Great War truck

With the hole for the column taken out to the final 2” diameter, the bracket was removed from the Mill and a piece of the steering column tube tried in it to check the fit. The last job to do on it now is to check the fit of the feet against the scuttle and also their angle – it could be that this may need some adjustment. The holes remain in the scuttle from the original fitment of 100 years ago and it will be interesting to see if everything lines up!

With the two parts of the bracket bolted together, the next job was to bore it out to 2” in diameter which would encompass the steering column. It was deemed unsafe for us to swing the bolted together embryo bracket in the lathe so it was set up in the Mill to be bored out that way. The Mill is only modest so it was going to be a slow job. The hole was drilled out to 3/4” first of all – the maximum size that we could take on and then a boring head used to gradually take the hole for the column up to the final 2” diameter. [ URL=http://s30.photobucket.com/user/Greatwartruck/media/Greatwartruck001/DSCN3573_zpsexbbmptd.jpg.html][/url]

The two sawn faces of the split casting must be machined flat again, taking out the saw marks, so that they can marry up cleaning together when bolted up with one another. The top part was easy to hold in a Machine Vice but the bottom part was more difficult because it was “angled” and a little cumbersome to hold in the modest facilities of a small home workshop.

The casting was given a good wire-brushing to clean it up to start with. The bracket is actually in two parts – as it has to encircle the steering column but cannot be slid down or up it as one complete item so must be made in two parts and bolted together once they have been placed around the column and are in situ. For ease of manufacture and machining, the bracket is cast as one piece and then split into two with a hack saw. But before it is split into two, the clearance holes are drilled for the bolts which will finally hold the two parts together again.

Very shortly, we should have steering! The team has been working on different bits and the item turned to our attention today to complete has been the bracket which holds the bottom of the steering column to the scuttle. The photograph shows the same item at the foot of the steering column on the Carlton Colville “Thorny” and this is what we have had to make. Steve made up the pattern for this and it has been cast for us at our local Foundry.

That is very interesting. I don't know the answer to any of your questions though. I do have a picture of this CBA: Send me a PM with your e-mail address and I will send you the complete photo.

Yes you are right. A BR80 model perhaps? Very nice photo. Thanks Tim

What does it say on the radiator of the lorry? I cant read it.

Nick is a super nice guy and I cant believe that you would doubt his credibility like this. Don't forget his vehicles appearance on Top Gear, his driving a fully tooled up HUMVEE draped with bikini girls around the centre of London, his Abbot rides also around the centre of London and his plans to swim a BRDM down the Thames all add to his credibility as a reliable witness Gold hidden in a fuel tank. Isn't that the plot line from Krazy Keller? Although admittedly you cant get much gold in a Jeep fuel tank.

That is over £45,000! That must be the most expensive FWD that has ever sold.

Just found some photos on Landships of it partially restored and at Retromobile: Looks rather nice. I wonder if it is running. More photos here: http://www.guide-automobiles-anciennes.com/VOITURE/tracteur-schneider-cd2-3387.htm After photos of this survivor had appeared on the web the owner announced that he had scrapped it. I think he was bombarded with people trying to buy it. Very glad it is safe and out of the scrap yard.

Ian has been getting on with his B type body. It is all coming together now:

Thanks everyone. Some good ideas there.

What do you think this was. The letters EWC show on one hub. Looks to be very heavy duty. Tar boiler perhaps?

I have been asked about the possible problems of exporting a deactivated breech for a 25pdr to Canada. What should the buyer or shipper have to do to expedite this? Any thoughts please? Thanks Tim

Pictures showing two of the Bows just out of the jig and before being cleaned – with the evidence of the newspaper still attached and three pictures of a finished Bow duly cleaned up with the corners nicely rounded. Next job, get them primed and ready to fit the steelwork to them.

All the surplus glue squeezed out between the joints to be washed and wiped off before it dries.

To ensure that all the strips were lying flat against the chip board of the jig, – a thump with a hammer did the job.

Two Ash Planks were cut down into 1/8” thickness strips – and planed – so that they could easily be bent around a template and glued together. The template - or jig – was made on a sheet of chip board – to the internal dimensions of the bow – the jig had to be adjusted as each bow came along as they are of different sizes. I guess that this is a “trick of the trade” but the jig was covered in Newspaper so that any surplus glue would stick to the news paper and not the jig during the gluing process. All the Ash strips were firstly glued and put to one side, ready for laying against the jig. Just one side was completed first and clamped up against the jig. Then all the strips on the completed side – about 11 or 12 of them to each bow, were pulled around the jig together for the remaining two sides and clamped up tight as they came into position. The wet glue acted as a kind of lubricant between the strips at this stage as they came into place, bearing in mind that Mark was working on an increasing diameter as he progressed.

Steve outlined in his posting no. 2334 of the 22nd January that our ambition now was to get the Thorny finished by the Spring of next year so that we could enter it in the 2018 HCVS London to Brighton Run of that year – a special anniversary – the centenary year of the end of the Great War, but there is still a huge number of jobs to be done. One of the important things to be completed – and one which perhaps we would not have tackled quite this early on – is the Cab Roof. Jim Clark at Allied Forces has very kindly agreed to do the canvas for it but it would be very unfair to ask him to do this at the last moment, bearing in mind his other commitments, so we opted to make the framework for the cab now so that it can be passed to Jim and that he will have about a year to complete it! The two attached pictures illustrate what the Cab Roof looks like – it does have the ability to fold back if required. It consist of three wooden bows with steel attachments to them. Steve has already made this steelwork and a full description of that is covered in posting no. 2334. So we turn to the woodwork now and this where our good friend Mark (Big Mark – we have two good friends named Mark) comes in as he is a very skilled Woodworker. Almost certainly the bows on the original assembly were “one piece” and steamed and bent around but we have opted for an alternative in laminating thinner sections of Ash around a template and gluing them – this was a method introduced to us by Mark’s late father Gordon who made the wooden bows over the load space of our FWD some years ago.

Mark has out his Albion A10 up for sale. As this is rather an unusual vehicle and has featured here before I have posted this on the pre WW2 vehicle section as opposed to the for sale section. For those who are not familiar with it here are some photos: It is fully restored 1916 32HP. Contact Mark directly if you are interested. His e_mail is Mark@farralls .co .uk (but remove the two spaces at the end).

Almost the same happened to me. I went to Smiths and there were just two magazines left. I think John has done an excellent job with the magazine and taken it to new heights. I am very much looking forwards to the next one. Over the weekend I had a flip through my stash of old CMV's and noted that there used to be a great deal more of readers letters than there are now. Are people not writing into magazines any more?