Great War truck

Following the recent comments, advice and suggestions about painting with a matt paint, the Acetylene Generator has been painted in the following way to see how the paint holds up. The Generator was stripped back to bare metal, thoroughly cleaned and the surplus soft solder around the smaller label was scraped away. The brass labels were then protected with masking tape. It was then given two coats of Bondaprimer - our usual primer which we think is very good. This was followed by one coat of grey Masons undercoat, then by one coat of the original glossy Masons paint - this was the paint that was provided in error when matt paint was ordered and mentioned in a previous note, and then a final coat of the matt paint that we have mainly used on the Dennis. The result looks OK but time now will tell!

There was a picture in After the Battle from the 1980's (i think) of hundreds of 17pdrs and 25pdrs in a field near Monte Cassino. A friend went out to have a look for them, but by then they had all gone. what a shame. The 17pdr is the nicest looking gun from WW2 in my opinion.

No i am not referring to the end of the world as suggested by Harold Campling - who has apparently adopted the policy of continuously moving the date forward in the hope that he will eventually get it right (and i suppose will eventually). What i am thinking of is what confidential Government records are you waiting to see released. Personally the details of the mutiny at Etaples looks to be an exciting read. These are supposed to be released in 2017, so just 6 years to go (assuming the world does not end first). Is there anybody else who is looking forwards to reading something in particular?

Interesting to see how wide the spread of rounds was. I dont think he is Russian. i think he is an American pretending to be Russian.

Tony had a go at the Generator with a liquid paint-stripper. It appears that it has been sand blasted at some time and just the one coat of that awful green put on it after the sand blasting. The Radmore plates are of brass - not aluminum and they have suffered at the hands of the sand blaster. The body and lid have been galvanised - hence no rust! It will paint up well enough to be safe in our hands. You will see that the small plate was originally - and very generously fixed on with soft solder! I have washed the whole thing down and will let it dry out thoroughly before I attempt to scrape the last bits of green off it - then the usual primer, undercoat and final green.

A few years ago, we were fortunate to find the correct Acetylene Generator at Beaulieu - this is to provide gas for the headlamps. It was put away until required - but now is the time! It has been painted a "strange" green at sometime or other - but inside the lid, there are the remnants of the old "WD" green where it has not been re-painted. The makers plates are still on it and under the smaller plate, you can see that "WD" was stamped on it. The generator will be located on the floor of the cab, just in front of the driver's mate. The first three pictures here show the insides of the generator - on the face of it, it looks to be in good condition but some of the finer steel work has rusted through and that must be replaced if we wish to use it in anger! The last photo shows where it will be located on the lorry.

With the "Brighton" now behind us and after a week of not thinking too much about "Dennis", it is time to start thinking now of the finishing touches and all of the things that we could just not do before the Run in the time that was available then. On top of that, we did learn one or two things from the experience and we must turn our attention to those. The ridge bars for the back canvas should be held in place with brackets - eight of them - and for the short term, they were just bolted to the Bows to hold them in their correct positions. Steve is now making up these brackets in Leicester and they will be fitted in due course, hopefully before the Honiton Hill Rally which is our next planned expedition towards the end of August. Starting the lorry especially, was not as easy as we earlier anticipated - it just seemed impossible to turn the starting handle fast enough to get a good spark. We have an Impulse Starter on the FWD and the obvious immediate solution is to try one of those on the Dennis. They are not easy to come by but we have found one and just hope that it is suitable for our set-up - if not, I am quite sure that it can be adapted or changed as needs be.

What's a C Zug? Who are you writing for on the Jeffery Quad? I always enjoy reading WW1 truck articles (unsuprisingly really). Tim

Thanks for the ideas. Because Rosie said i shouldnt i wont punish her I will bow to her beter child care knowledge. Its a shame really as i had just got a pink NCB suit and gas mask for a 7 year old and fitted her cuddly toys with thunderflashes. I was thinking of something involving crawling through the sandpit and paddling pool while being bombarded with exploding cuddly toys. Anyway, instead i will give her a big hug and chocolate muffin and keep the replacement camera in my WW2 US Army safe now instead. Lots of good ideas on the camera front which i will look into. Thanks everyone.

Congratulations. I look forward to seeing it. Tim

Dear Auntie jack To my not inconsiderable annoyance my 7 year old daughter dropped my Canon SX120is digital camera today on its lense. It still seems to take photos ok, but the lense housing will not retract fully and then shuts down. It is a cracking little camera and i am very fond of it. First question is should i bother to get it repaired or just get a replacement? The same camera is not too expensive at £130, but i could always get the newer version the Canon the SX130is at £150. Are there any mid sized digital cameras that anybody would recommend? The Canon was 10 megapixel and 10 times optical zoom so i am looking for something comparable or better. The next question is what punishment should i dish out to my daughter? She has just turned 7 and with her birthday money bought a mobile phone. I am thinking of returning the phone and using the money on my camera. Also, i am contemplating taking her remaining birthday money and selling all of her presents to fund the replacement or am i being a bit too harsh? Yours anxiously Tim

Yes Jack. When i wrote that we had already been working on it for five years.

