Great War truck

Both patterns were painted with two coats of Bondaprime, rubbed down after the first coat and then polished with wire wool after the second. . Father took them to the foundry and picked up the castings this week. All very satisfactory. They are ready for machining and can be fitted at any time.

The second pattern is for the engine mount. To get over the wracking problem, the engine is bolted to two pieces of steel angle which Father has already made. The right hand angle is bolted up to the inside of the sub frame but the left hand swings on a centre pivot to avoid loading the crank case. This casting is for the centre pivot and bolts to the middle of the angle. As usual, Steve started with pieces of MDF which were cut, sanded round and glued together before adding fillets with Isopon again. The filler was again dressed with glass paper.

Steve has been pattern making again. This time for the gearbox mount and the engine mount. The early J-types had the gearbox bolted to the sub frame at each corner. However, the wracking of the chassis caused cracks around the legs of the box so later versions were three-point mounted by bolting down in two places one side and supporting the other with a spigot in a plummer block. Our box has the spigot but no block. Fortunately, Steve measured up the one on the Portsmouth bus some years ago and was able to make a copy. An old beech roller from a lawn mower formed the top of the block but the base was made from the usual MDF. He then cut a groove with a razor saw and chisel and glued the two together, using the vice as a clamp. Then hi filled it with Isopon and dressed it all back with glass paper and a Dremel pencil grinder.

Where did you hear this news?

I heard some very good things about the event. A shame I couldn't make it. I was sent these photos by a friend of dad:

That looked more than just the detonating charge, so the bomb squad got that right then.

Good old BBC. "They may undertake controlled explosions at the site". That is going to really annoy the neighbours. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29238850 Apparently they found uniforms as well!

This one was brought along to Old Warden. Ben tells us that the chassis number 3783 dates it to 26/08/14 and built for a Government contract.

I was recently sent some photos of the Sandstone Peerless and thought they should be included here. It is looking quite different to when I saw the first photos of it some years ago: Someone is having a race with a train:

That's right. Shoot the Bu***r while he is still trying to work out how to fit in the cab. Not very British behaviour so I think the guy with the gun is the traitor.

Anybody familiar with this movie! Looks rather exciting.

Super pictures. Nice to see so much British and Canadian stuff together.

How do you get to take your MV to Goodwood. Is it an invitation only event, do they vet the vehicles or can anyone go?

I was in Bayeux the week before and it was empty. Met just the one Jeep owner then and he was a miserable so and so. But I am a Jeep owner and so am I so I shouldnt complain. I thought it would be a well photographed event and I have hardly seen any photos. In fact Ians recent photos have more or less doubled all the others which I have seen.

Very busy in Bayeux. Surprised that no one got run over.

We seem to have been playing around with the front axle for some time when really it should have all been quick and straight forward. The axle arms that we finally chose have come from two different front axles – the bearing surface on one arm from the first axle was very rusted whilst its mate on the opposite side of that axle was sound. On the other axle, the equivalent of the heavily rusted axle was sound whilst its mate on the other side was very worn – it fact it had become tapered and oval so we had to take the pair that we wanted to finally use from the two axles – a bit of “mix and match”. The tale of the removal of the King Pins has already been related and they are out – the bushes on the first arm came out very easily but the bushes on the other defied all of our efforts at home and it was a case of returning to the local Garage to use their 60 ton Press. A 5/8” diam draw-bar would not move the bushes at home – only bent a 1/2” steel plate which was worked against. At the Garage and at 40 tons, the bushes moved! Interestingly again, the bottom bush on one arm is made of bronze whilst the one on the other arm is of steel. The top bushes have the lower part of a Thrust Bearing integral with it and we have been unable to find such an item in the modern world. So Steve has taken the top bush away with him to Leicester to scheme out and design a substitute bush to which we can marry up a modern Thrust Bearing. The Arms have now gone away for sand-blasting – we have tried to protect the bearing surfaces as far as possible by wrapping some blue rope around them very tightly. The Ball Joints will have to come out and be replaced.

Which museum is this please? Any idea of asking price? Thanks Tim

Ah, the ostrich in the background was in fact a red herring. Thanks.

I am sure it is the same one as No16 Charge utile. The rad has had the same repairs. Wooden barrels are a lot more photogenic than the rusty tanker truck it was before. Thanks.

Yes you are right as per issue 16 of Charge Utile. How did you work it out so quickly? What year do you think it dates from? Thanks

Looks to be a real bitsa but can anybody identify what this was.

Mailed Fist by John Foley Very interesting book by a Churchill tank Commander. On the front cover it states "Like an armoured battering ram they smashed through Hitlers Wehrmacht". Which is rather eye catching ( I bet John Foley winced when he read that). A better description might be "We sat around in our tank for a while getting bored until we met a Panther which brewed us up and we all ran away and hid". Still, a very good book.

Nice clip of film here. That Nash Quad really can shift along:

The British one appears to be about 10” wide whilst the USA one appears to be an inch narrower at 9”

More progress and less bits on the floor: