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Scammell Explorer 1955.


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Hi Chris, The make of my paint is called Craftmaster. If you go on the internet and put in the name of the paint, you will get the company come up. They are based in Cambridge, not far from me, so I go pick up my paint straight from them, however they do post out paint.

I have restored things now for some 12 years and have always used this make of paint. It is specifically for brush painting, and if plenty of prep is done, you will get a lovely finish. I also paint two coat's of every layer, i.e. two primer, two under coat, and two top coats. If you can paint a fresh coat on every day, you can get away with out rubbing down, otherwise a light rub down will be needed to produce a good quality finish.

You will also see that there is a varnish that prevents the sun light from spoiling the finish.

Further to your question, you will see that the pipe work was done in the hammerite special metals primer, this is for brass, copper, ali and all non metallic metals, I use this to make sure the paint adhere's to the metal.

Hope this helps.

 

The Governor.

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hiya just poped in to see how things are going . thought I might of seen you at the weekend , but looks like you were bizzy. I painted our showmans steam engine in craftmaster and its good paint . wont be long till iam back on the matador . keep up the good work . Doug

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Two suprises at once!

Sorry this is quite a long one but thought you would find it interesting.

 

It was a great surprise to find an old friend getting a rub down in your back yard and I’ve got Bluebelle to thank for that! No it’s not her - but your 1955 Scammell! She wouldn’t take kindly to a session with a ‘Card Scratching Armourers’ (file card).

I went out with 3RHA to Egypt in Feb 1954 where we had a different Scammell & ARV. Two years later we all moved up (Vehs & 25pdr Sextons by LST) to Libya early in 1956 (now part of 10th Armd Div). The photo BlueBelle posted on here shows the LAD and your new Scammell, Cent ARV and Pete Roberts, our Recovery mech. I took the photo at Homs on an Admin parade. Pete is the lance jack standing in front of it. When I left the Army in 1960 he was a Sgt and my MQ next door neighbour.

The second surprise I had was after looking through my photos 1957/60 of Bulford & Perham Down, believe it or not, your Scammell was again with us, now in 3rd Infantry Div UK. The story behind how it was shipped from Libya and reissued to us in Bulford I will never know. Even the personel weapons were left in Libya plus all our equipment, vehs and Sextons. The small arms metalwork was so shiny being the armourer, I was hand painting with PFU Olive drab most of the Stens & Bren guns as the rustproofing (Browning) had worn off with continuous use in the Canal Zone during the troubles there – pleased to get rid of them and start again with refurbished kit.

So you would be authentic to have our tac signs on your workmate. It was No.74 in Libya along with the Rhino in white on black with a white circle on the RH side or more appropriate in UK, No 46 (in 1957/59) or No 32 around 1959/60 along with the 3 Inf Div triangles. We had the RHA Cypher cap badge(about 10” high) on both cab doors. All our REME personal wore the RHA cap badges on their battledress lapels and mostly proud to do so. Most REME Wksps had REME badges all over their Scammells – usually cast locally in ali within the Wksp in all shapes and sizes. We also had the RHA decal on all our LAD veh Cab doors. I was amazed to see we had the same Scammell in the UK as I remember going to the RAOC Central Ord Depot at Feltham to collect all the LAD’s vehs when we arrived back in the UK but that did not include the Scammell. This appeared in the weeks following my arrival as i/c the LAD advance party and didn’t recollect it was anything other than a ‘new’ one. Only Pete Roberts would know the real story. He left the RHA LAD around 1963/64 (after the tour 1960/64 in Kenya & Aden) and went to work as an engineer, I believe, for Bernard Matthews and his turkeys. He was from Norwich (that’s the story I have been told!). If he is still alive he would jump at the chance of seeing his old Scammell, and give you a hand too! He would by now be at least 80! Not so far away from you?

I can send a few supporting photos, better images of the signage and may be have an answer for a couple of RHA decals if I can have your email addy etc. I will add a couple of photos during the next day or so.

Good luck with all your hard work - Who knows, maybe i've painted your truck in past times. Max

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Max,

As always, it is a pleasure to have joined this forum for the commardary amoungst the members on here. I have had people send parts to replace missing parts and refused to take anything for them, and I have now had two people identify this lorry and provided history, that only comes if you are in the right place at the right time.

My email address is -: ruth521@btinternet.com

I will be pleased to receive anything that will help me restore this old friend back to his serving days. Kind regards,

 

The Governor.

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hiya just poped in to see how things are going . thought I might of seen you at the weekend , but looks like you were bizzy. I painted our showmans steam engine in craftmaster and its good paint . wont be long till iam back on the matador . keep up the good work . Doug

Doug, 10 little reasons not to get out this year, have presented me with "confined to Barracks. Kind regards,

 

The Governor.

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Thought I would post a pic of your veh 94BD67 which is the best I have showing the side and the extension chests which now appear long gone. The year is 1958 and we were on a round robin exercise travelling every other day and firing the regiments 5.5's the next day on a different training area. So the first was Salisbury Plain, followed by Thetford, Otterburn, Wales and Dartmoor and back to Salisbury. The Scammell did some work on the way, spares being flown in by Heli at least once and a gun overturned too! The photo shows the LAD column just after getting stopped by the police for a word in my 'shell like' between the Lake District and Preston - I was driving the binner with trailer (& my iron bedstead in it), at the front of the column. Happy days! The regt's CO was trying to show off to the GOC even though he was ex Desert Rats.

