Great War truck

A parcel turned up in the post for me today. When i opened it up it was this: A very nice white metal, resin and brass model kit of a Dennis subsidy lorry with some very comprehensive instructions too. I assisted WD Models who made this kit with some technical information and lots of photos. In return they very kindly sent me an example. it all looks very good, although i am wondering if my fingers can deal with such small pieces anymore. I came across a model of our Autocar some years ago and bought that. Nice model, but i didnt do a very good job of making it. if you are interested in buying the Dennis it can be obtained directly from WD models on their website. http://www.wdmodels.com/page4.htm#WDMT1

The matching gloves look nice too! .

The chap standing underneath it didnt have a hard hat on either. if it had fallen off and landed on him he could suffer a serious concussion. Actually i was disappointed. I thought he was going to go over the top and down the other side.

Indeed, an amazing find. It is impossible to value these things as they just dont come up for sale. So i would hazzard a guess between £1,500 and £35,000.

Barry Steve spotted it as well and wants to have a look at it? I will go and dig it out before putting the Thornycroft back to bed. Tim

I pulled out the Dennis parts (except for the axles) and started snapping. Lots of interesting bits and pieces, but it all looks to small for ours. I will have a final look around tomorrow then cover it all over again. At least it all looks a lot tidier now and will make it easier to get the Thorny out once we have finished the Dennis. Except of course, for the 14 spare axles that are stacked in front of it. But we will worry about that when the time comes.

I have not made any posts for a few days as i have been otherwise distracted with gardening. Well, when i say gardening I really mean hacking back the undergrowth to get to what I know is underneath. We parked the Thornycroft chassis (with Peerless on top) behind the shed about 15 years ago. Covered it over with tarpaulins and left it. Over the next few years we stacked stuff under it and in front of it and ocassionally put another tarpaulin on top. Some years ago we looked after the remains of another Dennis (a 1920's dustcart) for some friends who never came back for it. As we were looking for some throttle linkage and because the undergrowth was getting a little out of hand we thought it time to dig it all out and see what we have. We spent a couple of days getting the brambles out of the way. Then today it was time to take off the tarpaulins. I did this cautiously as we once found an adder (a poisnous snake, although not very) near by and was cautious in case the family had made this thier home. In the open air again after 15 years of storage: Found the Peerless fuel tank, we will need that soon - well maybe in a few years: Dennis wheel hubs - getting close: Dennis rad top tank - loveley, but no good to us: The Dennis pile (part of): Not sure what this is, but it was in the Dennis pile:

The elbows were then soft soldered to the pipe and the completed assembly bolted to the engine

The delivery elbow for the water pump was unfortunately made at too great an angle and if left as it was, it would have aimed the big copper pipe off course. To correct this, the pipe on the elbow was cut just above the bolting flange. The two rough-cut ends of this were fly cut at correcting angles and the two parts of the elbow were then brazed together again. This corrected the problem. After dressing it off, the joint is scarcely visible. A further dry run fitting the pipe showed that the assembly lined up correctly.

With the Easter Break coming to an end and with Steve already having returned to Leicester, we can reflect on most of our objectives for the weekend having been achieved. We had hoped to complete the Universal Coupling assembly between engine and gearbox with all the bits for it having been made and ready - but what we thought was a 2" Thrust Bearing turned out to be the metric equivalent - so we were thwarted with that one. (ChrisG - expect to hear from Tim for a correct one!) Yesterday afternoon and most of today was taken up with fitting the Water Pump. First of all, the mounting was fixed to the engine and then the pump body to that. The delivery pipe was offered up to the pump and engine to see how it looked. This was just a piece of copper pipe with a bend at 90 degrees put into by the Supplier but purposely left over length on both ends so that it could be tailored to its position. The inlet elbow on the pump lined up with the bottom of the radiator first time with no problem and was joined up with a piece of rubber pipe.

Yes, thats right. It was indeed John who approached us about it some years ago. Tim

Great stuff Alan. How many more can we find?

Some great photos there. I particularly like the ones of the WW1 FWD fitted with a 30cal. Interestingly, i notice that the images are lifted off of a photographic dealers images posted on E Bay. Is that breaking any copy right rules?

The Wire-cut parts of the Couplers now received from Barry and offered up to the male parts on the Lorry. The fit is very snug - they will go right on but have not pushed them there at this stage as they will be awkward to get off again!

I would be devestated if HMVF folded, mind you it would give me more time to spend with the wife and kids. Hmmm, on further thoughts we must not let HMVF fail. Although i already have a subscription, i can always take out a second one for my Aunt? I would be happy to pay a Monthly subscription. If you could find say just 50 volunteers to pay £3 a Month by standing order then that would make a dent into the running costs. There may be some tax issues that i have not thought of, but do give it some thought. HMVF has become such an important part of many of our lives you can not let it end here. Tim

Bob I have just posted some images of our Solar on the WW1 truck lamps thread which can be found here: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?15697-WW1-truck-lamps&p=196821#post196821 But for an easy comparisson here they are as well: Ours has a diameter of about 5 inches and a height of about 13 inches. Is that the same as yours? Tim

Here are some photos of our Solar acetyeline generator for the FWD. it is not quite the right pattern but is very similar:

As you can see this left it quite a mess. A final clean up and polish and there is another component ready to fit. Just the drive shaft now!

With the arrival this morning of the couplings (Thanks Barry) there remain only two components needed to connect the starting handle to the back axle. These are the intermediate drive shaft between the gearbox and torque tube and the clutch release bearing carrier. We are very fortunate in that we have copies of the original drawings (Thanks Ben). Steve has therefore gone ahead and made the bearing carrier. He started off by roughing out a piece of 40mm mild steel plate using a hacksaw. Tony does have a bandsaw but it is 200 miles away! It was then faced and bored in the lathe and the spigots turned on the ends The outer face was generated by using the dividing head to turn it underneath a milling cutter for which the mill had to be set at maximum height. Then the dividing head was set over at 45° to machine the chamfer. By now, it was looking quite nice but the next stage was to case harden the back and inner surfaces where they run on the clutch spigot. To do that, it was heated to red hot and then placed into some case hardening compound. The camera flash has hidden the red heat but it was! Then it was taken outside again and reheated for a while to allow the carbon to soak into the surface before quenching in water.

Thanks for that. Very interesting. Sorry Tony, yes you are right, it as an aceteylene generator for the lights. I will have to dig ours out and photograph it so we can compare it to yours. Strange that they seem to be so rare. Just rotted away through use i suppose.

That would make sense. Very interesting.

I see. One plate for the body, the other for the chassis. Interesting. Thanks. Tim

Was there a relationship between Solar and CM Hall? I have seen the search lights with both names? Solar generators seem to be very rare. We have only ever come across one and that was not quite the right model (although very close). Any chance of some photos of your generator? Thanks Tim

Tony made up the "tee" which fits midway on the pipe beteen the Pump and The Inlet Manifold Water Jacket to take the Drain Cock.