Wonderful job. Well done.

Final update for today. The Dennis arrived safely back in Devon this morning - courtesy of Roly and Timmy and was unloaded at the foot of the lane leading to Tony's house. Although yesterday's run seem to "lighten" the engine and make it easier to turn over, it remains heavy to start on the handle and Steve, Roly and Timmy together could not get sufficient impetus on the starting handle today to make it fire. A tow of just a few feet from the Transporter was sufficient to do the trick and off it trundled up the lane. The Dennis has to be driven past the front gate and then reversed into the drive. All the canvas and associated fittings have to come off before it can be reversed into the shed. A tight fit - and the driver has to mind his head as he goes in! The end of a great weekend -thanks, too, to Roly and Timmy for their help and support with getting it to Crystal Palace and then back from Brighton - and with putting it away.

The problem with the fuel tanks are that they are so big you need a lot of fuel to cover the bottom. If you go around a corner too fast the fuel goes to one end and the truck splutters to a stop. The new fuel is not good for the trucks. Too volatile we think and does not like it when the engine is hot. Here is Grahams FWD at Brighton which had to be tow started (click on the picture): We have done Brighton four times previously. Twice with the WD Autocar, once with the tipper and once with the FWD. The Autocars have generally been trouble free although the FWD was awkward as it gets too hot. The Dennis proved hard to restart so we had to tow start that one as well (click on the picture):

Thanks for all your positive comments chaps. Steve drove it the whole way there, but the impression was that it was a treat to drive in comparisson to the FWD which is very hard work and more comfortable than the Autocar which is a rather open to the elements.

I wonder which principle they were referring to. Great picture though, thanks. Tim

The WW2 carrier HMS Vengance was cut up in 2009 despite being in excellent condition on release from the Brazilian Navy. What a crime.

Well what an amazing weekend that was! The Dennis ran incredibly well considering we had only taken it out once before and then only for a mile, so doing the 50 miles to Brighton so easily was a real test which it passed with flying colours. We had to stop a couple of times on the way to make some checks and minor adjustments but none of the potential problems i had considered actually materialised. The emergency repairs to the radiator held and we lost hardly any water at all (we carried 17 gallons spare just in case) and the polyurethene tyres performed admirably and did not creep off the wheels (which was always a concern). On this occasion there were five WW1 vehicles in the run which was a real get together and i cant think of any time when i have seen that number together. Sadly though they all shot off at different times so we did not get to travel in convoy. The FWD left before 6:00, and the Pierce Arrow not much later. We followed the Locomobile for a while: but managed to get past it at some traffic lights, only for it to overtake us a few miles down the road. The superfast crossley overtook us time after time: The roads were generally clear, but we did have to stop for traffic lights which always gave me the opportunity to jump out and take another photo: As we got into Brighton Chris G jumped out and using his powers stopped the traffic with just one hand: Great to see you there Chris. I had been looking out for you near the pylons and assumed that you had gone on to the sea front. It was wonderful to see so many friends and I am sorry i did not get time to talk to you all. Thanks for uploading the photos and video footage though. Thats great. There is a lot more to write about the weekend but i will put together the full story in a day or so. Tony and Steve still have the lorry to unload take teh canvas down and put away. As for the winning of any prizes. Well ....... we won best Dennis and 2nd in the military class.

Down to the wire! Tony and Steve eventually called it a day at 10.40p.m. Thank goodness for fine weather and no rain! The first job today was to finish off the toolbox and hang it on the lorry. Then it was the 2 Gallon Tank Rack to be finished and hung. All the components were made and painted earlier and it was just the case then of bolting it to the lorry. The final job completed was the installing and fixing of the Driver's side panel - again all previously made and painted but fixing brackets had to be made today. Quite dark when they shut the shed for the night. The Low-loader arrives this morning and will set off for the first part of the journey to Crystal Palace. It will stop off over night but timing it so that it arrives by 6 a.m. on Sunday morning. It will be a long day for everybody, but it is the one that we have been looking forward to. The Dennis is still quite unproven so we just hope that it behaves!

Yes, thats right. When we started the project we had no dif and no leads to one or in fact little hope of finding one. But then one fell into our lap so to speak. The L to B really sped things up. A deadline really focusses the mind. If you go through the whole thread you will find different references to our anticipated finish date. I think we were supposed to finish three years ago. This is the longest running restoration we have done and the hardest - until the next one of course I spoke to Steve a short while ago and he was still working outside under flood lights. I will go down and join him tomorrow. "No sleep till Brighton" (with apologies) Tim

About 100%

This might be a picture of them in Venice: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:File1222_venezia_30aprile1945.jpg

Degsy, you have it. At the end of the war Popski loaded all their Jeeps in to a Landing craft and landed them all in St Marks Square. They drove around the square several times. The only vehicles ever to have done so. I think it is something that we should recreate. I suggested it to a Policeman in the square, but he suggested that i go back home. Yes, i have seen a picture somewhere of a DUKW in the Grand Canal. must be the same one.