fv1609

I would avoid those modern slide-on connections. They do go over the military Type 11B lubricating nipples but they will leak as you inject. The only dodge is to get a cotton hanky & slide it over the nipple & then the connector. That makes it a tighter fit & as you inject the oil forces cotton fibres apart. You may have to use the hanky folded double. But it is a messy business. You really need the chunky old fashioned military connection. It is more bulky although those small modern commercial ones are much easier to slide on forwards or slide on back. Not just because they are smaller but they don't form a tight fit! Andys are not that common admittedly, but there is not a great demand either as people don't really recognise their worth. For squirting oil into diffs sometimes people use sprayers from a garden centre. But of course we need to exert pressure to force oil across seals. Given that a lot of people don't lubricate these vehicles properly & just grease gun everything, then there is no great demand. I bought mine NOS for £50, I think I sold Dale's for £40 each. I even have even seen Champ Spares selling one for £25. It was very mucky but being oily/greasy a lot of dust had stuck to it & I'm sure it would have cleaned up nicely. That commercial oil pump you have found could no doubt do the job. It relies on the weight of a big drum full of lubricant to give it stability. So you won't be able to take it down under the Humber. You could put the oil in a smaller drum but it will be difficult to draw the lever up, whereas the Andy has foot rest that pulls out for stability. If I am down under, I can use one hand to steady it downwards as I draw the pump handle up.

If you bide your time you can wait for Wayne to find one for his Humber then he can lend it to you Such a device was discussed a week or so ago in his Pig thread.

I would hope so. I have attended about a dozen reunions with the Hornet & know a number of the faces & names on site. I have a series of Sqn related articles that are on here that I hope might be of interest for them to host. They were based on earlier articles I did in Tank & Pegasus but have a bias towards the automotive & missile systems rather than the soldiering aspects.

Andy that's a good link with concise & useful info, although I take issue with some of the Hornet details, which are taken from books rather than direct observation. The engine was actually a B60 Mk F not a Mk A The length quoted has been metricated from the official length given. Unfortunately the official length given was based on the prototype rather the operational vehicle that was fitted with Smoke Dischargers No.8 Mk 1 this increased the length by 59mm. The weight quoted is not the vehicle weight but the operational weight with crew, this equates to 5.7 tons not tonnes.

and flameproofs

Well my 1 Ton Cipher Office is insured in its own right (on its military registration mark for identification) along with the other MVs.

Officially it is Mystox W6070/29 & is available to units in slightly smaller quantities as: H1/8030-99-225-1573 25kg H1/8030-99-224-9041 50kg Sounds nasty stuff you must use acid/alkali resistant gloves, similar aprons & goggles, spraying is forbidden. I've never knowingly seen it for sale, I suspect these days stuff beyond it's shelf life is not allowed to be released for general sale. No doubt the manufacturers don't want the responsibility either of allowing the public to get hold of it.

Wayne on exterior surfaces & armoured flaps & doors opening outwards, you should find: Red Oxide primer Dark Admiralty Grey BSC381C 632 High Gloss DBG BSC381C 224 Markings, look on the top sections of rear doors, the rear apex for Union Flag. Sloping armour over rad for matching signs to rear ie Unit & Division. At apex of this white square with red circle (anti-freeze) As a bonus check off side of rad armour looking for yellow arrows pointing downwards marked DRAIN TAP or maybe an image of a drain tap. Possibly also yellow discs on doors. Also look on this sloping armour for large crudely painted numbers signifying Lot Number at auction. Also be on look out for stencilled vehicle depot markings such as Asset Code Number, CL (Classification), R (Receipt date), Maintenance Date (appearing as MAJOR or MINOR with date) these would all be an inch high in white & possibly also in red ERO (Equipment Release Order & Target Date) These would be at the front, possibly on doors. Sometimes people find these markings & enthusiastically reproduce them on their vehicles in the knowledge that they are authentic. I have seen a prizewinning vehicle so marked complete with all the usual kit & unit markings. However these depot markings should be painted out before issue to a unit. So if you find depot markings reproduce them by all means presenting the vehicle as it would be in storage but not with the unit markings as well

Wayne and remember to do the saluting with the other hand

Jamie apart from the accepted truism that an owner is entitled to paint whatever bits on their vehicle whatever colour they fancy, from an authenticity point of view it is undeniable that many vehicles were embellished with white wheel nuts when in service. Despite there being no regulatory requirement to do so & in fact there were prohibitions, many units did paint these nuts white. In fact I restored a vehicle that eventually I did paint in this way because the most in service vehicles were so painted. The reason for units do so could vary from a belief that it might guide a driver away from fitting the wheel brace on the smaller nuts of the divided rim (!), unit pride feeling that it looks smart or maybe copying the scheme from another unit. I was never 'told off' by a veteran, in fact once I was told it was turned out in better condition than when on parade in service. But generally veterans will not want to cause an upset & just walk off. In private hands embellishing the vehicle in the way that others have done or in order to make it 'look the business' can get out of hand & start to look ridiculous. Few will dare question the way the vehicle is presented. Although at W&P I was once challenged by a veteran who felt confused & peeved that a vehicle he had served with looked in his view ridiculous. He felt it had too many markings, over painted thingies, guns & flags which not as it was in service. I just walked away & in my defence muttered "No idea mate, not my vehicle" :D So in summary red nuts yes & white wheel nuts if you want to.

Oh you are a tease Ian!

