Now my focus was on the rest of the interior. I wanted to have her finished before I went to Normandy in June 2004 so needed to get a wriggle on. The largest single fabrication was the new turret basket.
The one that came out of the tank looked like this.
I had a better one but that was not much good either.
It did enable me to draw it all out however so I could make a new one.
I started by using the inner turret ring as a jig to ensure concentricity with the base. The only original parts are the front of the top band, the ready round clips and most of the fittings.
After about ten days work, it looked like this.
With a bit more work, like this
With the floor ammo rack rebuilt
and the turret ring overhauled,
It was time to mate the two and fit it in the hull. James is helping to guide it in.
The silver thing in the centre is the rotary base junction. A series of slip rings carries power into the turret and allows full rotation. The arrow is to show the turret crew the direction of the front of the tank.
The black vertical cylinder is the motor generator for the power traverse.
I took some interior shots before the fitting as it’s not possible to get these views after.
