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Phil P

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About Phil P

  • Birthday 06/19/1944

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  • Location
    Essington. S Staffs
  • Interests
    Restoring and driving military vehicles and railway modelling. (Wartime period)
  • Occupation
    Retired Design & Development Engineer

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    Phil P

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  1. Halfpenny Green 40's Weekend is on the 24th/25th May 2014. I have had a meeting with the airport management team and they are very enthusiastic that there is a show in 2014. In 2014 we will have a 'Hangar Dance' and a 'Big Band' on the Saturday night open to the public. We are looking at day time entertainment during the two days. As in 2013 there will be a designated area for Post War vehicles as we don't want to exclude post war vehicle owners. There will be a pre 1950's aircraft fly in. Stall holders are welcome. We are growing this show gently. Military and civilian vehicles invited. If you came in 2013 thank you and please come back in 2014. A friendly show for all. Phil Palmer co organiser
  2. After 4 years of being on the committee for the Tanks Trucks and Firepower Show I have through pressure of too many things, work...etc decided to retire from the show organisation/running. I am proud to have been involved in the setting up of the show in 2010 with Andrew, Mick and Co. I am sure it will continue to grow in the coming years. Phil Palmer.
  3. Phil P

    Big ray

    All the Guys and Gals in the Birmingham & West Midlands Area MVT are saddened to hear of 'Big Rays' passing. A true gentleman. I he will be a huge loss to North Staffs MVT. Our thoughts are with Ray's wife Margaret, son Tony and all of the family. Phil
  4. Well Tanks Trucks & Firepower Show has been and gone. A huge huge thank you to all the exhibitors and stall holders and of course the public for coming along and making it a great show. I know I help organise it (In a small way) but I thought Sunday nights firework display and the live rock band made the show fantastic. Good news is we've booked the rock band for next year and hopefully the fireworks. Again thank you to everybody who came and a special thank you to Mr Edwin Baker who owns the land plus a big thank you to Andrew and Sally Baker, Mick Browning and Anne Clare from the Alvis Fighting Vehicles Society without them and all the AFVS members including Glenn Parry who every year with his team of Pyrotechnicians tries, and will I'm sure one year, lift a piece of Warwickshire into the next county, it would not happen!!! WE WILL BE BACK NEXT YEAR. BIGGER BETTER LOUDER (That's not just the rock band!) THAN 2013. Thank you. Phil. Birmingham & West Midlands Area MVT.
  5. I've just had time to sit down and read through the postings. Super pics and thank you to everybody who came along. I had a meeting with the Halfpenny Green team on Wednesday 12th June and and they are elated at how the show went and how they enjoyed the friendly atmosphere. The great news is they want to do it again next year. We had a good chat about it and it will run on the same format as this year with post war MV's and WW2. I don't exclude PW vehicles. They have their place. I know I am organising a 40's weekend at Black Country Living Museum but that is being advertised as a 40's Event only. So next year (2014) the show is on the 24th & 25th May. Same format as this year but we will have a 40's Big Band and Hangar Dance on the Saturday 24th May that is open to the public. MVT members get free entry to the show and a discount to the Big Band. Sorry we can't let you in for free to that but big bands cost 'big bucks'! We will be using the same caterers ie Devon and Cornwall MVT. I will speak to you soon about that Alan. There will be a pre- 50's aircraft fly in and we are applying to the BBMF for a fly past or what ever. Stall holders and of course re-enactors welcome. A big thank you to Alastair McKinnon Airport Operations Manager, Tony Rowlands Air Traffic Control Manager and Sue and the Halfpenny Green Air Adventure Scouts who marshalled the public and car park brilliantly. I must not forget to thank my great mates Craig Bagley, Jamie Rose, Mark Mullarky, Clare Reid and all the guys and gals of the Second City Militia who always pitch in and help and last but not least 'er in doors for allowing me the time to do it all. Thanks kid. DON'T FORGET MAY 24th & 25th BANK HOLIDAY HALFPENNY GREEN 40'S WEEKEND. (post war welcome.) Phil P
  6. Brilliant show, very well organised and thoroughly enjoyed by the Second City Militia who made the trip. Congratulations to all those involved. There were several members of the MVT CoM who saw the 'swimming' incident. I was one of them. I am sure what happened will be investigated and discussed in a calm manner and lessons learned. I will make one personal comment. If you are going to have somebody acting as look out it is a good idea if they actually did that job and give instructions rather than filming it. The good thing is nobody was hurt. As to comments made on this forum care has to be taken not to stifle free speech whilst controlling ill thought out remarks. I am sure that Jack is more than capable of controlling the subject matter. Great to see the guys from the NLBA and relive some of the Pas de Calaise experiences. Phil P
