john1950 Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Keep your chin up, Hopefully it will be your turn for some good luck soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted June 20, 2018 Author Share Posted June 20, 2018 (edited) Well - thought an update might be in order after so long!! Insurance paid out part of the money - I am still owed £400 from the excess but that won't come back until the claim is finally settled. Right now the last I heard from my insurers was the Audi driver is lying his little arse off saying I drove onto the roundabaout and straight into him. So this looks like it will be going to court. Anyways - replaced the RangeRover with a Saab 9-5 as I needed something reliable with a big boot. Cue cynical laughter as the throttle body on the Saab promptly started acting up meaning its prone to cutting out without warning..... Gives an added spice to journeys... On the plus side I've landed a part time job that pays some money working as an assistant armourer for a firm that supplies weapons to re-enactor, film sets etc. The money is useful but it means working weekends so I've not been able to get over to work on the Militant. Right now the FFR Landrover is full of both the tools and equipment I was using plus the jerry can racks + related bits that need refitting so I think I need to go up to the old girl during the week - which I must be honest is a right PITA as no one else will be there and working at heights is a bit nervy alone. Oh well - such is life. I also need to get the A/A mount up there somehow - its a bit big for the Saab I think so perhaps emptying the FFR out might cope? Moderator Edit. Racist comments removed. The daughter Mk1 is getting married in 2 years time and when she does we will be looking to move out of London. Edited June 24, 2018 by Marmite!! Racist comments removed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowfat Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Good to see an update especially about some paid work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 (edited) Looks like I will be looking for alternative storage. Went up to work on the old girl today and she's been moved off the hard standing and away from people out to the edge of the fields. I had a text last weekend say the farmer wanted to move it "down the bottom" as part of a reshuffle - I assumed he meant the other end of the hard standing. Wrong!! Got enough issues with existing corrosion and this is not going to help. (no idea who owns the Landie) Also found out that somehow the trailing edge of the front roof section had gotten torn - most of the way across. Would have been nice to have been told this when it first happened - now I (a) have to get hold of a tarp & ropes to cover the damaged area and (b) find another MK/MJ roof canvas Kind of worryingly is she seems to have been driven into position over this - some sort of chain rake with some of the tines pointing up? Looking on the tailgate a few more holes have appeared so some welding will be in order before winter returns I think. Object of the exercise today was to refit the oil can and jerry can carriers. Oil Can carrier went on fine. Jerry can one - different story. I could not hold the weight on my own to feed the bolts into the holes in the chassis rails and do the nuts up - in fact at one point it slipped trapping my arm rather painfully - which is when I found out its far enough away from the activities that no one heard me yelling!! Took a while to free my hand and arm so I gave up until I can get some help to hold it whilst the nuts are done up (need to find one nut that fell into a load of thistles next time I'm up there). Put the carrier and the straps etc into the living accomodation in the back and came home. So - a two hour drive each way more or less wasted apart from finding out where the old girl is now and getting the oil can carrier on. I really need somewhere closer to home. Almost tempted to bring her home - but the "culturally enriching" neighbours are already on my back via the council about the UAZ and FFR Landie + Sankey. If I put the AEC in the front garden things would go downhill fast - not least because the road is so narrow I'd be squashing the cars either side to get into the drive!! Edited June 23, 2018 by ArtistsRifles Spelling/grammar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saracenstump Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 neil,just to clarify a couple of these, your vehicle was moved my myself and dave,the rake was put there afterwards so not driven over! the tilt has been ripped over the winter by the strong winds,snow etc if you'd been up once or twice in the time since october you would have seen this ,the cab cover blew off a number of times and was refitted. the tyre has been reflated to keep it round and stop more cracking and the engine run on occasion,all this done by myself with no text or phone call from you! it was moved because we need space to work on other vehicles ,may i suggest you find other storage if you feel its too far to travel. i understand you've had problems with money and transport etc but a phone call or text just to checkin would of been easy, as for the rust its gonna get worse if you leave it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted June 24, 2018 Author Share Posted June 