Max

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The extension "chest's" were part of the lorries storage compartments. This lorry carried all it's equipment needed for recovery. The inventory is very long, but covers, tracks for putting around the rear wheels, snatch blocks, chains , and many more pieces of equipment,that even I do not know of.

There is a picture taken from above which shows the area around the crane for the men to walk , and operate the crane which means that additional space was needed for the equipment, so extensions were placed either side of the spare wheel.

 

The Governor.

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Lovely picture. BTW, what is the vehicle third from the end?

 

trevor

Yes, a great picture, the sky in particular! I love textured skies and, clouds provide that element as so well captured here. Oh, the 3rd truck from the rear is a Morris MRA1 as defined by the interupted body strake bar.

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Bluebelle, I must admit I did not notice there was even sky in the picture, Is it a male thing ? :red:

 

Okay, I have found the diagram taken from above, to prove my point, hope this explains the need for the extended chests.

 

The Governor.

 

IIRC contract 3724 was the first one and had some features that were deleted from subsequent contracts such as the double skinned cab and different air brake reservoirs. The rear extension boxes were listed for the crew's personal effects and were sometimes copied and retro fitted to later models in service.

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IIRC contract 3724 was the first one and had some features that were deleted from subsequent contracts such as the double skinned cab and different air brake reservoirs. The rear extension boxes were listed for the crew's personal effects and were sometimes copied and retro fitted to later models in service.

 

 

I stand corrected, thank you.

 

The Governor.

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The longer of the two supports for the air tanks had cracked at the sharp bends, so I decided to remove all four for inspection. I found only one support to need a repair, which I duly did, and then made a start on painting, them ready for re assembly.

When the weather finally improves for more that 1/2 an hour I shall start to clean up the lorry, but until then it is all inside work at present.

 

The Governor.

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Just in case you thought I was wasting time, going on holiday, you don't know me very well. I have managed to clean up the frame and get some paint on it, tomorrow is not looking very good to start off with, but maybe in the afternoon I can get the first of the final coat's applied.

 

Oh, and two little soldiers who are going on staff training, to keep guard on Daddies little lorry when it is finished.

 

The Governor.

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Edited by The Governor
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It's not until I saw these photo's that I realized that working in the dark, or working underneath the lorry, that I should have taken a strong light with me to light up the area that I am working on to see that the paint has covered all area's.

So guess what I am doing again tomorrow ?

 

The frames that the air receivers are mounted on, had signs of rusting, so I have put a film of mastic, which is used in roofing situations. This I have allowed to set, before mounting the receivers on. Hope fully the two area's will not touch, or rub, and the paint will last a little longer.

 

The Governor.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Autumn is nearly upon us, so the window of opportunity to work on the Scammell when the weather and temperature is perfect to paint is fast running out.This means the lorry would be better parked under it's dutch barn, than left out in all weathers to deteriorate back to where I started.

So a big effort to put all the air brake system back was made. It will be another day to start up the engine and test for leaks, but more important will be to move it under the cover.

This does not mean that work will stop till next year, as I have thew two doors to repair which can be done in the workshop with a lovely wood burner to keep me warm.

 

The Governor.

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After 9 years of ownership, I have managed to get the lorry under cover away from the worst of the weather. The good thing about dutch barns is the vehicles have air around them to dry them off when they become condensated. Now I know it fit's, I have peace of mind knowing it has a home when it is eventually finished.

 

The Governor.

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After 9 years of ownership, I have managed to get the lorry under cover away from the worst of the weather. The good thing about dutch barns is the vehicles have air around them to dry them off when they become condensated. Now I know it fit's, I have peace of mind knowing it has a home when it is eventually finished.

 

The Governor.

 

Makes a huge difference keeping the worst of the weather off mate 😊 . Still enjoying your updates 😊

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  • 3 months later...

Just a little bit of rain has fallen just lately, so I have changed the course of work for the sake of sanity. The boards were cut and shaped back in the summer, so it is now a good time to cover them in something to preserve them for a good few years, I hope.

They have been in my hot workshop for the last few months, so are a dry as they can be, and this showed up in the amount of preserver they soaked up, they were really hungry, and soon empty the brush of the contents, meaning a regular dip in the pot is necessary to cover the surface.

My workshop is 12 feet across it's width, and 24 feet long, and with the boards laid out to work the preserver into them, take up nearly all the available space.

Next job, that passenger side door. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

With the boards now dry, they are stored out of harms way for fitting in the summer.

It is now time to make a start on repairing the doors. The first one off the lorry is the passenger one. I don't think this is any different from the drivers door. There appears to be signs of a repair in the past, so this will need to be taken into account as far as the repairs go.

I removed the inner panel from the frame, and as I had no idea what was behind the metal section, I was loathed to use much heat to try and free up the Philips screws, so as you can imagine not one came undone, so I cut each one off and now I can see there is nothing that come to harm so heat might be used to undo the remaining threaded section. 

The lower section of door that the lower hind is secured to, is very corroded, and will need to be removed carefully and a new section made and welded into place.

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