Great War truck

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. Dont be downhearted Chris. We still have three more trucks to restore and need plenty more bearings of all sorts. We will be in contact in due course. To keep the enthusiasm going, here is reminder of what we are aiming for: And this is what happens if you drive them too fast on a bumpy road: The same affect is acheived if you get hit by a German shell.

Quite agree. What an amazing bridge. I wonder whether supplied with an infinite amount of Bailey and plenty of manpower if Engineering Officers would push the boundaries to see how big a bridge they could create. Here are some interesting photos:

Fantastic job you are doing there. How many WLF's ended up in Switzerland and when were they pensioned off. Tim

Everything seems to be coming along quite well, but lots and lots of little jobs to do. Steve has made the nut for the clutch thrust bearing, as per the original drawing (look at the date in the corner). Quite amazingly, he had the 1/4" grub screw in stock and even more amazingly was able to find it. We needed a couple of thrust races, but Tony did some rummaging around and found exactly the right ones in a box of NOS bearings he bought years ago for just a couple of quid. It will save us a few pounds in not having to buy some (sorry Chris). Over the years we have accumulated a vast stock of bits and pieces which would otherwise have ended up as scrap. If we only ever use just a tiny proportion of it all we will have had a good return on our investment. I notice that the number of hits on this thread jumped up overnight by about 160. If any of you want to ask questions or suggest a better way of doing things we would always be delighted to hear from you. Thanks Tim

Thanks Ben It is amazing what original drawings have survived, so many thanks to you for finding them. Tony phoned the Foundry this morning to see if the castings were ready - they promise for Tuesday morning. So pending their arrival, he pushed on with the Universal Coupling end covers. These were cut from 5/16" mild steel plate. We require two identical ones - to eventually to be split into 4 halves - so the two have been cut out machined back to back as far as possible. After drilling the four fixing holes and drilling and tapping a hole for the Oil Filler Plug, the two were bored out together for the final diameter to take the shaft. They then have to be set up on a 45degrees Angle Plate so that a "Vee" slot can be machined along the centre line. We have the original drawing of this item as this is the method originally specified. The "vee" goes deep enough to allow just 1/32" thickness of metal remaining along which line the discs are split into halves. One disc now finished and the other just to have the "Vee" machined into it. And finally the Oil Filler Plugs to make.

Not a lot of moeny i am sure, but i (as would many others) be interested in seeing pictures of it. Whereabouts is it? Thanks Tim

Patton museum it will be then. One hell of a long drive but you have to do these things. I am sure that it will be worth it when we get there. Tim

The water pump patterns are now complete and have had two coats of 'Bondaprime'. This is really an anti-rust primer but works very well on MDF as the first coat soaks in deeply and hardens the surface. This can then be rubbed back to a good surface and the second coat applied. A final polish with some wire wool and the patterns are ready for the foundry.

Well, no one has responded so i guess no one has seen it. It is available on Amazon UK on a European format. It had a number of reviews, but this negative one i found quite interesting - which was incidentally written by an American. "Shallow, dull, and unnecessary, this documentary fails even to live up to its title. To consider WWII's impact upon American life, this misnamed series starts at Pearl Harbor, relegating three years' European and five years' Asian warfare to the vaguest of backgrounds. The Nazi invasions of Poland and Russia get about a minute apiece. The Rape of Nanking is barely mentioned, in context of American newsreel consumption. Okay, fine, but don't call it "The War." Call it "Our War," or "Homefront" or "America's Americentric View of the War and How it Affected Americans." Don't insult the rest of the planet, which had already been fighting for as much as 50 months before December 7. "The War" makes gestures toward a smalltown motif, but after a lot of talk about focusing on 4 towns, we spend time with soldiers from elsewhere. And the homefront imagery tells us nothing new: women joined the workforce. Rationing, victory gardens, no new cars. Blacks joined the workforce, racial confrontations ensued; Japanese-Americans were interned in cheerless prison camps. Guess what, Ken - I already watch PBS! Wait, wait - black and Japanese-American soldiers were segregated and under-appreciated, though they were just as heroic as everybody else. Betcha didn't see that coming. One surprise: uber-liberal public television makes exactly zero references to the experience of women in uniform. (I'll tell you an exhaustive documentary miniseries we really need: a worm's eye view of how the troublemakers gear up to cause one of these awful world wars. This is the insight we could use, not "how did we defend ourselves?" but "how could we have been so ill-prepared as to not see this coming?") A pretentious, plodding structure makes it worse. No single campaign is delineated beyond generalizations - "The siege of Saipan had only just begun;" "Bastogne would not be liberated for weeks." The first few hours especially contain a lot of rough, disorienting transitions. And the narration is redundant and occasionally nonsensical, as when Keith David tells us that Carlson's Raiders and Japanese Marines were sometimes "only a few feet" apart - this during hand-to-hand fighting. Who's signing off on this stuff? This Ken Burns film needs among other things a Shelby Foote, a lively historical authority on whom the viewer may hang his faith and attention. Instead, somebody reads from contemporary journalism: Ernie Pyle, who already fumbled his own movie (a dog starring Burgess Meredith) or Al McIntosh, channeling Horton Foote. The veterans and civilians interviewed in talking-head format are charming, some of them, though only one or two show any real storytelling flair, and they do it late. Wynton Marsalis, who might have supplied our voice of wisdom, instead seems to have imagined Aaron Copland scoring a funeral of Norman Rockwell". I will get round to watching part two sometime. Tim