24, 2018 Reason I'm looking at moving is to get closer to home is simple Stu - it takes me 2 hours to get there, 2 hours to get back so if I get free time in the week its not a simple case of popping over. Plus now I need to swap out the load in back of the car - normally its full of the camping kit for the armoury work, I need to yank all that out and reload with the tools which adds an hour approx to any planned journey at each end. If I do it the night before - assuming I know I can get over the next day - the odds are now our migrant neigbours will wake me up in the early to hours to the send of a brick going through the rear screen of the car. We buried Toby Dog in the pet plot in the front garden last Oct. - 2 nights later the little shites tried to dig him up thinking I'd buried something of tangible value. AFAIK - as of Oct 15th that front tyre was the only issue - and I do thank you pumping it up for me and keeping the engine ran up from time to time. Other than that I had no reason to think anything was wrong and thus no reason to plague you on the phone. The accident, taken with Tobys unexpected death a week later left me in no fit state to be talking to anyone. Couple that to the replacement vehicle going tits up a couple of weeks after I got it and you would not have wanted to talk to me. Since then we've had the council trying to sue our backsides off because said migrant families find the UAZ and FFR "offensive" and the asshole who wrote the RangeRover off for me is lying his little head off saying I hit him so we are also having to deal with all the crap that goes with a pending court case there. The only plus point this entire damned year so far was landing the part time job with the armoury - but the downside is that while I get paid for the days worked, those days are invariably weekends. When Stuart the farmer texted me to say you were moving it - that weekend I was down at Quex park, Ramsgate. I can't be in two places at once and as much as I would love to be up there cracking on with the list of works the accident left us desperately short of money - still owed the £400 excess until this court case is decided. Work-wise it looks like it takes me up to the end of August. Right now, having seen the location a big issue is going to be being out of range to the power supply again - the extension leads I have aren't gonna be long enough to run down from that power point and I doubt Stuart the Farmer will want her parked up blocking that aisle down from the yard - nor does he want it in the yard itself if I understood him on Saturday. And as I found to my cost on Saturday accidentally drop a nut or washer in those thistles and its hell to find plus if anything happens - no one hears you yell. So yes - I do need to find a new location within a commutable distance of home and preferably undercover so I can work when its raining. - the store we had at Brentwood was an ideal location for me but thats never going to happen again - but I don't see that solving itself for some considerable time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saracenstump Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 i suggest before you write an essay and bitching you get the facts straight first,a text or phone call wouldn't have gone a miss remember its your vehicle and not anyone elses responsibility,if its left outside things will deteriorate and the weather plays havoc as we all know. how does it take 2 hours to get there?we go to leyton to see the inlaws and that only takes an hour?in the rush hour it only took me 1 1/4 hours when i worked in barking. needless to say we have all got problems and dont need it strewn all over a military vehicle forum, the simple fact is you haven't been to the vehicle since october and a move around was needed,you were informed by the farmer as a matter of good manners. i would suggest if you go up again you text or phone and then you may get help or not as for a store undercover good luck . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share Posted July 3, 2018 Went to Wickes on Sunday and got hold of one of their "heavy duty" 8m x 5m tarp sheets - and then popped up to the Militant on Monday to get it lashedover the hole in the roof on the basis that if the weather changes theres no point getting whats in the load bed damaged. Theory was good - practice turned out to be rather different. We lashed the sheet onto the tie-down rings one side temporarily then attached the rope to one of the corners, other end to an object of weight (I think it used to be a fuel tank bracket) and lobbed that over the roof, repeating for the other corner. First thing we noticed was the speed at which the eyelets ripped out of the sheet where it was lashed to the tie downs with only the weight of the sheet on them then as we went to tie the other side down the wind gusted a bit - which was accompanied by a loud ripping sound. That marked the end of one tarp sheet!! So we pulled the remains off , rolled them up and headed back home. Wickes refunded the cost of the sheet today so not unhappy other than the hole in the roof is still there but I've emailed Comptons to see if they can supply either a replacement MK/MJ top sheet or, better, a set of proper Militant ones. In the mean time the old, rotted hemp has been temporarily replaced by polypropylene along one side and the back - hopefully that might help stop the roof getting worse. First time the wife had seen the old girl.. Interesting reactions - esp. when she had to climb up the ladder to see what the interior of the back was like. 