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Bedford MWR


simon king

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The glacial restoration of my MWR continues and as the refurb of the 19 set installation is approaching the end, my thoughts are turning to the furniture in the back of the truck.

 

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I have finished, bar painting, the radio bench and am now stripping and refinishing the various lockers and thinking about the wiring to and from the control board. Inevitably the more you know, the less you know.

 

The 19 set installation has two pairs of batteries, one set of which is clamped below the radio bench. I am unsure about the other pair. Are they stored, charged, in the lockers at the rear of the truck. Is that why the lockers have a wooden lip - to stop the batteries from sliding against the locker door?

 

The tall locker I have has a full length lower door, with no lip but does not seem to be of recent manufacture so I wonder if things were changed at some time in the vehicles life - perhaps during a REME rebuild in the late 40s/50s. I now have the dilemma - do I leave it or build a new box to the original pattern......

 

The wiring from the auxiliary generator is shielded with woven metal tubing. According to the handbook, there is a sleeve clamp and a cable adapter soldered to the sleeving. The sleeving must also have a tag to earth. Does anybody have a photo of this sleeving arrangement.

 

I suppose some of these queries might be answered if it was possible to see a formal stowage diagram for the MWR - does such a thing exist?

 

Any advice/help most gratefully received

 

Edit - in retrospect once stripped the locker looks not to be orignal - so will start from scratch

Edited by simon king
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Hi

That table looks really nice, is it an original?

I was recently given a WS Set no 19, and thought it would be fun to make that table type for it.

But I dont have any pictures of how the draw is made and hung on the table, and the same goes for the pull out tray, would it be possible for you to take some pictures of it?

 

Cheers

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Hi

That table looks really nice, is it an original?

I was recently given a WS Set no 19, and thought it would be fun to make that table type for it.

But I dont have any pictures of how the draw is made and hung on the table, and the same goes for the pull out tray, would it be possible for you to take some pictures of it?

 

Cheers

 

The new frame, tray frame and metalwork came with the truck - along with a severely pitted original, fragmentary tray frames and rotted woodwork which was good enough to use as patterns.

 

Leave it with me - I'll measure up tomorrow and take some photos

 

There are metal slider plates (which I will also measure) upon which the pull out tray runs. The tray has stops at the back to prevent it coming out too far. The plates are L-shaped to stop the draw from going too far back. The draw is as wide as the legs and long enough to fit completely under the bench before hitting to stops. Depths can be estimated once you have the sliding tray secured. There are wooden blocks screwed to the side of the draw, which is just four sides plus ply bottom, to stop the draw from coming completely out.

 

PM me with your e-mail address and I will scan my woodwork drawings - although double check to dimensions of your own radio bench. I used the Mk 1 eyeball for the tray - no drawings.

 

Be careful 19 Set collecting becomes addictive

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The glacial restoration of my MWR continues and as the refurb of the 19 set installation is approaching the end, my thoughts are turning to the furniture in the back of the truck.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]124104[/ATTACH]

 

 

I attach some photos of the back of an MWR in WW2. The rear boxes do have lips. The boxes on my MWR have the lips you describe.

Winter%20conditions%20on%20the%205th%20Army%20Front%20in%20Italy,%20during%20World%20War%20II,%2.jpg

imagesIU79NY5Z.jpg

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Thanks for that -although I think that's actually a picture which I happened to spot by chance one afternoon on Flog it. Funny how stuff circulates on the web and comes back to you.

 

MWR furniture detail pictures seem few and far between. The two firms that did the coach building for the MWRs seem to have different ways of making the cupboard doors. One uses vertical planks joined by battens on the back, whilst the other uses horizontal rails top and bottom with vertical infills, all joined by dowels

Edited by simon king
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  • 2 years later...

Been a while since I posted on here, but progress continues, even if life tends to throw a few curved balls at me along the way.

Progress (woodwork by me, metalwork generally by others) has included

Completion of 19 Set installation

repair of the three original lockers

build of a new offside rear locker to match nearside locker

build of two new metal bins of the correct size

build of three battery frames to match the one original

build of two operators seats to match one original

build of new frame and cover for charging panel

strip down of cab, and repairs as necessary - all holes drilled and dowelled

build of new gutter panel

obtained/made correct Bedford pattern seats and mounts including adjuster mechanism

repair of battery box

refurb of instrument binacle, including commissioning transfers for CAV switchboard

repair of generator footstep box

repairs to radiator panel

repairs to radiator shroud

repairs to front wings

build of new can carrier

stripdown of engine compartment -where work continues

 

Some photos of progress

 

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Edited by simon king
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Recent little projects have included refurbishment of the previously gutted MWR-specific CAV control box to maintain the original outwards appearance whilst adding a modern unit within the shell linked to the original connections and a rework of the manifolds to reinstate the heat control valve, replacing the two nuts and bolts through the holes in the sides of the manifold.

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IMG_4104.JPG

Edited by simon king
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  • 2 months later...
1 hour ago, Duson said:

Well done Simon, fantastic restoration. I wonder where you got he dash two-pin socket from, is it a replica?

Thanks for that. The red and black sockets came from Paul Beck Vintage Car Spares in Malvern. They are reproduction items.

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  • 6 months later...

Another little step forward. The charging board frame that came with the truck would have needed a lot of work to make it something like the original so it was easier to start from scratch.

It wasn’t easy to bring all the parts together for welding as the frame had to fit within a newly made cover attached to the top of the body and also line up with the existing metalwork and use existing fixings.

Also now fitting the (one original and three reproduction) battery box frames that go either side of the radio table. These will be screwed to the floor on wooden battens. I was lucky to find matching NOS 1/2” Whitworth wing nuts for the battery securing bars

 

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Edited by simon king
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  • 4 weeks later...

Managed to obtain a new baseboard for the charging board, so swapped all the switches, wiring and terminals over as a single unit without the need to undo any of the connections. By undoing all the screws and nuts on the front of the board it was possible to gently withdraw everything and then carefully feed into the new board.

Took the opportunity at the same time to repair all the cracked and broken Bakelite covers for the switches, using black plastic card and black epoxy putty.

Just need to paint the frame and then it’s ready to be fitted into the back of the MWR

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bit more progress, trunking for the wires from the auxiliary dynamo to its control box has been made up and fitted and the battery clamps screwed down to the floor on battens in their final positions. The mounting bracket for the control box has also been repositioned and tightened down

The little panel for the interior light with switched plug for the lead to the interior light on the roof is also now ready to fit to the back wall next to the radio table although I’m still trying establish the path for the wiring as it cannot be seen on the photo above.

Have also refinished the control box. Just need to attach a brass plate to the cover, if I can establish the lettering

 

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Edited by simon king
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  • 4 weeks later...

Over 3 years after I first pictured it, the radio table is finally finished and painted. The flat fronted  draw was not right so as a lockdown project, I started from scratch and built a new one with an angled front as original.

Table now just needs drilling for the four shock mounts for the clips that secure the 19 Set’s wooden carrier to the table. I will do that when the new ones arrive. All that remains is to sort out the earthing straps in due course.. 

I have also made up the four clips that hold the table to the floor.

The 19 Set has been refurbed for a while

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Edited by simon king
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