Here are the latest pictures of THE BEAST, I have just made all the 120 track plates and have started to assemble the tracks. Each plate is made from two sections of birch ply accurately overlapped and then drilled for the mounting holes. This has meant 240 4mm holes drilled within 0.1 mm of calculated position to avoid locking up the drive chains as the tracks go around the drive sprockets. Each of the two drive sprockets is made from a pair of 32 tooth bicycle pedal chain rings ( only the best used Shimano sprockets for me, obtained from a local cycle dealer for free!) bolted onto a birch ply hub. Every other tooth has been ground off to clear the M4 bolt heads as the track goes around the sprocket. The original idea to use the hinge strip as I did on the carriage had to be abandoned as the pitch of the drive chain did not match up to the joints of the hinge strip.

The rubber track pads will be glued on to the outside of the track at a later stage.
 

Here you can see the fitting of the winch housing and tow bar at the rear, the walkways and track guards and the track tension springs ( made from old valve springs from the local car breakers !!). The winch at the moment is not motorised as I am having difficulty in obtaining a motor/gearbox combo that is small enough with the power to pull the boat back on to the carriage and NOT need a mortgage to buy !!!!! All the powerful combos I have found are just too big!




If the weather stays fine tomorrow then I am going to take a shot of the complete rig set up ready to launch and will send you a copy later.

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