johann morris

Thanks Dean. What about using throat mikes ? Jon

Why have you given up on your dreams before you have really started, it seems such a shame and £12,000 for a restoration project, I think that you may be disappointed but who knows. Anyway, good luck, jon

Silly question but how good is the opposite rail now that you have taken the kink out of this one? Jon

Thanks Dee.

Thanks NZM305, It's nice to hear that you are enjoying the updates and as for the level of detail, the final result is all in the detail. Merry Christmas, Jon

A member of the forum asked if he could visit to see the tank for himself, so I thought as the next job is to modify and fix the gear shift lever in place which would require the installation of the drivers controls to ensure there are no problems I may as well assemble the drivers area as far as I can. The rear light bolted in place. And to end, a Christmas style picture of the magnetic work light, plugged in and working. Jon

Evening All, I thought that I would do a pre-Christmas update. I have been concentrating on the wiring, a bit odd you may think as there are more pressing jobs with the drive etc but I needed something that wasn't complicated and that I could dip in and out of. I am glad that I did, as there were a lot of holes to drill, clips to make and trunking to run and head scratching to do. There is a section of flexible trunking that runs in front of the driver, around the peddle area. I had thought that it was part of the wiring but I am now not so sure, as I have identified the wiring route and it doesn't use that section of trunking. However I have used it to run the gearbox kickdown switch wiring in, as it runs in the adjacent area. The wiring is now complete and tested but I have made use of a lot more flexible trunking than the original. All the wires in the original appear to be black, I have used colour coded wires but where they can be seen I have jointed onto black extensions. I have left the wires long enough so that they can be pulled out of the end of the trunking so that the various colours can be identified as they join the black ends. The interior of the hull contains light sockets for the magnetic work light as well as adjustable station lights. So far, I have been able to identify the location of two sockets, one by the driver and one in the turret and two station lights, one in the turret and one by the radio operators position. I would have expected to find three of each so I will keep on looking. Work light location next to the driver I posted a question on another forum with refence to the station lights and amazingly one of the various styles is still produced, but for an automotive application. I had to make the work light sockets. The sockets are standard DIN sockets pressed into the housing but the spade connections had to be altered. In situ with the work light plugged in.

Fantastic news and fingers crossed. Jon

Technical

Have you seen the Black prince series of books, if you like technical details I would recommend them. https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=p+m+knight&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 Jon

What and where?

That's a much better name!

Apparently all councils are short of money, especially Powys county council. However when you watch how they carry out their relevant repairs to the local roads, it really becomes apparent how totally incompetent they really are. Sometime during the summer they resurfaced a 3 mile section of a small C road that is heavily used as a rat run, all very nice as it was totally buggered but they didn't repair any of the pot holes (and some were huge) or side subsidence, before they resurfaced. Two days after they had finished the work, along came another gang and dug up the newly resurfaced road to repair said pot holes etc and then they resurfaced the very large repaired areas. A large pot hole appeared at a busy junction in the Town, eventually a council lorry turned up, one of the crew took a shovel of tarmac out of the lorry ran to the hole, when a space in the traffic allowed and chucked it in the hole, As the hole got fuller he would hit the tarmac with his spade before returning for another shovel full this went on until the hole was full and then they buggered off. You will notice that i stated they, as there were 3 employees, two of which played with their phones. Of course the pot hole reappeared over the next couple of days, so then they had to do the job properly. I could continue...………………….but won't bore you. Jon

Considering Bovington is a world renowned Museum, their web site, IT is sh.t. I would resend the email, then ring to confirm that they have received it. I was on the point of writing them a letter and putting it in the post out of shear exasperation. I sometimes wonder have they forgotten why they exist and are more interested in their public profile. Jon