Thank you for the entry form, although I can download one, receiving it just tipped the balance of decisions & so I have filled it in :-D I was going to go to Amberley in Sussex, but for just over an hour's extra travel I can have 3 days of show not just barely 1 day. Besides I have never been before so it will be nice to have a change of scene & some different vehicles to look out. I'll just be in a Land Rover but any Humbers booked in I wonder?

Jamie the reason nobody has replied is that the painting of wheel nuts is an old chestnut/can of worms. Here is one of the threads: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?16050-Wheel-nut-painting&highlight=white+wheel+nuts I can scan you a nice '6' from a large stencil kit, but not sure why you would want to display this on a Mk 2. The Mk 1 was originally painted with Dark Admiralty Grey primer followed by two coats of high gloss Deep Bronze Green. The Mk 2 was initially painted HG DBG & subsequently Olive Drab, then in later years IRR NATO Green. So if I was you I would be tempted to HG DBG, it will stay smarter for longer! BTW what did you do or planning to do, about the windscreen hatches?

Something like an ambulance pillow is good to support & prop up your head whilst underneath. Then can be used for kneeling on for other tasks. A bench cushion from a FV432 fits very nicely on the front wing of a Pig whilst working on the engine.

I may have a spare small hand operated device that would do, complete with correct end piece. I need to check tomorrow. It would be tedious to do a complete refill with one but topping up should only be modest if all is well. Pity it wasn't nearer then you could buy the oil and the fish & chips then I could bring my "Andy".

Wayne now that its gone dark & there's bound to be little of intelligence on the box, perhaps a little bit of course work? Peruse your pictures & try to mentally identify the structures you see by reference to the User Handbook, parts book & EMER Technical Description. The TD is particularly good at bringing the functions of various components to life, although cross-sectional diagrams for me are always a bit difficult to interpret unless you know the structure reasonable well already!

Wayne it is only the Tracta joint housings that require oil, the joints in the suspension arms etc require grease. Pity you didn't park it under 50 miles from me & we could have crawled around together. Alternatively I will be running a Humber lubrication refresher course by arrangement. Once you have got more familiar with her underside call in & have a refresh under mine?

Wayne I'll answer more comprehensively later, but do not buy a modern slide on or slide off lubricator end they seem to fit the military lubrication "nipples" quite well but they do not form a tight seal & will allow oozing at the point of injection. You need a proper bulky heavy duty the Empire was founded on this type military termination. These things from agricultural & tool places are not much good for our purposes. I'll see if I have a spare proper no nonsense fitting.

Yes, the generator sub-assemblies may have been produced by different sub-contractors. Perhaps both contractors thought they were correct by using Sky Blue. The outer assembly being finished in Sky Blue BSC381C 101 but the heatsinks etc painted also in Sky Blue but someone missed the BSC bit & used Sky Blue RAL 5015. The colour in the picture does look a close match to the RAL version.:-D When you look at some re-manufactured items typically Rover & Humber generators the standard of paint preparation is often pretty poor, where there is lift-off from paint not being removed completely or even sanded down. I'm sure engines are no different. I would just sand down the edgey paintwork & repaint the affected areas.

Wayne I have sent you a PM with advice about robustness of some clothing, which might be difficult to explain on here;)

Wayne the extractors will be well worth the money. I would also take some sort blowtorch to help free things you don't want to destroy & a fire extinguisher (I prefer CO2 rather than talcum powder). Do you have a mains source? A grinder & a halogen lamp will be useful. If you do connect batteries then only push the earthy -ve connector on just in case the loom starts to go up in smoke & you can quickly disconnect. One of those cheap Hella type isolators will fit conveniently in the box side holes. I prefer to isolate the earth line because if you isolate the +ve a touch of the spanner on any of the 3 non-earth terminals to the case will cause sparks to fly. But with the earth lead switched off you can work on the other 3 terminals with impunity. Take far too many photos, even of things that do not look that important, they may be useful later. Yes wise to not use the tanks & side step not just because of leakage but gunge in the switch & filter. Take something waterproof & thickish to lie on, & when stretching & rolling underneath I would advise strong under pants & an overall that is a little too large to avoid discomfort/difficulties in movement (& elsewhere) when you stretch your arms out. Keep your mouth shut to avoid ingesting, spiders, crud etc the lips will provide some protection for teeth against a falling spanner. I am told it is easier to suture a lip than cope with a smashed tooth. Wear some headgear to keep oil, gunge, spiders off your head & affords some protection. Wear some eye protection from falling particles of crud, I have sterile eyewash in a pack at hand. Always get up slowly when emerging from underneath it is easy to end up head banging on a door you forgot was open.

Wayne don't be despondent that nobody has replied, but they are all pretty well worn images & I think that link has already been posted on here somewhere. Although not understanding German, I can see at least one caption that is incorrect & that Mk 2 in a US dealer's yard with the daft convoy light is a shot that gets undue exposure. Have you binged as well as googled? http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=humber+pig&FORM=BIFD#x0y0 Quite a number of my images there that have been trousered up from here & sites that I contribute to, at least the last source is acknowledged if not the originator. What gets up my nose, is images that have been lifted, including those prised from a pdf, that are then posted elsewhere by someone else then the "elsewhere" assumes the acknowledgement as the source.

You were lucky to get some spares & lucky to find someone with the equipment to help you out.

Jamie I find it quite scary with a wire cup in a large grinder in case I lose control of it! I find it safer & more satisfying with a needle scaler & creates flakes of debris rather than so much dust although I do finish off with wire cup. So what are you going to do about the split tyre? Do you have another?

According to Geoff Fletcher's article in the latest Windscreen, it looks like Bofors then in 1978 they changed to Blowpipe.