Chris Hall

Because they were welded hulls the stress points were at the square corners of areas such as the hatch covers over the hold. These stress points cracked and just spread from there. Curved reinforcing plates helped spread the stress evenly over a greater area.

Agreed, I think he means Dieppe.

A 42 GPW would have the early style bracket available as a repro. I require one for my March 42 and I’ve been looking at those available but no one can comment on quality. I want one that will fit first time without having to cut and weld to make it fit. I’m getting fed up of fixing repro parts so they actually fit or work. 

So I’m looking for a spot welder to build my jeep. I was thinking of one of the Sealey or SIP hand held jobs but as I can find little in the way of reviews, I thought I’d see if any members had some experience/advice to give.

On 8/15/2019 at 11:48 AM, Jolly Jeeper said:

I am glad to see that the AEC Matador is held in such high regard. This is one of my favourite pictures of one in WWII - blokes who probably didn't want to be soldiers sweating and swearing on some North African road, moving the gun in the dirt and the dust because they had to, uniform almost a memory, no doubt looking forward to a cup of tea or a letter from home more than shelling Jerry... One of my uncles was a bloke like these (but with a Morris Quad and 25pdr in Tunisia and Italy).

That looks bloody cold and miserable. 

Most I have ever handled had between 1986 and 1992 dates. Serials UE86Axxx and UN92Axxxxxx

some will have earlier dates for trials and I’ve also seen some with US prefix but I think these are Sterling inert arms made up into Deacts.

I think they were special spotting rifles with a cartridge that matched the trajectory of the BAT. The one I was offered was a standard Browning M2 HB but was marked as LxxxAx and had a AC style backplate, no sights and a solenoid trigger. I really wish I’d bought it but I purchased a standard US GI M2HB instead.

just done a search and it looks like they were the L6 and L21 ranging guns.

What were the .50 cal Brownings mounted to for spotting? I turned one down a few years back as it was British marked as a spotting gun and I wanted a British marked ground gun. Wish I’d bought it now.

Different people have different ideas. Some may ask why anyone would spend money on a relic when there’s people starving in the world. I donate to a few different charities and all I know is, the money is spent on what the board decide is appropriate at the time.

55 minutes ago, Richard Farrant said:

NSN does not identify the supplier. The first group of 4 digits identify the group, or clothing, tent age, engine parts, brake parts and so on. Next 2 digits identify country of origin, ie 99 is UK

No it doesn’t but the last 7 are usually grouped so if you find an NSN close to an unknown one, usually (but not in this case) they are associated. There are quite a few NSNs On MJDI that are close to this unknown one and they are Alvis. It’s possible the NSN is close to a block change or the Alvis ones are a random small block retained as they were is service a lot longer.

unfortunately MJDI doesn’t keep records of obsolete NSNs prior to it’s inception so it will mean trawling through hard copy IPCs.

It was based on nothing more than an NSN check. The whole NSN couldn’t be found but there were Alvis NSNs with the fist 10 digits. Usually the NSNs for an item are codified in a block, hence the suggestion however this time It was wrong.

A check of the NSN suggests Alvis.

Never done under water EOD but done plenty above the high water line. Even the experienced can get it wrong sometimes. Got a few stories where I’ve thought twice about moving stuff and dem’d in situ.

I don’t see anything to bad there, they could fit new liners if required, new valve seats (unleaded) and valve guides. Corrosion is within the combustion area so although not ideal, wouldn’t cause a head gasket issue. I’ve seen much worse engines brought back to life but at the end of the day, cost plays a part.

Roundabouts should be easy to use but it appears to difficult for most. These same people on realising they have made an error, try to rectify their mistake by a dangerous manoeuvre rather than following through with the mistake and correcting when safe to do so.

The highways agency also don’t help by erecting confusing signage and painting directions on the road. This signage and painted surface directions are then obscured by queues of traffic so that a stranger to the area is left guessing as to what lane to use.

I thought Lincolnshire was bad until I went to Milton Keynes. It’s like a roundabout breeding centre!!

To me a Sherman is a Sherman. I couldn’t pick out the differences as I’m no expert. I’d just be happy to see one regardless of what it is or was.

On 7/29/2019 at 7:20 PM, john1950 said:

Washing the jeep to much makes it shrink. Or leaving it out in the rain.

The rain has made most of my Jeep disappear not shrink. I have a little floor left and lost about 30% of the sides. It it were smaller I’d have less welding to do!

Much easier without the barrel.

ZA947 is a much more recent military registration. Tornado GR1s were in the ZA range so late 70s/early 80s.

there is only one DC3 owned by BBMF.

The BBMF codes and paint scheme are usually applied to represent a significant plane of its type to honour the original aircraft or pilot.

The Lanc on the right side will always have ‘City of Lincoln’ to honour the county many Lancs flew from and is now the home of BBMF. The left has commemorative marking such as ‘Thumper’, ‘Leader’, ‘Phantom of the Ruhr’ etc.

we had a Spit painted to represent EB-G for our 100 anniversary back in 2016, it originally served with 266 Sqn. It is the last airworthy Spit that actually flew in the BoB.

Got to love that phrase ‘defectively deactivated’

i would love to see that challenged as to how is was adequate on 1 day yet defective the next. How it can be defective if it’s for sale but not if it’s with it’s original owner is beyond me. It needs a legal challenge but that would cost a fortune.

The maker SCC Ltd is an unidentified manufacturer but every sample found has been dated 43/44 and has the Canadian ownership mark. It’s possible the Israeli Army purchased .30 cal ammo from Canada but they converted their 1919A4s to 7.62mm with disintegrating links and 225/230 round fabric belts made in I think Holland. This conversion occurred around the same time as NATO adopted the new round. It may be useful to see if that fits in with your timeline.

Nice find, was the M50 in Canadian ownership at one time as the C broad arrow mark is a Canadian ownership mark.

And why ford? My head has a large f script.

these have a GPW number but I believe many European countries cast their own parts with a GPW number rather than a Willys part number.

Looks home made for a Bren.

bottom one has a star shaped compression spring from a set of motorcycle girder or early tele forks.

It does sound like timing is incorrect but with out doing a methodical invest and seeing the results it’s hard to say.