Evening All, I thought that it was about time that I updated this thread, I have been making steady progress but I am not sure in which direction, sometimes it feels like it's sideways. I decided that I wanted to get the gearbox working so that I could connect the drive chain up and check my theories but I am a bit fed up with doing temporary works and then having to go back and do it properly, it feels like I am doing the job twice. Although the whole vehicle will have to be disassembled for painting I have decided to finish any areas that I feel confident will not have to be reengineered. I have spent hours studying photos trying to make sense of items and their position within the hull, interesting but some times frustrating. To the right of the driver there are two control panels, a larger one that I have shown before and that has now been bolted in place and a smaller one bolted to the side of the hull. The small panel, contains a water temperature gauge, oil pressure gauge and the light switch. I will paint the bevels black when everything when I do the finish painting. The throttle needed connecting up to the engine and as you can see from the pictures above, it runs just below the main control panel, through conduit and through the engine bulkhead to the throttle body. You can see the conduit in the picture below, it is bolted to the top of the gearbox, eventually, when I have recreated a dummy box in mine. I have installed a battery isolator switch and routed the wires as per the original vehicle. The wiring duct from the engine bay to the front of the tank caused me some sleepless nights, I couldn't quite make any sense of the information that I had, until I found a picture from a unmolested interior and then all became clear. The wiring runs along the side of the petrol tank in the 50mm x 25mm box, then down at a very un-Germanic angle, under the smaller control panel and into a connection box. Sorting out what the connection box looked like took some research time but I found it in the end. Last item for tonight, is the tool box below the small control panel, it slides over a bracket that bolts to the side of the hull. You can also see where the electrical junction box is situated. That's all for now folks, Jon

Thanks Niels, i have already been given their contact details on another forum but i have yet to make contact with them. Evening All, I have been concentrating on the petrol tank cover, on the original this was an armoured cover welded to the hull, access to the fuel tank would have been from under the tank via a removable plate in the floor. To remove the cover in mine, you would have to lift the top of the hull but I have added inspection, maintenance covers for the fuel sender and the fuel pump. I have also made the cover in two parts so that I can gain access to the engine electrics without having to remove the whole cover. Jon

Very impressive, keep up the good work. Jon

Thanks John but the Panzer II and III are totally different monsters, I have emailed the Tank Museum to see if they hold any information. I have finished the floor in the crew compartment and the battery box and yes I know the tread plate is the wrong pattern but I couldn't find any of the right patterned stuff. Jon

Not brave just stupid. The vehicle has been so cut around that there seems little point in trying to restore it to it's former glory, so as I liked the model of a portee that I made when I were a nipper, I thought why not. Interesting history thank you David. At about the time that I removed the cab, we found out that my 85 year old Mother has a rather bad case of cancer which has spread and is so advanced that there is nothing that can be done. She is now living with us but her loss of mental faculties is affecting her more than the cancer and she is relying on me more and more, with the result that I have very little time to spend on any of my projects. Hopefully I have many years in which to complete my projects but as I don't know how much longer my mother has, my earthly encumbrance's must go to the back of the que. Jon

Any pictures of how the actual restoration of the vehicle is going? Jon

I think that if Land Rovers didn't exist, there would be a lot of half empty fields at Military shows and anyway Land Rovers are like Marmite, either you love them or hate them, but for me you can't beat the old ones. Jon

This is a long shot I know but I am looking for details, pictures of the munitions storage in a late Panzer ll Ausf C. I have a copy of the storage plan or Beladeplan, dated 1038 but that shows the storage for saddle drum magazines for the MG34 and not the canvas Gurtsacs as used in the later versions. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have emailed the Tank museum and I am awaiting a response. Jon

Evening, I have achieved bugger all this week, part from adding the floor supports in the crew compartment. The floor is raised to allow for services and a rotary connection that attaches to the commanders chair support. Jon

Not very good in my opinion. It states that you should inform the appropriate national authority but who is that, I cant see an address, email or otherwise. I assume that this is likely to be the local plod, which means the next step would be to licence all deacts, I wonder why they didn't do that in the first place. This will not solve the perceived problem as only the law abiding will comply. Jon

Evening, I have managed to get the drive shaft cover finished. It took two attempts, as I decided that although the first design looked more in keeping with the original, it would have been a right pain had I had to take it apart for maintenance. Jon