🙂 Just for the record the time stamps on the dashcam files were: REC_2018_07_02_13_39_51_F.mp4 when we left the Militant REC_2018_07_02_15_28_28_F.mp4 when we got home - lapsed time of approx 1 hr 50 mins rounded to the nearest min. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gas 44 Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 Reading this is better than Eastenders........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted December 13, 2018 Author Share Posted December 13, 2018 Glad someone is finding it amusing!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxy Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 Not so amusing as how they established the £cost of a new Eastenders TV set (a real and full exhibited MV museum would be far cheaper), I must add - I have never watched such productions , so must be totally uncultivated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1950 Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 I think a major requirement in vehicle restoration is a sense of humor, mainly for the when runaway expence is realised and the storage cost peeks out from under the bonnet/hood. A stammer is handy to give time to think of an excuse when pressed for answers from the significant other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted December 17, 2018 Author Share Posted December 17, 2018 On 12/14/2018 at 9:03 AM, john1950 said: I think a major requirement in vehicle restoration is a sense of humor, mainly for the when runaway expence is realised and the storage cost peeks out from under the bonnet/hood. A stammer is handy to give time to think of an excuse when pressed for answers from the significant other. Right now I am having a total sense of humour failure - not over the AEC but over the ongoing saga of the accident thats crippled us financially. Been 14 months now. The other party apparently is rather well off and is f*ck*ng the insurance about with false claims that then have to be investigated so we're waiting for a court date - which, of course, keeps getting put off.... I've just written to my insurers expaining the financial woes its causing us and pointing out that, as the fault was the other parties, we want the costs for all our financial stress and losses added to the claim as well as all the court costs. Let see if that wipes the smile off his face. Since the 15 Oct last year I think I've been able to get over to the AEC just twice - firstly due to no vehicle then due to fuel costs. I've got the bank manager on my back more or less constantly now and it is pretty definite that if I can't get the claim sorted by the end of Q1 next year the AEC, the UAZ and the car will all be up for sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1950 Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 I am sorry to hear of your troubles, Being pushed into a corner through no fault of your own. I hope the new year brings you a change of fortune for the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpsmit Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 On 12/17/2018 at 2:10 PM, ArtistsRifles said: Right now I am having a total sense of humour failure - not over the AEC but over the ongoing saga of the accident thats crippled us financially. Been 14 months now. The other party apparently is rather well off and is f*ck*ng the insurance about with false claims that then have to be investigated so we're waiting for a court date - which, of course, keeps getting put off.... I've just written to my insurers expaining the financial woes its causing us and pointing out that, as the fault was the other parties, we want the costs for all our financial stress and losses added to the claim as well as all the court costs. Let see if that wipes the smile off his face. Since the 15 Oct last year I think I've been able to get over to the AEC just twice - firstly due to no vehicle then due to fuel costs. I've got the bank manager on my back more or less constantly now and it is pretty definite that if I can't get the claim sorted by the end of Q1 next year the AEC, the UAZ and the car will all be up for sale. This is beyond annoying - and frustrating. Not sure how the legal system works on your side of the pond, but, there comes a time when a lawyer might be needed - these are not the types of things that good faith and personal attention can solve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 Sadly folks its the end of the line for me - my Militant was posted for sale on MilWeb tonight...... Money situation is beyond critical and the asshole in the insurance claim is STILL f*cking me about. Life these days consists of get up, stare at the same 4 walls whilst sitting at home alone most of the time, go to bed - repeat ad inifinitum.... Some days I wonder if its worth carrying on :( I'm looking for £4,000 for the old girs which I think not unreasonable given the work already put into her and what comes with her. I've copied the advert in the classifieds here too. The REALLY gut wrenching is - I never even got to drive her properly 😧 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.