp:





Lifting eyes and welds





Hockey stick and tow cable attachment



Welds



Tools:







As she is now:

Old 02-18-2017, 05:38 AM
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Detail crazy.




Jeff
Old 02-18-2017, 07:57 AM
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Tom... Magnificent! Thank you for sharing this with me... It will be a Huge help when it comes time for my build,, Thank you again, Joe

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