  7. It would appear that at a show last week somebody was going round telling traders and various other folk that Halfpenny Green 40's Weekend has been cancelled. IT IS NOT AND VERY MUCH ALIVE!! Would somebody tell this knowall to read the various events calendars and they will see it is ON. If you haven't booked in already e mail me your details and address on hippo1944@hotmail.com and I will post you your passes. Phil
  8. The closing date for the show officially is 10th May but if anybody still wants to come then download from me on hippo1944@hotmail.com and get it back ASAP. I have had a fantastic response. Sorry I haven't got back before to the Forum but I have been trying to organise this show and two others plus writing pieces and promoting the MVT. Thank you to all those who have entered. I'm sending out passes etc in the next couple of days. There is entertainment on Saturday night for exhibitors only. Phil
  9. Entries are coming in now for the show. Please send them back ASAP please as we are trying to get an idea of how many are coming. I have provisionally booked caterers. Adverts are on MV website calendars. We are going to do a photoshoot nearer the date. The snow should have cleared by then. Phil
  10. Tanks Trucks and Firepower bookings online is up and running with numbers using the facility growing. It's dead easy to use, well it must be even I can use it!! Just go to Tankstrucksandfirepowershow.com click on exhibitors and that will open up the online booking page. Fill it in press send and thats it. You will get your welcome pack by return. If you click on the old website by mistake it will redirect you. How clever is that? Don't forget this year we are celebrating 45 years of the MVT. If you are an MVT member you get in for free with a current membership card. Live entertainment for exhibitors on Saturday night and don't forget our super showers. You can roll in the mud, only there won't be any because it will hot and sunny, and then wash it off and smell lovely!! Two arenas. One for soft skin vehicles and a huge firepower arena for armoured vehicles. Bigger, better and louder bangs as we try and lift a bit of Warwickshire into the next county. Military vehicles of all periods welcome. Lots of camping area. The show for military enthusiasts run by military enthusiasts right in the centre of the country with easy access from motorways and A roads. Phil
  11. That's interesting, I'm rebuilding from the ground up a GPW that is very late March 1942 and it is a Ford chassis. I have a 8th January 1944 Willys MB that has also had a total rebuild. The Willys chassis is far better quality than the Ford. The GPW is typical Ford save a dime sod the quality! I can pick the Ford chassis up on my own but the Willys no chance. There is even a differance between the weight of the the two engine blocks. It ain't much may be a couple of pounds. I thought I was lucky that the GPW block wasn't cracked under the dizzy hole. Instead it's cracked beteen the stud holes and the water passages. I'll get it repaired. I've got a Ford front bumper with the holes and a Willys. Again the material in the Willys is thicker. I'm amazed any early Ford GPW's survived. I have spent hours repairing the GPW chassis because of corrosion between the side rails and the stiffeners. I understand the Ford chassis was designed so that unskilled workers could be used. You need trained folks to produce good welds but anybody can rivet bits together and therefor labour costs are reduced. One thing I can say is that I now have one of each make.The Willys has been totally rebuilt from the ground up and the GPW is being rebuilt from the ground up. I've reconditioned/repaired most parts where possible. Many new parts have also been used. The GPW needing the most by a long way, and I'm still buying parts for it. It's got a repro scripted tub. The one that came with it was a composite in a very very poor state. The GPW will be as good as new when it's finished but a Willys it ain't. The Ford is my car, I shall not want another. It maketh me lie down down in damp places, it anointeth my head with oil. Yea though I walk through the valley of Willys (and Dodge), I feel no evil. For Willys is the power and the glory, forever and ever. Phil The only good Ford was a Shelby Mustang 500 and that took a Texan genuis to sort it for Ford!:laugh:
