Jump to content

AWJDThumper

Members
  • Posts

    14
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation

10 Good
  1. I watched with interest the shoot off between Bruce and his wife using sniper rifles in last night's episode; in Bruce's case using a LE No 4 sniper rifle. Modern sniper rifles are expected to achieve sub 1 MOA accuracy which equates to 1" at the 100 yd range they used. The No 4 rifle sniper was not that good but should still achieve 3 MOA; that is, a grouping of 3" at 100 yds. I may be being extremely unkind to ex-para Bruce but their 6-9" groupings weren't very impressive.
  2. Do you have a clearer photo of the Arabic inscription on the fuze - this may help to identify what the shell is and its year of manufacture? I assume this is a 75 mm shell and not a 77 mm shell?
  3. It was interesting to see what the Armstrongs went for at the auction - most went for a few hundred pounds which is probably good value for spares. However, one went for £1200 which would seem to be a bit excessive given its condition and the fact that this would be a very good price even for a good runner on the road.
  4. I assumed that was the case - I was just offering some general advice to anyone thinking of buying this type of ex-army bike to consider it very carefully.
  5. Normally I get excited when I see old motorbikes in barn find condition but, unfortunately, not with the Armstrong. If you want to buy one cheap for spares then these are probably ok. However, if you want to buy one to restore to some level of running condition then this can be a problem unless you've closely examined the one you going to bid for and you know precisely what needs doing to it. At the end of the day, a good runner, ready for the road, can cost you less than £1000, whereas, it can cost a good part of this amount to get a barn find condition one up and running again providing its not completely knackered. A HD MT350 is always a better bet because they are worth a lot more than the Armstrong in good running order. I have one of each and I think they are marvellous bikes but not worth that much even in beautifully restored condition.
  6. I have always used cold bluing on all my de-acts with excellent results. However, you need to prepare the metal surfaces very carefully and, of course, be very careful to de-grease properly. I've tried a number of cold bluing liquids available in the UK and they all seem to work reasonably well.
  7. I don't think that's normal for any Amal carb - where exactly is the fuel seeping out of?
  8. From my point of view, I am mainly interested at this stage in the official, top level view of what the paint scheme should have been in a particular era rather than what was carried out in practice at a particular unit level which I am sure was much more complicated and varied. Therefore, I'm looking to find copies of the official guidelines that were issued which I would hope would provide a clearer picture of what the top thinking was over time as to what paint schemes were deemed to be most appropriate for particular theatres of operation.
  9. I think all these interesting replies have wetted my appetite to do some more research - I thought this was going to be a relatively straightforward subject!
  10. For my limited need, the introduction of NATO Green by at least 1980 is good enough because the motorbike I'm specifically interested in (MT500) was only introduced into the British Army in 1984. However, I have to say that I'm very surprised that on a forum like this that the chronology of the introduction of the different green painting schemes for British Army vehicles was not already clearly established and well known. I read Dick Taylor's book assuming that he was stating what was generally known in these circles about the introduction of painting schemes based on NATO Green but accept that he doesn't provide supporting evidence in the text for his statement that this started in about 1971. However, if the British Army was not using this colour during the 1990's, what were they using - Drab Olive Green?
  11. Many thanks for that - that seems to provide evidence that the bikes would have followed the painting requirements for the corresponding army vehicles at the time. The problem with my MT500 is that it had been painted so many times that it is difficult to work out what the original colour was. As for my MT350, the plastic furniture was un-painted but didn't appear to be close to NATO Green in colour - it is generally a paler shade of green which is why some people think it was Oliver Drab.
  12. I've just acquired a copy of Vol 3 of the book Warpaint by Dick Taylor. In it he indicates that the Deep Bronze Green (BS 381-224) paint era effectively started in 1955 replacing the previous use of Olive Drab (SCC15). He indicates that the use of NATA Green by the British Army (BS 381-285) started in about 1971. The Armstrong MT500 I own was introduced into the British army in 1984 with the Harley-Davison MT350 being introduced in 1993. Although I have restored both motor bikes in NATA Green, I don't think even the later HD MT350 was originally provided in this colour. Its possible the original colour was olive drab, though I need to confirm this. Therefore, it seems odd to me that while most other army vehicles in this period were using NATA Green paint to some extent, the motor bikes seem to have been produced in pre-1955 Olive Drab. What I ideally need to see is a copy of the army specs which cover motor bike paint schemes for the period of interest. I would welcome any information on this.
  13. Thanks for the replies. I currently own 3 x ex-army motorbikes. The proper colour of the B40WD seems to be clear: Deep Bronze Green. My 1985 Armstrong MT500 should be Olive Drab and that's probably also true of my 1996 Harley-Davison MT350. However, I was really trying to get an understanding of when NATO Green started to be used by the British Army and whether this started to happen in the 1990's. Any estimates would be welcome.
  14. I'm new to the forum but I am sure this question has been asked many times before. I' would like to try to find out what the official green colour was for all British post war motorcycles including the periods they were used. I would be grateful if someone could tell me whether there is a simple answer to this question?
×
×
  • Create New...