Thanks for that. I have been presented with an either/or situation. The or is the Patton Museum at Fort Knox: http://www.generalpatton.org/ Anybody been there? Thanks Tim

Now known as the National Military History Centre (a bit PC), this was the Victory Museum in the Netherlands, bought lock, stock and barrel a few years ago. I have an opportunity of going there in a few weeks time. it is a 12 hour round trip from Illinois. Is it worth the effort? I know the Humber Hexonaught is there which i would really like to see, but is there anything else to get me excited? Anybody been? http://www.militaryhistorycenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73&Itemid=60 Tim

Has anybody seen this. I was given the DVD set last Christmas and have just watched the first 2.5 hour DVD. It is a set of eight i think. Fantastic stuff. Comparable to the series "World at war". Ken Burns was the guy who narrated that brilliant series on the American Civil War. No one i know has ever mentioned it so i wonder whether it was just a US thing. Tim

Excellent job. Tim

Yes, a very interesting site. I remember going to Oakhill about 30 years ago. Is it still open? As your job involves restoring things, can it still be a relaxing hobby? Tim

Sorry Jack. Just noticed your question. They are about four to five inches long except for the International harvester one which is about 6 inches. Tim

OK. So how original do you rate this one: Somewhere in between not very original and totally ruined. My personal thought is, on crikey, goodness me (or something like that). What have you done to it. Tim

I agree with all of that. I started writing because i wanted to read the sort of articles that i now write. Started with an offering to Windscreen which was published and then something more elaborate for MMI. Cant add much more to what has already been written apart from write over a period of time. Proof read. Proof read. Proof read. Get someone else to proof read. It is amazing how you keep finding mistakes. Write something, then e-mail a magazine to ask them if they are interested. Dont offer it to more than one magazine as that just puts peoples backs up. Send it in and then wait. Good luck Tim

Hi Phil Yes, i thinki saw that. That particular Holt has been rescued and restored to running condition and in a British military colour scheme. it looks fantastic in the photos i have seen, but i have not seen it in the flesh yet. So there are two WD ones running in the UK. Tim

In defence of MMI and CMV it must be very hard to find enough good articles to fill them every Month. You either have to rely on contributors which will of course cost you money, or write the articles yourself. However with the wealth of knowledge available and the number of knowledgable people ever increasing, it must be impossible for the editors to be the most knowledgable on all these subjects. With forums such as this, the Monthlys can immediately come in for a bashing. With W&T, Bart was probably the worlds most knowledgable person on his subject and wrote all the articles himself. Then, there was no medium like this forum to analyse his work or discuss it. It makes a tricky situation for the Ian and John. Tim

The Windscreen is very good. The magazine gets the balance of articles just right and has some very knowledgable contributors. I did find the rant about the book review, and following letter a bit amusing though. It is very easy to start a rant by e-mail, becuase you write what you think at the time and click send (or post) and it is gone. By letter it is less common as you generally reread the letter a few times before sending it and can "cool off" so to speak and tone it down. Not in this issue it seems. Tim

Rather fortuitously, i have just finished reading the last of the stack of books i got for Christmas last year. I am now reading Lynne Macdonalds "To the last man", and the exciting named "Service Station Manual", which if you are unfamiliar with this was published in the mid 1930's and gives you every snippet of information necessary to run your own garage/petrol station. It is really interesting. No, it really is. Tim

Dear Santa What i want for Christmas is "Permission". "Why?" You dont need to ask why! Tim

There is no doubt about it, the prices have really jumped up in recent years. I wonder whether this might be as a result of the "price guide" in CMV. Admittedly, the guide is only an average of the ones placed up for sale in the last Month or so, but are people looking at that, then adding a couple of thousand thereby constantly upping the value? Just a thought. Tim

The latest Windscreen and calendar came today and i was very impressed. I know that last year the calendar came in for some criticism (a bit unfairly i thought), but this one is really good. I particularly like the one of the Jeep in the snow. Tim

Whilst we await the Water Pump Castings to machine, we have set our minds about making up the clutch and universal joint assembly which we have never had - it was not fitted to the engine in its previous use. The metal for this was purchased for Steve and Tony to machine - three pieces of Steel were the very hard EN24 which does not come cheaply! The one piece for the Clutch Centre measuring 6 1/2" in diameter by 8 1/2" long came out at £73 alone! This was to be a very complicated machining exercise for our Home Workshop and Tony did not fancy doing it - so it was pushed out to a Professional to do for us. He has done a wonderful job - it is sad to say that most of the piece of bar that we had to pay so much for has disappeared in swarf! We are again fortunate that we have original drawings to work from - mainly thanks to Ben.