  12. Sorry deadline, it's bums on seats that win out. It has been suggested that the bits that got edited are shown perhaps on line. What gets shown and what doesn't is out of our hands. I've got a beautiful black thumb that was caught on camera being 'produced' but it will probably be edited out. I did in early January and it still draws comment!! I wonder if it was my language that has stopped them showing it. Hopefully we will get a second series. All the comments made on ALL the forums have and are being read and taken into cosideration. To give you an idea the first programme got 57,000 viewers watching' live'. Thats watching as shown and not the repeats. Programme 2 the jeep was 68,000 programme 3 hit nearly 80,000 and the Cosworth got 120,000. So the series is gaining viewers. That may not seem very many but for a specialist programme like NatGeo that is phenominal. We may be more selective with the vehicles to minimise the total 'rot boxes' we have had. Cars that have been repaired by folks with 13 thumbs seem to be everywhere. Perhaps a little less socialising and a little more spannering would be a good tweak to the show. Nearly everything is filmed what gets used is out of our hands. Keep watching. Phil
  13. deadline. Watching TV restorations can distort facts. Close inspection of the burnt out tub proved that it was NOT a scripted tub. It possibly was a GPW tub but we didn't have time to investigate that plus the damage and previous repair to the gusset on the bulkhead had obliterated the tub number. It was actually stated by Fuzz on the programme that the Ford Script had been cut from another tub and welded in. The bulkhead was distorted both by the heat and repairs to it in the past. As I said in a previous posting the whole tub was badly distorted again due to welding in previous attempts to carry out repairs. Bottom line was it was a mess. I know I was there. ALL the electrical components had to be replaced along with the instruments and the entire braking system. The fuel tank is new and the radiator had to be replaced because all the solder had melted.All the canvas had gone. The engine and transmission were also reconditioned. The cost of the work in hours and components was nearly £21K!!! Most of the mechanical work was filmed but sadly not shown. We had 3 weeks to do the work and return it. Five of us worked 12/14 hours a day and reassembled it in 6 days. Quite a lot of that was filmed. TV programmes are made to appeal to the masses. I have a 1944 Willys MB that has a repro tub on it.That was shown in the programme. I'm sure the purists will throw their hands in the air in disgust BUT the body that was with it when I bought the pile of bits was basically in a bin bag and was NOT repairable. I have a workshop with most types of sheet metal forming equipment plus a plasma cutter and a heavy duty spot welder and if I provide the disc the services of a CNC laser cutter and a CNC press. So why did I go repro? Thats easy why bust a gut repairing something that I can buy and instead concentrate my efforts on something that I cannot buy. Well not cheaply. I am making a dummy BC-340 radio set for a USAAF Ford GPW 'Follow Me' jeep. I have a 1943 GPW tub and a Willys slat grill tub both needing work. If somebody wants to hone their sheet metal skills make me a sensible offer. I am toying with the idea of using the slat grill for a 'Jeeprod'. I've already got a TRW V12 Jag engine towards it. Oh dear more hands been thrown skywards! :laugh: I'm pleased that the guy we did it for got his jeep back restored. He's a nice bloke. Phil.
  14. I'm glad everybody liked the jeep restoration on Nat Geo. Thanks Big Ray for your kind words. It was not an easy job to do. The fire had destroyed just about everything. When the we lifted the tub it twisted like a propellor only the frame held it straight. It was stripped and the good and bad bits sorted. A new tub had to be bought plus canvas etc. All the saved bits were cleaned repaired and painted Once that was done it was assembled from a pile of parts in 6 days and handed back at an old airfield near Taunton. To say the job went over budget was an understatement!! I think it was worth it. Renegade Pictures who made the series for NatGeo were very careful not to fall into the trap of the other resto programmes. In one of the programmes there was a staged argument as a spoof on another series. It may get edited I don't know. The Ford GPW was actually the third vehicle done but shown out of the build sequence as are a couple of others. I started off giving advice on the jeep job, then got my overalls on to work on it and then ended up employed by Renegade Pictures on the rest of the series! It's amazing what can happen when you join the MVT and restore a jeep!!! I realised that all but two of the classic cars in the series I had either owned or worked on when they were everyday cars and before they became classics. I think that is when it dawns on you that you are getting old. Phil
  15. I will put out the reenactors entry form in the next few days. I have passed it on to the folks organising that side to add their contact details. Please return them to me NOT the airport with an SAE please. If you e mail me for entry forms I can e mail them back by return, also I can then see what the take up is. All updates will be posted by me on this forum. Phil
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